Their arrival had been precipitated by the Shadow of Intent managing to block the only forward route out of the Nebula ahead for the Malevolence. The UNSC Fleet now formed a cordon alongside two extra Venator squadrons to keep the enemy vessel boxed in within the confines of a nebula filled with alien life and moving creatures. The shadows of the space whales living in the cloud of gases passed close to the edges of the cloud, to the point they were visible from aboard the allied fleet. They were also one reason the entire UNSC navy wasn't laying into the enemy vessel with impunity. One.
The other was relatively simple. It was what Lasky was explaining to Generals Skywalker and Kenobi now that they were aboard the Infinity, while Meetra and the others waited by the sideline. Lasky pointed at a holographic recreation of the events and said, "... And exactly one hour ago, a Starship exited Hyperspace near the Nebula, presumably pulled out by the gravity disturbance keeping it together, or by the presence of the Malevolence. The Red Horse's Captain, one Foucault, identified the ship as one we were briefed to expect:A Nubian starship, belonging to Naboo."
"I have a nagging feeling I know who that's gonna be," Anakin sighed deeply, pinching the bow of his nose. He told a confused-looking Lasky, "Senator Amidala, queen of Naboo. She was probably heading toward this place specifically to rendezvous with your fleet so she may join as a sort of political liaison, meaning she's our ambassador to the UNSC as a whole... We need to get aboard and save her."
"My thoughts exactly, General," The man nodded, then said, "Roland, ping Cortana. Let's get the Chief and Blue Team to prepare to board our friends' ship... In fact, send a message to Spartan B312, too," and pulled up images of the ship. Deep penetrating sensors began scanning the vessel across the fleet to find chinks and weaknesses in its armor. He told them, "We might be able to knock out two birds with one stone."
"Send a team to rescue the Senator, while a team..." Kenobi hummed, caressing his beard and grinned, then pointed to the engine room, "... Moves in to sabotage the vessel's Hyperdrive. Setting a few explosive charges should do the ship in."
"We could simply knock it out with the guns once we get the Senator out," Anakin offered, "Your kinetic weapons are really effective for some reason..." Then he paused and had one of his critical thinking moments, "Right... They may be able to perform at least emergency repairs to the Ion batteries on the side... Get enough to fire a volley and create a breach."
Ahsoka crossed her arms and grinned at that, shaking her head. She looked to the ship's schematics and said, "We should probably get moving if we wanna save the Senator," as she motioned to the ship, "Their sensors should hopefully be partially jammed by the nebula and fully by the UNSC's Electronic Warfare, giving us a nice window of opportunity," only to turn to Skywalker and Kenobi, "Right?"
"Yeah. Nice work, Snips," Anakin smirked, "We'll tag along with Blue Team if that's alright."
"And I will go with Fireteam Crimson," The group then paused. They turned to look toward Meetra, who spun her Lightsaber in one hand. The Jedi still couldn't believe the young-yet-old woman was actually alive. Stepping up to the table, she looked to Obi-Wan and stated, "We will need someone to keep the Jedi vessels in line alongside master Plo Koon. That or backup in case things turn sour. Plus, I really wanna stretch my legs."
"Understood, master Surik," Obi-Wan smiled. He then requested in a playful tone and manner, "Someone, please tell the leader of Fireteam Crimson to record the fighting. I'm quite interested to see how a Jedi of old fights..." which caused the blonde girl to let out an awkward chuckle. Ahsoka and Anakin exchanged looks for a moment, then both snorted at that.
"I'm not a master, but thank you, master Kenobi," She replied after she quickly composed herself. She looked to Admiral Lasky, who gave a nod of approval and looked to Roland. The yellow-glowing Bomber man AI gave a thumbs up to Meetra, who nodded in thanks, then said, "With that, I'll depart and prepare any extra gear. I need to grab a pistol from the armory..."
Anakin hummed and said, "Well, this is gonna be interesting. We'll be heading out to prep, too, I guess. See you later, Master," and he gave a wave of goodbye. He and Ahsoka walked out as well, with Lasky and General Kenobi saying goodbye with a simple nod. The General walked out next, probably heading back to the hangar to board a ship back to his own vessel.
Meetra walked out to one of the side hangars of the ship, finding Crimson already prepared and armed by a smaller CALYPSO-class infiltration vessel, a Pelican-sized Prowler that would allow them to board the ship undetected by any of its remaining functional sensors. She noted Six as he readied his rifle, then requested jokingly from him, "Take a girl for a ride?" with a smirk. The Soldier nodded without so much as scoffing, while a couple of Crimson Spartans chuckled.
The group boarded the transport, with Six stating, "Ecklund, keep your asses in gear. We're getting aboard an alien warship that Roland just sent us a rough schematic for. Our job's simple:We put bombs on their FTL drive and get out of dodge the moment Chief and his team manage to retrieve the Senator that's gonna be the Republic ambassador on our ship. Roger?"
"Roger!" The other Crimson members barked as they racked the bolts of their weapons. The blonde Jedi smirked, too, as they boarded the transport. To the left, she could see BLUE, Skywalker and Ahsoka boarding a similar transport as well, readying their weapons. It was gonna be one hell of an op, she thought to herself as she ensured she had plenty of ammo and her Lightsaber with her.
As they sat down and the CALYPSO craft took off, she checked her pistol. Looking over to B312, she nodded in thanks to him for teaching her how to utilize this weapon. He nodded back, then showed everyone to quiet down and perform one final check of their weapons as they floated toward the enemy ship. Confirmation nods were followed up by the clicks and snap-pops of weapon press-checks.
B312 then radioed, "This is CRIMSON to BLUE... All green... Going radio silent."
Two clicks filtered through the com system. He nodded, then held onto his harness as the vehicle made a burn toward the enemy flagship. The inside of the troop hold grew dark, the sole thing now illuminating the group of Spartans and the Jedi being a red light. Meetra tensed and prepared mentally as she felt the slight gravitational shifts of the ship's approach toward the Malevolence.
The Pilot reported, "... Thirty seconds out... Stealth systems holding," in a flat tone as the audible pressing of buttons came in from the cockpit. One of the Spartans tapped her foot beside Six, cradling her Battle Rifle. Another, with a wolf's motif and EVA helmet, checked his knife and a pair of EM grenades he had taken for testing by the team. The final Spartan was the one who carried the plastic explosives they were gonna be using. She seemed to be synching them up to her armor to give a clean detonation.
Seconds ticked away on the mission clock as the vehicle turned, causing slight pits in the stomachs of both the pilots and the passengers due to the gravitational shift. It angled to leech onto a hatch on the enemy ship near the engineering deck. The vessel's hull thumped and reverberated as the magnetic attachments locked into place around the hatch, before the bottom trapdoor on the CALYPSO opened, revealing a ladder and an open hatch leading to an upright and very utilitarian corridor, pipes, wires and the likes hanging amidst rib-like metal supports.
The pilot said, "I'll be staying here for an hour and a half, Spartan. Do what you need to do and radio when the bombs are in place. We'll synch up our departure with BLUE Team..." and got a nod from B312. The man showed the team he'd lead the way, drawing his pistol as he 'descended' into the hallway, feeling his stomach turn upside down thanks to the gravity field intersection. He dropped in, aimed his pistol around and gave a thumbs up to the group, before stepping away to make room for them to enter.
Next in was Meetra herself, who drew her M6. She felt its weight a little in her hand, then murmured, "Can't wait to test this thing out myself..." before looking to Six. The Spartan watched the rest of his four-man team enter the ship, weapons drawn, then balled his fist and showed them to follow. Meetra looked to him as they moved at a quickened pace, then asked, "You think we have enough charges?"
"Yeah," He replied.
Coming upon a corner, the Spartan raised his balled fist, showing the group to stop as metallic feet hit the grated floor of the maintenance tunnel they were in. Their Motion Trackers all picked up a platoon of Battle Droids in synch, advancing on patrol, with the Spartans and Meetra all hearing them speak in the same voice. The commander of the platoon said, "This is where the sound came from."
"Do you think they docked a dropship onto our hull?" Another droid asked, showing a bit of concern.
"That'd be impossible. Our Point-Defense would've shredded them," Yet another replied, annoyed, "Must've been one of the space whales nearby hitting us. That or some rocks."
"I dunno..." The second droid answered again, "I got a bad feeling about this..."
"Quiet down and keep your optical and auditory sensors sharp! Whatever it is, we're investigating it!" The Commander barked, surprisingly enough. Seemed as though the Droids did have a degree of a brain beyond just 'walk in a straight line to be shot'. Surprising to Six, but honestly it made some sense. They were sentient to a degree, he thought as he heard a flurry of same-type answers.
"Roger, roger"
"Roger roger."
"Rogerroger!"
"What do we do?" Ecklund asked as she brought up the rear. Six took a half-second to think about it, examining where they were. They were right at a T-intersection that led to their left, where the dozen or so Droids marched. Their objective was another few hundred meters past those Droids and they had to reach it and plant bombs before long. He clicked his radio once, a question.
The answer was two clicks. He reported in short bursts, "Contact. Platoon. Twenty droids. Searching for Breach. Status?"
"Contact, similar," Chief replied over Radio, "Engage at own leisure."
Six clicked once, then motioned for the Spartans to bring up the EM Grenades. The wolf-masked one tossed him a grenade, then moved to the opposite end quickly. Six lifted three fingers as a countdown, utilizing his thumb and pinkie to pull the pin and prime the grenade. He counted down, letting it hit max charge, then rolled it in. It hit the back foot of one of the droids and caused it to look down. It let a sound of concern out just before the grenade burst. A flurry of lightning flared, encapsulating the entire platoon of Droids, their vocalizers overloading and pitching up their voices as they screamed... Then all collapsed.
The Spartans then moved forward, Meetra right beside them as they pushed toward the FTL Drive. Six spoke over radio, "Contacts eliminated, though expect hostiles to notice patrols are missing. Proceeding on foot, time on mission clock, one hour and fifteen minutes left... CRIMSON Actual, out," before drawing his MA40 assault rifle and racking the bolt back. He told Meetra, "I think they know we boarded."
"I'd be shocked if the sensors for the hatches didn't work, honestly. They're probably proximity or contact-triggered," Meetra suspected, mostly, but she still said it with confidence. Six and the Spartans nodded, affirming the girl's suspicion. Part of him wondered how BLUE and their added elements were doing, fighting things out in the middle of it all.
With Blue Team
Skywalker brought up the front with Chief and Kelly, while the rear was covered by Ahsoka and Richard, the lattermost of them keeping tabs on his Motion Tracker more than anyone else. They were advancing toward the hangars, where the Nubian starship was located, pushing through corridor after corridor in order to assist and evacuate the Senator. Chief and Kelly both noted the look of determination on the man's face.
Cortana spoke, "Keep it moving. We're a few hundred meters away from the Hangar. Droids are also converging on the Calypso from what I'm getting on their BattleNet," her voice low, quiet. Almost as if she expected them to be caught if she didn't keep her voice down. She hummed, then spoke over com, "All Blue members, stand-by..." which got Chief to raise a balled fist to show the team to stop. They crouched at the corner of a cross-intersection from where hissing echoed. Cortana hummed, then murmured, "Like I thought... We're near a point where MAC rounds pierced. Be careful, atmo here is playing loose."
The Chief nodded and sealed his suit, then said to Ahsoka and Anakin, "Possible hull breach nearby. Atmosphere is unstable..."
Anakin replied calmly, "Well, we did do a number on her," before turning around and throwing Ahsoka a small rebreather. He knew of them because master Kenobi had used them when he was still Qui-Gon's Padawan. They'd used them to swim to Jar Jar's village. Sliding it between their teeth in order to keep it in place, the two sighed deeply and let it activate.
They pushed forward, through a thin veil of energy that was almost unnoticeable. The place suddenly grew quiet as they quickly moved past the corridor. When they looked left, they saw the impact point of the MAC Round and the twisted and bent metal around the entrance wound. Moving past another veil, the group had survived the way through, with Skywalker breathing out as the pressures equalized once more. He coughed and shook his head, then said, "Thank the Force they kept some pressure in there..."
Ahsoka nodded, "I think I'm about to pass out..."
"Easy does it, Tails..." Richard quipped as he covered the rear with his rifle. He spoke, "Sir, we should move out," toward the Chief, receiving a nod. Surprised, the Jedi looked over to the Chief, who nodded and showed them to follow along while Cortana was making calculations and jamming the enemy's coms in certain areas. Pushing deeper, the group arrived at an open door that led to a cavernous hangar. Cranes held up sleeping Vulture and Hyena droids that were undergoing maintenance, catwalks underneath allowing Engineer Droids to check on them.
Lowest point was the main hangar deck itself, where a few transport ships resided. The Nubian, a sleek, chrome and silver starship that looked exactly like the kind of Sports Car one would expect royalty to drive, sat in the middle of the Hangar, its hatch open. Two droids guarded the entrance as a dozen other patrols milled about. The Spartan looked back to the General and asked, "We can go loud if you want, sir... Or we can send Five forward with his SPI."
"Whisper like the wind, sir," Richard seemed excited, despite his voice being flat. The group looked over to Anakin, awaiting his approval. He sighed deeply and gave it, only to watch Richard's form disappear as the photoreactive panels of the armor kicked in. He slinked out from behind cover toward the target ship, while the Spartans and Jedi watched with bated breaths.
Ahsoka whispered, "We probably wanna find another way off the ship... Seems like the fields holding what little atmosphere remains in that bubble together are about to fail..." only for a rolling blackout to momentarily cause darkness across the ship, accentuating her point. She sighed and said, "Guess you guys must've also hit the reactor or something..."
Chief hummed, then simply continued tracking Richard as the young man moved past the confused Battle Droids and into the ship. He'd half expected to find some prissy place and he did. It was literally a luxury cruise-liner, meaning he'd probably have to cover the woman's ass as they moved, like with any politician. Inside the ship itself, the young man turned on his VISR system and stood to his feet instead of crouch-walking, then whispered, "Senator Amidala..." as he scanned the place. The boy sighed and whispered again, pressing it, "Senator Amidala... This is Spartan G295, I'm with the people you were supposed to be an ambassador to... We're here to rescue you."
He narrowed his lips, then thought for a second. General Skywalker seemed mighty upset the girl was stuck on this ship alone, so that meant they were probably close. Easy enough, he figured, then spoke, "We're here with General Skywalker and his Padawan. He volunteered..." only to pause as he felt a blaster's barrel put up against the back of his helmet, though he'd also noticed her appear as a dot on the MT. He was quicker, stowing his rifle, grabbing the woman by the arm and disarming her, then pinning her to the wall. He told her, "Easy. I'm a friend..."
"... Really, now?" She asked, wary.
"Not everyone gets the drop on a Spartan," He nodded, "Congratulations for that. I can see why the General probably likes you..." and he took a step back. Peering into the compartment she'd come from, she also saw a golden droid step out slowly and fairly stiffly. He sighed deeply and said, "Lemme guess, your droid?" as he almost prepared to draw his pistol. Golden tin cans. Great.
She nodded, "That's C3PO. Anaki-err..." She caught herself, then smiled awkwardly, "General Skywalker built him and gifted him to me..." and the Spartan furrowed his brows. With a sigh, he nodded. Best not to argue with her at this point, but if this didn't prove something was going on between the General and her, then Richard was a donkey's ass.
"C'mon. Let's move while the rolling blackout's still in eff-" He paused as the lights of the Hangar suddenly turned back on, the voices of droids echoing up the Ramp. He sighed deeply, radioed, "Sir, I and the Senator might be a bit late to the Tea Party..." and drew his rifle again, aiming it at the door. He saw the woman do the same with her pistol, while the Droid rambled, concerned.
The thundering footsteps of an approaching droid patrol caused the Senator to ask, "Any bright plans for getting out?" only for the boy to pull out a pair of EMP Grenades. He showed her to get behind her, pulled the bolt of his rifle back to make sure he had ammo in the chamber and that there was no jam, then shouldered the rifle properly with one hand, priming one EM grenade with the other.
Chief's voice called over com, "Prep to run. Causing distraction..."
The Spartan hummed, then 'put the pin back' into the grenade, so to speak, stowing the EM bombs and sliding his rifle onto his back. He walked over to Threepio and lifted him off his feet, throwing him over his shoulder despite the Droid's yelp. The robot asked, "What are you doing?!" quite severely concerned over this predicament. The Spartan looked over to the Senator.
He answered Threepio, though, "I saw how slow you move. I'm carrying you to our buddies..." before listening for the distraction.
Amidala quipped, "Heh. Ain't he a little heavy?" with a smirk.
"Oh, my lady, please!" Threepio shot back, almost embarrassed. The Spartan and the girl snorted, then waited for the signal. What the boy assumed was gonna be something simple turned out to be, in fact, qutie simple:An explosion that rocked the place. The Spartan sighed, hefted Threepio and drew his pistol, then showed the Queen/Senator to follow, dashing down and dropping the first EM Grenade between a platoon of droids.
Behind him, the woman jumped down, following along and firing her pistol at any Droid that suvived with terrifying accuracy. The Spartan, who was firing his own gun as he ran, complimented, "Not bad for a politician!" before kicking down a droid mid-run, shattering its frame and shooting another of its comrades square in the face while looking for his team-mates.
"In this Galaxy, you have to know how to defend yourself!" She smirked, then gasped as she saw the two Jedi engaging ahead, deflecting blaster bolts as their escorting supersoldiers engaged with automatic fire from kinetic rifles. She spoke, "So, that's your team-mates, then!" to which the man nodded. Anakin and Ahsoka immediately swiveled about, with both moving forward to provide them cover from Droids who were now shifting their fire. Alarms, quiet before, now blared around them as the ship entered high alert.
Richard left Threepio to them and moved up to join Chief, firing from behind metal boxes at the enemy's units. He asked, "We shooting our way out, sir?"
"Mixing things up a little," Linda completed the sentence from beside John as she sniped an enemy drone, though it was in her characteristic deadpan. She complimented, "Nice sprint, kid," and Chief gave a nod of approval. Fred and Kelly engaged a platoon of Droids trying to come up on them from the right flank, but both gave thumbs up to the kid as well. He smiled behind his helmet, thankful he was proving at least a little useful to Blue Team.
The Jedi and Spartans pulled back, Ahsoka and Richard acting as rear security again, with Ahsoka deflecting blaster bolts. She told him, "Betcha I can take out more than you! Hope ya ain't too scared of some fun, Buckethead!" then deflected two bolts back toward their shooters, destroying both as she and the Spartan moved to cover thier allies. Almost as if she was trying to show off and goad him into it.
"We're in the middle of an enemy ship," He replied, then looked over to her giving him a slight mocking gesture with a grin. He scoffed and replied, "You're on, Tails," before tracking three targets. He nailed each one from about a hundred yards with headshots, sending the now-scrap-metal collapsing to the floor with holes in their heads and oil painting the floor.
The girl called out, "No fair!"
"Heh, don't start what you can't finish. Let's move!" He shot back, before throwing one of the EM Grenades, not realizing it'd overcharged. The detonation sent a rippling lightning storm through two hallways in the distance, not to mention the catwalks above, frying several dozen droids. He also sniped another one as it was trying to lift its blaster and shoot them, its legs disabled.
Ahsoka growled, "Only counts as one!"
"Sore loser," Richard shot back, called out "Let's go!" then grabbed her by the wrist and ran with her to the door. Chief slammed the butt of his rifle into the control panel, breaking it and sealing the bulkhead door behind them. The younger Spartan told her, "Keep tabs on the kills, Tails..." before looking to Chief as she stuck out her tongue at him. He requested, "Permission to take point, sir? You can guide me via the schematic."
"Granted. Check your shots. We might have to double back and RV with CRIMSON now that the gig is up," The Spartan ordered professionally. Richard nodded, racking the bolt of his rifle after slamming a fresh magazine home, then he looked to Ahsoka, who stared at him. He nodded, then started sprinting ahead, weapon at the ready. Blue Team formed a defensive perimeter to protect the Senator, her droid(Which Kelly had had to pick up due to how slow he was moving, much to his chagrin) and General Skywalker and his Padawan.
Skywalker snorted and said, "You two make for one heck of a team."
"As if," Ahsoka scoffed, then turned to follow quickly as vanguard. She concealed a small smile as she did run, though. Richard was witty, despite what his outer 'tough guy' appearance showed. Maybe they could be good friends, xenophobia included. It made him even more fun to mess with, she thought as she caught up. The two, weapons drawn, began leading the way forward.
"Cute pair, I gotta say," Amidala snorted, much to the Spartans' own quiet amusement. She smiled a little more brightly than the Spartans expected at General Skywalker, stating quite warmly, "Thanks for the prompt rescue, General..." And then she looked over to the four-man team around them as they started following the kid to the next intersection. She raised a brow, a little confused on what to call these guys, and asked, "And Soldiers?"
"Spartans, ma'am. Follow us," The man replied. The group began to sprint behind the kids, Chief on coms.