Kaisho slowly entered room, eyed the room, there were lots of marines ready for upcoming mission.
"You all know why you were gathered here, no need to tell you that again." he started.
"Our mission is quite simple, board and wipeout all possible threats. Kaisho-ho Nagata will be leading main group and Nitto Kaisa Sanada support group"
he turned to computer and uploaded file, on all monitors showed up new picture
"This is most detailed plan of Arch that we could find, as you can see base quite large and it will take some to check it all, on possible threats, our transport will moor near secondary dock, and main mission will be capturing of command room, group of admiral Nagata will take care about it." He stopped for a moment, but once again continued his speech
"Group of Kaisa Sanada must capture power cells first, and then join with Nagatas group in command room, once command room will be captured you would be able to turn off defence systems and allow more troops to land on base to help with other objectives. Secondary objectives are communication transmitters, shields, warehouses and docks, and after that all other decks." He stopped once again, looked at clock.
"You have one and a half of hour before start of mission, prepare yourself well. That's all, any questions?" but only silence he got in response
"End of briefing"
2 hours later in space near Matsumoto
Quote:[22.05.2012 19:58:14] [KNF]Ka.T.Hijikata.: All forces, form up on Aden maru, we are moving into tohoku.
[22.05.2012 19:58:19] [KNF]KDS-Aden.Maru: Initiating jump sequence...
[22.05.2012 19:58:53] [KNF]Ii.H.Ishikawa: And here we are again
[22.05.2012 19:58:54] [KNF]Ka.T.Hijikata.: Defence formation.
[22.05.2012 19:58:57] [KNF]Ni.Bensuke: There it is.
[22.05.2012 19:59:16] [KNF]KDS-Aden.Maru: We are trying to detect a boarding position...
[22.05.2012 19:59:18] [KNF]Ka.T.Hijikata.: Ishikawa san you are leading defence fighters.
[22.05.2012 19:59:30] [KNF]Ka.T.Hijikata.: Bensuke you with me covering rears.
[22.05.2012 19:59:31] [KNF]Ii.H.Ishikawa: Hai. Understood.
[22.05.2012 19:59:37] [KNF]Ni.Bensuke: Understood.
[22.05.2012 19:59:51] [KNF]KDS-Aden.Maru: We have something....
[22.05.2012 20:00:03] [KNF]Ka.T.Hijikata.: Nagata -san, boarding operation falls under your command.
[22.05.2012 20:00:21] [KNF]Kh.Nagata.: arigatou, begin docking sequence, ready the cutters
[22.05.2012 20:00:22] [KNF]Ka.T.Hijikata.: Good luck on arch. We will join you once you capture command center.
[22.05.2012 20:00:27] [KNF]KDS-Aden.Maru: A boarding bridge was detected. Initiating mooring approach.
[22.05.2012 20:01:16] [KNF]KDS-Aden.Maru: 1k...
[22.05.2012 20:01:22] [KNF]KDS-Aden.Maru: Cut the cruise..!
[22.05.2012 20:01:52] [KNF]KDS-Aden.Maru: Engaging mooring sequence...
[22.05.2012 20:01:59] [KNF]KDS-Aden.Maru: Marines... Get ready!
[22.05.2012 20:03:24] [KNF]KDS-Aden.Maru: Commanding officer of the boarding team indicates the current bridge is safe.
[22.05.2012 20:04:07] [KNF]Ka.T.Hijikata.: Understood, they know thier mission, we will join them once they capture command bridge and contact us.
[22.05.2012 20:04:21] [KNF]KDS-Aden.Maru: As stated in the briefing, we will wait for the Admiral Nagata to moor with the Aden Maru.
[22.05.2012 20:05:53] [KNF]KDS-Aden.Maru: The Admiral Nagata has moored his ship to the Aden Maru. He will now take the command here.
[22.05.2012 20:06:22] [KNF]KDS-Aden.Maru: We are initiating unmooring sequences and preparing to carry more men here.
[22.05.2012 20:06:46] [KNF]KDS-Aden.Maru: Unmooring now...
[22.05.2012 20:06:59] [KNF]Ka.T.Hijikata.: All ships once again defence formation.
[22.05.2012 20:07:04] [KNF]Ni.Bensuke: Hai.
[22.05.2012 20:07:10] [KNF]Aichi: Hai.
[22.05.2012 20:07:37] [KNF]KDS-Aden.Maru: Let's get out of here! The admiral wants more men so that he can secure that big rock!
[22.05.2012 20:07:43] [KNF]Ka.T.Hijikata.: Returning to Hokkaido. Soon we will return here with more forces.
Junko woke with a start right before the morning. Some bad dream.
Surfacing, she eventually noticed the cat, who of course took the liberty to take a nap on her.
"Sheesh..." she started to mumble in a hoarse voice... "Ishikawa, ie. Bad Ishikawa-kun. You're supposed to sleep on the couch, not on me."
She gazed absent mindedly at the cat she named Ishikawa. She was still lost in her dream.
In the end, she just chased the cat from her by pushing him a little bit. She then turned around and checked the clock on the bedside table.
"Kidding me..."she sighed. Three am.
Falling back on her pillow, her mind started to wander.
Wouldn't work. She would never manage to fall asleep.
She turned around again and again until the poor Ishikawa had to leave the couch because of this raging sea he was trying to sleep on.
Should she just tell him?
Bad idea.
She was almost tempted to call her sister. She was way more talented for all those things.
But the only thing stopping her was she would probably start to simper"Oh my elder sister finally found love gnagnagna~"
Better die than ask her any advice.
Oh well.. She found a good enough reason to not do anything anyway...
Junko thought again about this boring meeting she quietly participated to like a good obedient girl.
And like a good obedient girl, she didn't decline the mission she was given.
Supposedly, they chose her because she was trained in assault and close combat.
But she had a presentiment it was merely because she was seen as expandable.
Or maybe she just annoyed someone badly...
Junko sighed, got up and started to prepare herself in order to leave her small flat on New Tokyo before the dawn.
"10 minutes until jump."crackled the speakers in the transport hull.
They were all crammed together in the hold of that transport to the point it wasn't even funny.
Junko was sitting near that Admiral Nagata.
She gave him a quick sidelook and almost sighed.
It just looked he had that -I can't smile at any time even if i want to because i have a reputation to uphold- thing.
The next hours would most likely be boring as hell...
Junko then gazed at the men she was commanding.
She had her share of brainless pack of muscles. Amazing.
Some of them were actually glancing at her, most probably wondering what this skinny woman was doing here and why she was actually ordering them around...
She coughed and, lowering her head, appeared to be absorbed in the contemplation of her shotgun.
Yuri glanced at the officers on-board the Aden Maru, some of whom he was familiar with. Amongst the standard uniformed marines sat a smaller, attractive woman.
In Yuris experience, every boarding operation brought the same uncertain excitement. Not knowing if the initial breach would take he and his men into a wall of enemy fire, or if a lucky shot from the enemy would take his head off. Resistance was always expected, losses were par-for-the-course: good men would die trying to secure any asset; but this one in particular was a unique case.
Tales and rumours of the strength and speed of infected humans were thick on the ground in Kusari, ever since Tekagis betrayal, infected agents were the stuff of horror stories ' if they didn't kill you: they could infect you, taking everything you once were and possessing your immortal soul.
He caught a glance from the smaller woman, Her badge read Sanada: a woman of some renown who had fought her way through the ranks, earning acclaim and position; a relatively uncommon occurrence that had manifest with the new republic. Though smaller her eyes conveyed a relaxed weariness, as though she was familiar with such operations. She carried a shotgun, a good choice for close quarters annihilation.
'If there is no choice left: You might want to take a few out with you. Better to die free."
Junko hated to admit it to herself, but she was feeling sick.
It's not as if it was the first time she participated in a boarding.
She was remembering just fine the take over of the station LD-14 in Seto system.
A slaughter, if anything.
But at least, they were fighting humans. And she couldn't deny she enjoyed to see them running like little rabbits when things were starting to turn bad.
It was different this time.
Incidentally, she had the responsibility of many lives, which wasn't helping.
'My new playtoys', she thought.
And such an ironical nickname made her smirk for a momentum.
A smirk she quickly replaced by a neutral, emotionless expression, while checking again her shotgun.
Did they notice it? Great. Now they would think she was a psycho or something alike.
She allowed herself a quick, silent sigh and studied her men in a swift circular gaze.
That's when she noticed Nagata was staring at her. As soon as their eyes met, he talked.
Junko pouted, taking a short while to find something sarcastic enough to reply. "Oh don't worry, if it comes to this, i will certainly just think about going fishing with you. Just because dying out in boredo..."
She was cut by the sound of an alarm coming out of the speakers. "Attention. Attention. Boarding imminent. Strike teams, get ready."
'What else do you expect us to do? Play some Kabuki?' She thought while getting on her feet.
That's when the whole transport jolted, making her almost fall in the arms of some guy built like a tank.
Quickly gaining back her balance, she mumbled "Sure. Take advantage of it by groping me. You're welcome."
She then shouted in a clear tone : "Team, Get ready! We are the first to dance, tonight. Enjoy!"
The airlocks opened and the men rushed in to them, preparing themselves to jump in what the scans identified as the transmitters levels.
The first breach was less than glorious, after the initial implosion debris tore outward, exposed lines hissed and sizzled as they arced about crazily. Teams moved in to smother the dangerous breaches and allow boarding.
Nagata and his squad moved in tandem with Sanadas, through the vacuum filled corridors. Lines of robotic sentries opened fire immediately, scouts were shredded into pieces before e.c.m were deployed. Bodies tumbled past the marines as they began working at the doors.
Something was wrong, what should have been transmitter arrays and paraphernalia was in fact a staggered killing ground. The enemy had obviously prepared.
Seals were breached again and again, and each time the same onslaught of fire from sentries lay in wait. The marines were forced to continue carefully, their progress slowed by the repeated procedural neutralisation of automated cannons. After the third door, the teams managed to reseal and establish station-side pressure.
One of the things that always amazed Junko was that no matter how well prepared, correctly planned or amazingly squared off a strike team could be, it always ended in a nonsensical and stupidly annoying mess in the end.
That one wasn't making exception, to her much disappointment.
As soon as they stepped in, they enjoyed a nice shower made of equally deadly beams.
She often ended up having to hide behind the corpses of some fallen soldiers while they were dealing with what could be wonderfully positioned sentries.
Oh and of course, the occasional de pressurizations were adding much more fun to it. That would have been boring without it. Really.
As usual, giving orders and assessing the tactical situation was a pain. Especially when you were busy trying to not look like a tea-stainer on the end of the day.
+++++
Casualties were heavy, but they decided to follow the initial plan.
Nagata would head to the docks with his storm troopers to secure them and allow more boarding transports to spew out their trained soldier in that gigantic rock.
Meanwhile, Junko's team would head to what they believed to be the nerve center of the station, what they prosaically named 'The command room'.
"With joy and good humour." she said, while directing her men towards the objective.
Nagata's men already left since a fair while.
And just because things weren't hilarious enough, she started to receive more and more static on the comms.
Wonderful.
Those combat suits were a pain to wear. She was sweating like a pig...
Irritatingly, the teams progress had been slowed for minutes as the floor-plan gave way to more corridors and more empty chambers which had to cleared. The signal between the teams decreased. '~*eam one, this is Nagata, -* four hun*-d metres along in section 'B-five'. No trouble so far. Intel must *- old, ~ layout does -ot match. Sending environment data...'
Bizarre signals burst and interfered, eventually severing communication between Nagata and Sanada.
Yuris team had taken a moment to reform and gain their bearings, realising all too late that they stood before a staggered barricade. In the gloom ahead forms began to take shape, and the infected revealed themselves in force. Uniformed to mirror their invaders, the unflinching faces were suddenly lit by muzzle flash as they opened fire.
Men fell spewing blood from open wounds as the infected soldiers advanced. Explosives lining the walls detonated, fire tore through the air as bodies were pulverized. Rocked by the concussion, roaring filled Yuris head as he struggled through the confusion. Despite the nausea, Yuri shouted a warning into the fizzing static of the two-way 'Ambush! Sanada! Abort mi-' weapons fire tore across his view, slicing the equipment apart neatly. Yuri returned fire through the smoke.
The more they were advancing, the harder it was getting.
They lost that sergeant Kojima something her men seemed to see as their patrons a while ago as they were entering in some shiny room full or crystal or whatever-it-was things.
It looked nice. A bit like the inside of some fairy castle.
And then they triggered the traps.
A lot of vicious traps everywhere. Kojima whatever was transformed into Kojima dust within a second.
Junko had to clean a bit her face-guard while keeping a "I'm too cool to look shocked" expression.
Fortunately, their combat suits were preventing them to have to inhale some parts of Kojima what's-your-name-again?.
Boringly, they didn't encounter anyone alive so far.
Only automated defences, as it seemed.
As she was noticing that her squad was getting smaller and smaller, Junko wondered if it would be like in those stupid horror movies where the heroine -That was her, of course!- would see all her friends being slaughtered till she ended alone and had to hide like a little frightened rabbit.
And then, of course, she would find some attractive man who was miraculously around and they would get away and have many children.
Junko allowed herself to roll her eyes while checking the perimeter of the new room they were entering in.
The command center of this rock was what.... 300 meters from here? 400 maybe?
Hard to tell.
"Kaisa, i'm catching lifesigns. They are closing in!" said Baba Kenji, some skinny boy who seemed to serve as liaison. "Finally, " she mumbled "Playtoys."
That's when her comms crackled something about an ambush...
Scattered by the assault, Nagatas teams took cover wherever they could, and soon the team were spread in unknown territory.
Explosions and staccato fire sounded in the distance from all directions. An endless minute passed as Yuris heart hammered in his chest, flashes repeated in his head of the men next to him who had fallen in an instant: Miko had been a solid marine and funny too, but Yuri would always remember him, slack-jawed as his body tumbled through the air, blood-trailing an arc from where his arm used to be.
Blurry Silhouettes appeared against the small fires dotted across the ground, Yuris aim wavered as he held fire, unsure of their identity. Almost too late, the violet flash lit their eyes. Yuri scrambled desperately, firing wildly. He prayed that his team were not far, and had not all perished in that terrible assault.
The silhouettes had gone and Yuri knew a brief moment of relief before something slipped unseen from the shadows behind him. Nagata barely had time to register surprise and disgust as the unseen thing made itself known...
*****
Minutes later Nagata staggered back towards the insurgents position to rejoin the fighting. After easily negotiating the unconventional network of tunnels he met the remains of his team, under fire, as he haphazardly returned it. The marines retreated, a few emerged from the chaos as they fled and more bodies fell.
Finally, to the sound of weapons fire, five of the initial strike-team emerged from the dingy smoke, battered, charred and spattered in blood. Nagata wearily tried to radio Sanada once more, now the distance was shorter 'Ambushed: fall-back, retreat'.