The Obsidian Squad: III
Operation Xythos
April 20th, 2270, 17:54
Martian Battle Cruiser, Millennium:
10,000km outside Martian orbit
"Sir, something just appeared on our radar, 200km away, it looks like a Terran battle cruiser!"
"What? How is that possible, we should've seen it days ago if it is that close!" Captain Walters exclaimed.
Walters was an amazing officer. Cool under pressure, an amazing strategist, and being a perfectionist, he was a relentless trainer. He commanded the 47th Mars rebellion division, and was a ruthless fighter.
"Power up the shields and ready the Emerald Weapon. Be ready to hit it with all we've got!" Walters commanded.
The Emerald Weapon was the nickname given to the cannon that the Millennium wielded, due to the green tint of the helix the shells left behind when they were fired. The Millennium itself was a Type-B battle cruiser for the Martians. It was the second largest cruiser in the Martian's fleet, and could destroy most ships the Terrans had under their control.
"The cannon is ready sir, fire on your word."
"Send them back to hell." Walters commanded.
There was a thundering boom as the shell was fired. The green haze from the helix lit up rocks and dust in the area, creating an aurora of sort.
"Sir, they have fallen off of our radar…"
"Good, chalk up another one for the Millennium."
"Sir, the shell hasn't detonated yet. It's still moving though space."
"But how did they disappear so quickly, how did they get off our radar? How is that possible?" Walters asked franticly.
"It's not."
"Sir," another radar worker piped up, "we're getting large energy readings, like a beam cannon charging up…Shit! They're behind us, sir!"
Oh my God, how is this possible? No ship can move that fast, and teleportation is still only in science fiction..
There was a bright blue cloud in the distance, and as the Millennium and her crew watched helplessly, a white beam shot out of the blue haze. It engulfed them all in a ray of light, then there was a bright explosion, and the Millennium was destroyed.
April 21st 2270, 12:14
Obsidian Squad Headquarters,
Noc-Lab Sector
"An Atomic-Fusion drive. That's what destroyed the Millennium. Only one ship I know of actually has an A-F drive. Xythos, the cruiser that shouldn't even exist. And besides the extreme uppers of Earth and Mars, the Xythos crew, and us, no one else knows it exists." Ray said to Vladmir.
"The A-F drive can be used as both a weapon and a propulsion system. It operates by fusing multiple atoms together to create massive amounts of energy. A phenomenal Martian scientist, Edward Girdeaux, developed it. During the later years though, the Terrans managed to get their hands on the technology and construct their own. An A-F drive can roughly get you to 2C, maybe faster, but that is fast enough to look as if you are disappearing and reappearing in a matter of seconds." François informed.
"This weapon may very well decide the outcome of the war. We need to sabotage the Xythos, or risk losing the rebellion. The Mars government isn't doing anything to stop it, trust me. The strategic purposes of this ship are endless. Think about it, being able to transport reinforcements from planet to planet in a matter of a few hours."
"Ray, we shall not destroy this weapon-" Vladmir began to speak.
"But sir, you need to understand!" Ray interrupted.
"Once again, you must let me finish what I am going to say. We are not going to destroy the weapon," Vladmir said with a smile on his face, "we shall steal it."
April 21st 2270, 13:32
Obsidian Squad Headquarters,
Noc-Lab Sector
The preparations began.
"Go into the TMS database. I will take it from there." François told Ray.
As François began to hack into the database, the room filled with the clicks and pecks of keys being stroked and punched by an amazing typist. He broke through the first set of security codes easily. The second codes required a more complicated code.
"Damn, they're getting much harder, let me think here…" François said to himself. The last one was nearly impossible. François surmised multiple possibilities, none of them working. He continued to infringe on the Terran's codes, attempting to ingratiate himself to the system. François inveighed loudly after managing to break through it by recalling some simplistic tendencies of the Terran code makers.
After days more of hacking and data theft, François managed to gain access to all of the Xythos' blueprints and statistics. He found out its flight path and targets.
"As you can see in these blueprints, Xythos has no apparent weakness. It is heavily guarded, and will be impossible to storm, even with the aid of a Martian Battle Cruiser."
"Ok, so the best time to attack the cruiser will be while it is stationary. We will want to raid the ship when it is refueling. The plan is to use the space elevator near Pavonis Mons to go up into space and meet up with Xythos there. We will enter the ship through the suit storage bay, and work our way towards the control tower from there." Vladmir informed as he outlined the path on the maps and blueprints, "Any questions? Good. Let's ready the Suits."
They all went to the hanger, where their Suits were stored. They spent most of the day customizing the war machines. Ray customized for well roundedness, but added a sniper rifle. Vladmir set his for power and strength. Geti compensated for Vladmir's with his Suit being customize for maximum speed and agility, armed only with an auto cannon and a long sword, his Suit was very light. François customized his for well roundedness like Ray.
Ray then loaded himself with weapons, putting a couple pistols, a rifle, and some ammo in the storage compartment of the Dredge.
Ray looked around-
-And just in case things get a little too hostile…
He grabbed some explosives and put them in the compartment as well.
It's time to finish this.
Ray and the other members of the OS suited up and went inside their Dredges, and darted out of the hanger.
"So Ray, tell me; how did you end up in that cruiser, anyway?" Geti asked.
"It's a long story, it actually has to do with Xythos. I'll explain it to you later if you want." Ray responded
"Five kilometers and closing." the AI informed Ray.
"Ok, see that hill over there? That will be my sniping point. I will be there providing cover fire and data on the forces coming in for you guys." Ray commanded.
"I will take the south side of the complex and destroy the hidden gun emplacements on the map I'm sending you, that should clear a way into the elevator. Geti, after I destroy the emplacements you and François will charge the complex. You from the east, and François from the west. With the back up fire from Ray, we should be able to take them by surprise, and it shouldn't be a problem getting up the elevator." Vladmir informed. "Godspeed everyone, Godspeed."
After ten minutes, everyone was in place, ready to commence with Operation Xythos. The space elevator they surrounded was basically a giant pillar, constructed of very strong alloys. On the inside of it were eight cable cars. They operated on electromagnetics and could ascend or descend the elevator at neck breaking speeds. Because of its primary use of electromagnetics, the elevator was cheep to run and maintain. It was ideal for re-stocking ships and freighters. The elevator was originally Terran, then Martian Revolutionaries took it over, and then the Terrans took it back. This time the Terrans surrounded the large column with a fortress of walls and hidden gun emplacements. Terran dredge suits constantly patrolled the rest of the walls. François activated his stealth device. As he knelt to the ground, tiny cameras captured what the ground and his surroundings looked like, and disguised him as that. Of course, this was only to the human eye.
Ray gave his ready signal and Vladmir fired his mortars. There was a large explosion. François could see the suits guarding the elevator start to move and look for any more signs of attack. One of them collapsed to the ground, exploding on impact.
Keep them coming Ray…
François gave the signal for Geti to move in. They both darted towards the elevator. It was sunset, and the elevator shined blood red in the light. It was a bad omen for the superstitious François.
François began to fire his auto cannon at the other dredges. He hit and destroyed some of them.
The explosive rounds work like a charm.
Geti pulled out his long sword and began slashing left and right. Being very agile, he darted around the landscape and avoided being hit.
"François, behind you!" Geti screamed.
François turned around just in time to see a suit about to slash him with a beam sword. The machine dropped the sword and crumpled to the ground, twitching. Off in the distance, François could see Ray waving at him. He waved back.
François skulked around the corner, and blasted a Suit with a barrage of 30mm rounds.
"Hey, Vladmir, Geti, I found the entrance to the elevator. Come quickly. Ray, keep your trigger finger warm, I have a bad feeling about this.
"Ok, it will take a couple minutes to crack this door code, but then we're going up to Xythos."
"François, we have bogies approaching 50° north northwest, roughly 20 Terran regulars. They don't seem happy either. Pulse guns and rockets. Looks like they want to smoke your asses bad. I'll do what I can to slow them down." Ray notified the others.
"Cover me!" François exclaimed.
Geti and Vladmir armed their auto cannons and started to walk towards the incoming forces. The forces were now past Ray's position, and they were about to see Geti and Vladmir. The Italian picked off a dredge, and they all looked towards his direction.
"Now! Get them from behind while I have them distracted!" Ray screamed.
Vladmir stayed behind and fired guided mortars at the forces while Geti charged them with his long sword and slashed some of the suits. After the first explosion from the mortars though, the strike force scattered. Continual hacking and slashing of the suits created an eerie backdrop as explosions filled the air. Ray picked off the suits that got too close to François while Vladmir ran back to protect the hacker. Geti began to take some serious hits; he lost his auto cannon AI. Vladmir was almost out of rockets and François was tied up with the door code.
Shit, if François dies, we'll never make it up that elevator.
Ray came out of his sniping spot and went into a mad dash. He sprinted towards François' direction. As he was running, he turned down the zoom on his sniper rifle and began shooting Suits in his way. He first picked off the ones that were still getting too close to François and then he proceeded to help Vladmir with the other Dredges. Geti was on the other side of the elevator, fending for himself.
"Vladmir, drop a mine and run for it. We need to get back to François and make sure he's alright." Ray said in a forceful voice.
"Don't forget who is in charge of this mission, insubordination is punishable by death!" Vladmir yelled back as he threw a mine in the other suit's direction.
They both ran back to the elevator entrance to find Geti and a very large auto cannon waiting for them.
Geti lowered his rifle and resumed watching François peck away at the elevator lock controls. The OS crowded around the door, watching, as the Terrans grew closer. As they started to come into view, all hope began to fade as they looked at each other, they all gave the nod that said 'I'm out of ammo' and pulled out their melee weapons. Just as they were ready to die, the elevator door slid open. The OS jumped inside one of the cars and François closed the doors. The cable car lit up like a Christmas tree with red and green lights as François activated the control panel for the elevator.
"Ok, we escaped those Terrans, but once we get up into the Xythoswe're going to be surrounded by some different bastards. Keep your cool. First, we are going to ditch the suits. They're too big to walk through Xythos. Next, we will arm ourselves and ready the remote detonating devices on all of the suits in the hanger of the ship. If something happens, that will be our bargaining chip; or Plan B: if stealing Xythos doesn't work out," Vladmir began. "Next, we need to kill General Costaki, leader of the 82nd Terran Division and supreme officer of the ship"
The elevator stopped with a jolt. They had reached the Battle cruiser.
As they stepped out of the elevator, there were several suits in motion around the hanger of Xythos.
"Don't use your guns; you might punch a hole through the hull! Stick with your hands and melee weapons." Vladmir ordered.
It wasn't much of a fight. Recruited rookies against hand picked veterans. The OS quelled any threat the other suits could've possibly posed quickly. After getting out of their Dredges, the OS activated the remote detonating system on all of the other suits in the room.
Objective one complete…
They then proceeded into the hallway, which was the same as all of the other Terran cruisers, black and hexagonal. They came into an intersection in the tunnel.
"Ray, you go left and find the general, you know what to do with him. François, you go right and steal any files you can find from the computer mainframes about the A-F Drive, and then plant an explosive on it just in case. Geti and I will continue forward and begin eliminating all military forces on this ship and liberating any personnel we find." Vladmir commanded.
After they split up, Ray started down the hall. Remaining as secretive as possible, he made his way closer and closer to the General's quarters; he began to have a bad feeling again.
You've done this a thousand times Ray, what's to be any different about assassinating this guy?
Ray came across a guard. He walked quietly behind him and put the man in a chokehold.
"Where is Costaki?" Ray demanded.
The soldier pointed to the left. Ray jerked his arm, snapping the man's neck.
"Liar." He went down the hall to the right-
-Terrans can't be trusted with shit. And they're usually honorable towards their leaders, or at least the newbies pushing for a rank promotion. They'll do anything to protect them.
He continued down the hallway until making it to another adjacent tunnel. He crouched down and peered around the corner.
"Hey, you, show yourself!" a guard said. Ray rolled out from his hiding spot and shot the man with his pistol. An echo of gunfire filled the hallway. Ray felt a sharp, stabbing pain in his back. Ray felt his shoulder with his hand. When he pulled it away, a crimson stain was left on his hand.
That echo wasn't from my gun…
Ray turned around saw a guard standing with his gun pointed in Ray's direction. He swung his good arm around and fired at the guard, killing him.
He held his shoulder and walked towards the guard. He examined the body for a cloth of some sort. Ray unsheathed his knife and cut off the sleeve of the corpse's uniform. He tied it around the wound and hoped it would stop the bleeding. He then continued down the hall, and finally came to the door that appeared to contain the general.
Ray shot the control panel and holstered his weapon as the door slid open with a soft hiss. He was welcomed with a very angry looking Japanese general holding a gun that was ready to shoot him.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Costaki. Calm down, I've already been shot once today," He began. "Listen, if you kill me, my fellow squad members will not hear from me. I told them if they didn't hear from me in 15 minutes, to blow the ship to hell. Yeah, that's right. Bend your sweet and sour ass over and drop the gun." Ray said.
As Costaki bent over, Ray pulled his pistol and shot the man in the head.
He dragged the body across the room and stuffed it into the closet, leaving a rather obvious stain on the carpet.
Hiding his body doesn't really make a difference, provided the blood trail leading to the closet. Either way, it's mission complete.
"Yes…ok…good…alright, bye." Vladmir ended. "That was Ray, he killed the general. We are supposed to go down to where the A-F drive is and protect François as he hacks into the TMS database and steals the plans for the A-F drive."
Vladmir and Geti reloaded their rifles and dashed to where François was being held.
"Vladmir, to your left!"
They turned to their left and fired at the oncoming forces. The guards fell to the floor and Vladmir ran past them, shortly followed by Geti.
"The computer mainframes are this way, François should still be in there, hopefully alive."
They opened the doors. Sparks and smoke was everywhere. The sound of fried electronics filled the previously humming room. Bodies were on the ground all over the room.
"What the hell happened here?"
"François, are you still alive? François?" Vladmir asked the empty room.
Then some pecking sounds pierced the constant humming. It was François. He had been shot several times and was losing blood fast. However, he had still done his best to complete the mission.
While coughing up blood, he managed to stutter out "I've stolen and deleted all the files on the A-F drive and on Xythos," François was dying fast, "I set the bomb, but in the firefight, the detonator was damaged. It needs to be set off manually. There is no other way. There are too many men on this ship, there's no way we can steal it."
"But François," Vladmir tried to say. François managed to cut him off.
"But nothing. You know the mission; we need to complete it, at all costs. I am willing to lay down my life for the freedom of Mars. I only regret that I have but one life to lose for the freedom of Mars… Vladmir, look out, behind you!"
Vladmir turned around, and fired his rifle, but he was too late, the guards that had entered the room had shot him first. Vladmir collapsed to the floor.
"You bastards!" Geti screamed as he jumped out from behind a mainframe. He shot the guards that had entered the room, but more and more kept coming. Geti ended up being shot near his stomach and hip.
God, too much more of this and I'm dead.
Another platoon of men entered the room and surrounded Geti, François and Vladmir.
I have failed you Vladmir, I have failed you Mars. I bring only shame to my name.
Geti bowed his head and waited for the shots. He heard the rattle of a machine gun and squeezed his eyes and clenched his teeth. The painful feeling of being shot to death was nothing he had ever expected. He looked up, expecting to see fire and the Devil himself.
"Thank you God?" Geti said as he saw the guards' bodies, all of them were dead. As the smoke cleared in the background, an icy silhouette of a man with two large machine guns appeared behind the lifeless bodies.
"Damn, what happened to you guys?" Ray asked.
"After you told us to go and protect François, we came to this room and found François dying. He said that he had stolen and deleted all of the files on the A-F drive and on Xythos." Geti began to inform Ray, "And the detonator for the bomb on the A-F drive was damaged and needs to be set off manually. François has volunteered to stay behind and detonate it."
"Good luck to you, François." Ray said.
"Let's get the hell out of here; can you still pilot a suit?"
Geti gave a nod.
"But I'm afraid our fearless leader isn't going to make it, he took some pretty bad hits in the skirmish before you arrived."
Ray lowered his head for a moment, dropped one of his guns, and then hoisted the badly wounded Russian up on one of his shoulders
Geti nodded his head and they both ran out of the room. With a machine gun in one hand, Ray continued to eliminate guards and officers with Geti. They made it to the hanger in about a minute. Ray put Vladmir in his Suit and set the autopilot for the nearest place on Mars. Ray boarded his Dredge and with Geti, they flew back to Mars, one man short.
After a couple of minutes, François detonated the bomb, causing a giant implosion of the Fusion drive. The Xythos was no more.