"Mad, take out those fighters first! Divide up the rockets! Half for the fighters, the rest for the bigger ship's weapons systems! Focus the cannons on the fighters too! The less ships we have to fight, the better!" ordered Taylor. They already fought off one bigger ship, though they had the help of the Sparrowhawk last time. Hopefully they can do the same here without them.
She then stood from her chair, and darted off the bridge. "Just do what you can, I'll be back!" she said, as she bolted down the main corridor of the ship. Heading towards the armory. If they launched another EMP, there was a chance that it work the next time. She needed to be suited up in case a boarding party decided to pay them a visit. She arrived, and quickly slipped into her power armor, pulling on the parts before firing up the fusion core mounted inside it. Systems flickered to life as she pulled on her helmet.
Next, weapons. She grabbed her 'Brahma Bull', and loaded a fresh plasma canister into the bottom of the weapon. Locked and loaded. She exited the armory, and stepped into the mess. "Markus, [I]ready the fuck up![/I] We might get hit with a boarding party! Grab Jag, and get the others ready!" she said, in Markus' general direction, before heading back towards the bridge.
Jag quickly restocked it's equipment, though this time preferring a collection of concussion grenades in place of it's EMPs.
The Sanghvi made course towards the bridge at the first sight of the DV vessel.
Letting out a sign as it entered within the bridge, stopping in place to overlook the projection of the crew's next opponent.
Jag then lowered it's head a moment later, spending it's last moment of peace in focus.
After readying itself once more, Jag rose it's head in the direction of Taylor.
"I I'm ready, Captain." Jag said, staring forward ahead.
[QUOTE]"I'm ready, Captain." Jag said, staring forward ahead.[/QUOTE]
"Good. Fought any DV Vultures before?" she asked, stepping back near her chair on the bridge before looking at him.
Mercy, who opted to head straight to the Muramasa's bar once she got back to try and calm herself down after the commando incident, was just about to take a sip from a glass of wine she procured, before suddenly the ship shook around her. So much in fact that most of the wine lurched out of the glass and spilled down onto her armor. She gritted her teeth, slowly setting the glass down and getting up, heading for the bridge.
She emerged through the bridge's door, a purple stain clearly visible on her otherwise blue armor. "Er, what was zh-" She nearly says, before seeing the monitor. She sighs, and her shoulders and face drop, almost expectantly. "...zhat." Mercy says, standing up somewhat straighter and pinching the bridge of her nose. "Is zhis how a [i]normal[/i] day goes here?" She dully asks.
Maddox sent a swarm of missiles and cannon fire at the enemy fighters. "That backup better arrive fast!"
After the Commando accident, Jason followed Mercy to the Muramasa's bar to unwind on what just occured. on his way there, he felt the ship shook and instantly ran to the Bridge to see what happened. The Bridge's door opened and sees Mercy calming herself down and a obvious purple stain in her armor.
[QUOTE] "Is zhis how a normal day goes here?"[/QUOTE]
"Jeez, what happened to you?" Jason replied with a jokingly tone.
"Well, fuck your genious plan! Our guys are currently stuck and are helpless and the EMP didn't work." Specter began to complain."Oh fuck! We're even getting hacked."
"Quit whining and do as I say! Deploy the ship's counter-hacking measures. Activate the Spirit AI!" Specter pressed a few buttons on the bridge's control pannel. The 'Spirit' AI activated and began working on reinforcing the cyberwarfare front of the battle. "Once you catch our hacker friend, I want him isolated and blasted with everything you can find. Whatever is on Vulture 5's hard drive will also do nicely."
"Jesus, man. That's inhumane. I thought I was weird, but she's on a whole new level."
"Scythes will come back online eventually if their gunners are as poor as their runners, they will be fine. Now, get closer to compensate for the targeting systems and fire another shot with the EMP."
"Yes...sir."
Markus jogged into the corridor and looked after Taylor as she made her way to the bridge.
He shook his head and ran over to his room where he hastily put on his jacket and combat vest.
He with his rifle on his back and magazines in their pouches he made his way into the engineering room.
He noticed Bucky as he came in, "Oya, luv. Capn' says we might be gettin some guests soon."
He reasoned that the DV might try to make an entry into the engine control room and he wanted to make sure their engineer was still alive to work the systems.
[video=youtube;8FkX_vDO618]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FkX_vDO618[/video]
"Fall back! Fall back now!" Yelled Aquino just as one of the nearby [url=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/71236376/Starpath%20RP/EAF%20Walker.jpg]EAF gunwalkers[/url] was hit by a rocket and collapsed onto the street.
Varia gritted her teeth as she continued to deliver round after round from her cannon. "Aquino! Varshokk! Lead the squad back to the Founder's Square, the general is going to need every soldier he can get."
Outside of the mech and on the street Varshokk fired off a rocket of his own which struck a hovertank belonging to the Fists of Sol. The rocket pierced the armor and reached the ammo compartment, causing the tank and at least a dozen soldiers around it to perish.
He turned to the Aegis. "Roger that captain. Good luck."
Varia nodded and raised her shield arm. "MechForce pilots, form a line and dig in. We're going to buy the rest of our people some time." Without hesitation the remaining mechs formed up around Varia, creating a wall of steel. Meanwhile all the MechForce troopers were running down the street as fast as they could.
Suddenly a large beam laser tore through one of the skyscrapers next to the Fist lines, splitting it in half. The FoS soldiers looked up and began to run when they realized that the upper portion of the structure was coming down right ontop of them. Their screams were muted as the combined mass of concrete, metal and glass crushed them.
"All pilots, cease fire." Said Varia. She looked up and spotted the EAF's flasghip; the [i]ECV Stormshield[/i].
[i]"The general needs you at Founder's Square captain. Get going, we got this sector of the city under lockdown."[/i]
"Understood Stormshield, thanks for the help."
-----
Varia entered the mobile HQ building with Varshokk and Aquino right behind her. At the center of the room was a holographic map of the city showing EAF units and ships in blue and FoS-seized territory and ships in red.
General Harkin nodded. "Captain." He shook his head when Aquino and Varshokk were about to salute. "Let's skip the formalities."
He straightened his back and sighed. "I'm going to be completely honest with the three of you; we're losing. Right now we only have three vessels still flying as the rest have been completely destroyed. Our ground forces are split up into small pockets of resistance inside our major cities. Ontop of that the enemy is jamming our communications so we are unable to communicate with anyone outside of the city."
He pointed at the map which showed a increasingly growing red zone. "The Fists of Sol are slowly advancing, soon they'll have entered the inner parts of the city. The destruction to our capital can be repaired but the soldiers we've lost cannot. As of right now we're preparing four evacuation ships. They can all hold roughly a three thousand people onboard which is nowhere enough people. Our current objective is to defend these ships untill they take-off. It doesn't matter if we die afterwards because at least our people will still live and have a chance."
Varia nodded. "Where do you want us."
Harkin pointed at a marker showing one of the evac ships. "I want you here, you will be defending Evac Bravo near the market district. Currently there's a small unit from the EAF Walker Division defending it but field reports suggests that the enemy will soon push through the district and thus putting the evacuation at risk. You will take half of MechForce with you, the rest will stay here."
"Roger that sir." Replied Varia as she put on her helmet.
-----
"Move! Get onboard!" Yelled Varshokk as he stood next to the ramp leading into the evac ship. A steady stream of frightened civilians was rushing towards the ship with the hope of being saved. Currently the ship, a retrofitted cargo hauler turned into a long-range passenger transport, was sitting at Market Square which was surrounded by barricaded roads and makeshift fortifications.
Several [url=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/71236376/Starpath%20RP/EAF%20Railgun%20Walker.jpg]EAF railgun walkers[/url] had been positioned around it, creating a effective defense against armored targets.
Varia remained silent as she monitored the sensors of the Aegis. With the arrival of the MechForce reinforcements the [url=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/71236376/Starpath%20RP/EAF%20Combat%20Trooper.png]EAF troopers[/url] assigned to defend Evac Bravo had been very relieved and their commanding officer, a sergeant named Higgins, had turned over all commanding to Varia.
Higgins was now standing next to Aquino, talking about the attack with a low tone.
"Capatin Reyes, look!" Yelled one of the sentries. Varia turned her attention to the soldier and then to where he was pointing. Three [url=https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/71236376/Starpath%20RP/EAF%20Combat%20Marksman.jpg]EAF marksmen[/url] were quickly rushing towards the square from a street which led to Fists of Sol-controlled sectors.
The soldiers manning the perimeter defenses patted the marksmen on the back as they rushed towards Varia. When they reached the Aegis they all saluted. "Captain Varia, Scout Unit Lynx reporting in."
With a shaky voice the squad leader pointed down the street he and his unit had emerged from. "Enemy forces are en route, they'll be ontop of us any minute now."
"Defensive positons!" Yelled Varia. Immeadiately all soldiers at the square went into full alert. Varia loaded her cannon. "Set up here and engage high-value targets."
-----
The enemy had, as expected, arrived at the square in the form of several mechanized units. Most of the tanks and other armored vehicles had been taken out by the railgun walkers however the Fists of Sol soldiers had surprisingly flanked the square from two additional directions with heavy weapon crews. While the walkers had been destroyed by rockets and larger projectiles from the sides, the MechForce units were still active and holding the line.
Just as Varia thought that the FoS soldiers would retreat, the comms channel became crazy.
[i]"AirCom, this is Evac Bravo! I need to take off now!"[/i] Varia glanced at the evac ship and could see the engines slowly coming to life while the ramp closed.
"What are you doing?" Yelled Varshokk.
[i]"Evac Bravo, this is AirCom. You're not clear for take-off at this time. There's a enemy vessel in the area and we are yet to re-secure the airspace around your position."
"I don't care! I have roughly three thousand souls onboard and the enemy soldiers are closing in on me!"[/i] The ship began to hover. "Clear out! He's taking off!"
Yelled Varshokk to the nearby civilians who risked getting caught underneath the thruster exhausts.
[i]"Evac Bravo! Do not take off! I repeat, do not take off! The enemy ship will target you!"
"It doesn't matter! At least we have a bigger chance in the sky than we do sitting on the ground!"[/i]
Varia was frozen in place as she looked at the evac ship taking off. Just as she thought it was in the clear a massive black ship showed up around the corner of a skyscraper. Red lights began to glow as it charged its prow weapons.
[i]"Evac Bravo descend now! The enemy ship has you targeted!"[/i]
A red beam shot up, causing one of the engines on the evac ship to explode. [i]"Mayday! Mayday! We've been hit! Everyone hold onto something!"[/i]
The evac ship started to lean before crashing straight into the center of a building. Slowly the building began to collapse when suddenly a massive explosion obliterated most of it.
"AirCom this is captain Reyes. Evac Bravo has been lost. No survivors."
A vocie sighed over the radio. [i]"Copy that captain. Round up any remaining civilians and fall back to the Founder's Square."[/i]
-----
The lines were collapsing. Varia suddenly felt tired when she realized what was happening. Around her the last mechs, walkers and soldiers of the Eridian Armed Forces fought valiantly. Plasma fire pierced their armors and soaked the ground with blood. Ground where their ancestors had first settled.
Varia kept firing but she couldn't actually hear anything. All she heard was her heartbeat. A plasma shot struck Varshokk. The bulky khergian collapsed as his eyes rolled back. Aquino yelled for a medic but no one responded. He gritted his teeth and emptied an entire magazine into the chest of a charging enemy soldier.
Soldiers, tanks and fighters were all closing in on the Founder's Square. [i]"Captain! Captain Reyes, can you hear me?"[/i] Varia shook her head and regained her focus.
She realized that the general was hailing her. "I'm here general."
[i]"The enemy is closing in on all sides but the Stormshield is close to securing the airspace. Hold on for a little longer!"[/i]
"Yes sir!" She looked up at the ECV Stormshield unleashing broadside barrages on a enemy battleship. A shot from a tank hit the Aegis, tearing off one of the legs.
Varia couldn't do anything as debris covered half her cockpit. She followed the Stormshield with her eyes as it rammed the enemy ship, unleashing a series of explosions.
[i]"This is the Stormshield, we're going down with the enemy cruiser. Launch those evac ships now."[/i]
[i]"Stromshield this is AirCom, we're launching the evac ships now. You've saved alot of lives."[/i] The three remaining evac ships ascended from the city and quickly went into orbit. At the same time dozens of other evacuation ships left from the other major cities.
Varia sighed. They did it. Her people would live on.
[I]Elsewhere...[/I]
"Got three new hunters assigned to me that require training. The other supervisors are currently busy, so you're up once again. Hope you weren't too busy back in the mines." said the blonde Upyri, as she slipped a cigarette into her mouth and drew a lighter out of her trench coat. "Three? That's kinda low. Usually its ten or twelve." was the response, coming from the taller woman beside her in the elevator. "Well...just a bad week in the recruitment department. It'll jump back up in no time." said the Upyri, looking up at the woman next to her. The other woman turned, looking at her with her only good eye. The right one under a large black patch. She smirked. "If there's one business that will never die, its the bounty business. As long as the criminals and convicts run wild, hunters will follow right behind to cash in."
The Upyri returned the smirk, before returning her gaze to the twin doors at the front of the elevator. Eventually, the lift came to a stop, and the doors opened to a rather open, white room. Inside, sitting in some simple grey chairs at a small table off to themselves, were three armored individuals. A human, an Ayr, and a Kanad. They stood as the two women approached. The Upyri introduced herself first. "My name is Lexie Tendall. You can call me 'Lex'. I'm the Bounty Broker that you've been assigned to. I'm pretty sure you might have heard of my friend here if you've studied up on yo--" was all she was able to get out of her mouth, before the human hunter spoke up. "Holy shit, [I]you're Mad Dog Miranda Caine![/I]" he said, stepping up to her. The taller woman just chuckled. "Yeah, that's me." she said, holding out her hand to the young hunter. Which he shook quite a lot. The other two remained back, wondering just who the hell she was. "483 confirmed bounties retrieved! You're a legend!" said the young man, apparently starstruck by her appearance here. Miranda simply shrugged, and released his hand. "A retired legend now."
After that, Lex decided to continue what she was saying. "Anyway, Miranda here will be overseeing your training for the next few hours here at the B.C.B., so you don't go out and get yourself killed on your first hunt." she said, sliding her hands into her trench coat pockets as she slipped the cigarette into the corner of her mouth with her tongue. "Do what she says, and you'll make some damn fine hunters. Trust me." Miranda chimed in after she finished. "And you might not get shot." she said, motioning to her patched eye. Lex nodded. "Yes. We don't want that now, do we?" she said, glancing between her and the three eager hunters. They shook their heads. "Now, lets head down to the training facilities. Follow me, please." she said finally, before turning around and walking back towards the elevator. Miranda simply motioned for them to follow, and soon they were riding back down the elevator. Into the bowels of Domino Station, home of the Bounty Collection Bureau.
During the ride, Miranda spoke up again. "Hey Lex, think the UGC is gonna issue any bounties over the shit out on Voyak?" she said, glancing over towards her. "Probably, if they or the Kanads ever tell us who helped the Sanghvi out on the ground." responded Lex, before she looked at the other three in the elevator with them. "Maybe you three will get to hunt some war criminals soon." she said, shifting her cigarette in her mouth again.
Hariim, having just infiltrated the enemy's targeting systems, now turned his attention to the reactor in hopes of creating a power surge. The enemy was onto him, however, and responded with their own AI program designed to freeze him out. Things would be more difficult than before...
CH Estimate: 2/7
[B]Actual: 6[/B]
Roll Passed.
But he was up to the challenge. Just as Archangel had finished requesting retaliation against the cyber-intruder, Hariim had already outmatched the Spirit AI with logic bombs, confusing the system into inaction as he orchestrated the surge. The computers lining the bridge of the Buzzard went blank moments before a loud buzzing noise sounded from the consoles, and then everything went dark. The counter-hacking attempt was stopped in its tracks as a result, and Hariim's connection to the ship became severed.
Spirit AI: [I]Action Invalidated.[/I]
Bucky, meanwhile, was working on getting the warp drive operational, which was proving difficult due to the heavy drain of the shields and weapons systems, on top of the already inefficient status of the electrical systems throughout the ship, brought about by repeated damage and hasty repairs. At this rate, the Muramasa would need a complete renovation to stay operational for the next mission. Nonetheless, the drive was charging at a trickle, and by taking what remained of the engines off line, Bucky hoped to increase it to a more steady flow.
CH Estimate: 1/4
[B]Actual: {1, 4, 2} (Multitasking)[/B]
Roll Passed.
With great effort, the charging situation improved, and without robbing the battle systems of their needed power, either. The engines cooled to complete stoppage while the reactor spooled energy into the warp drive fast enough that the Muramasa [I]might actually escape before help arrives[/I], an impressive feat. But the Vultures weren't going to let it be that easy. The smaller Scythes were trying to get back online so that they could re-enter the battle.
CH Estimate: 2/3
[B]Actual: {2, 3, 3}[/B]
3 Rolls Passed.
Reacting quickly to the loss of power, the fighters were able to restart their computers in time to be able to make distance from the Muramasa, which was about to unload on them. At the same time, the crew of the Buzzard was prepping another EMP for launch at Archangel's orders, but since the bridge computers had been knocked offline, the weapons specialists were having to calibrate their weapon by hand while the engineers coaxed the engines into forward impulse, bringing the Buzzard closer to the Muramasa, two equally-crippled ships. Maddox, working with better-operating equipment, was able to fire first.
Despite Taylor's orders to send half of the missiles against the fighters, there were three of them, and it was impossible to divide up the shots along those lines. Maddox decided to take extra precaution not to leave one fighter any better off than the others, having seen what a single fighter could do back on Voyak. Two missiles would be launched against each Scythe, backed by flak and machine gun fire. The remaining four missiles would attack the Starving Buzzard.
CH Estimate: 3/5
[B]Actual: {4, 1, 2, 3, 5, 4, 2, 4, 1, 3}[/B]
6 Rolls Passed.
4 Rolls Failed.
As it would turn out, the missiles onboard the Muramasa were much for effective against fighters in space, where the lack of wind resistance greatly increased the effective radius of the shrapnel. All three of the enemy fighters were caught by at least some of the blasts, with two taking heavy damage and one being outright destroyed.
[B]Enemy Neutralized.[/B]
Out of the final four missiles, only two managed to deal any real damage to the Buzzard. Unlike the Tovokra, which had exposed weapons placements, the Buzzard had its missile tubes hidden inside pop-out launchers to help retain its stealthy cross-section. In that way, it was just like the Muramasa, the point being that there was armor protecting the weapons systems from destruction. This armor took a pounding from the combined impacts, but didn't yield. Archangel was then able to fire another EMP from an almost dangerously close range.
CH Estimate: 3/5
[B]Actual: 5[/B]
Roll Passed.
This time, the Muramasa was overwhelmed- the shields were stripped bare and the computers were knocked offline yet again. Power was still being generated in the well-shielded rear of the craft, and from what Bucky could tell, it was still charging the warp drive, but without the main ship computer functioning, it was too dangerous to try to operate- the crew would have no way of telling where they would exit warp. On the bridge, the crew scrambled to restore functionality to the systems as there was currently no targeting system or radar, and no reactive control for the shields which had only just begun to recharge. The Scythes were lining up another run on the ship, but wouldn't yet have the opportunity to do so as they had put so much distance between themselves and the battle while trying to evade missiles moments earlier.
Whether the battle would remain in space or would become a boarding affair would be discovered as soon as Taylor tried to reboot the primary computer.
CH Estimate: 2/5
[B]Actual: 3[/B]
Roll Failed.
The computer didn't come back online; the EMP had done more damage than what was previously thought, and components would need to be replaced entirely. This was more than what could be done in short order, even by Bucky. There was nothing stopping the Vultures from boarding the ship now!
[B]6 Turns Until Warp Charge[/B]
[B]7 Turns Until End of Battle[/B]
Maddox punched the armrest on his chair. "Damnit!" He looked at Taylor. "I'm blind! There's no point in sitting here if I can't see what I'm shooting at."
Quickly he grabbed his rifle and got up. "I'll head down to the armory and keep it secure."
[editline]13th October 2016[/editline]
((Also keep in mind that 5000 posts is the max. limit, we got 39 to go.))
Alex looked at the now dead console. "Mad, go to the armory and gear up. Those death fetishists are bound to try and make a move on us any second and the captain will need you helping her." He left the bridge and went to medical. If nothing else, he could help guard the wounded.
---
"AHAHAHA. Take that, you fucks! Scans show total blackout. They are as blind as a bat. Alright Arch, what do we do now?"
Archangel had already turned his back to his pilot and was heading out the door as slowly the Buzzard was comming back to life. "Bring us in closer for boarding action. After that I want you and the engineers to bring this bucket back to full condition and once the comms are back online, I want the scythes to begin crippling that ship further. I want those guns and warp drive out of action!"
Archangle left the bridge and desended down to the hangar where the rest of his squad was ready and waiting. "Are you boys and girls ready? Remember, no killshots! Wound, maim, burn and cripple. But don't kill! We will perform a standart procedure breach using the tunnel. I'll go first, you will follow, two at a time. Alright. Lets have some fun." As the men we're checking their weapons, their leader was performing a database search in his brain. What he found was interesting. Good enough to share with the Executor once the archive was secure.
The Starving buzzard flew closer to the Muramasa untill it was on top of it. It started to desend untill it was close enough to hover over it by a few meters. From the bottom of the craft a tunnel shot forward, piercing the hull in the cargo area. The air began to escape into the nothingness of space untill the built in clamps and foam sealed any additional holes. A few seconds later and the green light on the Vulture's side flashed green. Archangel was the first to go through. He simply lept through the tunnel and came crashing down in the room. Leaving a dent as he landed. The Vultures followed, two at a time. Lacking a robotic body and a hard armor like their leader, they relied on the jets in their boots to slow the fall and land. The room slowly filled up with the mercenaries as some began to search around for clues to where the Archive might be.
Archangel unholstered his shotgun from his back and took point. "Alright, spread out. Half go to the armory with me and half go to engineering. Most likely locations for them. If you encounter non-combat crew, knock them out and use them as hostages. If you see the captain or someone who look like she is in charge, leave her to me. She wants to fight? I'll drag her to Hell!" A few of the vultures let out a more sadistic chuckle. They know what their boss was capable of.
[video]https://youtu.be/ZUPEs1gUQcU[/video]
Whether the crew of the Muramasa was prepared for what was to come remained to be seen. The enemy was at their doorstep and itching for a fight.
Maddox looked up as the ship shook and the lights flickered. "They're here." He folded down his visor and grabbed his rifle which he holstered on the back.
He grabbed one of the MAWS rifles and converted it into a LMG which he then loaded with a big box magazine. "I need more firepower."
His attention shifted to a small case on one of the tables. He popped it open and revealed several spare grenades for the BODS-X which he had made for Istasha and even though he didn't have the launcher itself the grenades were still lethal.
Armed to the teeth Maddox then kicked over three tables and formed a defensive barrier facing the door leading to the center of the ship.
"Let's see if these glorified pirates are as scary as they pretend to be."
Well, this was pretty familiar. Enclosed fighting, so close you could reach out and touch your enemy. This was Taylor's specialty, and had been for 12 long years. As the enemy ship moved closer to the Muramasa and prepared to link, she tasked the non-combat crew to retreat to the armory, taking the wounded with them. There, they would hide inside Vakarus's training room off to the side. That way, they'd be out of the way and wouldn't get caught in the crossfire.
Taylor switched on her helmet's comms, speaking into it as she entered the room with Maddox and began moving things around to make it easier to defend. "Hariim, Porter, I need you to defend engineering with Markus. Maddox, me, and Jag will defend the armory. Alex, János, Mercy, stay with the non-combat members. Issue those that can use one a weapon. Preferably a pistol." she ordered calmly, as she maneuvered some steel crates into position in the armory.
She looked over to Mad. "Bet this brings back some memories, eh?" she said, with a chuckle. She was trying to be at least a little light hearted about it all. Once everything was in position, she switched her heavy plasma autoshotty to its charged shot setting. What she had used back during the bar fight on Prospera. The weapon began to make a faint humming noise, signifying that was ready to fire. After that, she decided to activate the powered suit's internal exoskeleton. If she had to get into hand-to-hand, then that'd give her an extra edge over the Death Vigil troops. [I]Hopefully.[/I]
Moments later, once everyone was in position, the ships linked together, and she could hear something crash in the cargo area of the ship, then a loud thud. Then, voices. Incoming. "Get ready, people." she said over comms, barely hearing herself over her powered suit's increased humming.
Maddox chuckled. "This reminds me awfully alot of a time when I helped some citizens on a backwater planet defend their town. We were all grouped up in the bar."
He then pointed at the weaponracks. "János, your MAWS is ready for combat. Alex can use Valk's spare."
((I've really been procrastinating when it has come to writing. I'll get the post that explains what the hell János has done this whole time out soon, but for this, I can't simply wait to get my post ready.))
János nodded, as he grabbed his personal MAWS off the rack. He had all three of his personal handguns ready as well. He was incredibly nervous over all this however, not knowing what could go down, especially with the damage the ship had taken earlier.
Bucky decides to pull out of engineering for the sake of self-preservation. But she doesn't go without leaving a few traps. Bucky taps into the auxiliary and emergency power systems, and siphons off as much as she can from the life support on decks that aren't currently occupied. She splits the main lines from the rest of the grid, securing the power feed to the warp capacitors, and runs all the extra power she's rerouted from around the ship through the smaller and weaker power conduits in Engineering. The goal of this is to get the smaller lines to rupture and discharge their electric fury into the engineering deck. A maze of ozone and arcing lightning awaits any boarders that come through the engine room.
Bucky triggers her trap as soon as her crewmates and herself are all set up in their defensive positions, safely outside the artificial lightning storm.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Hariim, in the meantime, has locked and loaded his gear and gone down to Engineering as ordered. He's set up a basic tactical network between the crew's suits using his own hardware. He takes pains to also prepare to mass-hack the enemy's own tacnet and hardware. "Prepped, Cap. I'll lay down a defilade of airburst fire; should suppress them as they come in."
Jag follows behind it's comrades as they make their way towards the armory in perpetration of the opponent vessel's boarding action.
It's been some time that itself had to partake in such bloody affairs within a star vessel, even longer with it being it's own, Jag pondered.
Though, Jag soon begun to wounder if it's comrades where ready to battle with what is seemly the Death Vigil's finest. Jag then tried to remembered what it had seen of them as their elusive nature makes it's hard to pinpoint their tactics.
With it's only close encounter in person was that on Zeruel, a long and ultimately pointless conflict that ended with very few successes for itself and far too many losses.
Nevertheless, Jag ready to shrike with a salvo of electronic scammer grenades clutched under it's left arm at the armory entrance, ready to stick onto their target's armor and disrupt their systems.
It's right legs positioned to make a hard dash to doge any reactionary attacks though making sure impede any of it's comrade's movements.
Archangel's team was already near the door when he gave the order to halt. "Alright. Who was paying attention?"
Vulture 5 answered "To what?"
"To the rooms we passed."
"All empty." She said with a slight confusion.
"Right. And the other team is reporting the same thing. You know what this means? It means that they are in one of these rooms, setting up for one final stand."
"Orders, sir?"
Archangel oppened up the comms so the other team could hear him. "Alright listen up. Both teams will be breaching with the tesduo tactic. Open the doors, toss the flashbangs, move in they waste their ammo on those in front and those in the back offer surpressing fire. Only real problem I can identefy is the hacker. If he can hack the ship, it means he;s good and we have to take a different aproach. Here is what you do. Turn off your HUDs and use your stimpacks. The boost it gives you should be good enough to compensate. Now get in formation."
The team started to form up. Archangle stood in the middle, flanked by the two vultures in heavy armor. On command, all three deployed centurion shields. Three of the other vultures got behind them and got ready to move along with them. The remaining two planted charges on the door and stood on each side. Ready to detonate on their leader's command. On the other side of the ship, the second team had done the exact same thing. With three heavily armored men at the front and the rest of the team following the same formation. All the vultures had turned off their HUDs and were overwhelmed with the darkenss untill the stimpacks kicked in. A few seconds after the injection, their sight in the dark improved. It was like the hallways were illuminated, but everything was covered in a shade of mauve purple. They could now see clearly, if only for a few minutes.
[video]https://youtu.be/NxCIlcvvohA[/video]
"3...2...1" The doors blew open and the vultures on the sides threw the flashbangs in, as the men behind the shields started to slowly move forward and those at the back oppened fire. The same situation was unfolding down in engineering.
Markus peaked through one of the holes in the door to the small storage room in the back of the engineering central where he and Bucky were hold up.
As the door was blown open and flashbangs were thrown in he ducked down and looked over to Bucky, "Let's hope yer tinkerin' 'as any effect on these fellas." Markus was noticeably anxious. He was usually the one doing the attacking, and he hated close quarters.
But he had a few tricks up his sleeve. In front of the door he had put down a claymore, which he would detonate if anyone approached the door to send them flying outwards, and then in the confusion hopefully be able to take some of the goons out.
Just before the breaching, Taylor said a few last words to her crewmates via her comms. "If they breach, they'll more than likely be lobbing in flashbangs. Its what I'd do in this kind of environment. Try and shield your eyes if you can. Its gonna be loud either way. Toss grenades, try and take out a few of them that way, and aim for exposed limbs if they're packing shields. Arms, feet, whatever. If they get too close, knock 'em back."
A few moments later, the breach did come, with a loud bang. Then, in came the flashbangs. "COVER YOUR EYES!" said Taylor over comms, just before the flash. This was gonna get rough.
Maddox ducked and hoped for the best.
[video=youtube;HKXSlLR6fWU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HKXSlLR6fWU[/video]
There was a fierce blast which announced the entrance of Archangel and his boarding team into the armory, where the Muramasa crew had placed most of its defenders to make a stand. As soon as the door was out of the way, Jag surprised them with a set of electronic grenades designed to hamper their systems. Unfortunately, not only were they using heavy shields, but given that they had just disabled their HUDs, the devices would mostly serve to disrupt motor movement on the heavy troopers' power armor. Archangel himself was especially vulnerable. At the same time, the Vultures moved to toss in flashbangs to hamper the crew's ability to fight back.
Jag:
CH Estimate: 1/4
[B]Actual: {1, 2, 4}[/B]
1 Roll Passed.
2 Rolls Failed.
Two of the scrambling devices thrown by Jag were blocked by the shields, while the third managed to slip past the enemy's defenses and tag one of the heavy vultures. His power armor seized as the device discharged, preventing him from rotating his arm and throwing his flashbang. Archangel and the second trooper on the opposite side were both unharmed and followed through...
Archangel + Heavy Vulture 1:
CH Estimate: 1/4 + 1/4 = 1/2
[B]Actual: 2[/B]
Roll Passed.
The flashbangs cleared the doorway and tumbled into the center of the armory. Taylor had just finished instructing her team to shield their eyes from the flash, and so they attempted to avoid being blinded.
Jag, János, Maddox, Taylor:
CH Estimate: 4/7
[B]Actual: {4, 4, 6, 4}[/B]
4 Rolls Passed.
Thanks to quick reaction, all four of the armory's defenders avoided being blinded by the initial breach. Both sides began to open fire, starting with the lightly-armored Vultures standing in the row behind the leaders, jamming the ends of their rifles in between the large shields in front. The heavily armored leader on the enemy's left flank was still stunned from Jag's sabotage, leaving him and the man behind him more vulnerable than anyone else. Meanwhile, Jag's decision to pre-empt the breach made it the enemy's primary target.
Vultures 1, 2, 3: {1, 3, 1} x (No Feat Applicable) = {1, 3, 1}... [B]5[/B]
Jag: DEF Roll = 4
[B]1 DMG[/B]
Jag HP: 69/50 (Nanosurgeon)
Just as the enemy was about to fire, Jag sprung to the side in a dodging maneuver. Despite being the most exposed target, the sanghvi was difficult to see in the low light, even with the stimpacks. After the initial shots, the defenders responded. Jag, the closest and most able to respond at melee range, attacked the Vulture he had just stunned.
Jag: [B]3[/B] x 1.5 x Dismemberment(CH1/2, 2, Passed, x2) = [B]9 DMG[/B]
With a powerful stab, Jag tried to pierce the enemy's armor, but to no avail. The heavy Vulture simply took the impact and stumbled backward a bit, trying to regain control of his equipment in the process. Jag then ducked out of the way of the door to provide its crewmates a chance to fire on the enemy.
János: [B]6[/B] x (No Feat Applicable) = [B]6 DMG[/B]
Maddox: [B]2[/B] x 1.25(Machinist) = 2.5... [B]3 DMG[/B]
Taylor: [B]3[/B] x 1.25(Machinist) = 3.75... [B]4 DMG[/B]
Similar to the Vultures, the Muramasa crew had difficulty identifying the weak points of the enemy's formation in the dark, and most shots were wasted on shields or were complete misses. The most vulnerable enemy took only a number of winging shots, but at least it was something.
---
Another blast blew the doors open into Engineering, and once again, the heavily armored leaders were prepared to throw flashbangs. Unlike in the armory, however, the Muramasa team wasn't out in the open, and had left an elaborate trap for their foes. The flashbangs fell into the empty room and detonated harmlessly.
Heavy Vultures 3, 4, 5: [I]Action Invalidated.[/I]
Upon noticing that the room was empty, one of the Vultures scans the room carefully with his enhanced vision and notices the storage room in back, along with the claymore in front of it. With a nudge, he gets the attention of his comrade and points at the device, and the other nodded. They began to move forward. In the rush to take up position, Markus didn't quite have the time hide the mine in any ingenious way, but it actually played to the team's advantage at this critical moment. It was the bait they needed to draw the Vultures into the real trap.
Bucky:
CH Estimate: 4/5
[B]Actual: {5, 1, 3, 1, 2, 3}[/B]
4 Rolls Passed.
2 Rolls Failed.
The Heavy Vultures stepped through the entry way and into the room, careful to shield themselves from any ambush to their immediate flanks. The lightly armored ones behind them kept pace, scanning the room with their rifles until they heard an unpleasant buzzing sound from multiple sides. They paused, scanning the room before the buzz turned into a shriek, and the team only had a moment to react. At the center of the pack in front, one heavy called out "Look out!" just as the walls flashed with white light and exploded into a thundercloud of electrical bolts, immobilizing all but two of the Vultures and causing horrific burns. [B]40 DMG and Stun to Heavy Vultures 3 and 5. 60 DMG and Stun to Vultures 7 and 8.[/B]
[B]2 Enemies Eliminated.[/B]
Eventually, the charge had drained from the circuit, and the entire Vulture unit which had breached the room was left in disarray as the sound of pained groaning and the smell of burnt flesh filled the room. Two of the lighter-armored men collapsed to the ground with stopped hearts and simply died on the spot. Immediately, the final two of the group, who had been standing in reserve outside the room, now nervously moved in to take the place of their deceased comrades. All but two of the ones that initially entered the room were temporarily incapacitated, opening them to counterattack. Hariim stepped up, his attempt to hack the enemy's systems hampered by their disabling of electronics.
[I]Action Invalidated.[/I]
However, that wasn't about to stop him from attacking the lot of them with his airburst rounds, especially while they were so ripe for the picking. He attacked all six of the enemies arrayed against him.
Hariim: {7, 5, 7, 9, 2, 9} x 1.5 x (No Feat Applicable) = {10.5... [B]11[/B], 7.5... [B]8[/B], 10.5... [B]11[/B], 13.5... [B]14[/B], [B]3[/B], 13.5... [B]14[/B]}
The numerous blasts from Hariim's weapon battered them further. Those who were stunned by Bucky's trap weren't even able to get to the ground, allowing him to blast away at their armor. Unfortunately, none of them were killed by this attack, only wounded. Those who were able then responded with aggression of their own.
Heavy Vulture 4, Vultures 6, 9, and 10: {8, 5, 5, 5} x (No Feat Applicable) = [B]23[/B]
Hariim: DEF Roll = 4
[B]19 DMG[/B]
Hariim HP: 101/100 (Nanosurgeon)
As Hariim wheeled back toward the door, having successfully taken enemy fire without being critically wounded, Markus took his opportunity to squeeze off a quick shot at an enemy who seemed more harmed than the others.
Markus: [B]2[/B] x (No Feat Applicable) = [B]2 DMG[/B]
It was a lousy shot. Markus swore as Hariim dropped back into the room with him, grabbing the door and slamming it closed again for a moment of cover while Hariim was reloading. The last two Vultures who had entered the room had not been present when the heavies identified the claymore, and thus recklessly charged forward, toward the door the Muramasa team was hiding behind. Their comrades tried to warn them but it was too late:
Markus:
CH Estimate: 4/5
Actual: {4, 4}
2 Rolls Passed.
Both men were caught by the blast as the mine detonated, sending shrapnel through their legs before they could reach the door. By this point, the sound of multiple major explosions and men screaming in pain was enough to be heard by the teams fighting in the Armory, and both sides began to fear that the other half of their forces was being decimated in the other fight. [B]25 DMG to Vultures 9 and 10.[/B]
[B]5 Turns Until Warp Charge.[/B]
[B]6 Turns Until End of Battle.[/B]
Maddox prepared a cryo grenade and tossed it towards the enemy. "Grenade out!" He yelled over the Muramasa comms.
Markus knew that the vultures outside would soon try to breach the door and reasoned that this would be and opportune moment to counter attack. He looked towards Hariim, "Ya got any frags left mate? Cause if we don' fuck em up now, we're done for. Chuck'em out the doorway and when the blasts done we'll try to charge 'em."
Warning sings of the team's health status started to flash in front of Archangel. Aparently the team in engineering had run into trouble. He got into contact with one of the remaining vultures. "Nathaniel, report!"
"Using names now boss? We got hit with a trap and some fucknugget just shot at us with a sniper rifle. 4 of us are stunned but getting up."
"Sniper, traps, you must be engaged with the glorified prison queen. Get your shit together and eliminate him and whoever is in there!"
Archangel cut out after that and transfered all his attention to the battle ahead. He identefied the biggest threat in the room in the form of Jag Perditus. He had to put the shotgun away in order to use the centurion shield, but his other arm was free. He reached down and pulled out the lazer magnum, once belonging to the infamous Boome commander, Bromun Kreas, now wielded by more capable hands. "Keep moving forward! Dont let up on your attacks! Surpress them!" He shouted over the comms. He scanned the area in front and saw where the shangvi went. He took aim with the revolver, exposing himself for a few seconds, but keeping the man behind him safe and fired.
"Should have stayed in whatever hole you crawled out of."
The Vultures did as they were commanded, unleashing more salvos at the enemy barricade. The vultures that were still on the doorway aimed at the target their leader had marked. The one standing behind his stunned comrade had another plan. He pulled out a grenade and chucked it at his enemy.
---
The battle in Engineering had left the team almost demoralized. Nathaniel knew he had to pull them together. He stood in place with the shield guarding him and his partner behind him.
"This is getting us nowhere. Arm a frag and throw it. The rest of you. Get the fuck up! This is not a picnic! You can die later!"
Although in great pain, those who could stand started to get up. The formation was reforming as much as it could, considering the circumstances. They would keep pushing forward. The two crippled vultures at the doorway started to move slowly. One leaned at the wall, while the other didn't bother moving and layed in a prone position while aiming. They started taking potshots towards the general direction of the crew, hoping to hit something.
---
Back on the Buzzard, the technicians had restored communications. Specter quickly got in contact with the two remaining scythes and began to relay Archangel's orders to them. Whether they had regained control of their ships and would follow through, remained to be seen.
"Grenades, toss 'em if you got 'em!" sounded off Taylor through comms, hearing Mad as she switched her shotgun from charged shot to spread. She planned to up the volume of firepower, spreading it amongst them instead of nailing just one soldier with a ball of green plasma. As it switched over, changing the tune of its humming, she heard the screams and explosions from the engine room. Hopefully they belonged to the enemy forces and not friendlies.
As she prepared to open up on the invading forces again, she spotted what seemed to be the commander of the group taking aim at Jag with a pistol of some sort. An opportunity to get in a hit. [B][I]"HEY! FULL METAL FUCKHEAD!"[/I][/B] she shouted, attempting to get his attention. Though she couldn't exactly aim the weapon, as it was held like a minigun, she tried anyway, and opened up with several bursts of hot green plasma from the heavy auto-shotgun. She figured the shields of the front line troops might block some of the shots, but she might get lucky and nail their commander. Or even luckier, and the sheer volume of heavy plasma shots would fuck with the front line troops. One could only hope.
[QUOTE=Radley;51206230]Markus knew that the vultures outside would soon try to breach the door and reasoned that this would be and opportune moment to counter attack. He looked towards Jag, "Ya got any frags left mate? Cause if we don' fuck em up now, we're done for. Chuck'em out the doorway and when the blasts done we'll try to charge 'em."[/QUOTE]
((Jag is in the armory while Markus is in engineering.))
Meanwhile on the bridge of the SNV Shadow captain Valerie Reed had a worried look on her face as she observed the screen infront of her. Roughly an hour ago the Shadow had reached Zyus II, their objective. Having cloaked themselves to avoid possible detection by enemy sensors the crew had conducted several orbital scans.
"Officer Hendricks, zoom in on the New Dawn settlement." Said Valerie politely. Hendricks nodded and adjusted the camera, bringing up the smoldering ruins of the only known settlement to exist on Zyus II.
"Is that...?" Began Hendricks.
Valerie sighed. "Looks like the intel was right. Do we have a visual on the enemy base?"
"Yes ma'am, it's positioned ontop of a plateau surrounded by cliffs and mountains. We've identified a single road leading into the base."
Valerie raised an eyebrow. "Does the groundteam have a plan?"
"Full-frontal assault, ma'am."
((Yeah, I noticed and edited my post.))
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