10-20-2008, 12:15 AM
Nickname/Callsign: Caedes
Name: CLASSIFIED
Occupation: Liberty Navy, Special Forces
Stationed: CLASSIFIED
Age: 23
Other notes: Exceptional at close quarters combat
Caedes looked around the briefing room, only recognising a few faces, soldiers he had served with on past missions. He felt a touch of sadness at previous losses, interrupted by his commanding officer clearing his throat, to make sure everyone was paying attention.
"Okay... I don't know how the Outcasts managed to create such a large station without attracting any attention but I do know how to destroy it. Like most space stations, there is a power generator that is absolutely vital to any station, it powers life support, weapons, shields and communications. Disable the generator and we'd only need one dreadnought to take it down."
Caedes heard one of the other veterans, Ham, sigh audibly. Ham was a bit crazy, in the way that he enjoyed combat far too much, he probably would have preferred physically dismantling the entire station in a spacesuit with a metal bar than letting a Cruiser take all the fun.
The commanding officer, Bard, really did not like interruptions and was considering throwing his cup of coffee at Ham.
"I assume you all read the briefing slates and know the layout and specifications of the station. It is a pretty simple mission, kill your way from the breach point to the power generator, stick enough explosives on it as you feel necessary. When the station's weapons are down, a drop ship will pick you up. I haven't been told what ship is going to finish the station off, probably because the admirals are going to leave it to the last minute to decide."
Most of the veterans simply looked bored while the newbies were visibly excited by the idea of finally putting their simulated training to use. If Bard had any visible emotions, he would have shown his unhappiness at not being able to fight due to his age, even though he could probably kill most of the marines in service in a fair fight.
"Ok you clowns, get the hell out, I need to brief the second team."
In a few minutes, the room emptied as all the marines went to the armoury to equip and armour themselves.
Caedes chose the standard Naval Issue pulse rifle and sidearm, along with the E-X Mk II protective suit and helmet, he looked around and noticed everyone had chosen the same, except for Crash who had his "lucky" projectile weapon, a shotgun he had personally made from Rheinland, a brutal weapon but very efficient in close quarters.
The entire team, made up of twelve marines, had nothing else to do so they all stood around the drop ship, talking or hurling abuse at the engineers scurrying around the launch bay, refuelling the various fighters.
Several hours passed, all the engineers left the bay and all the pilots started going to their ships. Caedes knew who the pilot was and knew that his team was hoping for her. Mira, Not only was she nice to look at, but she was the best drop ship pilot in the Navy, she could land a drop ship on any ship, dodging unfeasible amounts of weapons fire. Personally, Caedes hated drop ships, mainly because they were such an easy target and even with such a skilled pilot, he couldn't help but be afraid he would die before even stepping on board the station.
"Ok guys, jump in and sit tight, this carrier will have to sit outside weapons range of the station so we'll have some five or so quality minutes to spend together, might as well get comfortable." The look on her face made it clear that she didn't like them.
In no time at all, they were all strapped in and every ship in the bay launched simultaneously, all the fighters provided covering fire for the drop ship as the Outcast Sabres opened fire, the two waves of fighters met each other, exchanging furious amounts of fire, explosions and wreckage being hazardous to both sides.
Caedes could not see what was happening but could definitely feel the inertia as the drop ship dodged and weaved in between fire. In what seemed like an age, the dropship finally reached the station, landing roughly in one of the launch bays. Luckily, the launch bay was completely empty so they all poured out of the drop ship and after making sure the bay was clear, moved into the corridors to find their way to the generator. Caedes heard the drop ship fire up its engines and fly off, presumably back to the carrier. Mira would not be able to fight off the outcast guards, were they to find the drop ship.
Caedes and his team moved through the corridors with great speed and efficiency, always utilizing cover and never getting in each other's line of fire. They met little to no resistance, the few outcasts they came across barely had time to lift their weapons before getting a pulse blast to the head. As they got closer to the generator room, they ran into a large group of guards, well trained and prepared, two marines fell as they couldn't get to cover quickly enough, after a few minutes of exchanging fire, the group was dead, the marine team moved up and as they saw the door to the generator room, they saw something they didn't expect.
There was another, larger group of outcasts, facing away from the marines, toward the generator room. One of the newer marines, a kid by the strange nickname of Fruitbowl, opened fire and got one of the outcasts in the back, which alerted all the others. As the outcasts turned, the door to the generator room exploded and dozens of shots came flying out of the smoke, killing most of the outcasts. The last few outcasts fired blindly due to fear, somehow managing to hit and kill Ham.
As the smoke disappeared, four men wearing all black armour came running out, firing as they ran, killing three marines with shocking precision. Caedes was down to 5 marines and himself and he had no idea who these attackers were but knew they were extremely well trained, possibly bretonian special forces. Two more marines died, their heads smoking as their bodies hit the floor. Caedes was especially angry now, not because of the loss of life, but because he had no clue who these guys were.
It was just Caedes, Crash, Fruitbowl and another veteran called Skelter. Skelter fired his rifle and hit one of the attackers squarely in the heart, it would have penetrated most types of armour, but this armour must have been very advanced, the attacker fell over backwards from the force of the blast, getting up a second later and returning the favour, leaving a burning hole in Skelter. As there were only 3 marines left, the attackers slowly moved forward. Crash, prone to bloodlust, stood up and ran forward shouting.
"Die you bastards!" he screamed, he fired his shotgun at the closest attacker, hitting him in the leg, tearing it off by the knee. All three remaining attackers fired simultaneously, charring most of Crash's upper body.
Caedes, for some reason, dropped his rifle and pulled his sidearm. He preferred handguns as they were lighter, easier to move and more accurate. In a heartbeat, he stood up from cover and fired, hitting one of them in the face, their armour was tough, but their helmets were just for breathing in hazardous environments, they couldn't stop a bullet or pulse blast. The two remaining attackers decided to better use their cover and dragged their unconscious team mate behind cover as well.
Several outcasts came running into the corridor from the generator room, one of the attackers pulled out a device and pressed a button, detonating the charges they must have placed on the power generator, the blast incinerated the outcasts but the force of the blast knocked everyone over, Caedes got up and grabbing Fruitbowl, ran, firing blindly behind him. Caedes and Fruitbowl ran to the launch bay and using various crates from around the bay, set up cover for when the attackers caught up.
"Fruitbowl, get on the comms, report in and request immediate exfiltration while I hack the door closed." Caedes ordered.
Caedes was no hacker but the door wasn't exactly complex, as soon as it closed, he heard gunshots hit the door on the other side, he ran back to cover, slapping Fruitbowl on the head, which pretty much meant "What the hell is wrong?".
"Erm, Sir... They're giving a negative on the exfiltration." He sounded scared.
Caedes, feeling more anger than he had ever felt before, accessed his own commset.
"Command... What the hell do you mean by "negative"?!" Caedes shouted, more than asked.
It took a few seconds for a response, but it came.
"An Osiris class battleship appeared from nowhere and we are taking heavy damage. We will not risk a drop ship for only two, sorry."
Neither Caedes or Fruitbowl noticed the door blast open, or the shock grenade roll by their feet. If they were to remember anything, it would have just been blindness and pain.
--------
Caedes woke up, with a cracking headache, he looked around the room and saw Fruitbowl sitting in the corner looking at an unconscious person in the opposite corner, judging by the clothes it was a LSF officer.
"Who's that guy?" Fruitbowl asked, pointing.
"Dunno, let's wake him up and find out." Caedes got up and nudged the officer with his foot, resulting in the officer waking up and standing quickly.
"Wha? Where am I? What happened?" he asked, very nervously.
Fruitbowl decided to answer. "Settle down, you must have been flashbanged like us, we're probably on an Order ship."
"Order ship?! Oh no, no, no, damnit!" He said, speaking annoyingly fast.
"What the hell is wrong with you, man?" Caedes did the talking this time.
"They must have known about our research, I told Mike this would happen but he didn't listen!" This got Caedes curious.
"What research?" he asked.
"The nomad research, you know...? The subjects we caught at Omic-- Wait... What's your security clearance?"
Everyone in Sirius knew what a nomad was and how dangerous they were, Fruitbowl stood up quickly and held the officer up to the wall.
Just as Caedes was about to restrain Fruitbowl, the door opened and two Order marines rushed in, one threw Fruitbowl to the other side of the room and the other escorted the LSF officer out of the room.
Fruitbowl stood up, not quite sure what just happened, but quickly assessed the situation. The other marine was gone so it was now two marines against one.
"Trust me, even if you could beat me, there's a regiment of marines that will be here in about 4 minutes." he said, the voice sounding inhumanly deep because of his helmet.
Fruitbowl didn't care, he moved to punch the marine but was too slow. The marine easily deflected his arm away, put his palm on Fruitbowl's face and pushed him backwards. By the speed at which the marine defended himself, Caedes decided not to try, and that Fruitbowl was lucky the marine didn't want to kill him.
"Please don't do that again." He said, the amusement in his voice only barely hidden.
"What was that guy on about, nomads and research?" Fruitbowl asked, standing up slowly.
"For a while we've known about this base, we knew that LSF was helping Outcasts build it. What we didn't know was the LSF were using it as a research lab on nomad technology and biology." He didn't seem to be lying when he said it.
"I know the LSF does some bad things, but nomad research? Oh and why work with outcasts, why not just build it themselves?" said Fruitbowl. Caedes realised that Fruitbowl has said more in the last few minutes than he has for the week or two that they've known each other.
"Because if it was an entire base of LSF agents, it'll be much more likely that one of them will leak information. Also, if any of the nomads they capture cause any mayhem, it'll only be Outcasts dying, not LSF."
Caedes did not usually care about his own life much but he had to ask.
"What will happen to me?" He looked at Fruitbowl. "To us?"
"To be honest, you can't go back to Liberty, or any of the other houses for that matter. The LSF will hunt you down if they find out you're alive, even if you didn't know about their research, they would still kill you in case you turned traitor and joined The Order. He said
Fruitbowl said what Caedes was thinking.
"What if we do want to join The Order? I mean, we can't go back and we're sure as hell not becoming pirates or miners".
The marine thought to himself for a minute.
"We would still hold you as prisoners, at least untill we know you're trustworthy, then we'll evaluate what you'd be best at then train you in that field. You will find that there are a lot of former Liberty agents, soldiers and pilots in The Order, provided you are loyal to The Order and more importantly, humanity, you will be treated well. If you're both offering to join, I'll go inform the commander."
"Sign us up then." They said, simultaneously.
Name: CLASSIFIED
Occupation: Liberty Navy, Special Forces
Stationed: CLASSIFIED
Age: 23
Other notes: Exceptional at close quarters combat
Caedes looked around the briefing room, only recognising a few faces, soldiers he had served with on past missions. He felt a touch of sadness at previous losses, interrupted by his commanding officer clearing his throat, to make sure everyone was paying attention.
"Okay... I don't know how the Outcasts managed to create such a large station without attracting any attention but I do know how to destroy it. Like most space stations, there is a power generator that is absolutely vital to any station, it powers life support, weapons, shields and communications. Disable the generator and we'd only need one dreadnought to take it down."
Caedes heard one of the other veterans, Ham, sigh audibly. Ham was a bit crazy, in the way that he enjoyed combat far too much, he probably would have preferred physically dismantling the entire station in a spacesuit with a metal bar than letting a Cruiser take all the fun.
The commanding officer, Bard, really did not like interruptions and was considering throwing his cup of coffee at Ham.
"I assume you all read the briefing slates and know the layout and specifications of the station. It is a pretty simple mission, kill your way from the breach point to the power generator, stick enough explosives on it as you feel necessary. When the station's weapons are down, a drop ship will pick you up. I haven't been told what ship is going to finish the station off, probably because the admirals are going to leave it to the last minute to decide."
Most of the veterans simply looked bored while the newbies were visibly excited by the idea of finally putting their simulated training to use. If Bard had any visible emotions, he would have shown his unhappiness at not being able to fight due to his age, even though he could probably kill most of the marines in service in a fair fight.
"Ok you clowns, get the hell out, I need to brief the second team."
In a few minutes, the room emptied as all the marines went to the armoury to equip and armour themselves.
Caedes chose the standard Naval Issue pulse rifle and sidearm, along with the E-X Mk II protective suit and helmet, he looked around and noticed everyone had chosen the same, except for Crash who had his "lucky" projectile weapon, a shotgun he had personally made from Rheinland, a brutal weapon but very efficient in close quarters.
The entire team, made up of twelve marines, had nothing else to do so they all stood around the drop ship, talking or hurling abuse at the engineers scurrying around the launch bay, refuelling the various fighters.
Several hours passed, all the engineers left the bay and all the pilots started going to their ships. Caedes knew who the pilot was and knew that his team was hoping for her. Mira, Not only was she nice to look at, but she was the best drop ship pilot in the Navy, she could land a drop ship on any ship, dodging unfeasible amounts of weapons fire. Personally, Caedes hated drop ships, mainly because they were such an easy target and even with such a skilled pilot, he couldn't help but be afraid he would die before even stepping on board the station.
"Ok guys, jump in and sit tight, this carrier will have to sit outside weapons range of the station so we'll have some five or so quality minutes to spend together, might as well get comfortable." The look on her face made it clear that she didn't like them.
In no time at all, they were all strapped in and every ship in the bay launched simultaneously, all the fighters provided covering fire for the drop ship as the Outcast Sabres opened fire, the two waves of fighters met each other, exchanging furious amounts of fire, explosions and wreckage being hazardous to both sides.
Caedes could not see what was happening but could definitely feel the inertia as the drop ship dodged and weaved in between fire. In what seemed like an age, the dropship finally reached the station, landing roughly in one of the launch bays. Luckily, the launch bay was completely empty so they all poured out of the drop ship and after making sure the bay was clear, moved into the corridors to find their way to the generator. Caedes heard the drop ship fire up its engines and fly off, presumably back to the carrier. Mira would not be able to fight off the outcast guards, were they to find the drop ship.
Caedes and his team moved through the corridors with great speed and efficiency, always utilizing cover and never getting in each other's line of fire. They met little to no resistance, the few outcasts they came across barely had time to lift their weapons before getting a pulse blast to the head. As they got closer to the generator room, they ran into a large group of guards, well trained and prepared, two marines fell as they couldn't get to cover quickly enough, after a few minutes of exchanging fire, the group was dead, the marine team moved up and as they saw the door to the generator room, they saw something they didn't expect.
There was another, larger group of outcasts, facing away from the marines, toward the generator room. One of the newer marines, a kid by the strange nickname of Fruitbowl, opened fire and got one of the outcasts in the back, which alerted all the others. As the outcasts turned, the door to the generator room exploded and dozens of shots came flying out of the smoke, killing most of the outcasts. The last few outcasts fired blindly due to fear, somehow managing to hit and kill Ham.
As the smoke disappeared, four men wearing all black armour came running out, firing as they ran, killing three marines with shocking precision. Caedes was down to 5 marines and himself and he had no idea who these attackers were but knew they were extremely well trained, possibly bretonian special forces. Two more marines died, their heads smoking as their bodies hit the floor. Caedes was especially angry now, not because of the loss of life, but because he had no clue who these guys were.
It was just Caedes, Crash, Fruitbowl and another veteran called Skelter. Skelter fired his rifle and hit one of the attackers squarely in the heart, it would have penetrated most types of armour, but this armour must have been very advanced, the attacker fell over backwards from the force of the blast, getting up a second later and returning the favour, leaving a burning hole in Skelter. As there were only 3 marines left, the attackers slowly moved forward. Crash, prone to bloodlust, stood up and ran forward shouting.
"Die you bastards!" he screamed, he fired his shotgun at the closest attacker, hitting him in the leg, tearing it off by the knee. All three remaining attackers fired simultaneously, charring most of Crash's upper body.
Caedes, for some reason, dropped his rifle and pulled his sidearm. He preferred handguns as they were lighter, easier to move and more accurate. In a heartbeat, he stood up from cover and fired, hitting one of them in the face, their armour was tough, but their helmets were just for breathing in hazardous environments, they couldn't stop a bullet or pulse blast. The two remaining attackers decided to better use their cover and dragged their unconscious team mate behind cover as well.
Several outcasts came running into the corridor from the generator room, one of the attackers pulled out a device and pressed a button, detonating the charges they must have placed on the power generator, the blast incinerated the outcasts but the force of the blast knocked everyone over, Caedes got up and grabbing Fruitbowl, ran, firing blindly behind him. Caedes and Fruitbowl ran to the launch bay and using various crates from around the bay, set up cover for when the attackers caught up.
"Fruitbowl, get on the comms, report in and request immediate exfiltration while I hack the door closed." Caedes ordered.
Caedes was no hacker but the door wasn't exactly complex, as soon as it closed, he heard gunshots hit the door on the other side, he ran back to cover, slapping Fruitbowl on the head, which pretty much meant "What the hell is wrong?".
"Erm, Sir... They're giving a negative on the exfiltration." He sounded scared.
Caedes, feeling more anger than he had ever felt before, accessed his own commset.
"Command... What the hell do you mean by "negative"?!" Caedes shouted, more than asked.
It took a few seconds for a response, but it came.
"An Osiris class battleship appeared from nowhere and we are taking heavy damage. We will not risk a drop ship for only two, sorry."
Neither Caedes or Fruitbowl noticed the door blast open, or the shock grenade roll by their feet. If they were to remember anything, it would have just been blindness and pain.
--------
Caedes woke up, with a cracking headache, he looked around the room and saw Fruitbowl sitting in the corner looking at an unconscious person in the opposite corner, judging by the clothes it was a LSF officer.
"Who's that guy?" Fruitbowl asked, pointing.
"Dunno, let's wake him up and find out." Caedes got up and nudged the officer with his foot, resulting in the officer waking up and standing quickly.
"Wha? Where am I? What happened?" he asked, very nervously.
Fruitbowl decided to answer. "Settle down, you must have been flashbanged like us, we're probably on an Order ship."
"Order ship?! Oh no, no, no, damnit!" He said, speaking annoyingly fast.
"What the hell is wrong with you, man?" Caedes did the talking this time.
"They must have known about our research, I told Mike this would happen but he didn't listen!" This got Caedes curious.
"What research?" he asked.
"The nomad research, you know...? The subjects we caught at Omic-- Wait... What's your security clearance?"
Everyone in Sirius knew what a nomad was and how dangerous they were, Fruitbowl stood up quickly and held the officer up to the wall.
Just as Caedes was about to restrain Fruitbowl, the door opened and two Order marines rushed in, one threw Fruitbowl to the other side of the room and the other escorted the LSF officer out of the room.
Fruitbowl stood up, not quite sure what just happened, but quickly assessed the situation. The other marine was gone so it was now two marines against one.
"Trust me, even if you could beat me, there's a regiment of marines that will be here in about 4 minutes." he said, the voice sounding inhumanly deep because of his helmet.
Fruitbowl didn't care, he moved to punch the marine but was too slow. The marine easily deflected his arm away, put his palm on Fruitbowl's face and pushed him backwards. By the speed at which the marine defended himself, Caedes decided not to try, and that Fruitbowl was lucky the marine didn't want to kill him.
"Please don't do that again." He said, the amusement in his voice only barely hidden.
"What was that guy on about, nomads and research?" Fruitbowl asked, standing up slowly.
"For a while we've known about this base, we knew that LSF was helping Outcasts build it. What we didn't know was the LSF were using it as a research lab on nomad technology and biology." He didn't seem to be lying when he said it.
"I know the LSF does some bad things, but nomad research? Oh and why work with outcasts, why not just build it themselves?" said Fruitbowl. Caedes realised that Fruitbowl has said more in the last few minutes than he has for the week or two that they've known each other.
"Because if it was an entire base of LSF agents, it'll be much more likely that one of them will leak information. Also, if any of the nomads they capture cause any mayhem, it'll only be Outcasts dying, not LSF."
Caedes did not usually care about his own life much but he had to ask.
"What will happen to me?" He looked at Fruitbowl. "To us?"
"To be honest, you can't go back to Liberty, or any of the other houses for that matter. The LSF will hunt you down if they find out you're alive, even if you didn't know about their research, they would still kill you in case you turned traitor and joined The Order. He said
Fruitbowl said what Caedes was thinking.
"What if we do want to join The Order? I mean, we can't go back and we're sure as hell not becoming pirates or miners".
The marine thought to himself for a minute.
"We would still hold you as prisoners, at least untill we know you're trustworthy, then we'll evaluate what you'd be best at then train you in that field. You will find that there are a lot of former Liberty agents, soldiers and pilots in The Order, provided you are loyal to The Order and more importantly, humanity, you will be treated well. If you're both offering to join, I'll go inform the commander."
"Sign us up then." They said, simultaneously.