Aquitaine System,deep space Aboard the RES Royale DeFrance II 0800 hrs.
Several men and women stood at attention around a communication terminal. All of them were dressed in dark black marine armor and had their weapons slung across their bodies. They bore absolutely no markings what-so-ever, a unique departure from the typical royal guard combat armor, which typically was a mark of distinction for anyone who considered themselves loyal to the Kingdom of Gallia, and to that of the royal family. These men and women were former members of the Gallic Royal Navy and Special Operations forces who were essentially the best of the best that the crown had to offer, highly trained, brutal, and fanatically loyal. These particular soldiers were of a small detachment from the Prince's personal guard, and today they were on assignment. Before them stood the Prince himself, although through a video feed on a separate transport - which itself was on the way to Tau-29, and behind him stood a couple more soldiers of his royal guard, also listening to the briefing despite them not being assigned to the combat deployment. The men on the destroyer listened intently as the Prince spoke.
"The Enclave isn't aware of this assignment, and I would like to keep it that way. Capitaine Jacques Luc has been given instructions to ensure that the destroyer goes dark upon it placing the planet between you and Orthez. I know you all are the best men and women my guard has to offer so I'm expecting this assignment to go smoothly. While being bored in my flights I stumbled across a derelict station. My brief scans indicated that the station is rather old, though some power supply was running as it had an active scanner suite. I don't believe the station is entirely derelict, so that's what we're going to find out. This station also doesn't exist in any Enclave records, nor previous Gallic Royal Navy records, which surprises me because of how long we've had this system conquered, and quite frankly... I want it." Joseph paused, glancing down at the watch he wore for a brief moment before returning his attention back on the men before him. Deep down inside he hoped this wasn't a suicide mission that he was sending them on. A few very fine individuals that he got to know personally during their service to him and his family. But, this is what they signed up for, and he knew they would accomplish the task.
"Upon landing on this presumed derelict station, Alpha team you are to secure the hangar bay, and then proceed to the generator rooms and life support systems. Bravo team will secure the command deck, and Charlie will begin sweeping the station in its entirety. Once Alpha and Bravo have secured their objectives, they will join Charlie in sweeping the remainder of the station and habitation decks. Your IFF huds are connected directly to the command and control deck of the Royale DeFrance, so Jacques will see everything that you see. Should you come across squatters, Enclave personnel, or anyone really... kill them. No one leaves this station alive unless it's you."
Joseph paused again, taking in a deep breath - he hated this part. "In the event that seventy-five percent of your effective fighting force is compromised, the Royale DeFrance has orders to destroy the station. You will receive a warning before her guns begin battering the station, if you are not aboard the shuttle to leave, you will be left behind. So make sure you're careful clearing your corridors and rooms. Again, I want this station, and I want it intact. Do I make myself clear?"
Several of the men and women nodded quietly, only one of them actually spoke up. "Oui, your highness. We'll ensure that your will is carried out here, and we're all aware of the consequences should this assignment head south." The woman smiled softly, "It won't of course. Jacques has informed us that we're a few minutes out from the target. So we'll have to cut this briefing short, my lord. Bonne chance with your endeavor, and I hope that you'll be able to bring your cousin back to Aquitaine safely and with out incident." She finished, continuing to smile.
Joseph locked eyes with her, "Tres bien, Commandant. Upon your successful capture of the station, a transport by the classification Germinal will make its way to the station, and bring additional personnel to secure it. Once it is ours, then I'll make an announcement of our hold of the station to the Enclave." Shortly after finishing his sentence, the transmission cut.
"Commandant, we've successfully placed the planet between us and the listening post. We're beginning to move into combat readiness, and long range sensors have been shut down. To them it looks like we've jumped out of the system, should mask our approach to the station as well unless someone is looking directly out of a view port."
"Merci, Capitaine. Please keep the current vector as we approach, it should give the shuttle a good trajectory for our landing plans." The woman said aloud, responding directly into a comm link as she placed her helmet on, the visor lit up and began running a diagnostics sweep. While this happened, she went on checking over the various bits of armor attached to her ensuring her EVA suit was fully sealed, and then double checked her weaponry, a standard issued Gallic laser rifle - conventional ballistic weapons weren't favored when aboard a ship or station as the bullet could penetrate an outer wall and decompress the entire structure, something she had witnessed before during a raid on a Gallic transport which was carrying two VIPs of a more militant arm of the Council who had at the time called themselves the Republique de Gaul. Fortunately the only survivors of were the marines who had boarded the transport, of which she had been one of them. At the time she had relished in watching the Amiral of the Republique gasp for oxygen and beg for his life as he suffocated. To this day she still remembers the event, and it makes her smile every time.
As soon as she was finished prepping her equipment, she glanced up to watch the rest of her marines finishing their own readiness checks. Second nature and instinctual they moved quickly and efficiently without fumbling through the process. Had there been any rookies in the room, they would be staring slack-jaw in envy at how well timed and exact these members of the royal guard were. After all, this sort of efficiency only came through strict training and years of multiple tours through various different branches of the Royal Navy, and even special forces. None of them were strangers to their equipment.
Green pips and outlines of her fellow marines began appearing on her visor as the system finalized it's diagnostics, and just in time too as the comm-link crackled to life in her ear. "We're on the final approach. Saddle up and be prepared to launch the shuttle."
"Alright branleurs, you heard the Capitaine! Let's move!" She barked, gesturing her fellow soldiers away from the ready room, and towards the Royale DeFrance's hangar bay where a shuttle awaited them.
Aquitaine System,deep space Aboard the RES Royale DeFrance II 0815 hrs.
Capitaine Luc Jacques Belot stood at the command terminal on board the Royale DeFrance. The flat radar panel ahead of his showed the marine transport leaving the destroyer and making its way towards the station. He drew in a calm breath as he watched the vessel on the radar before looking up through the viewing port to see the vessel as it approached the hangar doors. So far everything seemed to be going according to plan, which is exactly what he wanted. He understood the necessities behind this mission, but he didn't exactly feel comfortable doing it behind the backs of the people that pulled them out from that god forsaken planet they've been stuck on for what felt like decades, even though it was probably two to three years at the max.
The prince was right. They needed this station, and taking it would solidify themselves in a position of power within the rest of the Enclave. A show of force that he and his men weren't to be reckoned with, and being able to lock down a location as the Prince's own dominion would make him safer in the long run. Of course, that safety would only last until the Enclave decided to role a valor up with a Warwolf cannon to decimate the station. But they weren't going to be that bold - at least not yet. Luc sighed, shaking his head as he watched the hangar doors of the station open, and shortly after the shuttle disappeared within the maw.
Joseph had left on a personal endeavor with a few other guards, and Luc warned him that this endeavor was reckless, and point blank idiotic. But Joseph was stubborn and ignored him, and now Luc got stuck babysitting a bunch of his colleagues over a derelict station. An easy and straightforward job that was going to bore Luc out of his mind, scans had indicated there wasn't anything of note aboard, nor any life signs. He checked the reports again before drifting back off into his thoughts, his eyes watching as the marines began dismounting - a live video link soon connected to the command deck.
The Prince never cared for his cousins, it was made clearly the night he received the communication from Claire. While his demeanor was pleasant and straightforward, the moment the conversation ended and the feed was cut - Joseph was fuming. Luc would know, he was in the room when it happened. The last time Luc had seen the Prince that upset was when the Prince killed his closest adviser, a Marechal of the Gallic Royal Navy and his former Royal Guard Capitaine, Julie Bonheur. Of course on that day his temper was running high anyways due to finding out that a medical servant impregnated his comatose sister. He was there for that too. Luc realized that he was around more often than not when Joseph was in a terrible mood, and that made him also realize that he's been lucky enough to live through all of those times where others, who were the direct ire of the Prince, weren't so lucky.
No... this time the Prince was pissed off that more people carried his blood line, and had a less than equal chance - but still a chance - to claim the throne, and that was a problem that would need to be rectified. Joseph had made it clear in the communique he had sent to Claire. Bend to his will, or else. If Luc knew any better, he'd guess that Joseph was probably going to end up killing both of his Cousins. That, of course, didn't bother him in the slightest. The Politics of nobles, and particularly that of Royals, didn't bother him. He just kept his mouth shut when it was happening, and he did it to avoid ending up like Julie. Oh, how he missed her. She was quite pleasant to have around, and he definitely missed the times they spent playing chess together. She would win, but only because he had let her. This thought brought a smile to Luc's face, she knew he always let her win, but still in the end she would find time to challenge him to another game.
If Luc knew any better, he would guess that Joseph was probably going to end up killing both of his Cousins. The politics of Royals didn't bother him in the slightest, as long as he kept his own mouth shut when it was happening. To avoid ending up like Julie... he missed Julie, she was pleasant to have around, and he definitely missed the times they spent playing chess. She would win, but only because he let her. He smiled at this thought, she knew that he always let her win, but still she would play chess as often as time would allow them to.
Luc's eyes shifted back to the live feed as the boring and easy part was completed. Now he had to actually focus on the assignment at hand, he patched himself in to the comm-link and swiped a couple of panels over on his command interface. "Commandant. This is the Royale DeFrance. Squad's A through C have checked in, and the operation is a go. The station's blue prints are relatively old compared to what we were initially scanning. I'd keep your helmets on as there's probably some open hull spaces. The last thing we want is everyone to suffocate. We've completed another bio-signature scan, and there...." Luc paused, looking at the signature scan again before looking over at one of his bridge officers. "Is this right? One life sign?" The man nodded, looking over the signature scan again before turning back into his seat and going back to work, "Run the scan again. There shouldn't be anything aboard this. The damned life support isn't even on. Can't even trust the damn equipment of this piece of junk." Luc drew in a deep breath, "Sorry about that Commandant. We're showing a single life sign aboard, at the moment. We think it might be a sensor malfunction aboard the Royale DeFrance. Either way, proceed with caution."
"Oui. Jacques, you better keep a god damn eye on that signature. If it moves towards any of my men, your ass will be mine. The Prince said this was suppose to be a straightforward mission. No ones suppose to be on board, except us. Marines. Stay frosty, check all of your damn corners and keep guns at the ready. Anything that doesn't show up on IFF is dead."
"The Prince said that if anyone was on board, except us, to kill them. You have your orders Commandant. You do your job, and I'll do mine. Oui?" Luc shook his head, no matter how many times they got into it, he made damned sure that she and her men came back in one piece. He swiped his hand over the command-link with the Commandant and muted it so he could talk aloud without bothering her. "Someone... find out what the hell is going on. Right. Now!" His voice boomed as he barked the orders, standing straight and looking around the bridge, to see the various people beginning to double time their work on troubleshooting the sensory array.
Something wasn't right. His gut told him. He took in another deep breath and placed his hands against the command interface before him, he watched the feed playing behind him and kept an eye on the friendly bio-signatures as they began moving away from the hangar, while keeping another eye on the video feed of the helm-cams. "Who the hell are you."
Aquitaine System,deep space Aboard the Derelict Trading Hub 0816 hrs.
The shuttle landed gently on the pads, and the hangar bay doors closed shortly after the shuttle had touched down. The light from the Royale DeFrance vanished leaving the marine crew and it's shuttle in complete darkness. A couple of minutes passed and a hiss of the cargo door opening could be heard echoing off the hollow and empty walls of the hangar bay. Twelve marines quickly spilled out from the transport craft and they fanned out in multiple sweeping formations each squad tasked with securing a section of the hangar before reporting back to the Commandant.
It didn't take long before the pings of clear began popping onto the Commandant's HUD. Once the last clear popped up, the soldiers made their way back towards where the Commandant was observing their initial landing site. The night-vision lit the place up light a candle and she could see every little detail of this old station. It hasn't been lived in for what looked like centuries. She slowly shook her head, this is what they wanted? This piece of junk tin can floating aimlessly in the vacuum of space? She wanted to laugh and tell her marines that they were packing up and leaving right then and there.
But she had a job to do, and she was dead set on doing it, despite her inclinations to leave. "Alpha team, begin pushing towards your objectives. Bravo team and I will begin heading up to the command deck. Charlie team hold here until Bravo and Alpha reached their objectives. Once our portions of the station are secured we'll begin sweeping the rest of the station in its entirety."
No replies came as a response, they didn't need to say anything. Each member of the team knew what they were here for, and despite it seeming like an easy enough mission, they were going to take it slowly to ensure that each objective was completed to the best of their ability. After all, the Prince had commanded them to do it. Failure would result in certain death. But at least the station would go with them should that become a reality.
The Commandant slowly released a breath as a voice began speaking into her ear on a secured line, "Commandant. This is the Royale DeFrance. Squad's A through C have checked in, and the operation is a go. The station's blue prints are relatively old compared to what we were initially scanning. I'd keep your helmets on as there's probably some open hull spaces. The last thing we want is everyone to suffocate. We've completed another bio-signature scan, and there..." The line cut off short, and it caused her some slight distress that she let out an annoyed sigh. What the hell is going on? Damn it Luc. Talk to me. - These were the thoughts running through her head as she waited for a response from the CIC. She knelt down hugging the frame of an open door way and holstered her rifle to her shoulder. Her troops began moving past her, each soldier taking slow and cautious steps forwards, scanning the environment high and low through their sweeps. Nothing was out of sight from their night vision optics on their visor as they approached a T-intersection. Squad Charlie would come to a complete stop and hold the corridor leading to the hangar and shuttle they came had come in on, while Squad's Alpha and Bravo would each take opposite directions of the intersection and began moving down, checking the various maintenance rooms along the way. Nothing. Completely empty.
"Sorry about that Commandant. We're showing a single life sign aboard, at the moment. We think it might be a sensor malfunction aboard the Royale DeFrance. Either way, proceed with caution."
She broke her silence as she took up the rear of Alpha Squads formation, weapon resting a low-ready position as she did. Her frost blue eyes scanning the green filtered surroundings. "Oui. Jacques, you better keep a god damn eye on that signature. If it moves towards any of my men, your ass will be mine. The Prince said this was suppose to be a straightforward mission. No ones suppose to be on board, except us. Marines. Stay frosty, check all of your damn corners and keep rifles at the ready. Anything that doesn't show up on IFF is dead."
"The Prince said that if anyone was on board, except us, to kill them. You have your orders Commandant. You do your job, and I'll do mine. Oui?" Shortly after he finished his sentence the comm-link muted itself. While she couldn't hear anything that he was saying aboard the destroyer, he would certainly hear everything that she was saying from this point forwards, including "I swear on behalf of the Roi. If we don't get out of this alive, Luc. I will personally haunt you for eternity. You had one simple job, and you're failing at it. Tsch... tell me to do my job. I am."
Alpha squad continued moving "north" after clearing out a couple more empty storage rooms. The fact that this station was ancient and entirely off of the scopes from heavy traffic even after the war with Bretonia ended was a feat to be desired surely. It made her wonder how many more stations were lingering around that the previous owners simply abandoned. How many could be hiddened away in Gallia proper? If they succeeded her, she would seek permission from the Prince to take a team and transport shuttle to go scour for more of these installations that they could use as refueling and strike locations for further transgressions into the Confederacy, the very thought made her giddy.
Nine Years Earlier (817 AS / 733 AGS) --Languedoc System
Under the cover of full blown civil war, a four man strike team landed on the hull of a ME-UH "Vache" Gallic Train. The thuds of their gravity boots were muffled by the loud sirens screaming on the inside of the transport itself. A Republique de Gaul symbol was emblazoned upon the outside of the hull, though attempts were made to remove it in order to disguise the freighter as a mere transport shuttle. That was the problem with certain cells within the Council. Some of the members within their ranks tried hiding amongst the civilian population to avoid destruction from Royal Navy patrols. But that failed today. No, today several high profile targets of The Council's Republique de Gaul movement were aboard this transport trying to flee into the core systems as the Royal Navy and all of her might pushed through the Languedoc blockade.
The Office of Royal Naval Intelligence, or ONI, had been tracking this command's movement for quite sometime, and in this particular moment when they were at their most vulnerable, ONI decided to strike. The four man team moved quickly along the outer hull, making it's way towards a mooring hatch located on the top of the Vache itself. Rather than blasting open the door with explosive charges, one member of the team knelt down and quickly typed out security codes, within moments the airlock opened and the four soldiers slipped inside. The last one in was Sous-Lieutenant Catherine Leonne. She took a brief moment to marvel at the chaos of war in the distance as Council vessels of all types clashed with Royal Navy ships. It was nothing more than a glorious slaughter by the Royal Navy. "Sous-Lieutenant, stop spectating. We've got an assignment to carry out." A voice came over her comm-link, "Oui, Capitaine. It looks like our fleets are breaking through into Orkney." She replied, climbing down into the air lock, once inside she dropped down from the ladder and readied her rifle. "Tres bien. We'll join them soon enough. These terrorists are our primary objectives today. We can't let them escape - no matter the cost. Viva le Roi."
"Viva le Roi." She replied, now shouldering her rifle as she took point.
The team made their way through the ship effectively cutting down any and all resistance they encountered as they double timed it towards the bridge. They had one mission, and they were getting closer to achieving it. In a few short minutes from when they breached they had arrived outside of the bridge, and with a couple of quick bursts of her laser rifle, Catherine brought down yet another Council soldier - this one looked to have been setting up for a prolonged firefight, the poor man was caught off guard and unfortunately cut down with ease. He only managed to get a stray shot off before he keeled over onto the crates he had been moving, his body slumped - lifeless. The bullet, unfortunately, found its way to a wall and penetrated it. She and the rest of her team pressed forwards, unphased by the sudden and violent explosion that took place behind them. Had they looked back, they could see the blackness of space and in the far distance, shimmers of blue tachyon streaks. The cargo creates and fresh corpse were violently ripped from the places they once occupied and tossed into the vacuum.
The Marines had their gravity boots activated - just for a situation like this. The emergency door began closing as the Marines entered the bridge proper. The Capitaine took the butt of his rifle and slammed it into the keypad - halting the door from full closing behind them, (because somehow bashing the keypad violently disables the door.) The air continued to be sucked out from the cracked open bulkhead door. "Arthur Levesque, Amiral of the Republic de Gaul." Catherine shouted, having her weapon raised and pointed at the members of the Republique high command, "The King sends his regards."
Of course... sound doesn't travel well in a vacuum. So the final moments that Arthur and the rest of his men saw were four Gallic marines armed to the teeth, shouting... shouthing something just before the bridge filled with laser fire. Fortunately for Arthur, none of the shots had hit him. Though he saw the bodies of his comrades jolt and convulse from the shots before their bodies floated lifelessly. Unfortunately... he had the absolute pleasure of experiencing a sudden depressurization. His skin began frosting over from the now freezing bridge that was exposed to the vacuum... and any oxygen he had left in his lungs was violently ripped out. The man who had been a slight thorn in the side of the Royal Navy in the months leading up to this moment, slowly succumbed to his oxygen deprived final moments as the four Marines stood around... watching.
RES Royal DeFrance II (Current Year) --Aquitaine System
Luc paced slowly back and forth behind the tactical map that was displayed on a middle console. He watched as the marines aboard the station began making their ways towards their objectives. Occasionally he would glance over at the anomaly that was another bio-signature. It wasn't moving towards the marines, yet, though it seemed to be making its way around the station, and rather quickly. The luxury of operating alone. He rubbed his stubble on his chin as he continued observing the map. The last time he felt this nervous was in boot camp. Boot camp. That was ages ago for a man of his... age. Still something about all of this knotted and twisted his stomach, and nagged at the back of his mind. He personally felt like he was being watched. His eyes darted from the console before him towards the viewport, staring out into empty space. Maybe it was just the fact that this station was ancient and it had it's own stories to tell. Or maybe there was something out there... watching and waiting. The operation was under his charge, and so were the lives of the marines and everyone aboard the Royale DeFrance itself. The Prince had ordered that the ship go completely silent, other than operational communications between the marines and the bridge, and he wasn't about to violate those orders to radio for support. No. He would remain here. "Give me a ship wide comms." He barked the order, and his comms-officer nodded in response, after a moment the man turned around and gave him a thumbs up.
"Attention all Royal Navy personnel, this is Capitaine Luc Jacques Belot. All hands are to report to Battle-stations Sigma. I repeat, all hands are to report to battle-stations sigma. Standby for further orders." As soon as he finished the interior lights of the destroyer dimmed to a faint red glow. Though activity throughout the ship suddenly picked up as personnel moved quickly through the corridors, many beginning to man the turrets of the Destroyer itself.
Luc didn't know what he was expecting to happen next. All he knew was that he had to ensure the safety of the lives aboard this vessel, and the lives of the boarding party. He swallowed hard and clasped his hands behind his back as he walked around the center console in the CIC. He made his way with ease towards the forward viewing port and came to a full stop just in front of the thick see-through armor plating. They were definitely being watched. But by who?
That question would hopefully be answered soon, and before unnecessary bloodshed.