With practiced ease, the three hardened Marines - survivors of the last bits of Holding action at Cape Hope, who managed to back the last load of Civilians onto a freighter - exited the airlocked and kicked off, heading for the Bison. As they approached...
Jerrod let out a warning.
"Incoming CBC-22 Class Battle cruiser!" The sensor operator warned. "Checking...it's a match! We have the Iwo Jima on an intercept course."
"Crap. Solomon, get moving!" She frowned. "Prepare to cut all lines, get Blitz ready. I want the main Razors powered up now!"
__________________
Solomon and his marines impacted the side of the Bison, scrambling for handholds.
"Marci, you good?"
The woman grunted a bit. "Yeah, I am."
"Wells?"
"Let's do that again." He said.
Rolling his eyes, Solomon led the others towards an airlock.
"Hang in there..." He said to himself. He then checked the SMG that was slung on his back.
Yep. Still there.
Natsumi Hideyoshi (The Order) | Alexis Hunter (Liberty Navy) |
SENSOR CONTACT DEAD AHEAD EMISSIONS MATCH ORDER TECHNOLOGY!" the cic chimed in as mathers checked his screens "BATTLESTATIONS,SOUND GENENRAL QUARTERS GET ME AN IFF ON THAT VESSEL NOW! WARN HER OFF!!" Mathers barked ad klaxons rang through the massive ship "INCRESE SPEED... FULL SUBLIGHT! KICK IN THE THRUSTERS AS WELL MARINE TEAMS TO COMBAT STATIONS PREP FORPOSSABLE BOARDING ACTIONS!"
<the ship was in full speed now chunks of debris now banging and marring the armored hull of the IWO JIMA cic chimed in again as well as sensors "SIR...we have her debris the ship is close to match a bison class transport,order ship is transmitting an iff only,Destinys Embrace, shes grappled to the hull of the wreckage"
mathers sat down again the ship had primed for combat he overlooked his displays" hail her,they may of destroyed the vessel they may of found it adrift,i dont want a fight and i know that ship" the comunications officer looked puzzled standard ROE was to fire on and try to board all order craft
but he carried out his orders "channel open major"
<the battle crest appered behind him in the transmission "order vessel,this is major tomas mathers acting commander of battlecruiser IWO JIMA state intentions or prepare to be engaged,i dont want to have to have a fight here but right now,it looks like you are responsable for destroying that ship,i have a team in a shuttle aproching the bison,if they are harassed in ANY way we will open fire" Mathers stated leaveig the channel open as the IWO pulled to with in 2 kilometers of the wreckage.
Rika pursed her lips again. Mathers. Not Nagase. Oh well.
"That channel still open?"
"It is."
Rika stood and cleared her throat. "Transmit video."
A moment later, Rika's image snapped onscreen. Her uniform was a personalized dress uniform. But, instead of her usual crimson hair and blue eyes, she sported snow-white hair and deep purple eyes. She frowned.
"This is Kira of the Autonomous Operation's Hathor Destiny's Embrace. No, we did not shoot the stupid Bison. Sorry, we're not here to kill humans now...anyways. Glad to hear you're not going to fire." She sighs. "I currently have three men already breaching an airlock to search the wreckage, and there's some idiot inside as well." She shrugged. "I'd avoid pissing them off; they were some of the last Marines to make it off Cape Hope before the Core overran the position."
She glanced over her shoulder to read a screen. "The Bison's erratic roll was stopped, so it's stable. We've got it secured in place, so don't ram it now."
Rika motioned for the screen to be cut, then flopped into her chair. "Seriously. Wish people'd not jump to conclusions. Sheesh."
Natsumi Hideyoshi (The Order) | Alexis Hunter (Liberty Navy) |
"run full scans on whats left of the ship,if she dident destroy it who did,inform the boarding partys to start salvage recovery ,we need the ships black box,it cannot fall into order hands,reopen the channel"Mathers commanded
"i must ask you withdraw your men,our former commander still keeps in contact with us we heard about a massive fight in the omercrons,however this is Liberty,and that is a Liberty Naval Ship,,we will take over salvage efforts,but we can still at least work togeather in finding her cause for destruction we never recived a mayday call nor are any of her active emergency beacons pinging,that causes me to doubt your story,we are running scans now to verify your end of it." he paused looking at more displays "should it not check out...prepare to be boarded and taken into custody,any resistance wil lbe met with aproprate force to nullify it Jima out"
"Excuse me? You're really going to try and take me into custody? You obviously have no clue who you are dealing with." She smirked. "I did not shoot your Bison here, and I will not have them withdrawal. The safety of the crew is my priority. Whatever else you want, go ahead. But my men are inside looking for survivors, and survivors only."
She crosses her arms defiantly. "If you really wish to assault the Destiny's Embrace, then you are no better then the Naval Personnel who blindly attack us, claiming us as terrorists. I go out of my way to attempt to save Navy Personnel, put my men in harm's way, and still am treated with such hostility? I almost ran it over! I don't shoot humans for the love of strawberry pop tarts. God, that's not a glowing blue mass of organic material and tentacles, is it?" She glares. "If you want to risk hitting the wreck, and killing your people, be my guest. Jerrod! Reel in the lines and make a hard lock! Don't know if there's any suits not compromised there." She turns back to Mathers. "This vessel's reactor core has the ability to destroy everything in a twenty kilometer radius in under five seconds. Go ahead." her lip curls in victory. "Shoot me."
The Hathor reels in the bridge, keeping it secure as Solomon and his marines entered the airlock, securing it for extraction.
Natsumi Hideyoshi (The Order) | Alexis Hunter (Liberty Navy) |
The corridor was silent for a long time. The seconds stretched into minutes, minutes seeming to stretch into weeks. When noise did come it was faint, muffled by the thick metal, Chamberlain heard it over his own breathing. Even so, the sequence was unmistakeable. Three knocks. Pause. Knock. Pause. Three knocks. There was a longer pause, and for a moment it seemed as if the bridge's inhabitants had fallen silent.
Three sharp knocks punctuated the silence. This time the noise was definite, the rap of metal on metal. A brief pause. Another knock... Chamberlain's own pattern, hammered out in the most basic of communications. The message was just as simple, just as ancient: S.O.S.
Unsecured cables twitched in silent protest as the Destiny's airlock extended to meet the wrecked Bison. The walkway paused in its extension, seemingly frustrated by the unfamiliar docking ports, but the Order's engineers were as skilful as they were through and the airlock hissed as oxygen was pumped into it. Marines swarmed into the confined space, moving to the crippled transport's airlock, only to find it unresponsive to their exertions. Without a power source, the ship's door remained what it was - a slab of reinforced titanium.[/color]
//Sorry for the late response, computer went down.
Solomon hefted against the door, then frowned.
"Ma'am, we got no leverage. And shooting our way through is a bad idea. We need power."
The other marines, about eight in all, began to back out to make room for Solomon and the technowhiz marine, Smithers.
"Can't get through this." he said in his Bretonian accent. "We'll need power or we blast through and threaten to send this entire thing into another spin."
Solomon sighed. "Ok then, Smithers. Let's get power back on. Where is can we get a power cell hooked up?"
Smithers studied the diagram and schematics of the Bisons the Order had. "You'll need a space walk."
Solomon smirked. "Like always."
Natsumi Hideyoshi (The Order) | Alexis Hunter (Liberty Navy) |
"Good, someones still alive." He replied softly to himself, starting to knock a message that stated something along the lines of 'Help is here, we're trying to get through the door. Find something to breath into... your compartment might be breached.' With the message itself sent, he hoped the person would understand that. His eyes started wandering around for something to pry these doors open, only taking a brief second to look down at his countdown - Forty-three seconds.
He shook his head only to grab the floating piece of debris nearby, and used it to knock out another message. 'Correction. Is there any way you can get these doors open without us having to breach?'
The schematics, at least, bought some good news. Military or not, modern heavy transports were built to shrug off battle damage that would destroy a smaller ship. Redundant systems were strewn through the transport's hull like bent cops through Sugarland. Plans outlined no less then three supplementary electrical lines running from the bridge to what had presumbably been the main reactor. Returning power to any one of them should have been sufficient to bring the ship's vital systems back online and... There it was. The port line had been sliced by debris, severed along with a small compartment, but the upper and starboard lines seemed intact, running through the remnants of the cargo bay at the rear of the wreck. With the shape Clearwater was in it was a small miracle that even one of them was holding together.
Inside the hulk, a series of impacts reverberated through the door. No. Doors sealed automatically. Power out. Can't see. Oxygen in aid station. Two on board. Wait. The message was brief, but unsuprising. Smaller warships and transports fitted escape pods but rarely included options for crew stranded in the wreck. The odds of any part of the ship surviving whatver destroyed the rest of the hull were deemed too remote to prompt emergency features beyond the usual beacons, and whatever survival equipment the ship carried was stored in escape pods to give the crew a chance.
The corridor was silent again for a moment before a new message was rattled out against the metal. Oxygen here. No hardsuits.
Solomon went EVA with a bang, his jetpack throwing him around the wreck at a decent speed. His trained eyes and movement brought him to his objective quickly, where he expertly began the process of sending power to the door.
"Blue Team, prepare to move in. Red Team, prepare to cover. Green Team, keep that evac route open."
A chorus of "Yes Sir!" resounded in his comm. Smirking, he finished his job and headed back to RV with Blue Team.
"This is Rika...hurry up, haven't heard anything from that idiot or any survivors. Move faster."
Natsumi Hideyoshi (The Order) | Alexis Hunter (Liberty Navy) |