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+--- Thread: Sirens Strike (/showthread.php?tid=181339)
Sirens Strike - DarkTails - 06-29-2020
Within the depths of the Bering system, Battleship Concord met with a separate battleship, Enterprise, to transfer a high value prisoner of war.
Command staff of the battleship Concord had called for a nearby battleship to transfer a captured Harmony officer, Admiral Jade Linford. Taken prisoner during the attack on what remained of Marshall Station, the battlegroup was to remain in the system for longer, and did not want to risk a rescue attempt, as such, Jade was to be moved to Alaska, where the rest of her life would likely be spent. While resistance to interrogation onboard the Concord, few last long in the depths of Fairbanks prison station.
With battleship Enterprise coming alongside Concord to make the transfer, the security was tight onboard the ship. No less than 10 armed guards around the captured woman, escorting her over to their new destination. Captain Lance was asked to personally oversee the prisoner exchange, not wanting to spare any measure during this. It was the first time an insurgent was seized from high enemy ranks, and it wasn't about to slip away.
With the prisoner onboard, the Enterprise had departed. Seemingly everything was proceeding well as they exited the Bering system. Things would however take a sudden downturn as they would find their trade lane disrupted. A lone craft seemed to be the culprit, not far out of the ordinary. Perhaps a pirate that chose the wrong target. Soon the real state of affairs would become very clear to the Enterprise's crew. More lazily launching a wing of fighters, numerous bombers, fighters, and a small number of shuttles would appear on ship scanners.
Now finding themselves in the clutches of an Insurgent ambush, the ship went to action stations, fighters being dispatched to intercept, but a distress call going unheeded. The Enterprise and her crew must fight their way out.
RE: Sirens Strike - Nika - 06-29-2020
For Enterprise the path to Concord was uneventful - traversing secure space amidst the penitentiary filled to the brim with cops and Navy own officers in the wake of sufficiently calm intelligence reports promised to be the most boring assignment Lance had recently, despite the ship crew being on high alert and reinforced with additional marines: naturally, command wanted the transfer and the way back to Alaska to be as uneventful as the initial trip.
The transfer on Concord happened in a tense atmoshpere, but it, gladly, did not pay off - the worst case scenario of Insurgency infiltration never became reality, and little could happen with prisoner's own powers in presence of couple dozen armed guards - from both Enterprise and Concord marine detachments.
Enterprise have departed disposition of Concord and her escorts at at 08:32:16 SST, and it's arrival to Fairbanks was scheduled to +14 hours ahead in time, where admiral Linford was expected with open arms - to meet her less than pleasant fate. However, two hours in the future Enterprise found it's voyage down the chosen path interrupted; outraged by the audacity of the move but maintaning calm posture around her subordinates, Lance turned to the scanner array operators.
"What's with the delay?" Lance sounded naturally pissed by the interference. Yet, no one was made privy to the true nature of the dialogue that happened between Lance and Insurgency battleship Discovery, therefore captain have been putting up the play until the bitter end.
"A lone Griffin, ma'am. Registered energy signatured indicated it is responsible for the disrupted intersection. The vessel is utterly unremarkable. Friend or Foe identification returns Freelancer transponder signals. It is as ordinary as it could possibly be... wait! We have a large amout of Insurgency ships approaching from all directions, we're surrounded! What are the orders?
Considering what was the purpose of Enterprise's voyage the crew have been on duty since it's very beginning; upon the commanding officer order and as soon Insurgency strike craft entered their range - point defense batteries opened fire on the approaching enemy, while Lance left the bridge and went ahead to prepare the marine detachment to repel the boarding parties - considering the approaching shuttles - those would inevitably appear as soon as ship's batteries are considered sufficiently suppressed.
RE: Sirens Strike - DarkTails - 06-30-2020
It wasn't long before the strike squadrons were approaching range, the fighters taking lead to intercept the incoming fighters from Enterprise. The trap was sprung and the crew of Enterprise were in for a battle stacked against them. Soon enough, the fighters would be entangled in a pitched battle.
"This is Siren Leader to all wingmen, the Enterprise has fallen directly into our trap. Engage all incoming screen fighters and clear way for the bombers to fire their EMP bombs to disabled their defenses. Once they're down we'll board the ship and seize it." The fighters wasted no time. Siren Squadron was formed from veteran survivors of the Bering evacuation during the fighting retreat. Although lacking asteroids for cover, it also made the mission easier for themselves.
While the initial wave of fighters was tackled by the Siren fighter wing, the bombers began their attack run. Armed with incapacitator torpedoes and EMP bombs, they began to make quick work of the shielding.
"This is Siren Striker wing to Siren Leader, we've begun our attack run. Their shields are holding but a few passes will change that. Keep those fighters off our backs."
The attack was under way while the shuttles kept their distance, waiting for the shields to fail and weapons to be disabled. Despite jamming the distress signal, there wasn't much time before patrols in Alaska realize the Enterprise hadn't arrived on schedule and start searching. Although a contingency existed for that, the nearby battlecruiser coordinating the mission, it would be preferable to not deal with enemy reinforcements.
RE: Sirens Strike - Nika - 07-01-2020
With communications jammed and the source of the jamming array still not determined - Enterprise have focused entirely on ship survivability; turning ship's bow towards the attacking bombers decreased the amount of secondary armament thinning them out - but also significantly decreased the amount of surface for the bombing run to land on. To further deplete the resolve along with the shields of the strike craft - fired on the general bearing, some got struck by the impact, some managed to avoid the impact and preserve their shield bubble integrity. Secondary battery fired in the opening just moments after the impact struck the targets, making one of the bombers burst in explosion and making others scatter. The first minor success for the crew of Enterprise - though likely only delaying the inevitable.
RE: Sirens Strike - DarkTails - 07-03-2020
The coming bombers took evasive action as quickly as possible, but it just wasn't fast enough, the harsh realities of having to seize a ship rather than destroy. Nonetheless, bombers were soon swarming over the ship, strafing it's shields with bombs and the occasional torpedo flushed from it's tube. Point defense cannons firing almost in every direction attempting to ward off the swarming attackers as the shields weakened under the constant assault of EMP bombs. In short time, the shields would fail, the main battery being disabled from excessive assault from EMP blasts. Finally, the resistance from point defense cannons began to waiver as the crew prepared to repel an enemy boarding party.
"This is Siren Leader to all assault shuttles, port side defenses are crippled, commence boarding operations. Enemy resistance is thinning out, strike now before hapless patrols fall upon us."
With that, a handful of assault shuttles, to many to count in the chaos of preparing to defend the ship, one could only estimate that they were bringing more than plenty of men to seize the vessel. Although the crew of Enterprise were not about to surrender without a fight, and with the extra contingent of ship security with the high value prisoner onboard, there was a glimmer of hope that they could yet pull through to victory in this battle.
"Assault shuttle one, commencing boarding operations, First Squad being sent in to establish beachhead in enemy vessel. All soldiers briefed and ready. Operations under way."
The loud latching and preparation of breaching charges was clear to the ships crew near the hangar airlocks. The Insurgent plan would become clear: Seize the hangar bay and land their marines enmasse. In short time the airlock would be forcibly opened, a blaze of weapons fire being exchanged between the two sides, gas being launched in from the assault shuttle. Although noxious and making it difficult to coordinate one's self, it was not lethal. Using the gas the attackers would secure Hangar C-6, establishing a defensive position to prepare for the counter attack as another shuttle ferried reinforcements, slicers working to open the hangar door.
RE: Sirens Strike - Nika - 07-04-2020
Lance had her own ideas regarding wearing off the attackers on the way to the deeper decks of Enterprise; hangar bays were considered an untenable position easy enough to breach and mount an offensive from multiple directions - and therefore were left behind, depressurised and locked down to slow the advantage as much as possible. What awaited the Insurgent marines was dead silence and depressurised environment - last bits of oxygen were drained from the hangar interiors the moment boarding parties have set their foot on solid surface.
What lied beyond the formidable blast door that was the only way from the hangars to the other parts of the ship was a mystery; not complete - some Insurgents were former Navy officers and had the idea of general Overlord interior layout, but what the crew have prepared to meet the assailants.
The massive blast door have fallen with a loud 'thumb'; the dust have settled, and the surrounding were quiet - until the first marines were sent ahead as vanguard. The pathway split in two narrow corridors, and one wrong step triggered a set up trap - a simple yet efficient one, a couple of frag explosive charges connected to a detonation trigger - a well-disguised thread tied to the screws on the walls at the ankle level.
"Get down!" one of the marines yelled out and dropped to the floor, covering his head, already protected with a helmet. The others, however, were slower to react - caught in the explosion, they were eviscerated, riddled with shrapnel, with a flurry of mix of old-fashioned ballistic and energy projectiles filled the corridors behind the charges - to shred anyone who made it through into pieces.
"Vanguard detachment to Lance - everything is going as planned. Withdrawing and joining efforts with the second line detachment." The retreating Enterprise marines have cleared up the following widening - taking up positions behind the next blast door, where the Navy own reinforcements have taken up fortified position.
"Very well. Next contact upon withdrawal from the second line. Make sure our guests won't get past this mark - by any means."
RE: Sirens Strike - DarkTails - 07-05-2020
While the battle raged in the corridors, a second operation was under way on the other side of the ship. With the initial boarding action distracting the primary force of the Navy marines, a large detachment would moor on the opposite hangar bays. Pouring out mostly unopposed and eliminating any guards who happened to be around before they could alert the primary marine detail. Accompanying this boarding party was the operation commander, Admiral Amber Eclipse.
"This is Eclipse to all teams. We've boarded the other side of the vessel and encountered light resistance. Keep pressure on the Naval marine detachment until reinforcements outflank them. I'm heading to the bridge to take control of the vessel and free Admiral Linford."
Accompanied by her elite bodyguard, former Navy special forces, Eclipse was heading for the bridge while the main detachment of her company went to outflank and eliminate the Naval marine force. The walking to the bridge was mostly quiet, the few resistant soldiers and officers found quickly pacified by the elite guard. The battle near the seized hangar however, was about to hit a vast derailment. The loud stomps of combat boots echoed the halls behind the Navy defenses, presumably reinforcements scrounged from the Enterprises' crew, the real state of affairs only becoming clear as weapons fire was hurled onto the defensive line from their backs. Surrounded and cut off, the marines desperately tried to fight their way out, but were quickly overcome with nowhere to hide.
On the bridge, the final transmission from the marines would be heard, desperately calling out for assistance. "We're surrounded near the hangar, our line has collapsed! We need immediate assistance, they're killing us and we don't stand a chan-" Cut off, the transmission ended. For all intents, the marines were defeated, and the Enterprise falling under Insurgent control.
"Interesting how they know so little of their fate, isn't it Captain Lance? Though I suppose they were horrendously uninformed of what was to happen here today. Preparations mean so little when the action comes. A pleasure to finally meet you in person." Amber stood at the entrance to the bridge, her guards vigilant as ever for double-crossers. Amber however was as calm as ever, knowing there was little danger left.
"You have held up your end well, Captain. And I will hold up mine. First however, we must leave this place. The sooner we are gone, the better off we are. INS Chicago has coordinates for our destination. Comm officer, you should be receiving them now."
RE: Sirens Strike - Nika - 07-05-2020
"It would be a lie if i said i regret this loss. They were an eyesore, a stain on my ship, some greenhorns that barely got to smell gunpowder."
The bridge was filled with various officers and, to an extent - Enterprise's own marines, the alert was not yet liften and Lance arranged personnel to preserve as much of her loyalists as possible. Navy own marines were a distraction, a dead meat that Lance needed gone, and it'd be better if the Insurgency strike force did the dirty job. Careful planning led to executing the plan with minimal casualties and complications.
"Amber Eclipse, i suppose. Well met, admiral. You are right about time. Request Chicago to be within one metric click of Enterprise - otherwise it will not be caught in the hyperspatial bubble." Lance turned to her communications officer.
"Incoming transmission from Chicago! The coordinates are being uploaded to our database, cap."
"Very well. I want them in the navigation system this instant, and the ship prepared for hyperspatial jump to the best of our current capabilities. Isolate and depressurise the breached compartments, blast doors should be locked once Enterprise will be ready to execute the jump. Commence preparations immediately."
The bridge crew got to work; most of it could be completed remotely through common interface commands - usually vulnerable fiber optic tracks have survived the onslaught - courtesy of additional layers of protection ensuring swift and undisrupted execution of vital commands. Breached hangar bay doors have been tightly locked, while from the bridge Amber and Lance could observe the side effects of hyperspatial drive in the process of charging - so called 'wisps', as the seasoned officers trusted with volatile experimental technology christened the huge lightbulbs circling the ship, leaving quickly fading tracks in the cold void of space.
"Charging completed, cap. Executing hyperspatial jump."
Both ships were consumed by an unbearably bright flash of light - Enterprise opened the breach and travelled through it with Chicago, with the coordinates provided by the latter serving as a beacon for the complex system; both ships existed the hyperspace successfully. The landscape around have changed - from the clearing and immeasurably distant stars and nebulas to unyielding orange gaseous cloud that spred around warships as far as the eye could see.
"Good... Amber, is this the right place? Chief engineer, run the generic systems check, i need to make sure we have made it through without negative consequences. Meanwhile..."
Lance once again turned, this time - to the deeper part of the bridge, making gesture to the guard marines that have been on duty at commander's seat. The chair have turned and before the eyes of everyone present appeared admiral Jade Linford herself - unchained and relatively unharmed.
"Now's the right time for a sappy moment, Amber. At least hug each other."
Lance couldn't let such an opportunity to jab on the admirals slip, and that'd help to ease up the tense atmoshpere on the bridge.