RP [Operation La Prossima]Mission 1: Ipnotizzatore della Discarica

[Rizzo]

Odori Settlement
The barrel of the Odori's deck gun plowed though the sand towards the last truck in the convoy. Without even the attempt to swerve a blinding white light streaked out and enveloped the last truck in a deafening blast that splashed over the middle truck and left nothing more than a crater where the other truck used to be. The two remaining trucks continued towards the entrance of the walls in a staggered formation with their heavy machine guns tapping out a steady rhythm of death.
Shots glanced off of the hood of their trucks from the snipers with one hitting the driver of the lead truck who hardly flinched as it struck his heavy chest armor, but his hand rose to stuff a cloth into the newly formed hole. The machine guns kept their pace of firing as the trucks rapidly approached. The marksmen rose from their perch and turned to take cover behind the wall, the taller of the two pulling the other to safety only for his chest to erupt into a spray of gore as a 35mm slug struck him from behind scattering bits of flesh over the men hiding below.

"Noo!" Griff cried as he raised his right arm and fired a volley of bluish white streaks from his plasma gun. A shot glanced off of the shields of the second trucks mounted gunner, transferring heat into his arm which the gunner shook his arm wildly as it burned his flesh and responded with more gunfire, to which Griff dove out of the way. Plumes of sand puffed from the sand where he'd been standing as the huge rounds made impact.


Odori Bridge
Scrambling out of the access panel, Thorn slammed her transponder cable into the tactical display to look for anything this old Odori still had to defend itself. Shields, comm, anything. She knew she had a developer copy of IIS's OSMSP, that she could load and if this beast had a working comm array of the right type, then she had a weapon. But alas, no luck. This ship had everything of value taken or disabled before being dumped here. And now, she did the only thing she could. She started running for the shuttle to retrieve the requested sword, and perhaps offer better fire support from a more heavily armed vessel.
Getting outside took her all of a few seconds, and another thirty seconds to cross the gap between the ship and she shuttle. She arrived at the weapons locker` windecanf the spooling turbine in her chest barely keeping up with her demand for oxygen. But she still hurled it open, pulling...

"He didn't say the damn sword was bigger than me! Fine...". So she leaned into the weight, half carrying, half dragging the sword out to the loading ramp and unceremoniously dropping it there as she saw Miko soar overhead in his armor. "Sword's outside on--" the sheathed sword instantly shot off like a missile towards Zerza.

"That fucking thing can fly?!" The takeoff took her by surprise, but she didn't have time to stick around. The locals needed support. She turned to run to the Shoebox's bridge and go through the shuttle's weapons as she brought the comms and targeting arrays online. "Good morning, friendlies, I'll be your intrusive thoughts today, I'm painting targets and will provide fire support where possible. Sorry about the mess."


Zerza Spaceport

Expressions of horror spread as the crowd split, pushing away from the scene only to be landlocked by their fellow market goers. The bearded man struggled as he dangled by the neck choking out his indignation, "unhand me- fiend! He-help!" Barone walked casually to a recently abandoned food cart taking a kebab of unknown meat off of the grill that looked close enough to ready and leaned against the cart and watched. Glancing to Dokusei he mouthed the words, "do science stuff" as he pointed to Brandt.

Victor Brandt threw the man down and demanded in the coolest of ways, "you will come with me and give me all of your possessions, then you will be my personal pilot." The aged man spat at him, "I don't work with thugs like you," with exertion he rose to his feet defiantly, "I've heard of you. These people might fear you but you'll never scare me!" With the speed of a long time gunslinger the bearded man drew his SiZi Model 30 plasma revolver and fired, the plasma bolt scattering over Victor's body harmlessly. He fired again to no avail as Victor held his arms outstretched mockingly. The bearded man pressed the barrel against Victors forehead as who willingly bowed to his level to accommodate their difference in height. The man roared a shout and fired again, this time his barrel bursting from the pressure buildup.

"Are you done yet? Because I am!" The Hypnotist yelled as he held his gold trimmed staff over the man. The gem glowed a bright green beam of light over the man's face who visibly entered a trance as he stared up intensely into the light, dropping the ruined pistol. "You WILL come with me and give me all of your possesions," he demanded loudly as the beam intensified, "then you WILL be my personal pilot!" The staff flashed a final time as the man screamed in pain, dropping to his knees, shaking.

The bearded man looked back up to Victor, "I- I believe I need to give you some things, yes? I will fly you when you are ready, sir," he stated submissively standing up, slowly, and standing next to him. "You see? Isn't it better when everyone just does what they're told?" Victor looked over the crowd who now found themselves being pushed toward the middle be power armored figures with various rifles and projections of Victor's face over their helmets, "I can do this to any one, any time, but I only wish to take on so many dependants so I'll do the humane thing and simply shoot anyone else that wants to resist. And now... Please hand over all of your valuables to the men with bags. Come along pilot!"

Men with large bags began to move through the crowd as Victor departed, their faces similarly covered by holographic projections of Victor. They worked fast looting the civilians until they worked their way to Barone who simply held up his arms as the men stole his belongings. His communicator, HHG, and NSP all went into the bag along with the half eaten kabab he voluntarily dropped in, earning him a slap in the face.. just long enough to send a final message to Thorn, 'track my communicator.'

Barone nodded reassuringly to Dokusei as the thugs approached her, gesturing an OK and making a sweeping motion with his wrist.

 

[Miko]

Miko cussed under his breath at the sight of non armor in the area. His weapon of choice was an Aether Beam Saber-Rifle which would be bad for those unarmored health. He'd have to rely on his armors stealth and distraction of his wing pack to get him close. Miko did his best to put distance between himself and his weapon he was about to use. Everything went still for a moment as Miko looked down the scope of his weapon. The aether round made no sound as it left the barrel. The super heated air however cracked as it traveled down range towards the front truck. Miko's round punch the driver square in the head. He did not know if it was a killing shot but for sure that driving was having a real bad day.

Before the round even had hit, Miko was on the move. His squad of four drones were busy keeping the other truck busy. Three of the drones had landed solid hits, with one being a direct hit on the gunner. For the moment all of them had done well to dodge the return fire. As only one took a grazing shot from the exchange.

 

[Rizzo]

Odori Settlement
The second truck evaporated as Miko's four drones opened up with purple streaks of aetheric gunfire, addling the truck into a tumbling ball of scrap metal, slag streaming in every direction as it rolled. All hands were lost except for the gunner who's chest was now blackened from the aether shot, his jump resembling a superhero as he'd ripped off the mounted gun and leapt, firing at Miko's number 3 drone. Sparks flew as the 35mm slugs gutted the drone, turning it inside-out in a shower of debris. Landing on his feet the gunner fired another volley at Miko himself, the slugs grazing his shield as he rolled hard to evade.

Looking back to see his allied truck destroyed the lead gunner immediately addressed the new threat. Shouting to the driver he realized the volleyball sized hole in the man's chest and bailed, machinegun coming with him as he leapt from the back and slid through the dust, sending a stream of armor piercing shells downrange as the barrel began to glow red while the abandoned truck rolled through the entrance and crashed into a junk pile.

Miko rolled back the other direction only to be greeted by a slug into his helmet, his shields bursting into a shower of sparks as they rejected the mighty projectile. Falling onto the flat of his back Miko had blacked out for a mere moment, waking on the ground with contusions from the back of his head to his heels. A world of hurt, but still alive to tell the tale of what it's like to be a human skeet.

Two of the defending militia who'd had needed to take cover from the heat of the aether rushed to his side as he laid spread out.

Shoebox Bridge
"Miko, sorry about your cooking, you want me to stir the pot? Well how about this one. I'm reading shields on those power armors, your rifle should spall off the shield and splash the guys around it, I'm trying to get weapons online."

She found herself blocked again and again with 'access denied' messages of uploading her programs and accessing weapons. "Goddamn it, I was authorized five minutes ago! You got five seconds before I shove a Geist in your port ass, you little piece of shit!"

She did find one system that she had access to, the engines, and as she fired that system up, she found other systems clearing their errors. "Alright, looks like I got you folks some air support, who wants what to go away? Griff, you read me?"

"I read ya' kid," he yelled as he fired another volley of plasma bolts, "kill the gunners! Kill the gunners!"

"I got... Fuck it, I'm using the point defense!" Thorn's Geist transponder plugged into the gun controls as she slaved the fire control across the Geist, and into the orbital support as her ships pushed the flow of sensor data to the the open channel. Engines and alarms screamed and flared as she lifted off with the door open, popup guns deploying to lock targets. "Fuck these guys in particular, locking targets! And I'm nearly thirty! Like next goddamn week!"

As the shuttle flew recklessly overhead, the four turrets with a view below opened fire, plasma scorching the sand into glassy plumes as Thorn strafed the desert. The gunners leapt to the ground to avoid the fire, with the second gunner just a little too slow. The rapid firing cannon perforated his back, the man falling to his knees, arms outstretched as his cries of agony echoed over the vocalizer of his helmet. Taking up his machinegun again the armored man rose heavily to his feet, holding a hand to the side of his helmet.

Zerza Spaceport

Dokusei had been on the verge of taking action when Barone's unspoken orders were received. A singular eyebrow cocked upwards as if she thought he might have lost his mind. Nonetheless, she figured there was some purpose or reasoning behind the directions he supplied. As such, she began doing the alleged sciency stuff, awaiting the results with baited breath. When the mission lead suggested surrender of her equipment she staunchly refused, not letting one bit go to the thug who now had a hand firmly grasping her science scanner.

"You got guts.. don't be a hero," the man threatened as a another in power armor stepped behind her with audible thudding. Dokusei glared at the man in front of her with a deathstare that could cut steel. "Not on your life," she growled, shoving the man suddenly and spinning behind to face the PA ganger behind herself, NSP in hand. A three-round burst sparkled across the armor's shields, the operator flinching reflexively though unharmed. Dokusei seized his moment of hesitation to throw a roundhouse kick at the unarmored thug behind her, only instead of the satisfying sensation of her heel striking the flesh of his nose she felt only wind as the empty space the man should have been came into view.

'No,' she thought a moment before her vision went black, ears ringing, pain searing trough her very brain. Her vision would fade in and out of the man rifling through her belongings taking everything, bag included. 'Get up, get up, GET UP!' her mind begged, willing her body to action but to no avail as her hand reached towards the thug. The faint sound of a shout was undiscernable as his mettalic, cybernetic arm descended across her face once more leaving her unconscious.

As the thugs cleared out of the square the people in the square became agitated. A mottled mix of shouting, crying, and a token effort to follow the armed men began but to no avail as they began disappearing into the very air.

"Hey, wake up," Dokusei heard faintly, the second time hearing clearer as her vision faded back in, blurred but revealing the silhouette of a man over her and her fist instinctively punched for his face. Her vision cleared to see Barone grasping her fist, his cavalier response, "you're pretty spunky for a nerd. Get up, we got work to do." Standing from his kneeled position he pulled Dokusei to her feet by her fist. She cradled the right side of her swollen face where the thug her landed his punch right in the temple of her head. Her brain pounded with every heartbeat and the 'room' was still spinning like a top.

"It's strange, they took that guys broken revolver. Why would they steal that, it was completely melted," Barone stated as he stepped towards the spot where the trader had been abducted. "Strange?!" Dokusei shouted as she approached Barone furiously. Her fists balled as she cast her gaze toward Barone. "They stole Star Army weapons and equipment, and you're thinking about a broken pistol!" she scolded him, then yelled, "and you just gave it to them- everything! What is wrong with you? How could you just stand there and let them do this?!"

Barone smiled coyly, turning back to face his angered colleague and replied, "simple answer, I'm actually a fairly lazy person. While you beat your head against impossible odds just now trying to protect shit that don't matter I chose to let them do my job for me. You should see yourself right now, all worked up about our target falling on his own sword.. not every battle must be won in order to win the war." Barone began walking past her. She caught up to him and grabbed his arm, "you just gave hardened criminals your NSP. What do you think they'll do with it?!"

His gaze caught hers, a certain seriousness in his voice, "nothing they aren't doing already." His shift in tone caught her off guard and she released his arm as the heisho continued, "do you think I can't track my own communicator? Mark my words, Shoi. This is the last mistake these criminals will ever make. Now I asked for science stuff earlier. Did you get anything?"

"Yes." she said in a quiet professional tone, "there were minimal energy emissions generated during the entire scenario. One bit that stood out was that the gunfire did not generate the heat that one would anticipate from a plasma weapon. No electromagnetic field was detected around Brandt, this could indicate that he did not have a shield around his being. Although, his staff did produce readings reminiscent of a graviton projector."

"A graviton projector?" he asked incredulously, then quickly asked, "you know what that means?"
Dokusei blinked slowly, "No. Do you?"
"Nope," he answered, "I was hoping you knew. I guess we'll just have to find out later. I could've sworn there'd be more energy readings from something that flashy." A certain sound came in the distance causing him to cast his gaze skyward. Taking a step back he reached out and caught the projectile, an audible slap sounding as the 1.4 meter sword connected with the skin of his hand. His face winced in pain for a moment as he tried too hard to look cool. "This is our ride back," he said taking the side with the handle, "I figure a Neko could handle this," he said offering the saya side to Dokusei, "Hang on, it does something like 500 an hour."

The small wince of pain was not lost on her, though also not much of note at the moment given the grand scheme of things. However, once their return vehicle was identified as the flying sword she tilted her head slightly in apprehension as she accepted the saya side with caution, gripping onto it for dear life. "Are you going to be able to make it back this way?" she asked out of authentic concern.

The odd man shrugged, "I hope so!" The sword rose into the air carrying them in a shaky lift their innate gravity manipulation could keep up with before accelerating to eye-watering speeds as they sped towards the Odori settlement.


Odori Settlement
"Weapons are in the shuttle," he stated, then watched the ship fly off, "Oh.. Okay, we do this without armor. Hold up a minute. "His sword detatched from the sheath which slowly descended as Barone carried forward, grasping the hit two-handed. Below him Valla engaged the last standing PA wit a borrowed GP-1, its age not slowing the old assault rifle a bit as it sent bullet after bullet until the break locked open, it's magazine empty. The power armored ganger raised his machinegun her way and took aim, only noticing as it was too late that death truly could come from above.

The spark and crackling of failing shield flashed as a dark blade sheathed in neon blue speared the man's chest and pinned him to the ground, impaled to the pommel by a man wearing a red shirt adorned with white flowers. Barone stepped back as he pried the mighty blade from the man's chest, it's inactive blade now a soul eating black. Griff came to his side, his heavy breathing audible on the tinny old helmet speaker. "Wait, there's another!"

Barone placed a hand on his arm mounted plasma cannon, his skin hissing as it touched a weapon with a horrid cooling system. Maintaining his composure, and removing his hand from the super heated metal, he replied, "No need to worry, there's more blood on his suit than in his body. I might have need of him later." In the near distance the 35mm machinegun fired again wildly only for the man to drop it for good this time as he began crawling in despair. "Who's that guy, anyway?"

Griff shook his head angrily, "you people are government types, you should already know thi-" Taking a step back he gestured in a manner suggesting he needed to cool down and removed his helmet. "I'm sorry. This was all very sudden. Your people just saved us from the same crooks that chased us from our homestead. They're Vicktor's men and I have no idea what they were here for," the big man reported, still worked up on adrenaline, "I need to see to my men.. we lost a man." Barone nodded as Griff left and waved over Katerina.

"This clearly wasn't a coincidence, sir," Valla stated, "Emma Brant shows up here and they're suddenly under attack. And by the looks of it they weren't looking for much of a fight.. They're going to find out what happened here."

"Fortunately they stole my communicator." Barone winked.
A devious smile curled across Valla's lips, "oldest trick in the book. I'll go secure our hostage." Her casual gait in the wounded man's direction clashed against the assembly of Griff's men rushing out to assault the soon-to-be prisoner. The memory of watching their friend become red mist had clearly instigated a frenzy that was hardly Katerina's problem. Nor Barone's. Seeing the Shuttle in the distance Initzio waved then pointed at the ground. Thorn would know what to do.