Away Team, detached party: Orlan
Orlan met relatively little resistance as he moved towards the landing pad where he and the rest of the away team had made their insertion. For a time, no one talked as the bulky blue power armor clanked through the halls with the two infantrymen in tow, their footfalls much quieter in comparison though by no means silent. The clank of metal on metal and the dull thud of the combat boots of the non-power-armored infantry was all that Orlan could hear aside from his own breathing.
As he approached the rally marker, he was able to see the relative location of the main team from his Thunderwave’s HUD. They were definitely approaching but not from the direction that he might have assumed; instead the main group was moving towards him from off to the side.
Orlan wouldn’t have much time to ponder this development though, as the construct that he had encountered previously could be heard making its way down the corridor that he’d come from, and a power signature similar to that of the construct could be seen approaching from the route that the group had first taken upon entering the station. The mercenary had only a few moments before the constructs would be upon him, but fortunately there were numerous boxes and objects that might serve as cover in the area. Hearing the oncoming threats, the two infantrymen looked to Orlan for instruction.
Away Team: Sara, Taro
As the group of soldiers and prisoners made their way towards the cargo bay they had several other close calls with constructs. With nothing to go on, it wasn’t clear whether or not they were running into the same one multiple times or if there were many different constructs roaming the station by this point. The tactic that the group had used earlier seemed to work well enough, simple cover seeming to deter the interest of the enigmatic machines. Either they were unable to detect the group or they simply had no interest in them for some reason.
As they finally made it to the entrance to the cargo bay they were met with a door that didn’t open automatically for them, seemingly locked. Maren, the pirate matriarch, gave an annoyed growl as she tapped her food while an NDC soldier struggled with the door before finally snapping “Oh just let me. I would have figured you conclave types to have a way to bust that down,” as she shouldered her way to the door despite her restrained hands, placing an eye up to a device which scanned her quickly before unlocking the door.
As the group filtered into the cargo bay, they found it surprisingly empty… and free of gravity. The pirates seemed unfazed by this, suggesting that it was left that way on purpose, but it took a moment of fumbling for some of the green infantrymen to activate their magboots and latch onto a surface. At Sara’s suggestion to use electrical weaponry one of the members of the away team, a heavy weapons specialist by the name of Rourke, spoke up. “It’s not exactly electric, but do you figure my Avenger might do the trick?” he asked, hefting the plasma rifle to present it to Sara, just as another construct rounded the corner to of the corridor at the other end of the cargo bay.
Alpha Lance: V115, Arye, Mikael
As Mikael fired off his sensor disrupting missiles they were sent spiraling away from the target the same as the offensive missiles, however, that didn’t stop them from accomplishing their mission. As the cyan-tipped missiles were sent off-target, they released their payload of volumetric decoys, false-mindies and sensor signatures to match them flooded the space around the construct, causing it to pause and change course to investigate them. His sensor missiles didn’t reveal much about the construct itself, other than recording that there was some kind of signal that emanated from their target and that it was disrupting their guidance computers. Perhaps with time and the work of experts a counter to this could have been found, but Mikael didn’t have that now.
Ayre’s efforts in information gathering were somewhat less successful, her Starbreaker poorly equipped to conduct a material analysis of the unknown craft as it whirled in place, seeming to be confused by the false targets projected by the misdirection missiles for a moment before settling in to face her. Perhaps her decision not to fire had caused the internal logic of the enemy machine to decide that she was more vulnerable than her comrades. Nevertheless, as the enemy construct approached her the starbreaker’s onboard sensors collected targeting data which was fed to the rest of the lance.
As Ayre evaded, V115’s and Mikael’s shots began to land. While Mikael’s plasma cannon and railgun fire chewed away at the main body of the craft, it seemed to turn again, switching to face him as Ayre escaped safely from the construct’s attack. And just as it seemed like the machine would make a move on Mikael, one that he might not have survived, V115’s attack hit it from behind. The electric blue beam of an inverse fold wave pierced through the enigmatic machine for a moment, slicing slightly as the relative positions of target and attacker shifted, before fading out and leaving a sparking gash that one could have seen cleanly through if one were so inclined.
The main body seemed to tumble away from the various sub-structures, and all three pilots could hear cheering coming over their comms channel from the bridge.
