Boarding actions
Milky Way / In transit / spirit of fire / D - deck / Research & development wing / October 25th,, 2183 CE/AD, 12:50 Hours
Putting the last touches to the kit I leave R&D spotting another run by IAA stooges making the rounds, gawking at the tech catalog. A technician makes a motion for him to move along and not disturb the work on the labs as this seems to be a repeated offense by the spook who fummed exiting the area.
Mmmh… might wanna ask what he wanted later with Helix…
Shaking my head and heading for a free hangar to practice with the amp and take some readings of the whole assemble as the former under armor for the exo was replaced by the new "skinsuit" and armor materials, being honest the new weave and measures are nice, tight, but my back certainly is thanking the one that came up with this arrangement in credits or a good month of free rent on the Caligula.
Bright side, the space between plates are now more protected so that's a worry less for me and the ports for the amp are reinforce with an casing making it look as a dead space rig without impacting on the flexibility, improve reaction times on the thought / meld interface to .28 seconds, some last testing and my new suit is ready to wreck the forces of EVIL!
Of course Raven went to nag me on why I am wearing the thing for the past 2 weeks, well the last time I left the med bay was recommended to not exacerbate the quick fix we pulled with the symbiote treatment and rest for a week to be under monitored times to get 100% confirmation of no complications, well now with a free reign of movement i intent to follow that order least i be yanked to the med bay for some stupid shit.
Let's see if a hangar is free for practice…
In transit / spirit of fire / B - deck / hangers / October 25th, 2183 CE/AD, 18:22 Hours
*Wamp!*
Mieeeeerrrrrdaaaaaaa!
This is more difficult than before with the suit, the response is quicker but the amount of force after each action screwing up my control, as it can attest the third supply box that I was moving for Sykes that took a small trip on the way to the lift; at least the first box had nothing of much importance in relation to its contents, but the aftermath of its unexpected conversion to a more compact form certainly did not help me lower my irritation.
"Hey, chill out man! Be glad that you're already holding the box more carefully than the last."
* Sigh * "You are right but it is still frustrating that before my little stay with a band of illiterate sand eating nomads, my test runs with the first generation of the device, my control was better than now."
Pointing to the present evidence.
"… Yes, I remember the surprise you crazy scientists gave us."
"Hey I resent that accusation! I just passed the idea on to the R&D guys to see if it was viable, I didn't expect it to be right!"
*Looks at me skeptically*
"Incidentally I am an engineer at heart! I don't like being lumped with the sheltered lab coats without wants of any help when a problem can be solved with a simple hammer and some duct tape."
"ah ha ... well it's not like I didn't have a crazy idea that turns out to be true when you think about the mechanisms involved."
To that I nodded.
"Yes, if you think for a moment it is a logical progression of the abilities of each living or dead biotic."
While we were chatting we were distracted by one of the spies doing the rounds in the hangar near the practice area of the experimental and training equipment. They were taking some photos of 'vergil' making a damn good impression of his nickname dancing all over the place drawing that sword as a flash of light from target to target.
"And who is it this time; the stooge from the IAA who cannot hide his yearning for state-of-the-art technology like a hungry dog?"
"Oh him? That cock sucker is Pietro's, he's been snooping around since Hiram came back and made him look like a petty idiot after being saved by Shultz from testing the saber he was wearing to the interview."
"Hmm… it's good to know that at least my blade can still be used for something other than scaring Dresden when he found out about the Mars simulation."
"Speaking of that, what kind of sword did you use at that rodeo?"
Smirking in though on adding another shocked witness, I reached for the hilt and ignited the emitter drawing attention by the passing Ghosts.
*bbrrrrmmm*
"oooooooohhhh" admiring the display of a cyan crucible; Sykes backs a bit to better look "Now that is a bit tacky don't you think?"
"Nah man, if you passed the gauntlet why not flaunt it?" I said while switching off the blade and clipping it back where it belonged. "Besides, I'm not the only one that went with it and goes around carrying a damn argent blade around, just ask Sidhe that crazy bint of a Noctus sniper."
"No, no, no, no, no I'm not falling for that! I might be curious but not suicidal enough to bother the gal."
*raised eyebrow* "You do know she is a pretty suede chick and all around pleasant company?" When I finished that sentence the crew nearby just looked aghast at me "What? It 's true!"
"Are we talking about the same girl? The one who decked the krogan at Glitterwing Maiden's labs when we mounted that rescue op?"
"The same."
"Yeah, nope not gonna ask."
"Well, need me to carry anything else?"
"No, that was all that needed to be hauled. You are free to hang around though."
"Your welcome. Hey mind if I start the range?"
"Have at it... Hey! What the void are you doing you fool!" And with that done some more training is on the docket… might as well see if I can replicate volt at some point.
Three hours of time and all I have to prove is a charred gauntlet, fatigue and FOUR blast of psyonicaly powered lighting for my efforts, Templar blades out for now due to blowing the amount of juice pump in the right brace plus the trip to the fabers to repair the thing. A productive day indeed! Might as well called and hit the sack for now.
Milky Way / Arcturus Stream / 8 light days in transit to Arcturus / spirit of fire / B - deck / hangers / October 31th, 2183 CE/AD, 08:02 Hours
*zap!* *sssssssss hhss*
Damn… still too much power... need to lower the output somehow.
"Hey Leo! take a break man! I still have to fix this engine here and all that zapping is not helping me get this done!"
Looking to the left from my beaten target one, Lara Houchens latina extraordinare and paisana adrift in time, of the retrieval team east rabbits is shoulder deep on hanging from the fighter's exhaust and rising a fuzz.
"Yeah well sorry if I'm bothering you but I'm not done here."
Lara : "And pray tell what is it that is so important?"
Leo : "Fixing the output for the amp!"
Lara : "Bah! just go and bitch at Sparkles to help you there, that little tike should be free to assist you with it."
Leo : "... she is still mad for the plushie?"
Lara : "Oh yeah and it's funny still how she reacted to that prank"
Leo : "To be fair you would too if your voice was used in a pony plushie and then parade it around the ship with 'I AM TWILIGHT MOTHERFUKING SPARKLES, THE PRINCESS OF FRIENDSHIP! AND THIS IS MY FAVORITE FRIEND IN THE WHOLE GALAXY!' and a dildo tape at the front, don't get me wrong it was funny but overboard girl."
Lara : "Maybe but you gotta admit the entire crew ended all laughing at the show she put up when she heard about it"
Leo : "Yeah, might follow that advice in a while." Focusing back at the targets set I go at it again and let loose a bolt of lightning faster than before to see if it's the charges times that I can at least use to reduce the force.
*zap!* *sssssssss hhss*
some noticeable dip in the readings from the dummy… mmmh… if it is that way then it is a matter of energy gathered regardless of the technique… again.
*zap!* *sssssssss hhss*
better so far, what are the times? 0.78 seconds for a bolt of equal strength as a standard overload... and this one?
*zap!* *sssssssss hhss*
0.98 seconds to an overcharged one… wonder what a 5 second charge will do.
*booom* *sssssssss hhss*
Welp, disintegration of the target is a bit much… lets see if I can chain it like an Area Overload…
an hour later and a fried gauntlet i called it quits and shout to the still busy lara.
Leo : oye lara te parece si vemos por la cocina sí tiene pa hacer cachapas?
Lara : ¡seguro! ¿de paso me ayudas con la verga esta que ni de pinga quiere encender?
Leo : ¡Claro!
Milky Way / Arcturus Stream / 5 light days around Arcturus / spirit of fire / B - deck / hangers / November 11th, 2183 CE/AD, 14:20 Hours
After a morning of adjusting to the rework of my amp settings and practice of frying shit to a crisp, the hunger came like a crazy woman on cocaine brandishing a knife, making me take a run for the mess and some much needed food as the exertion of will over the physical plane doesn't come cheap.
I was about to do some more exercises when a goddamn round whizzed past my head and I automatically took cover by some crates. I found that I'm not the only one seeking shelter from a rather unexpected group of Alliance personnel gunning at our asses.
"Hey what gives!?"
"Surrender you traitors!"
...dafuq? *winzip* fuck!
*ping!* *winzip* ok, not helping me with leaving your ass intact there imbecil!
Looking for some support I shouted, "Hey anybody can give me some cover!?" and the response I got was rather pleasing as the work crews and some off duty teams pepper the assailants for their folly.
Kane made his entrance by sliding near me.
I spared him a quick glance. "Sup! what do you know about this shit!?"
"Nothing! Shit just happened! you!?"
"Not a clue!" Taking a peek at the firefight going on the stack is pretty much for the moment on the group of SA IAA agents that have been roaming the ship for some time now and a few marines at the front of them.
"That's a problem." Dropping to cover again we try to come up with some way to disable the clearly anxious nominees for the darwin award and settle on the good old stole the aggro.
"Hey bitchies care to cease this idiocy!" Of course this merely lessens the amount of lead flying a tiny bit but it's something.
"Desist and surrender, you are by the order of Lieutenant General Hyrum Grant of the Systems Alliance Army, to detain you all and place you under arrest for the murders of the Parliament!"
...wut? Is this guy tripping?
seeing our confusion at such bland trite a recording begins playing of a certain fossil.
He, general Grant, stared back at the camera, then took a breath and began. "People of the Galaxy, this is Lieutenant General Hyrum Grant of the Systems Alliance Army. I regret to inform you that there has been a nuclear detonation on Arcturus Station, followed by a string of Assassinations of High Ranking members of the Systems Alliance Government." His gaze hardened, "These attacks have been proven to have originated from the Batarian Hegemony, by order of their Supreme Chancellor; but as much as it pains me to say, it is not just the Batarians that have carried out these attacks."
General Grant was replaced by five photos, each with a name underneath it.
"Brigadier General Karl Schultz, Major August Lee, Sergeant Ayashe Kingfisher, Technical Sergeant John Weaver, and First Sergeant Voronov Filippovich. These five individuals have formed a secret Organization known as the Ghosts, with the end goal of overthrowing the Systems Alliance. If you see any of these people, then immediately report them to the authorities; do not engage, they are extremely dangerous."
Here Grant took pause and seemed to age ten years as he leaned forward on his desk, "As the Highest Ranking member of Government left in the Systems Alliance, I am hereby declaring Martial Law in human space. To the Citadel Council, I extend this simple request; stay out of this, as this is our affair to deal with. General Grant Out."
Smirking the bastard proclaimed the next "As you can see the order has been given to subdue you band of traitors to meet the tribunal for your crimes against the alliance!"
"The only one getting subdue is you scum, don't think that we know how you spew crap like that on the regular bootlicker! You have all been trying and failing to get any kind of data on our ship's sense grant let you in on the refurbishment of the old girl and I wouldn't put it past you to pull shit like this just to acquire it!"
"It's a shame that you are resisting the lawful order form the chain of command in this trying times, marines you saw how the disregarded the legitimate command of the general, you may freely engage"
While that conversation was taking course I gathered as much energy as I could to end this charade. Not being the only one to get the same idea, Kane grabbed a piece of kit from his back and deployed a shield in front of me as I shouted while I slowly rose to ready my shot. "Bitch! DON'T GIVE ME THAT LIP! Nací durante el asedio a la tierra, crecí a través del asedio estelar, luché contra ethereal's, fui testigo de la guerra dorada y por nuestras mentes cegue el ojo que se ocultaba en las sombras."
Finishing this chant / rant my eyes glowed with purple wisp as the amp made my commands reality, the grunts in front of the line of fire received the shock of their lives as a psionically generated lightning jump from gun to gun in the cargo bay ending with the shields of the IAA creeps bursting from the residual charge.
Panting from the exertion our side takes the upper hand and charges at the currently cripple force as I spot a hack from my left by a work crew making the tools of the marines start blasting a quite familiar song.
Standing where I should be
Believing as I'm told to believe
Being who I should be
Doing what I should do
Did you hear what I said?
Did you get what I meant?
What you saw is an illusion
You're living in delusion
The turn of tables miffed the IAA but they still had armor to withstand the retaliation from us, for the moment that is; because as the first ones to collide with the marines make contact i was at it again with the amp and pulled estos pedazos de mierda mal paridas del suelo y los lanze contra la ala de un caza con fuerza.
Going on and on I have the future in my hands
Getting lose from days
I never could get over
Going on and on until
I'm finally myself
Getting out of this dishonest world
I never wanted
Now is the time
Now is the time
Of course being encased in those tin cans the most I got was bruises and the occasional broken bone but it let us get the bitchies away from the meat shields.
Ask me if you're anxious
I'll give you all the answers
Truth or dare – it's your choice
Your truth is what you wish for
Standing from their place the first agent to rise received a prize in the form of a chopped arm from vergil's sword strike followed by a kick to the head.
Who am I to tell you that the future's in your hands?
Set me free from lies and cold deceptions.
I'm so scared
Going on and on across this land,
Across the time
Going on to see, to feel, to breathe
I've always wanted
The rest of the scum got piled by tech discharges and blunt weapons to make them cave...
Sleepless nights
I'm spending
Counting all the words that broke my heart
I'm leaving all my past here
Then I'll see the world for sure
… one got free from the melee and ignited a blade and swung the thing to make a space...
Going on and on I have the future in my hands
Getting lose from days
I never could get over
Going on and on until
I'm finally myself
Getting out of this dishonest world
I never wanted
… which promptly received the ministrations from my blade shorting the subpar device and a psy enhanced push kick…
Now is the time
Now is the time
Chase after time
Chase after time
… to land with a awaiting kane holding two shock batons that went to town on the fucker.
With the nonsense out of the way, we accessed the comms only to find that all hell had broken loose as transports were entering three hangers and confusion was spreading through the channel until Grimm put down her foot on the intercom.
"All personnel we have inbound hostiles, be ready to repel them wherever you sight them-" *bang~!* "- I'm sad to say that Arcturus got a hole in her but right now we have problems to deal with courtesy of half of the fleet shooting at our small armada. Yeah we still have some control over the nearby ships but we have to go NOW!"
Shit this day just gets better and better! One last look at the rest of the subdue ruble we'll have to beat for info later we disband to help the efforts and hopefully sort this mess.
Milky Way / Arcturus Stream / 20 light days around Arcturus / spirit of fire / D - deck / command center/ Bridge / November 11th, 2183 CE/AD, 14:50 Hours
Making some time to reach the bridge and the leftover signs of the fight at its entrance, the whole deal bodies lying on the way and the wounded being treated.
"GRIMM YOU THERE!?"
"Yeah, just glad to see more of the crew making it out alive."
"and the captain?"
"Currently indisposed, one IAA bastard shot her in the left lung"
"fuck..."
"Contact! We have 4 frigates IFF shows; SSV Agincourt, SSV Dyrrhacia, SSV Perugia and SSV Stalingrad inbound in the interception course to the relay!"
"How far?"
"10 minutes ma'am!"
"Shit…" Looking at me she asked, "Care to help with the clearing of a path?"
"I'll strap on the mech as soon as the ship is under control but-"
"Fuck one of them is charging the main gun"
"Shields!?"
"At 30 and charging!"
Looking at the people who followed me here I commanded, "Kane, Lefay, Solomon, Vepar with me! We need a barrier front now!"
Looking back to the endless black I gather as much focus as I could to slow down the shot at the bridge.
With every second I can feel the considerable pool of FORCE we are amassing and a purple light envelopes the forward view ports with some seconds to spare as the slug impacts the psionic field losing 80% of its inertia but the rest makes a resounding clang and knock us on our assess, some people are thrown from their seats but otherwise alright; us on the other hand are in no condition to tank another shot if they decide it was a fluke.
Glad the cavalry has our back in the form of a torpedo that smacked the forward guns aimed at us.
Not wasting an opportunity the bridge staff retaliated with a swift strike at the vessel from the batteries as a wing of fighters went and clear a path to the relay for our exfil
Activating the PA grimm screamed "GUNS! GET A CLEAR PATH, ALL MEDICAL PERSONNEL BE READY TO RECEIVE INJURE, WE HAVE A WALL TO BREACH, ALL HANDS SECURE ROOMS AND SUPPLIES, ALL AVAILABLE PILOTS GET ON THE STICK AND HELP."
Not being idle during that rant I went back into the bowels of the ship and straight to the 'mech bay' where 5 units were still in there cables and next to our loadout selector, since there is no such thing as overkill once I got the unit running and the engagement distances are gonna be insanely vast all the missiles I could hold where loaded on the back along with some of the new torpedos.
At the first step into the void what greeted me was the occasional light show, glancing down there were other mechs shooting down boarding crafts and the too close for comfort stray shots flying everywhere.
"FORWARD, FORWARD, DISPERSE AND BE READY FOR THE CRASH!"
"ANYBODY NEEDS AMMO!?"
"HERE!"
Ambeling to the caller I set one container to her and ran along the ship's hull and ready all guns.
The wait was sweet and nerve wrecking until the effective ranges, going tit for tat on this retreat as the armor held and the flyboys do their dance in the infinite void to the harrowing cries of the dead seconds away from banishing in blazes of fire.
After what felt like hours of non-stop combat we got the exit on sight but our numbers were culled somewhat, all survivors were marching to the safety of the Spirits insides and the tally of the casualties would be counted as we jumped out of the system…
Grant I hope you know how to run because this double cross has just cost you your right to live.