RP: SFS Service to the Free State: Glorified Border Guards

Max was in motion the instant shots were fired, his armor flickering back out of site, and taking him with it along the way as he dove into the bay full of cargo instead of back into a bulkhead, planning on using some of that cargo to cover himself. After all, it seemed a bit less likely they'd shoot at their cargo than a bulkhead designed to withstand impacts, and that was assuming they could track him at all. Plus, the bulkhead had already been considerably perforated, implying that it probably wasn't the best option when it came to cover. He toggled his suit's sensor bafflers on for short range usage as he continued to move, staying low and moving as quickly as he could while keeping his noise down.

His pistol, having appeared in his hand at some point during his sudden flight, rose to level in front of him, rock steady, just in case someone decided to come looking for him. After all, they'd only been told that they should avoid killing the crew if possible; Laura couldn't possibly object to him eliminating a few kneecaps as he deemed needed, right? Especially since they shot first.

It was such a nice way to start her career as a squad leader. A baptism of blood and fire. A second bridge crewmember tried to pull a gun on her and Laura let him have a face full of buck and ball too. The ball had slammed into his console but the buckshot tore into his left arm, knocking the idiot over. Laura fired again to be sure he was no longer a threat and to reinforce her position on the bridge as the one with the smoking gun.

"Medic to the bridge!" Laura repeated the call for aid.

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Team 2

Phase's plan started well. As the drones zipped around the engine room, several shooters stopped to assess whether the drones were a threat and if they were easier targets.

The break in the firing that provided made Eli's shots easier. However, the precious time he had spent switching off his safety meant that the momentary lapse in concentration passed and shots began to ring out again, ricocheting off the console and the deck around him.

When he fired on full auto, the recoil was more than he had accounted for given his awkward position. All of his shots missed and worse, seemed to have alerted the enemy to his attempts. Beside him, Eli saw Arc peek over and suddenly fall backwards as a bullet struck his helmet and knock him onto his back.

Before he could do more, Phase charged past him and towards the ID-SOL engineering chief who deftly side-stepped. The perks of being a genetically engineered soldier meant that he wasn't just muscular, it meant that he had a better than average reflexive response and penchant for analytic skills. Combined with years of experience as a merchant sailor/smuggler and a decent education, the man before Phase was someone who had been in many a scrap before and survived to work his way up to chief engineer.

He drew a VBCS knife from a boot holster and flashed it at Phase, daring the Spacer to try it again. By unspoken consent, none of the other sailors shot at Phase, concentrating on making sure that Elijah and Arc stayed where they were.

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Team 3

The loud whoosh of buckshot tore the leading two men apart with gruesome results. Blood and guts spilled onto the deck and were trampled on by the rushing men behind. Eir gunned down a third clinically and a fourth shrieked and spasmed uncontrollably from Keid's taser. But before the others could do more, Bernhard fired the PPG and knocked over the remaining four Nepleslians. The Raider's pulse laser array fired at and destroyed each of the plasma cutters, which they had dropped.

"Secure them and help the guys in Engineering. I'm heading for the bridge!" Bernhard ordered Eir and Keid.

As Bernhard moved, he heard gunshots coming from the port cargo hold. He moved quicker and saw Kass spring out of the hatch. "Corporal Nelson, do you need help?" he asked, hoping she would say no and allow him to move to the bridge. At the same time, his role was to be fire support and medic and he could easily overwhelm whoever was inside the cargo hold. Laura had never specified which role took priority - a point he would have to clarify with her after this mission.

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Team 4

After Linda fired, Kass sprang back towards the hatch. The men didn't really dodge as none of the rounds came close to them. Max, however, felt one ricochet off his shoulder as he moved. The kinetic force caused him to misstep and roll, preventing him from taking a shot at one of the assailants. In that short moment for his recovery, the man spun to bring his shotgun to bear but couldn't tell what had caused the commotion. He advanced more cautiously, looking for Max who had moved behind a cargo crate 2 meters high. The other blasted away at Kass and Linda, not really caring about the holes in the bulkheads that he was creating.

Team 4

Linda was hoping that they would not be so well trained and would panic, but it seems like these 'merchants' knew their way around a fight. The IPG Operator did not just stand around though, and quickly moved to find cover within the room and get behind it since the bulkhead was being blown apart. Before she could make her move she heard Bernhard speak and just sighted. "Go handle the bridge. This is not a problem!" There was noticeable agitation in her voice but it did not seem like she was panicking.

As she spoke she leaned out from behind her cover and started to fire, however not at their obviously armored torsos, she would aim for the legs first, focusing on the two that were firing on her and Kass. "You idiots should've just surrendered. Shooting at IPG personnel is punishable with death." Her rifle was set to burst to keep efficiency, but she did not give the two men an easy time, throwing several burst of shots their way, aiming for their arms after she was satisfied with the damage she did to their legs.

Phase knew one thing to apply to the situation. They could keep going. Fleshbags cannot.

They went straight in with a full body charge, the short distance between the two making it much more difficult for the man to simply side-step like he did before. Their arms swung in from a low diagonal towards his chest, in an attempt to bear-hug him under his arms or so it would seem.

If either hand made contact with nepleslian flesh (hopefully of the limb-variety), the obvious conclusion would be to latch, boil, and tear off. Not that the engineer would see the heat coming.

Meanwhile, the front two "pleats" of Phase's skirt flipped outwards and pointed at the ID-Sol's midsection, aiming at the kidneys. Two hisses emitted from each one, firing bolts made for piercing girders at his body.

Team 3, Crew Quarters.

For a moment the world felt in slow motion. She could watch the tiny pellets of buckshot eviscerate her targets, their skin and clothing being about as protective as rice paper would have been. The following shot from her rifle was just as effective on the third of the four poor bastards that would go down.

After watching Keid's display, she couldn't help but think that maybe hers had been the lucky ones. She hoped that the remaining sailors that where so unceremoniously knocked flat on their asses felt the same way. The coppery smell of blood and gunpowder ruled her senses for a brief moment, then the Chief gave his order. She wasn't one to mince words in the middle of a mission. “Understood.”

Eir spoke up a bit louder for the downed sailors to hear. “Warmonger Keid.” Sometimes there was power in a name. “Keep these men suppressed. I am sure you know what to do if they try to test you.” Again for their benefit she pointedly looked towards the man the 'spacer had already downed, before she started to make her way to Engineering.

After the first few jogging steps her hand pulled a scalar grenade from the gravity shield on her golem, setting it to stun. The closer she got, the louder the distinct sounds of gunfire rang out. She flattened herself up against the ride side of the entrance way to the room. With deep breath, she very quickly looked into the room, her head just edging in long enough to get a feel for the situation inside before pulling back.

She quickly checked her HUD to make sure her com system was set to a military channel before speaking quietly enough just for her mic to pick her up. “Team 2, stun grenade coming in 6. Let's make them pay.” She set the grenade to a 3-second fuse and started counting, 3 seconds for the marines to get ready before she tossed it in, a second in the air, and less then two for her enemies to react.

Eli scrabbled back into his small slice of safety - luckily he did to, the heat his abortive attempt to return fire had generated had been quite heavy indeed. A brief hail of shots turned the space he'd formerly occupied into something resembling a scale model of a lunar landscape.

He was pinned, and pinned hard. Every attempt he made to look out from his cover was met with a fresh burst of enthusiastic suppression fire - literally everyone who was not the ID-SOL fighting Phase had murder on their minds for the two marines desperately clinging to this godforsaken engineering console. Eli thought he could hear someone in his earpiece speaking, but it was very quiet - between the automatic gun blasts and bullets ringing off every hard metallic surface, it was impossible to hear anything.

He decided to reload his gun, unsure of the amount of good he could do in his position - then he saw a grenade fly in the space from the engineering deck's main entrance. The sight was bowel-loosening - had they come up behind them already? However, the grenade landed in the throng of baddies - if the newcomer was hostile, they were criminally incompetent. More likely it was the marine backup Laura had requested for them.

Eli waited for the grenade to go off.

Rolling his shoulder and clamping down on a grunt of pain, Max continued his stealthy progress around pieces of cargo, still completely invisible. He could hear someone coming more or less in his direction, but couldn't tell exactly where the person was, so he kept his gun in close, just in case. As he came to another corner on the piece of cargo, he pivoted around the corner smoothly, bringing his pistol up, ready to fire if he found anyone on the other side.

Team 1

Bernhard kept moving, increasing his speed. He did the magnetic button on his medikit and stepped on the bridge.

"Good of you to turn up. Was wondering what was going on since no one's really reporting," Laura greeted him acidly. "You secure them, I'll deal with the casualty. Brief me as I work."

She took the medikit from his hip and knelt beside Violetta. The HHG round had glanced off her chestplate, knocking her back but she was unconscious from hitting her head against the bulkhead.

"Crew quarters secured. Got rushed by guys with plasma cutters. Engineering and port cargo hold are still resisting. Four confirmed dead so far. I think some of them are drugged up on something," Bernhard moved and started using plasticuffs to tie the prisoners on the bridge.

"I sent Private Smith to help Team 2 in Engineering. They seemed to be having more trouble."

"Harm'ny, tell me you've stopped the other two freighters."

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Engineering

The ID-SOL rolled away and to the side of Phase, dodging his hands but taking one of the bolts to his gut. He stood with the two ends of the bolt sticking out from him. Phase noted how he was redder in the skin now and breathing a little quicker but still looking for a fight.

"Tin cans should learn to fight like a man! Not rely on cheap tricks to save 'em! That's why they're weak and Yamatai's favorite fuck toy! Nothing but cheap tricks! Here's what a real man's got!" the ID-SOL taunted Phase before suddenly stepping inside Phase's range and throwing a punch at the Spacer. The single knock caused Phase to stagger backwards with a dent in his armor. But it also showed him how fast the ID-SOL was and how hard he could hit.

"That's just a taste, Tin Can! Dance, fucker, dance!"

The stun grenade Eir threw skittered behind him and a moment later, went off.

The ID-SOL staggered backwards, ears ringing from the concussion. Some of the other Nepleslians were similarly affected but two who had stayed in cover were less affected and able to return fire sporadically.

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Port Cargo Hold

As Linda moved, Kass followed, gun ready.

When Linda fired, the man went down and stayed as his companion fell back to take cover. Only as he did so, he exposed his back to Max who took the shot. The round blew out the man's left knee, toppling him and causing him to fire a spread of buckshot into the ceiling. Otherwise, both were neutralized.

"Guess 6.8mm beats Styrling Muur," Kass commented dryly, examining the dead man. "Shall I report to the Corporal?"

Port Cargo Hold

"Yes, send a report so they know we're done." She stepped out of her cover with her rifle still trained on them, she knew they were down but until she got closer she couldn't be sure they were properly restrained.

"Drop your weapons if you plan to continue living." She spoke up in as commanding a voice as the soft spoken woman could as she glared at the fallen men. She fired another warning burst, this time much closer to them to emphasize her point and then began to approach so that she could secure their weapons and restrain them.

Port Cargo Hold

Max deactivated his armor's camouflage, making his way over to the man he'd shot, and kicking the man's gun away from him before kneeling down to restrain him, and put at least some basic first aid on the man's leg. Wouldn't do to have him bleed out on the floor before they'd had a chance to question him after all, just in case. "Tell the corporal we may need her as a medic down here soon, too. I'm not incredibly confident in my ability to keep these guys in speaking condition."

Engineering

Eir pulled back into cover but a moment after the familiar weight of the grenade left her hand. 'Two... one,' she counted to herself. Right on time she heard the proper bang of her grenade going off and in one fluid motion she came from cover. Her weapon at ready, the second she had a proper target she was ready to pull the trigger.

Remaining pressed against the door frame to show as little of her profile as possible, she opened fire on the stunned sailors. She aimed to pick off the sailors who would be hardest for her fellow marines to fire at. A few clean kills might cause these sailors to give up their attempted rebellion. They could deal with the ID-sol with the knife after.

The first strategy in any half-decent rulebook on combat was to neutralize your opponents advantages as much as possible. Phase made a grab for his knife-wrist with one hand, the massive digits making for a decent area to capture with. Two more bolts were fired, this time at the ID-sol's feet. If that weren't enough, the other hand made for another hook at his head, this time with the intent to shatter his temples with an inordinate amount of mechanical force.

"You will not like my dancing. I have what you organics call. . . two left feet," The Freespacer uttered in the soft, feminine voice from before, offsetting the brutish appearance of their large bulk once more. "But I will attempt this tango."

With most of the Engineering crew incapacitated, Elijah could now take a proper shooting stance. He stood up, braced his gun against his shoulder and the sadly ruined engineering console, and looked for a target.

Of such, there were plenty - Eir's scalar grenade had left all but two sailors reeling and staggering. Unlike Eir, Eli (who had switched his gun from auto to semi-auto, lesson learned) aimed for the easy, obvious targets, giving every stunned sailor he could see double-taps. His goal was to murder them before they could return to cover and continue to provide stubborn resistance.

Port Cargo Hold

Kass nodded and turned away. "Team 4 to Team 1, Port Cargo Hold is secure. One prisoner. One dead body. Prisoner is wounded. May need medical attention."

"Get back to the bridge and watch the prisoners here," Laura replied. A pause. "Well done, Team 4," she added.

Bridge

Bernhard listened as Laura took Kass' report. The shooting was still going on, back in Engineering.

"Get back to the bridge and watch the prisoners here," he heard her say before returning her attention to the unconscious Violetta. "Acknowledge the effort," Bernhard said to her. Laura turned and he could tell she was having conflicting thoughts as to his casual instructions to her but kept it down. They were alone (except for the few bridge crew too terrified to know what to do), he was right, and he certainly did take a fair amount of abuse from her.

She could swallow some pride for him.

"Well done, Team 4."

"Teams 2 and 3, status report. Do you require assistance?"

Engineering

Three sailors crumpled awkwardly from rifle hits. At the same time, a 10mm pistol round slammed into Eli's neck guard and ricocheted off into the ceiling. The kinetic force, however, caused him to stumble back. Arc rushed over to him to check, thinking he had gone down. "You alright?" he asked.

The blurry vision didn't stop the ID-SOL from seeing Phase's swings. He dodged the right hand grab only to have his head smashed by Phase's left hook. The two bolts buried themselves into the deck as the corpse with a pulverized head sailed through the air to crumple against the far bulkhead.

"We give up!" shouted one of the smugglers, jumping up with hands raised.

Harmonious Solarsailor

Things were far from harmonious. It had fired a low intensity laser across both ships' bows and neither had ceased acceleration.

Already, two Nepleslian destroyers identified as NSS Loudmouth and NSS Hickory had changed course to intercept but they were too far to reach either ship without damage being done to the smuggler ships' engines.

Starfighters from the Nepleslian carrier were also swarming towards them and they might reach the one that Harmonious Solarsailor had chosen not to pursue.

"ISS Ladybug, if that is your correct designation, please cease acceleration and come to a stop. Your actions are most troubling and suspicious. I must insist you comply or I will be forced to do some very violent things to you. That would be even more distressing to establishing harmonious relations!"

After fifteen seconds, it decided that enough time had been given. "I regret any inconvenience caused but a harmonious balance must be restored. You have been warned."

With both Starjammers at full power, it unleashed the electron lasers into the fleeing ships engines. The result was flaring of shields and some disappointment. Harmonious Solarsailor turned on its forward positron arrays and fired volley, combining the antimatter energy with its lasers. This time, the result was more spectacular. The ISS Ladybug's shields died instantly and the engines exploded, causing the ship to start spinning wildly. Emergency braking thrusters fired and slowly the ship stabilized itself but it wasn't going anywhere after bleeding so much speeding.

It turned its attention to the other one. ISS Lovebug. It was just about to reach a stargate and vanish. But suddenly the sensors feeding its CPU went beyond expected parameters as dozens of ships suddenly transited through the same stargate and blurred out Harmonious Solarsailor's ability to distinguish its target.

Annoyed, it focused on these sudden newcomers and for a moment, felt awe. Divine Comedies. Vampire patrol ships. Smaller Phantasm 1s. Mixed in there were ships it could not recognize. Emblazoned on the front of the leading Divine Comedy "IWL" and suddenly, Harmonious Solarsailor felt discomfort.

"All ships, do not engage incoming warships. Repeat, do not engage! Something is going on in the Polysentience and we are not going to be accused of starting the shooting. All ships, converge on Ulfberht. Boarding teams, return to Ulfberht. Reinforcements from Gold Coast are inbound."

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"Well, shit. Anyone got any ideas? Our shuttle pilot is out like a light with a concussion," Laura asked her squad as the sudden news reached them. "We do want to keep our prisoners."

Engineering

Eir had already placed a few good rounds on the sailors when she caught the unexpected sight of a head sailing past her vision and into the bulkhead with a wet thunk. Shortly thereafter one of the other sailors gave up. She could not help but think the two were related.

Eir remained in her relatively safe position, weapon still trained on them. “All of you drop your weapons, then hands in the air! Anyone who doesn't will still be considered a combatant!” She did not look towards the other two marines, but in her peripheral vision caught Arc rushing over. “Are the two of you okay?” She would have taken the same care with Phase, but she had no idea how a 'spacer even registered wounds and it was not making odd sounds. Eir just assumed it was dented but fine.

It was at that point she heard the Corporal speak over the com. She was quick to respond: “Engineering is secure. We have prisoners; some of them are wounded.” She looked over to some of the downed ones. “Some may be critical.” There was a slight pause before she continued. “I recommend we first move all of them together to focus on keeping them secure.” Once she could confirm all the former combatants had dropped their weapons and had their arms in the air, she gestured with her weapon for them to come slowly marching out, intending to direct them to where Keid was with the first batch.

“As far as ideas are considered, Ma'am. We did just take a ship; if their pilot is not one of those that got shot, maybe we can re-purpose this tub, send a message that we are properly in control and use it to head back?”

Port Cargo Hold

Linda listened to Laura's response on the comms and then nodded softly, to her self as she was about to say more but heard the rest of the discussion on the line and thought a moment before chiming in. "I think taking the ship would be a good idea, we have to confiscate the cargo either way. As for prisoners, since there probably isn't a brig, why don't we keep them here in the cargo hold? It will be easy to monitor them and they can't mess with the ships systems here if something goes wrong."

Eli felt the dent on his armor, and felt the elation of a death cheated. The Golem rig was cumbersome and heavy, but solid, so solid - Eli felt as if he were clothed in nothing but cinderblocks and plate durandium. Invincible. Or, well. Less-vincible.

"Yea girl, me fine." Eli said in response to Eir's question. "I tink Phase good too, seh yea. Arc s'well, no brains, no blood, mos' righteous. Well, at an' rate, none of ours."

He helped Eir herd the remaining sailors, letting the decision-making play out in his earpiece. As far as that was concerned, he was here mostly to pull triggers first, ask questions later. 'Sides, silenty, he agreed with taking the ship back, anything else didn't make sense. They shoot up the place, then leave a tub full of probably-criminals to go plunder the void? Nope, these guys definitely earned the tender privations of Nepleslian law enforcement.

"Corporal, team two 'ports no friendly casualties." Eli said during a break in the communications exchanges. "We all smiles an' sunshine, seh yes."

Phase's arms dropped out of a combative stance and swung behind them to deposit the large hands back into their previous "skirt" appearance. The much slender digits by comparison were free to look sharp and menacing now. One thigh popped open, revealing the rack that the other marines had seen on the shuttle ride there. The Freespacer stuck one hand in, replacing it with one that had joints like ballbearings and rubber fingertips set in metal bones. The thigh closed shut neatly, sealing its contents away once more.

They stepped over to the corpse of their opponent and retreived the VCBS knife, then popped open a compartment in their waist to depost it in.

"If you cannot coerce them into piloting this ship," they began, returning to the familiar female voice, "I can easily drive the shuttle. And possibly even this ship, though there would be a trial period of. . . bug testing, as you organics put it."

"Phase, get to the shuttle. Keno, don't suppose you can pilot this tub? Hammerhand, Vinidict, you just volunteered to stay behind as prize crew with me. Everyone else, load the prisoners and wounded. Harm'ny, what's going on?" Laura instructed as Bernhard made his way past Laura, grabbing the medikit as he went, to check on whoever else may be wounded.

"Who else stopped one?" he asked over the radio, stepping into the main corridor as Kass hurried onto the bridge.

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"Things are most confusing, Corporal. IWL ships are transiting into the system unannounced. Oh dear, that last vessel was confirmed to be part of the Guild of Cyberempathy. I now detect Ministry of Regularity and Cult of War vessels launching. Oh.... I am now being hailed by one of your ships! Stand by, please."

"Frigate HSS 44808-5I, this is NSS Hickory. Pick up your crew and get to the carrier."

"I would like to comply but there have been complications and it appears that ..."

"Irrelevant. Contraband is no longer a priority. If they can escape, now is the time. Captain's orders. All those ships are entering with weapons hot. We're already flying with six different locks on us. We'll provide cover."

"I shall relay those instructions."

Harmonious Solarsailor switched its focus to longer range sensors as it looped to pick up the shuttle. Nepleslian starfighters were pouring speed to form up into a larger formation. Three of the Nepleslian destroyers were now crowded around the big carrier. Two were closing on its position and Hickory was vectoring towards Solarsailor's Marines.
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Laura gnashed her teeth as she heard what Harm'ny had to say. "Damn it. Damn it. Damn it. Fine, forget the damn ship. We've IWL, Cyberemp, War Cult, and who knows what else warships all popping up into this system! For a bunch of pacifists, there's a hell of a lot of firepower heading towards us! Our entire task force is currently outgunned and outnumbered! Reinforcements from Gold Coast are inbound! All aboard the shuttle! You have two minutes! Bring the prisoners and I don't care if they bounce around when we bug out!"

"Hammerhand, cut them loose and load them onto the shuttle."

The angry clone heaved the unconscious Violetta over her shoulder and started walking towards the boarding hatch.

"Phase, you better get the shuttle fired up fast! I do not want to be blown up by terrorists without at least shooting back at them!"

Phase processed all the new information with haste, giving a slight wave to her team. They hoisted the body of the dead ID-Sol over their shoulder and took off running down the hall, massive metal trunks for legs impacting somehow gently on the floor they treaded upon. Not even a minute had passed when they arrived back at the shuttle. The hulk marched up to the opening - and immediately about-faced, turning its back on the vehicle.

Plates shifted, peeling away to reveal a slender form disconnected into three parts. They slipped into eachother, a ball-and-cup assembly and slid down to reveal a short humanoid with thick plated legs and a fascimile of metallic bones for arms. A glass dome for a face topped this body, and its owner ran into the shuttle.

"I am at the shuttle. Prepping launch procedures now," They broadcast in their calm voice, as if they were getting ready for the morning commute rather than running from a potentially harmful force. A circle on the side of their head spun out, revealing a cadre of small plugs, which Phase traced several before tapping and tugging one. A wire spooled out, and they jacked into the shuttle directly.

All the while, the cross-shaped faceplate on the larger hulk inverted its previous lighting. It began to move, tossing the body it carried onto the deck. It searched the body carefully for paperwork, data drives, even a wallet. The sort of things that would be handy later.