Dmitriy saw the Premier and the Colonel at one of the platforms, so he made his way there. There were still confused people on the station, but no guards. At least for now. He saw the premier taking up a greatcoat, so he searched for something too. He saw an abandoned gripsack, quickly unzipping it, he found a few clothes. Pouring out he found a nice hat, so he put it up, and put his rifle in the sack, leaving the submachine gun as his primary weapon.
-What are your orders premier?
Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought.
"When I let you agree to this, I thought at the very least it would be a nice training exercise. Not a full blown workout. I don't suppose you have any cream in that briefcase for this?"
He threw a glance to his hand. He couldn't move it now, save the trigger finger. He reloaded his machine gun. Where the other two Lt's in his squad had got to he had no idea. Ah there was one there. Good, the Premier had some more protection now. But why was this man they were chasing so important?
With a snap, the seeker rifle folded down to a block the size of a submachine gun, throwing the strap around his neck, he tucked it under the long coat he was wearing.
"Security will be pouring over CCTV footage, trying to figure out who we are," Katz said, lifting his TAC. "Mister Schmee?"
"Si?" came the crackling reply.
"Kill the CCTV mainframe, and wipe the tapes." Katz ordered.
The former lane hacker, Schmee came at great cost, rigged into the stations mainframe, he had been making a co-ordinated mess out of the Zoner's security footage.
"Done, no records remain." Schmee reported. "CCTV network is also down."
"Thank you Mister Schmee," Katz replied. "No one will know who we are... Ling get some civvies on, and let's see if we can't hang on a little while longer."
As the Tram traveled through the tunnel Ben pulled out his datapad and pulled up a schematic of the next stop, grunting in pain as a man brushed against his wounded arm as Ben studied the blueprints before returning to the main menu of his pad and tucking it away once more, as the Tram slowed down and stopped at the station, he noticed that several squads of Security Guards were present, looking around carefully for anything suspicious.
Ben put up the hood of his cloak and traveled with the flow of civilians, trying to blend in as much as possible for as long as possible, tagging very close to a group of those Baffin Cultists who were visiting as he walked, his eyes looking around carefully for any signs of his perusers or one of the exits he had seen on his map with little success so far. But it was only a matter of time before one of them would be found.
The PA could be heard giving warnings to the populous.
"Attention All Security Personnel, Echo Team is down, we are receiving no response from their Comm-Units, use of Lethal Force is now authorized."
Lieutenant Lukas Hoffmann generally didn't speak much, as a rule. He'd been sitting in the back of the Credit, watching the operation unfold with interest, and all of a sudden it looked like he was being catapulted into action. He got up hastily, moving through to the airlock.
"Social Credit, commence bulldog, I repeat, let bulldog out of the pound!"
The gunship flew low, skimming the Freeport as close as the pilot could go. Lukas ran one last systems check on his powered armour, holstering his assault rifle and checking on his Luger, which was still safely ensconced in its holster by his side. He could see the tram tube below, the tram inside speeding so fast it was almost a blur. It was no match for the speed of a Coalition spacecraft, though.
The light went green. The airlock depressurised violently, throwing Lukas towards the transit tube at an intense speed. He impacted with the force of a jackhammer, driving the breath out of his chest. The shock absorbers in his armour were thrown into overdrive, pushed to the edge of their performance envelope by counteracting such velocity.
Lukas stood up gingerly, slightly dazed by the fact that he'd managed to survive that drop in one piece. Trusting his boots to keep him suckered to the tube's surface, he looked back, watching the train get closer and closer while he unholstered his rifle. He adjusted his grip, making sure he was ready. As the train was about to pass below, he stamped hard on the already weakened tube exterior, the power of his armour's motors multiplying the force by an incredible amount. It crumpled like so much rice paper, and Lukas fell through vacuum onto the roof of the train.
He swayed, somehow managing to keep his balance. That was the easy bit over, then. Carefully, he inched his way along the roof, hunkering low for stability until he reached a hatch which would allow him access.
Normally, he would have worried about all the air being sucked out of the train, or tram, or whatever the hell it was, at this point, but they were probably far enough from the breach now that it shouldn't matter for a while, at least. He reached out one gauntlet and wrenched upwards, almost tearing the hatch from its housing.
In he dropped, bouncing rather gently onto the floor in the midst of several surprised passengers. He ignored them, noticing that the train, which had been slowing down, was now completely stationary. The doors opened and the occupants began to flood off, including, no doubt, the contact.
He swore, roughly shouldering his way through the crowd and stepping into the station.
The doors to the station shuddered, as the guards through their weight against it. At any moment they would try breaching charges.
"This is about to get very bad," Katz remarked looking up at the dome above the platform.
The roar down the transit tunnel took them all by surprise, as the Storm gunship slammed to a stop emerging from the double-wide tunnel to their right. Emergency bulkheads were slamming closed back along the ruptured tunnel, sealing the gunship inside the domed station.
"Pasha," Katz chuckled into his TAC. "Nice timing."
In answer, one of the primary turrets on the gunboat swiveled and took aim at the doors, as the gunboat's hatch cycled open.
Katz gestured for Ling and the other Lt.'s to get aboard, stepping up the short ladder as the Social Credit shimmered back into cloak.
Not a moment too soon, as the guards breached the station doors.
They rushed into the station in tactical formation, sweeping too and fro, hearing the rush of VTOL engines, but not seeing whatever was in the station with them. The twin anti-personal guns under the ship swung left and right spitting machine gun fire, carving them to ribbons.
Back in the cockpit, Katz slid into the pilots seat, angling the nose up and using a battle razor to punch a hole in the dome. Back into space, the Social Credit hugged the station, watching the station come alive with fighters launching, searching for the hidden assailant.
"Well now," Katz murmured. "It's down to bulldog now."
Leroy stopped. Out of breath and lost, this wasn't going to well for him. he sighed a sigh of discontent.
Once he caught up with his breath he stood tall shook himself down, and looked about for a suitable path to go. " E5- CLEAR" the familiar cracking of radios echoed from behind him. "Damn" he muttered and quickly pressed himself against a wall. The booming clang of metal boots on metal grates grew louder and louder. this didn't sound like merely one or two Zoner guards.
Leroy eyes darted around, searching for something, anything to help him.
A Vent. How cliche, thought Leroy as he stuffed himself inside.
Ben knew there was trouble happening, the security teams were closing on the man using the Power Armour, having noticed him shoving his way through the crowd, it would give him precious seconds to get away. Ben increased his rate of walk very slightly, his eyes focused on a Maintenance hatch to the right of the corridor, He used the Eris worshipers as a cloak to conceal his presence and stay out of the Power Armour's line of sight for as long as possible. It seemed they were desperate to keep his mouth shut.
With a smirk he opened the hatch just as the group passed him, leaving him directly in the other man's line of sight as he ducked into the shaft, being careful not to bump his arm too much as he climbed in, shutting the door behind him and starting the crawl through the shaft and into the next corridor that led to the Market Sector. As he exited the shaft and opened the hatch into the market he couldn't help but be briefly awed at the many merchants and peddlers shouting at passerbys to buy their goods. Shaking his head he started to walk through the crowds, desperately trying to avoid being seen by his former 'comrades' as he made his way towards the Elevators on the far side of the Market Wing. He knew that Power Armour wouldn't be far behind so he had to get distance, and quickly...
Leroy was getting more lost and more confused by the second, he couldn't remember a time in his life were he wasn't stuck in these damn vents.
Leroy soon began to hear noises not to far ahead, muffed by the vents thick steely frame. He crawled and slithered his way closer, sounded like a crowd. His back began to twinge and ache and his legs were cramping, Leroy needed out. Luck was on his side. An opening at last. Just ahead was grate leading to well deserved freedom, perhaps?
He opened the grate, and looked down into the bowls of an elevator shaft. Leroy moaned.
Ling ran his hand under the water and stuck some cream from a medikit on it. With that he then raced up the cargo bay steps to the cockpit where he took the Co-Pilot's seat next to Katz. He put on the headset next to him and dropped the mic down.
"Cloak holding steady, weapons grid at full power."
He smirked, his hand hurt like hell - but it wasn't often you were flying 2nd seat with the Premier of the Coalition.