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

"Dammit Stenos!" Takahiro cursed, "What the hell are you doing out there?"
Despite his outward anger, Takahiro could not help but envy the sheer boldness Stenos displayed. Charging up to those freaks without fear or hesitation... meanwhile Takahiro could not make himself move one step forward, even if he hadn't been under orders to stay put. Something about these shambling horrors evoked a primal terror in Takahiro that he could not overcome.
Dammit, don't freeze up! Just keep your cool, these things go down just like any other hostile.
Steeling his courage, Takahiro crouched into a firing position and took aim with his gauss cannon at the nearest hostile.

As they walked forward, Quentin noted the new infrmation and orders carefully, powering down to the minimum for the capacitors.

Through the silence, Quentin stared ahead at the shuffling forms. Quentin wetted his lips under the suit as the four daises twitched in their directions and started moving. "Ma'am, they see the open door, they are walking right for us, and the hallway isn't big enough for-" then he registered what one of the others was saying over the comms. "Oh shi-" As the stupi-BRAVE marine rushed forward, Quentin didn't ask for permission on the matter of his aether tap, figuring they were as good as detected any ways. As soon as was possible for him, he fired the aether cannon in between the pair of dasies. "Knock em down!"

As a follow up he took out the LASR and fired it at the one to the left with a short burst of fire again. Over the comms, a long winded monologue questioning the genetic integrity of Stenos, his parents, and the possibility of him having his own cranium inside his rectum. He also compared Stenos with that of a stupid, angry Chihuahua.

Richard was relieved to hear that it was likely they weren't exposed just yet, they still had the element of surprise with them. He was starting to get used to the Daisy but he still wasn't confident he could perform how he envisioned with it, especially since he only recently mastered the thrusters on the Hostile. When more enemies showed up he pressed himself against the wall and readied his weapons, but waiting like instructed.

He did not expect what ended up happening however. Despite orders someone rushed in to attack the Daisy's in melee with a metal blade no less. He was dumbfounded by the fact someone would blatantly disobey orders and in the worst way possible. He wanted to just run off and relocate, letting them take the assault themselves, but soon other began firing as well and he realized, if the AI weren't taken out then they would reveal someone was here even if they couldn't' find them, and that would make things more difficult. He squeezed the trigger on his rifle and began firing at the furthest target that was likely getting the least attention.

Charging forward, Stenos could hear the faint thumps of his heavy footfalls as the powered greatsword in his hands came to life.

And the enemy Daisy raised its arms like a zombie, firing - the swordsman was invisible, but the blade was not! Bearing down on the closest one, he swung as both of its submachine guns chewed apart his energy barrier, sparks and lightning arcing across his suit just as the blade bit. Red hemosynthetic gore spurted out of the bio-organic suit as the sword cleaved into his opponent, slicing into the chest and breaching its reactor. A small, silent burst of plasma mushroomed out of its back as they hydrogen sprayed out, but Stenos soon found himself with the enemy on his blade being the only thing between between him and the finishing blow. The second one behind the first was already firing on him, stray bolts burning into any exposed portions of his suit; the marine could literally hear the faint roiling of his own armor boiling off his thighs and arms as it sought him out.

The entire squad didn't just sit by however; Tatiana brought her shoulder mounted cannon to bear and fired!

Even as the second one advanced with both arms raised and firing, the cannon recoiled on her shoulder, the massive slug punching through the barrier with brute force before bouncing off its armored chest. Takahiro finished it off as quickly as possible with his own 50mm - the first round of his completely floored the energy barrier, popping it like a bubble before the second round came hurtling in, caving in its entire chest plate as a wrist-thick hole suddenly appeared. Stumbling, the third round hit it under the collar and to the right, its entire arm flying off as the pack was finally breached. Even though crimson gore spurted across the back wall as it fell, the fight wasn't over yet. The other two that had kept on walking were coming back, rounding the corner at the left, and right from the direction the squad needed to go as well!

"Someone cover him or he's DEAD!" Ylfa yelled over the comms, the brutal fight surreal in its silence. Before Stenos knew it, a hammer smashed into his back, as someone landed on his back with both feet, knocking him forward and face flat on top of the Daisy he had killed. Looking up, he could see the periwinkle calves of a Mindy that stepped over him, a bright, shimmering shield in the air appearing in front of her wrist.

"You'R3 n0 mea7He@D - y0u'r3 @ f@7 H3@d!" Kelly's crackling voice yelled at Stenos. At the same time, the two enemies fired on her, their bolts suddenly elongating as they literally curved away and burned the walls, floor and ceiling instead, the spatial distortion outright rejecting their fire. A bright, burning white beam suddenly lanced past the two enemy armors as Quentin fired his Aether Cannon for the first time. It was a clean miss, the shot passing clean through the wall behind the two enemies without effort, killing it with extreme prejudice and the ten walls beyond the wall he did kill as well. The rabid ranting that flowed over the comms threatened to kill their eardrums next.

"Damnit marine! Shut the fuck up and hit them!" Ylfa yelled at him next. "And Mark, pull your damned weight you dickless prick!" Though Quentin was already firing his service rifle, it took Richard and the sergeant adding in their own sheer volume to take down the first of them. Literally hosing the first armor down, the shields crackled and held, but only briefly before they gave way, sparks spraying off of its hull. Riddled with bullets, the first of the two reinforcements up front fell when Ylfa started shouting at the whole squad, this time, a sharp edge in her voice they had never heard before. "Rush the bitch now! Rush her and go down the hallway! We can't stand and fight- the suits are too soft!" she yelled.

Further on behind them, several more were stumbling in at the end of their starting hall.

Quentin gritted his teeth and glanced back at the sarge, almost about to make some witty remark or another. He thought better of it for several reasons. The first being, don't piss of your superiours. The second, he had no witty retorts availible, and was going to pretend like he was a terrible shot rather than letting them know he let somone tell him that aether cannons explode on impact and beleive them. The third, there was a large goup of daisies behind them.

Huh. He dully thought to himself, and turned back to lay down some more fire on the last daisy when his brain finally cuaght up to reality. "We've been flanked!" Quentin Flew forward via inertia controls, dodging around kelly and flying for the daisy with his off hand extending the aether blade, intent on cutting down the daisy in the way of his fellow marines, and relying on the barrier module to avoid taking actual hits.

"Fine you overweight bitch I will," Mark yelled back instinctively raising his arm to extend the push/pull rod that wasn't there to get Quentin back here. "How many people going to get in the line of fire today," he yelled, questioning no one in particular as the ran down the hall to fire on the lead Daisy with his LASR and cannon. "Damn guys use your rifles, don't go straight for the sword," he continued paraphrasing what Ylfa had told him while still on the Sledge.

"Damn everything is getting crazy now." Seeing that Quentin had rushed ahead and blocked their firing line, Richard had the option to follow after them, or to do something about those behind them. Since he wasn't the kind of person to leave annoyances to be her moved to the back of the group quickly, still with his cloak active. He knew that this would only do so much, but in the narrow hallway where there was hardly enough room for so many armors, he made the choice to fire 10 of his offensive missiles down the hall at the advancing group to keep them on their toes. He didn't stick around though and followed after the others onward.

Admittedly, Stenos's plan of attack was slightly more likely to succeed than Terrence's previous charge similar to the other marine's, except that he was willing to whack a Militant with the handle of his revolver rather than take a Greatsword to it. Speaking of which: "Who the fuck carries around a sword into combat!?" Terrence screamed in his head. He was about to raise his own LASR when Ylfa shouted for a quick take-down of one of the Daisies. He instinctively reached for the mini-missile launcher, but his eyes widened when he suddenly flashed back to when he had flown out of the armory... "MAKE A HOOOOLE!!!" The colonist shouted as he went flying forward thanks to the Daisy's innate ability at catapulting him at people. "Who the flaming fuck gets thrown at the enemy this fuckin' much!?" Regardless, the marine managed to think fast, as he quickly diverted his flight path towards the target Daisy and unsheathed his Flipblade, ready to strike like a majestic fucking eagle!

Tatianna spun around when she heard the cry for flanking. She fired two gauss rounds into the one of the phantom armors. "Where hell are we planning on going now?" She asked to no one in particular. She fired off a good 2/3rds of her rifle clip in an attempt to slow down the armors even a bit.

Max couldn't believe how poorly the new guys were handling themselves. Blatantly disobeying orders and nearly getting themselves killed. He wondered if they were ever this bad... Still they were his squad mates and he had a duty to protect them. The marine jetted forward raising his guass cannon and rifle towards daisy that was still active. Of course he would have to angle for a shot that wouldn't get one of his squadmates shot. "Stay out of the line of fire guys!" he said as he maneuvered for a shot hoping to end this quickly..

Takahiro watched in dismay as more of those nightmarish Daisies lumbered toward them.
"Goddamn, those things are creepy," he muttered, "But bullets kill 'em like anything else."
Despite his brave words, Takahiro was not feeling very brave at the moment. Though he was not a superstitious man, it was hard for him to believe that it was an AI that was controlling these suits of armor. Seeing their grotesque, twitching movements and hearing the ominous metallic clank of their footsteps as they approached, like the toll of a bell signalling their impending doom, made him wonder if there was not some more sinister force at work, some unknowable and horrifying evil that lurked within those cold shells. It sent a chill down his spine just thinking about it.
Well, whatever the hell's controlling them... you still got your bullets, he thought.
With that in mind, Takahiro took aim with his 50mm, ready to suppress the approaching horde while the others took down the last Daisy in their way.

The lone enemy Daisy in their way was still firing at Kelly, but the moment Quentin made his charge, its aim shifted. As bolts of energy splashed against his barriers, the Marine flew forward, a cohesive blade of pure white energy bursting to life from his wrist mid-slash. Cleaving through energy shields and armor, its head and right arm came tumbling away just as spurts of synthetic blood and char splashed across the walls. Shields depleted, he landed on the ground behind the lone enemy in front of them with cocky style.

But it didn't stop firing.

Decapitated, it still turned its wrist-gun Mark as he let loose with his own barrage. Sparks flew as it was riddled with rifle rounds, its chest crumpling inwards as the Marine's shoulder-cannon shook with recoil. Knocked back, a line of holes were melted into the ceiling as it kept on firing. The headless Daisy's thrusters fired to stabilize, just as Terrance barreled in before anyone else could follow up. Metal against metal, sparks showered from the blow as his blade stabbed through the weakened chest, only to embed itself in the back-plate of the empty suit. Its single arm groping for his face, globules of gore splashed across his helmet as Max closed in and delivered a pair of blasts with his plasma rifle. The shots vaporized, melted and boiled away armor plate and synthetic flesh as the glare crackled across Terrance's shields, but the enemy suit finally went limp.

Behind them, Tatiana opened up on the approaching horde. As the massed fire raked her energy barriers, she hosed down one of the oncoming enemies with her rifle, bursting its energy shields before following up with her cannon. The massive round smashed into its chestplate and threw it into the crowd behind, but their advance propped it up before a second burst from her rifle put it down for good. Her next cannon shell punched through the barriers of a second and flattened itself on its chest, but Takahiro's follow up round burst its defenses. His second shot smashed through its armor and punched through its thinner back-plate, destroying the contents of its pack. But more seemed to come shambling out of the woodwork. Moving to the rear, Richard let loose nearly a dozen of his mini-missiles, the explosions blossoming over the horde as the smoke blocked their view. The three weren't unscathed, their energy barriers taking the hits, but Ylfa was already leading the squad on.

"Take a left, where that last one came from! There's a small atrium down the hall!" she shouted over the comms. Grabbing Stenos and pulling him up to his feet, she quickly helped Terrance yank his blade out of the decapitated Daisy with a few good kicks before making her way and taking off. True to her words, the squad found themselves running down a much larger corridor, the side halls offering glimpses of shambling green and even periwinkle. With their thrusters, they quickly cleared it and landed in a small atrium where several elevator lifts were located. Here, it opened up into a large room with another pair of large hallways to the left and right. Glancing down them, they could see that they curved ever so slightly with the station. But that wasn't the main attraction; there was a single large cherry blossom tree in the middle! Planted in a raised bed high enough to easily sit on, they could easily keep their heads down, and several other raised beds with flowers an fountains off to the sides offered protection as well. "Quick, take cover at the other side of that tree and watch the flanks. Make sure to reload if you need to," Ylfa instructed them. "We're skipping the stairs - Quentin, cut through one of the doors and make us a path up and out!"

With only a few moments to catch their breath, they could already feel the oncoming horde.

Rachael had been abnormally silent the entire time focusing on fighting and trying hard to protect her team-mates and not wind up dying. However when Ylfa began moving, so did she, she turned and began following the squad. She kept firing upon the horde as they followed however, a majority of the shots were blind shots though with the hope that it'll hit. She jumped with the others and landed in the Atrium in a slight kneel before standing, she checked over her weaponry and reloaded before taking a breath.

"Bloody fucking hell..."

Was all she said finally speaking up towards the group. "Persistent fuckers..." She put her back against the tree for the moment to rest before following Ylfa's order to get to the other side of the tree and take cover. She decided to kneel and raise her weapon to eye level so that she had more of a balance, as well as less shaking of the gun to even out her aiming. "Just another day in the fucking NSMC...HooRah mother fuckers." She muttered to no one in particular, but over the radio.

After firing his missiles Richard was quick to follow after the rest of the team, he didn't think there was much reason to check if they were dead, right now wasn't the time to bother with cleaning up each individual. When they arrived at the atrium he looked around rather surprised but quickly moved into cover like instructed. He didn't need to reload but he checked his weapon to make sure it wasn't jammed. "I haven't seen any more cats in armor, you think they all got taken out before they had a chance to get suited up?"

Terrence had stared at the Daisy suit when it stopped moving, a bewildered expression on his face under the helmet. Slowly, it turned into a grin. "Holy shit!" When Ylfa assisted him with removing his blade, the young marine couldn't help but share his excitement. "Did you see that!? I was like a majestic fuckin' eagle!" However, the glee at apparently doing something useful despite being abruptly thrown at the enemy disappeared when he remembered that there was a large group of hostiles coming down around the Marines' ears. He followed Ylfa out of the enemy force's path of assault, opting not to risk being catapulted at the enemy. Upon the group's arrival in the atrium, Terrence took cover behind a flower platform on the right flank, near the front of the marines' defensive position. "We're in Daisies, that's kinda weird, 'specially for us." The colonist proceeded to work on cleaning his helmet of the gore he received from that automated Daisy earlier, suddenly losing the appetite he didn't realize he had. "There's no way they wiped the whole station, I'm sure there are some Nekoes holdin' out in other parts of this place."

Quentin had to admit, cutting somone down with a blade was a pretty satisfying feeling, albiet one somone lessened by the failure to actually kill it. Lesson learned, aim for the chest, or more accurately, the reactor pack in the back.

As he ran just ahead of the others, he only had the empty hallway infront of him, the instructions from Yifa, and the various noises he could hear within his suit for stimuli. It was somewhat unnerving, especially when combined with the knowledge there was a horde of possesed daisy suits on their trail.

Upon arriving to the place Yifa specified, Quentin took a moment to admire the cherry blossom. not so much the tree itself but the fact that it was there, it probably took a lot of time and effort to design something to support the thing. He wondered for a moment on how being in a vacuum would affect it before hearing the Sargent's order to cut a door. The ebony giant's fingers twitched for his explosives before remembering the aether blades, 'cut' was often synonymous with 'blow it up' to him.

Obeying wordlessly, he holstered the LASR and picked a door at random, releasing both aether blades, And beginging the task of cutting the entire door off the lift. It would only take a few moments judging be how quick the daisy was cut in half with a blade, but they may not have enough moments to spare. He made a resolution that he would reload as soon as there wasn't an enemy he needed to be shooting at, or a door that didn't need removing. "Lets hope those guys are slow as they look." He said over the comms as he worked.

Takahiro quickly took a position behind the cherry blossom tree bed in the center of the room, reloading his 50mm wordlessly and trying to steady his breathing. His heart pounded in his chest like a jackhammer, and cold beads of sweat trickled down his brow.
Damn, that was too fucking close, he thought, slowly calming down, But it's not over yet.
The horde was approaching. There was no way to avoid a confrontation now. Those metal bastards were close on their heels, and soon they'd be swarming into the room like bees. The image sent a wave of fear down his spine, but he shook it off, annoyed with his own trepidation.
We're all gonna make it through this, as long as we all keep our cool. What's so scary about these things, anyway? They're just empty suits of armor. Nothin' to be scared of. We're all gonna be okay.
This line of thought reminded him of something.
"Stenos!" he said over the comms, aiming his 50mm at the door they came in through, "How you holding up, man? You all right?"

Stumbling and short of breath, Stenos' adrenaline rush was wearing down, though the rage remained. The comms were still scrambled from the damage his suit had taken, so he simply looked around and followed whoever was in a safe position--in this case, Takahiro. He sheathed his greatsword on his back and viewed the gauss cannon on his shoulder. Though it was a weapon he hadn't used before, one lingering glance at the weapon made him aware of its function. He knelt down beside Takahiro, barely making out his message and nodded in response before standing up and readying his cannon, aching to see the rounds punch through a Daisy.

Running after the other marines Mark took stock of the situation. Besides the remotely controlled daisy horde coming from them everything seemed to be going just swimmingly. "This isn't so bad after all, we could be fighting squids, giant ugly ass crabs, and crazed nekos," he said moving into cover behind one of the flower beds and reloading his weapons. "Now if only I had brought explosives to detonate the hall on our way out of here,"

Tatiana shrugged at Desmond's comments. "Why does it matter where the cats are? Let's just get the hell out before we get overwhelmed. C'mon majestic fucking eagle how about you and tall dark and pissy slice us a pretty little path off this freaky neko shit hole." She reloaded her guns and pointed her 50 at the door just as Takihiro had done.