Alright, Jason, you made it this far, you got this. He stood watch as the Overlord was boarded by his comrades. He stayed outside in his Requiem to assist in drawing fire from the stationary cruisers that were now stuck in the Overlord. I hope this doesn't take too long. he told himself.
He dodged and rolled and tried to avoid any shots aimed at him. He did take a few and his shield took the brunt of them, but he wasn't sure how long they would hold. Hey guys, you mind making it quick? We are sitting ducks out here! He hoped they would, but he had a feeling he would get a lot of evasion practice before the day was over.
Daniels was still contemplating the incredible display by Harrs. The man had just crashed his ship through the bridge of a warship. According to the constant stream of data being fed to the Guildmaster by Strix, Harrs was still alive. The Guardian's vitals and his helmet video feed indicated he was currently in battle and doing well.
"Impressive. No only he punched a hole through the shields, survived a crash landing but he's also murdering the crew. I pity the fools that stand in his way." -The Guildmaster said.
A few moments later, the boarding ship entered the hangar in a less than graceful way. The marines from within emerged without a drop of fear and set up a perimeter swiftly. Whesto Dwanian was also there, displaying one of the latest combat suits and with his weapon in hand.
Daniels, with a smile on his face, approached them.
"About damn time, boys and girls. I was starting to think you had left me for dead. Ha!" -Jack then addressed Whesto directly.-"Dwanian. I want you on my six. We'll be the spearhead of this..."
Hey guys, you mind making it quick? We are sitting ducks out here!
The voice of McPherson echoed in his ears. Evidently, he was in trouble.
"Strix! Launch the Retaliators! Send them directly to Jason McPherson and tell 'em if they let him die, they better not come back."
"Affirmative, sir. Retaliators dispatched. Severe death threats issued. They will not fail."
"Good, now...as I was saying, Whesto! You are coming with Lea and me. As for your team, we'll send them to the Hyperspace Drive. Voidstalkers! That's what you called yourselves, right? Here are your orders! You are to make sure this ship doesn't enter hyperspace. Your objective is to be carried out while preserving the drive's integrity. I want that thing operational!"
Jack crossed his hands behind his back and continued, while pacing back and forth infront of the boarding team:
"Dwanian. Our objective is to find our way to the bridge and neutralize the captain and his XO. We're taking control of this ship. Rules of engagement are simple. Weapons free. We leave when the next team of marines arrives here, I've a special objective in mind for them. Until then, you have time to prepare yourself, Whesto... as for the rest of you, any questions?
The Guildmaster did not wait for an answer.
Splendid! You all have your orders, Voidstalkers! Go and capture the objective! For the Core!"
After the point leader called out the targets, the Guildmaster approached in good spirits, the marines let Whesto pass through while they kept an eye on the surroundings.
Daniels appeared to spare no time, which Whesto appreciated, and orders started to fly. Whesto listened attentively and just gave a clear nod in confirmation.
"Good, now...as I was saying, Whesto! You are coming with Lea and me...".
Whesto took a quick look at Lea and then looked back at his Guildmaster, who then proceeded to adress the marines.
"Voidstalkers! That's what you called yourselves, right?...".
Whesto realized the baptism of his group was known thanks to the comms. He wasn't expecting anyone outside the group to bother, as he did it in the pre-heat of war. Hearing it uttered by the Guildmaster rendered a slight grin on Whesto's face, and he could tell the marines he picked felt a sense of pride. They were experienced and sophisticated and would get the job done at all costs.
""Dwanian. Our objective is to find our way to the bridge and neutralize the captain and his XO. We're taking control of this ship. Rules of engagement are simple. Weapons free. We leave when the next team of marines arrives here, I've a special objective in mind for them. Until then, you have time to prepare yourself, Whesto...".
Whesto was in full focus, amplified from the lingering adrenaline of the slightly chaotic entry into the hangar. He nodded again and took a knee, with rifle in hand, looking around and getting a feel for the place, on his guard.
The Voidstalkers acknowledged their orders and answered the Guildmaster with a calm but decisive "For the Core!" and moved out.
Whesto couldn't help but feel he needed to be with his team as he didn't want to abandon them. But he quickly let go of the thought, feeling complete trust in the Guildmaster and his orders. Whesto also processed the plan and understood the vast undertaking at hand.
He stood back up with his usual determination. Hatred had not reached him just yet, and rarely but occasionally did, in battle. Perhaps it soon would make itself known, and become a more frequent friend.
Whesto remained attentive and alert, awaiting further orders. The battle was still raging outside.
The shields started coming back online just after being being hit by the Overlord's secondary cannons. The outer hull took damage just as the shields caught the later charges. The Perditrix was hard reversing away from the Overlord to make distance as it targetted the weapon placements on its side. Hawke sent out a broadcast to the Core vessels in the area:
"To all Core vessels: Make sure to eliminate or capture all navy personnel. Preferably the latter. If a single one escapes, the Core will be in a state of war with the Liberty navy. Prioritise vessels on an escape trajectory."
A plasma bolt breached the shield and grazed the hull of the Perditrix where its name was edged into its side. The ship reacted by blasting the offending turret right off.
"Booyah,"Strix said through the intercom."No one touches that fine paintjob and survives. Let's liven this place up, yes?"
Suddenly, 'Ride of the Valkyries' started playing on every ship, even on those of the Liberty Naval Forces.
Location: WV-Ambriamus, Omicron Nu. Centurion, cloaked ship on approach! We better hope it's one of ours! Keep the advance, it's too late to back down now! Some of the Navies escort fighters had already began moving out of formation to intercept the Ambriamus as the Perditrix rammed a cruiser to the side of the target Overlord. The Centurion was caught off guard and stood in shock watching the moment at hand. The Cruiser lost it's momentum as it drifted out of it's formation, towards the teeth of the Ambriamus. Main Battery fire! Send that ship to hell! The main battery of the Ambriamus fired on cue with the volley mauling its prey. The cruisers' hull is torn apart as it's fuel ignites within. The shrapnel scattering the fighters into disarray. The battle has begun and this was the Core's surprise. With it, a chance Crow couldn't miss.
Bombers, make a bombing run on the Flagships communication array! Secondary target is the main battery guns! I want a firing solution on the other escort cruiser. Bring us about to it's side, we'll use their confusion to walk up and take it!. The Core fleet had joined the fight behind the Perditrix as chaos turned into hell. As waves of fighters crashed into formations, each fighting for survival. As boarding crafts dived for the hull of the Liberty dreadnaught, the escort cruiser dived to screen its flagship. It claimed one of the craft as it imploded, rocking its brothers to pull off to make another attempt. The maneuver left the cruiser open to the Ambriamus' artillery battery, which it took full advantage of. Mortar fire forced the navy cruiser to make evasive maneuvers, peeling it away from the safety of the Overlord.
This is Bravo-5 making my run. The Blacktip bomber squadron that survived was approaching their target. Four bombers went for the communication array with two breaking off and going for the main cannons of the Overlord, looking to preserve the Perditrix. SNACS away! Two shots landed on target, as steel and wires were welded together in an instant as antimatter crashed into the hull. One shot hit a main battery turret but the armor protected it from major harm. The Overlord Dreadnaught was now blind and without a voice to scream for aid.
While Daniels was prepping for his offense towards the bridge, "Ride of the Valkyries” started playing over the comms. He tried to decide whether it was fun, or a tad too much for Strix to do that, but in the end, he just smiled. That was the perfect theme for what was going on around the "Illustrious". The ship itself was starting to take some serious damage. Jack knew they didn't have much time left and their window was slowly closing. They had to leave and they had to leave right now. He turned towards Lea and Whesto as his suit's helmet extended and covered his face.
"Alright, helmets on people. Prep for Zero G, oxygenless combat. By the looks of it, the state of this ship is rapidly deteriorating. Let's just hope people follow my orders and keep it intact."
Daniels picked an APM "Ravager" from the boarding vessel. The Ravager was a rather interesting weapon, it was technically a rapid firing gauss rifle, with the ability to spew 400 hundred rounds per second. Albeit smaller than standard projectiles, the tungsten rounds were also superheated by the weapon, making them very unpleasant for those who may find themselves on the receiving end.
"Here's the plan, we make our way towards the bridge and we RV with any marines that made it onto the ship. When we get there, Hackett is mine. We leave no survivors. None whatsoever. Our objective is to take over the ship. Not destroy it. We're taking this piece of junk home. Any questions? Good."
In his style, Daniels left the hangar without waiting for an answer. A few hundred meters on their way, trouble had found them once again.
A pair of marines had set up a position behind some debris and they unloaded their automatic rifles at Daniels. It was not very effective, the lasers just bounced off his armor. The soldiers got desperate and fired a few explosive projectiles from their underbarrel launchers. The only thing that achieved was to get Daniels' armor dirty. The Guildmaster turned his head down and inspected the grime, after which he stared down the marines. They were speechless, unable to believe what had just happened. Jack made sure this didn't last long, however. He dashed forwards and sliced them both clean in half with his plasma whip.
Daniels just smirked under his armor and carried on.
"Come on then, you two. We don't have all day. Shouldn't be much farther now. According to Strix's schematics, we're a few levels below. There's an elevator in the mess hall and that's just behind this next corridor. Lea, take point. We'll stack behind you and cover you. Let's move."
26th February 830 A.S - System: Omicron Nu / Battleship Illustrious
When Jack Daniels ordered to get ready, Lea immediately prepare herself for the operation, in fact, the first one she participated in. She was armed of a pistol. The Guildmaster opened the march and to himself, he neutralized a group of soldiers. The Rheinlander was speechless. Although, she kept following and once the soldiers all dead, as Jack Daniels asked, she took the lead heading for the bridge.
On the next level, the group was greeted by gunshots. It was a group of six soldiers with rifles and automated weapons. Lea Kaufman rolled toward a cover letting Whesto and the Guildmaster behind. It was out of question to let the Guildmaster being under the projectors. So when the shots ceased, Lea went out of the cover and because of the Core's armor improving the accuracy, she opened fire. A bullet hit the head of a soldier, he died on the spot. The second shot hit the stomach and soon another reached the throat.
She had no time to open fire again. There were four soldiers and they were getting ready to open fire. The woman did not have the time to return to her cover either. It was just a question of second before they open fire.
Taden turned towards the nearest target, a small framed man with glasses, visibly shaken and terrified by the situation unfolding. Taden's AI CPU took in his surroundings and the console the frail looking man had been operating and assessed that this was the ships communications officer. How absolutely horrifying this must be from this young mans perspective. One second you are manning comms while your ship barrels down on its target with full authority... the next, there is a huge explosion right outside the bridge, followed immediately by a snub bomber smashing straight through the hull into your lap! Then the hatch opens and a giant of a man, covered in cybernetic armor, with a visage of death where his head should be launches out and begins to lay waste to the surviving crew! It was no wonder that all the poor man could do was stand there staring, wetting himself.
This cowering worm wasn't worth Harrs's time. He raised his right hand and flexed it to a tight fist. His forearm pulsed with a dull purple glow and a fist sized ring of plasma shot silently over the shoulder of the comms officer and vaporized a hole the size of a mans head in the chest of the ships helmsman. He fell slumped onto the controls and the ship responded violently, shifting hard on two axis. The gravitational compensators pushed past their limit and inertia hit the crew like an airlock decompression. The survivors, except for the ships captain, were all thrown to the deck as the ship jolted.
The magnetic compensation in Taden's legs kept him planted firmly on his feet. He turned to face the ships captain and train the Super-Excited-Particle-Emitter on him, but the Infected human was a little too fast for that. The man looked bulky, too large to be able to move that swiftly, but Taden knew that the Nomad infecting him also granted him heightened strength and agility. They also thought and fought unlike any man, and Taden was not about to give this one the chance to do anything funny. He held his mechanical left hand away from his body as a small compartment opened in the forearm revealing an intricate highly polished cylindrical device. A mechanical function presses the cylinder out and forward towards his hand, which begins to fold around the device, setting a fingertip into each of the four facets on the one end of the cylinder while the thumb centralizes and is pressed into the receptacle in the center of it. This all happens in the flash of a heartbeat, and with a sharp CRACK The cylinder extends to the length of a meter and glows bright red! The plasma contained within its magnetic field is as hot as a star and causes strange localized gravitational anomalies when accelerated rapidly.
The Infected captain had dodged nimbly to Taden's left and was reaching for his sidearm when Harrs snapped the Plaz-Blade out. The crackling hum gave the alien a start, and he paused for a split second. In that instant, the servos in Taden's legs fired full-on, the inertial dampeners in his bio-suit were hard pressed to compensate, as he shot forward, closing the distance to the Infected human husk in less than a heartbeat. The Plaz-Blade plunged effortlessly into the logistics console in the bulkhead a few fingers distance from the captains head sending sparks and droplets of molten metal spraying out in all directions. At the same time Taden's other hand smashed into the alien's throat, squeezing until he heard it start to crunch. Taden pulled the Plaz-Blade halfway out of the bulkhead and shoved the Infected Human/Nomad towards the super-heated blade. The mans head collided with the beam at eye level, simultaneously vaporizing everything that came in contact with it and decapitating him from the eyes up.
Taden dropped the limp corpse of the captain, pulling the Plaz-Blade from the melting bulkhead. The mechanism shifted again as it collapsed back to its original shape and snapped back into its receptacle in his forearm, His left hand once again taking its normal shape. As the devastating melee weapon retracted, Taden's gaze turned on the remaining bridge crew. The comms officer was now unconscious, crumpled under a collapsing section of the bridge, while a sharp looking female logistics officer frantically pawed at the activation panel for the door.
The activation signal chimed and just before the doors slid open, the woman was bisected by a swift blast from Taden's S.E.P.E.-Cuff. The doors slid open and Harrs was sprayed with small arms fire. His CPU identified six Liberty Marines in firing stances with a security officer behind them firing his sidearm. Once again, the Plaz-Blade snapped into activation and Taden began to fan the blade in front of himself as he advanced toward the assault. The small arms fire was propelled away from the whirling blade in apparently unpredictable trajectories, but Taden's AI CPU was slowly mapping out a physics flowchart and acquiring data for ballistics predictions. Perhaps in future engagements he could use this data in an offensive capacity. Harrs quickly moved within striking range of the stunned marines and before they could even react he had them cut down to screaming, flopping, soldier pieces. The officer at the rear turned to flee, but was caught in the back of the head by a plasma ring.
Taden's view scanned clean green. With no hostiles present, he turned his attention to the view on the bridges main-screen. The Overlord that this destroyer had been escorting was quickly growing to fill the view-screen.
"Oh... SHIT!!!"
Harrs raced to the ship controls and threw the thrusters into full reverse, but it was far too late to make much difference. Taden braced for impact. This was gonna get rough!
As Daniels was about to yell a new set of orders, the Overlord violently shook and screeched. Something big has just crashed into it. The Cruiser with Taden on it had just crashed into them. For a brief moment, Daniels' neural implants were flooded with raw data input, but the dampeners quickly filtered the data, allowing him to regain his focus.
"Magboots on! We're about to go Zero G! Brace!"
As Daniels said that, the trio were thrown backwards by an explosion. Daniels lost consciousness for a brief moment. When he came back to his senses, the area ahead of them was a smoldering wreck. He could make out the bridge section of a Liberty Cruiser that had just embedded itself into the Dreadnought. The automatic shielding system had sealed the breach around the foreign body, effectively preventing any accidental space walks.
"Holy f...what was that? Everyone okay? Lea? Whesto! You two still sucking air?!"
Daniels frantically looked around to find the rest of his team.
"Alright, helmets on people. Prep for Zero G, oxygenless combat. By the looks of it, the state of this ship is rapidly deteriorating. Let's just hope people follow my orders and keep it intact.".
Whesto acknowledged his Guildmaster and rapidly re-attached his helmet and unsecured his rifle. Even if there had been a pause in the hangar his adrenaline was still pumping. All the explosions and shooting outside, the rumbling and obvious damage to the Overlord, everything kept him on edge. He was eager to get to action himself, especially knowing his compatriots were out there doing it already with determination and unrelenting violence.
He noticed the Guildmaster picking up a rifle from his boarding vessel. It was the same weapon Whesto had in his hands. He'd only practiced with it before on a temporary shooting range on Planet Nauru. It could do some serious killing.
Whesto listened to his Guildmaster who was about to say something;
"Here's the plan, we make our way towards the bridge and we RV with any marines that made it onto the ship. When we get there, Hackett is mine. We leave no survivors. None whatsoever. Our objective is to take over the ship. Not destroy it. We're taking this piece of junk home. Any questions? Good".
Moving down the corridors of the Overlord with Daniels on point, Whesto witnessed the brilliance of the Guildmasters armor and augmentations. Seeing him glance the enemy laser fire, as well as explosive charges, was astonishing. Whesto had planned for augmentations in the future since his promotion, but now he was eager for them. When he witnessed how the enemy got slaughtered he had to process what just happened. He had never seen Daniels in combat before.
The small group fought their way forward, now with Lea on point. Bullets were flying both ways, Whesto's Ravager rifle was laying down covering fire when Lea moved out of cover and surgically put several bullets into an enemy marine. It was a decisive kill, but Whesto saw Lea was out in the open and four enemy marines took aim for her. "DOWN!".
Magnetically accelerated and superheated tungsten rounds rained down the corridor from Whesto's rifle above Lea, flying over- and tearing through the relatively thin enemy cover and threshed into the enemy. Molten shrapnel, visor composites, armor fabrics, ripped flesh and blood bounced off the back wall and gave the Overlord a new interior design.
Clear for now, Whesto saw that Lea was in one piece and ran past her and took position on their side of the enemy cover. He took a look back at Lea and the Guildmaster. "800 rounds to remember me by!" he said as he reloaded his Ravager, smirking inside his helmet.
The Overlord shook violently, erasing the smirk on Whesto's face. "Magboots on! We're about to go Zero G! Brace!"
It was too late, Whesto was flung back down the corridor and while in the air hit his shoulder on a wall beam, spun around and landed into the opposite wall further down the corridor. The Core battle armor took most of the brunt. Whesto had no augmentations to tank all of the force and was incapacitated for a moment as the pain raced through his nerves. Getting his senses back, he couldn't say if he had passed out or not, but he was still on the floor trying to recover himself.
He heard the Guildmaster shouting down the corridor but couldn't make out the words. Whesto having lost his breath managed to let out a low grunt of pain over the comm. At least the combat suit had allowed him to hold onto his rifle and he managed to get up on one knee, still trying to recover from the abuse he just took.
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