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Assault on the ICS Jefferson Davis
- Thread starter flykiller
- Start date
Just Another Ref:
A dim red light shines around you. A hatch slams somewhere and you hear yelling. You slowly open your eyes and see the ugly face of a prissy navy medic right in front of yours. She looks you in the eye and says "Wake up, let's go Corporal, wake up, captain's coming." Oh yeah. Lowberth wakeup. Good times. Feels like your first day at boot. You manage to slur out a few words about her being a worthless navy puke. She seems to be in a hurry, and seeing you respond in a logical and appropriate manner she rapidly moves away to someone else across from you who seems to be half-drunk.
You hate these marine lowberths. They work great, you can wake up in only a few minutes, but they leave your guts churning. You look down and actually see your belly muscles twitching. You stagger forward a step, leaning on the bulkhead, then decide you'd better stand up straight before someone sees you acting like a navy boy. Deep breathing hurts, but helps. You find your locker and check your watch - you've been down for four weeks. Not too bad.
You at least get your underwear on before the Gunny strides through, looking sharp, all awake and smiling evilly. "Make way, room service coming through! Shake a leg people! MARINES!" You and the others automatically snap to attention. You almost passing out at the sudden movement but you steel yourself and manage to stay upright. "SIR!" "HOW YOU FEELING?" "KILLING MEAN SIR!" The yelling seems to clear out a lot of lungs, and some people start coughing. The Gunny smiles even more evilly, approving. "Good, we have work for you today. BRIEFING ASSEMBLY THIRTY MINUTES!"
Thirty minutes? Great, that's just when your bowels will be coming on-line again. Suck it up. Or maybe you can squeeze things out fast.
You look over your fireteam - Smith, Portola, Ga, Urshadi, all fresh out of boot. You only met them a few minutes before going into lowberth. Smith is a typical farmboy doing his patriotic duty. Portola says he likes to kill. Urshadi claims he's from some great vilani military heritage, yeah, sure. Ga is some slant-eyed silent type - you're not sure you like him.
Portola falls on his ass trying get his underwear on. "Hey corporal, did he say we're gonna to fight today?" He has a light in his still slightly-crossed eyes.
Smith is moving like a robot, eyes straight ahead, getting dressed. He looks like he's getting up early on his farm. 'Course on his farm he grew up defending the family cattle from barishka predators while armed with nothing more than a spear. Big scar down his face.
Urshadi keeps looking like he's gonna hurl. "Thirty ... ? ... urp ..." He's not moving fast enough.
Ga is moving methodically. You see him blink, blankly.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez smiled, he couldn't help but smile. "What the hell else do you think they thaw us out for? The Corps don't pay us by the hour and you heard Gunny, get your asses in gear. I want you ****-heads ready in twenty! We move as a team, so if any of you assholes make me late for that briefing, I will be very ****in' unhappy. Now move!"
Dominguez immediately moved to act in the same manner he expected his fire team to, quickly and efficiently. First he saw to his clothing, then to the restroom, and then to his fellow Marines.
Just Another Ref
"Sir yes sir." Urshadi says it while gagging. Everybody moves, and soon they're standing tall in front of you. Not inspection quality, but they'll do. "Fire Team Three!" "READY TO KILL!" You march them straight to the assembly area. You hear a commotion in a nearby lowberth bay.
It's not a large assembly area, you're only a two-squad detachment. The battleflag is devoid of any combat action ribbons. You move past the still-locked-down exercise equipment to the inspection ground. The Lieutenant is there, at parade rest, his back to you, facing forward to the podium. The Gunny is beside the Lieutenant, facing all of you, but looking at his watch. Fire Team One is already in position, ragged but straightening up fast. Fire Team Four is a few seconds behind you. Everyone falls in.
Fire Team Two is nowhere to be seen. You see a pair of corpsman run through a hatch and into the Team Two lowberth area. Crap. You keep your face clear and look your team in the eye. They stare straight ahead. Urshadi seems to have fully recovered. He has an odd serenity to him when he settles into anything familiar. Vilani. You take your position.
The Gunny looks up and comes to attention and calls quietly, "Detachment, atten - tion." Everyone is already there. He does an about face and reports quietly, "Sir. Detachment all present or accounted for. Sir." Without moving the Lieutenant replies, "Very well Sergeant."
Accounted for. Crap.
The Ship's Captain walks in, a dignified old man with great energy. He's accompanied by a pretty young navy thing, wearing a comm headset and a holo-monacle and carrying a computer display pad. She looks all business. All business. The Lieutenant calls out sharply, "ATTENTION ON DECK." You can't be any more at attention, but you try.
The Captain steps immediately to the podium and speaks with no delay. "At ease. One and one-half hours ago we arrived in the Knorbes system. We have been informed by secure channel that a hostage/hijack situation exists on a passenger liner, presently in orbit around the outermost gas giant of the system. A Reginan Senator and his family are aboard the vessel. The hijackers have indicated that they will kill the passengers if anyone makes any attempt to interfere. The local planetary command does not believe they can send a vessel without it being detected, and in any case it will take several days for their ships to arrive out here. Fortunately we are much closer to the situation, our presence is unexpected, and the hijackers have not indicated they are aware of us. We have no information on the character or crew of the vessel, except that it is four thousand tons. Passengers, crew, and hijackers will be numerous. We are to attempt a recovery of the vessel while minimizing passenger casualties. The Marines will lead the way, ship's masters-at-arms will follow. I know most of you are recently out of boot and academy", he nods to the Lieutenant, "but I expect you will live up to the reputation of the service."
The female beside him touches her ear, says, "Sir", and shows him the display pad. He reads, then nods. "I know you are wondering about your missing fire team. Their berth regulator failed, and when they woke up they found themselves blinded. They will recover, but not in time to accompany you. More action for you. You have my guarantee this will not happen again."
"The best time to launch the assault shuttles will be in less than two hours. Lieutenant, you have the mission. Carry on, and good luck to you."
He strides out, and the Lieutenant calls out sharply, "DETACHMENT, ATTENTION!" When the Captain has exited he asks the Gunny to have the three fire team leaders approach. "Gentlemen, we will execute a controlled hull-breach entry where we expect engineering to be. All three assault shuttles will breach at different points. Navy personnel will support the breaches and attempt to take charge of engineering, we will clear all decks of all hijackers. We will be as stealthy as we can and attempt to avoid advertising our presence whereever possible. Gentlemen, we can expect to encounter up to two hundred passengers and several dozen crew. Check your targets, but trust none of them. I will obtain an image of the Senator and his family and upload it to everyone's HUD memory so you know when you find him. Gunny, dismiss the men to prepare their equipment."
"Alright, you heard the man. Shake it, people."
Alejandro Dominguez
"Okay, team, I want everyone ready for an initial weapons check in 30. I want you completely ready in 1 hour. After that, we'll meet up for our fire team pre-op brief. And I'm not too happy about not being the first fire team here, so don't **** with my time table, people. Got it? Good, now let's move." Dominguez led his team to do as he instructed.
A dim red light shines around you. A hatch slams somewhere and you hear yelling. You slowly open your eyes and see the ugly face of a prissy navy medic right in front of yours. She looks you in the eye and says "Wake up, let's go Corporal, wake up, captain's coming." Oh yeah. Lowberth wakeup. Good times. Feels like your first day at boot. You manage to slur out a few words about her being a worthless navy puke. She seems to be in a hurry, and seeing you respond in a logical and appropriate manner she rapidly moves away to someone else across from you who seems to be half-drunk.
You hate these marine lowberths. They work great, you can wake up in only a few minutes, but they leave your guts churning. You look down and actually see your belly muscles twitching. You stagger forward a step, leaning on the bulkhead, then decide you'd better stand up straight before someone sees you acting like a navy boy. Deep breathing hurts, but helps. You find your locker and check your watch - you've been down for four weeks. Not too bad.
You at least get your underwear on before the Gunny strides through, looking sharp, all awake and smiling evilly. "Make way, room service coming through! Shake a leg people! MARINES!" You and the others automatically snap to attention. You almost passing out at the sudden movement but you steel yourself and manage to stay upright. "SIR!" "HOW YOU FEELING?" "KILLING MEAN SIR!" The yelling seems to clear out a lot of lungs, and some people start coughing. The Gunny smiles even more evilly, approving. "Good, we have work for you today. BRIEFING ASSEMBLY THIRTY MINUTES!"
Thirty minutes? Great, that's just when your bowels will be coming on-line again. Suck it up. Or maybe you can squeeze things out fast.
You look over your fireteam - Smith, Portola, Ga, Urshadi, all fresh out of boot. You only met them a few minutes before going into lowberth. Smith is a typical farmboy doing his patriotic duty. Portola says he likes to kill. Urshadi claims he's from some great vilani military heritage, yeah, sure. Ga is some slant-eyed silent type - you're not sure you like him.
Portola falls on his ass trying get his underwear on. "Hey corporal, did he say we're gonna to fight today?" He has a light in his still slightly-crossed eyes.
Smith is moving like a robot, eyes straight ahead, getting dressed. He looks like he's getting up early on his farm. 'Course on his farm he grew up defending the family cattle from barishka predators while armed with nothing more than a spear. Big scar down his face.
Urshadi keeps looking like he's gonna hurl. "Thirty ... ? ... urp ..." He's not moving fast enough.
Ga is moving methodically. You see him blink, blankly.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez smiled, he couldn't help but smile. "What the hell else do you think they thaw us out for? The Corps don't pay us by the hour and you heard Gunny, get your asses in gear. I want you ****-heads ready in twenty! We move as a team, so if any of you assholes make me late for that briefing, I will be very ****in' unhappy. Now move!"
Dominguez immediately moved to act in the same manner he expected his fire team to, quickly and efficiently. First he saw to his clothing, then to the restroom, and then to his fellow Marines.
Just Another Ref
"Sir yes sir." Urshadi says it while gagging. Everybody moves, and soon they're standing tall in front of you. Not inspection quality, but they'll do. "Fire Team Three!" "READY TO KILL!" You march them straight to the assembly area. You hear a commotion in a nearby lowberth bay.
It's not a large assembly area, you're only a two-squad detachment. The battleflag is devoid of any combat action ribbons. You move past the still-locked-down exercise equipment to the inspection ground. The Lieutenant is there, at parade rest, his back to you, facing forward to the podium. The Gunny is beside the Lieutenant, facing all of you, but looking at his watch. Fire Team One is already in position, ragged but straightening up fast. Fire Team Four is a few seconds behind you. Everyone falls in.
Fire Team Two is nowhere to be seen. You see a pair of corpsman run through a hatch and into the Team Two lowberth area. Crap. You keep your face clear and look your team in the eye. They stare straight ahead. Urshadi seems to have fully recovered. He has an odd serenity to him when he settles into anything familiar. Vilani. You take your position.
The Gunny looks up and comes to attention and calls quietly, "Detachment, atten - tion." Everyone is already there. He does an about face and reports quietly, "Sir. Detachment all present or accounted for. Sir." Without moving the Lieutenant replies, "Very well Sergeant."
Accounted for. Crap.
The Ship's Captain walks in, a dignified old man with great energy. He's accompanied by a pretty young navy thing, wearing a comm headset and a holo-monacle and carrying a computer display pad. She looks all business. All business. The Lieutenant calls out sharply, "ATTENTION ON DECK." You can't be any more at attention, but you try.
The Captain steps immediately to the podium and speaks with no delay. "At ease. One and one-half hours ago we arrived in the Knorbes system. We have been informed by secure channel that a hostage/hijack situation exists on a passenger liner, presently in orbit around the outermost gas giant of the system. A Reginan Senator and his family are aboard the vessel. The hijackers have indicated that they will kill the passengers if anyone makes any attempt to interfere. The local planetary command does not believe they can send a vessel without it being detected, and in any case it will take several days for their ships to arrive out here. Fortunately we are much closer to the situation, our presence is unexpected, and the hijackers have not indicated they are aware of us. We have no information on the character or crew of the vessel, except that it is four thousand tons. Passengers, crew, and hijackers will be numerous. We are to attempt a recovery of the vessel while minimizing passenger casualties. The Marines will lead the way, ship's masters-at-arms will follow. I know most of you are recently out of boot and academy", he nods to the Lieutenant, "but I expect you will live up to the reputation of the service."
The female beside him touches her ear, says, "Sir", and shows him the display pad. He reads, then nods. "I know you are wondering about your missing fire team. Their berth regulator failed, and when they woke up they found themselves blinded. They will recover, but not in time to accompany you. More action for you. You have my guarantee this will not happen again."
"The best time to launch the assault shuttles will be in less than two hours. Lieutenant, you have the mission. Carry on, and good luck to you."
He strides out, and the Lieutenant calls out sharply, "DETACHMENT, ATTENTION!" When the Captain has exited he asks the Gunny to have the three fire team leaders approach. "Gentlemen, we will execute a controlled hull-breach entry where we expect engineering to be. All three assault shuttles will breach at different points. Navy personnel will support the breaches and attempt to take charge of engineering, we will clear all decks of all hijackers. We will be as stealthy as we can and attempt to avoid advertising our presence whereever possible. Gentlemen, we can expect to encounter up to two hundred passengers and several dozen crew. Check your targets, but trust none of them. I will obtain an image of the Senator and his family and upload it to everyone's HUD memory so you know when you find him. Gunny, dismiss the men to prepare their equipment."
"Alright, you heard the man. Shake it, people."
Alejandro Dominguez
"Okay, team, I want everyone ready for an initial weapons check in 30. I want you completely ready in 1 hour. After that, we'll meet up for our fire team pre-op brief. And I'm not too happy about not being the first fire team here, so don't **** with my time table, people. Got it? Good, now let's move." Dominguez led his team to do as he instructed.
Just Another Ref
Everyone moves on the double for their weapons locker.
You pop the hatch to your own toychest. Ahh, nirvana. On the long racks are the old standbys - laser rifle, gauss rifle, ACR, shotgun, grenade launcher, crossbow. There's a slot for a PGMP, but it was never issued. On the short racks are the lasers and scopes, the hand grenades, the launched grenades, the forced entry tool, and the Claws. On the opposite racks are power cells and ammo. Lots of ammo. Gauss, chemical, pressurized, crossbow bolts, it's all here. Shouldn't be here, it should all be downrange. You'll see to that.
In the middle of it all is the combat armor. Dull matte black in the dark, it is even now lightening up to a puke gray to match the walls around it. Fluted and gracefully curved to try and deflect incoming rounds, it still somehow looks menacing. The slowly graying faceplate stares blankly at you. On the breastplate is the name "Dominguez". On the shoulder pieces are two chevrons. You feel as happy as the Grand Marquis of Mora standing in her treasure chamber - she's got nothing on you.
Everything here has a maintenance card tacked to it. You check several. All are up to date. The armor was serviced just last week and is fully powered. The gauss rifle was nanite-treated a month ago. Perfect. Something's going right.
(Laser Rifle - fifty shots, requires a backpack powerpack connected by cable to the weapon. Zero recoil, low rate of fire, reasonably quiet, moderate EM signature, moderate susceptibility to EM counterweapons, zero to high penetration, devastating damage.)
(Gauss Rifle - fifty shots per magazine, power supply in each magazine, seven magazines normally carried. Low recoil, moderate rate of fire, reasonably quiet, high EM signature, high susceptibility to EM counterweapons, high penetration, devastating damage.)
(Advanced Combat Rifle - forty shots per magazine, seven magazines normally carried. Moderate recoil, high rate of fire, gunpowder-operated, noisy, zero EM signature, zero susceptibility to EM counterweapons, zero to high penetration, good damage.)
(Shotgun - semi-auto, holds up to seven rounds, else as per ACR. Ammo ranges from standard buckshot to lead slug to armor-piercing slug to rubber electro-stun slug to short-range EMP slug to rocket-assisted grenade. Not your granddad's scattergun.)
(Crossbow - single-shot. Ammo similar to that of the shotgun.)
(Grenade Launcher - mounts under any longarm except laser rifle, also usable independently.
(Grenades - fragmentation, concussion/stun, smoke, CS (tear gas), sparklers (blinding), fuel-air explosive (very dangerous), and, last but not least, sensor (toss it, it sets up and relays information back to your heads-up display in your helmet). All have hand-thrown and launched versions, and all activate on impact, on delay, or on signal.)
(Claws - mount on lower arms over tops of hands. Extend on activation (make sure your hands are down). Used in crowded close-quarters fighting.)
(Combat Armor - visual/IR partial auto-chameleon. Light, flexible titanium-faced micro-kevlar over body-fitted vacc suit, multi-channel radio data link, electro-magnetic and infrared indicator/locator. Twelve hours atmosphere. Powered heads-up display in face screen in both natural/augmented visual modes.)
You may wear the armor, the claws, and an equipment belt with forced entry tool, tookkit, and emergency kit (first aid, suit sealer, etc). You may carry the laser rifle and up to six grenades, or any other two weapons plus seven magazines (one in the weapon) or other appropriate ammunition plus four grenades, or eighteen grenades.
Choose, for yourself and your men.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez wasted no time suiting up. He quickly prepared the armor, the claws, and an equipment belt with forced entry tool, toolkit, and emergency kit. He hesitated only a moment before choosing the remainder of his kit. He rammed a magazine home in the ACR's receiver. He had no doubt that things would go noisy sooner or later, besides it had no problems with EM counters. He also took 3 extra magazines for the ACR and stowed them. Next, he took up the Gauss Rifle, loaded a magazine and took two extra mags. He followed that up by securing 1 frag, 1 sensor, and 2 CS grenades to his combat webbing.
Satisfied with his weapon load out Dom checked it over once again before turning to see to the outfitting of his fire team. He'd make sure everyone was equiped in a smart way and carried as much ammo as possible. After the weapons check, he'd return to get himself fully suited up.
Just Another Ref
You line up your weapons, they're all good. Your team lines up the following for your approval:
Smith - laser rifle. Two concussion, two smoke, and two EMP toss grenades (sorry, forgot to list those).
Portola - crossbow with scope and laser, and shotgun, both with broad range of ammo. Two EMP, two sparkler toss grenades.
Urashdi - gauss rifle with grenade launcher. Two frag, four concussion, two EMP launched grenades. Two CS, two concussion toss grenades.
Ga - ACR with grenade launcher. Four concussion, four EMP launched grenades. Four sensor toss grenades.
A navy corpsman shows up and starts handing out concentrated food bars to everyone. Urashdi declines, but the other three eat several while working. The corpsman also hands out the standard drug pack - speed, narcotic, stabilizer. He notes on a clipboard every recipient, and he'll be asking for them again if you haven't used them.
The armor isn't light but it fits well and doesn't restrict your movement at all. The rubber pads on your boots raise your height a bit and make you feel more agile. You do a few stretches and bends to get a feel for your new balance balance. You drop your faceshield, call up the HUD, and select IR. The corpsman shines like a red beacon in the night, you can see the slightly warmed air flowing down out of the air circ vent ducts, and there's a faint outline of machinery against the inboard bulkhead - you recall that the ship's power plant is on the far side. Portola is suited up, you can see him only with difficulty. You switch over to the EM spectrum. The alien perspective is odd - the vibrating silhouettes of the cables overhead, the soft glow of the control panels, the sudden appearance of Urashdi's gauss rifle rail as he charges it, all in clear green. You can tell the corpsman's pen is magnetized, it flashes green whenever he moves it near the steel clipboard. Portola in his armor is like a hole in the spectrum. Suddenly the conformal antenna on his helmet glows bright sparkly green. "Corporal, Portola, comm check."
Urashdi has left his weapon charged and not cleared it.
At the hour mark your team is lined up. Ga has never trained on this kind of armor and he needs a few points corrected, otherwise they look good. Smith still looks like he's about to undertake another day on the farm.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez approved the weapon load outs with little comment.
Urashdi, unless you're gonna throw it right back up, you better eat whenever you get the chance. You never know when the next meal will come.
"Portola, we'll get to that in just a moment."
"Urashdi, clear that damn weapon."
Dom switched back to normal optics and gathered up his fire team.
"Okay, form up people. Switch to secure fire team comms." Dominguez gave them a moment before continue on the secure comm channel. "Okay, everyone check in." He ensured everyones' comms were functioning properly.
"Okay, I know you're all virgins, so listen up. I personally prefer my people not hopped up on any mood altering substances, but you're each your own soldier, so make your own call. Forget what the corpsman told you, if you don't use it, tell him you did or you lost it. In the corps we keep everything we can. You never know when it might come in handy, it might even save your life, or the guy-next-to-you's life. I want you to put everyone down that is armed. We may not be able to tell the difference between friend and foe. I will take the fall if something goes wrong. Apparently the real reason for this op is some senator VIP. We'll have his picture before go time. He is our number one priority. The mission comes before our lives. We will get the job done, the Corps always does. Any questions?
Everyone moves on the double for their weapons locker.
You pop the hatch to your own toychest. Ahh, nirvana. On the long racks are the old standbys - laser rifle, gauss rifle, ACR, shotgun, grenade launcher, crossbow. There's a slot for a PGMP, but it was never issued. On the short racks are the lasers and scopes, the hand grenades, the launched grenades, the forced entry tool, and the Claws. On the opposite racks are power cells and ammo. Lots of ammo. Gauss, chemical, pressurized, crossbow bolts, it's all here. Shouldn't be here, it should all be downrange. You'll see to that.
In the middle of it all is the combat armor. Dull matte black in the dark, it is even now lightening up to a puke gray to match the walls around it. Fluted and gracefully curved to try and deflect incoming rounds, it still somehow looks menacing. The slowly graying faceplate stares blankly at you. On the breastplate is the name "Dominguez". On the shoulder pieces are two chevrons. You feel as happy as the Grand Marquis of Mora standing in her treasure chamber - she's got nothing on you.
Everything here has a maintenance card tacked to it. You check several. All are up to date. The armor was serviced just last week and is fully powered. The gauss rifle was nanite-treated a month ago. Perfect. Something's going right.
(Laser Rifle - fifty shots, requires a backpack powerpack connected by cable to the weapon. Zero recoil, low rate of fire, reasonably quiet, moderate EM signature, moderate susceptibility to EM counterweapons, zero to high penetration, devastating damage.)
(Gauss Rifle - fifty shots per magazine, power supply in each magazine, seven magazines normally carried. Low recoil, moderate rate of fire, reasonably quiet, high EM signature, high susceptibility to EM counterweapons, high penetration, devastating damage.)
(Advanced Combat Rifle - forty shots per magazine, seven magazines normally carried. Moderate recoil, high rate of fire, gunpowder-operated, noisy, zero EM signature, zero susceptibility to EM counterweapons, zero to high penetration, good damage.)
(Shotgun - semi-auto, holds up to seven rounds, else as per ACR. Ammo ranges from standard buckshot to lead slug to armor-piercing slug to rubber electro-stun slug to short-range EMP slug to rocket-assisted grenade. Not your granddad's scattergun.)
(Crossbow - single-shot. Ammo similar to that of the shotgun.)
(Grenade Launcher - mounts under any longarm except laser rifle, also usable independently.
(Grenades - fragmentation, concussion/stun, smoke, CS (tear gas), sparklers (blinding), fuel-air explosive (very dangerous), and, last but not least, sensor (toss it, it sets up and relays information back to your heads-up display in your helmet). All have hand-thrown and launched versions, and all activate on impact, on delay, or on signal.)
(Claws - mount on lower arms over tops of hands. Extend on activation (make sure your hands are down). Used in crowded close-quarters fighting.)
(Combat Armor - visual/IR partial auto-chameleon. Light, flexible titanium-faced micro-kevlar over body-fitted vacc suit, multi-channel radio data link, electro-magnetic and infrared indicator/locator. Twelve hours atmosphere. Powered heads-up display in face screen in both natural/augmented visual modes.)
You may wear the armor, the claws, and an equipment belt with forced entry tool, tookkit, and emergency kit (first aid, suit sealer, etc). You may carry the laser rifle and up to six grenades, or any other two weapons plus seven magazines (one in the weapon) or other appropriate ammunition plus four grenades, or eighteen grenades.
Choose, for yourself and your men.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez wasted no time suiting up. He quickly prepared the armor, the claws, and an equipment belt with forced entry tool, toolkit, and emergency kit. He hesitated only a moment before choosing the remainder of his kit. He rammed a magazine home in the ACR's receiver. He had no doubt that things would go noisy sooner or later, besides it had no problems with EM counters. He also took 3 extra magazines for the ACR and stowed them. Next, he took up the Gauss Rifle, loaded a magazine and took two extra mags. He followed that up by securing 1 frag, 1 sensor, and 2 CS grenades to his combat webbing.
Satisfied with his weapon load out Dom checked it over once again before turning to see to the outfitting of his fire team. He'd make sure everyone was equiped in a smart way and carried as much ammo as possible. After the weapons check, he'd return to get himself fully suited up.
Just Another Ref
You line up your weapons, they're all good. Your team lines up the following for your approval:
Smith - laser rifle. Two concussion, two smoke, and two EMP toss grenades (sorry, forgot to list those).
Portola - crossbow with scope and laser, and shotgun, both with broad range of ammo. Two EMP, two sparkler toss grenades.
Urashdi - gauss rifle with grenade launcher. Two frag, four concussion, two EMP launched grenades. Two CS, two concussion toss grenades.
Ga - ACR with grenade launcher. Four concussion, four EMP launched grenades. Four sensor toss grenades.
A navy corpsman shows up and starts handing out concentrated food bars to everyone. Urashdi declines, but the other three eat several while working. The corpsman also hands out the standard drug pack - speed, narcotic, stabilizer. He notes on a clipboard every recipient, and he'll be asking for them again if you haven't used them.
The armor isn't light but it fits well and doesn't restrict your movement at all. The rubber pads on your boots raise your height a bit and make you feel more agile. You do a few stretches and bends to get a feel for your new balance balance. You drop your faceshield, call up the HUD, and select IR. The corpsman shines like a red beacon in the night, you can see the slightly warmed air flowing down out of the air circ vent ducts, and there's a faint outline of machinery against the inboard bulkhead - you recall that the ship's power plant is on the far side. Portola is suited up, you can see him only with difficulty. You switch over to the EM spectrum. The alien perspective is odd - the vibrating silhouettes of the cables overhead, the soft glow of the control panels, the sudden appearance of Urashdi's gauss rifle rail as he charges it, all in clear green. You can tell the corpsman's pen is magnetized, it flashes green whenever he moves it near the steel clipboard. Portola in his armor is like a hole in the spectrum. Suddenly the conformal antenna on his helmet glows bright sparkly green. "Corporal, Portola, comm check."
Urashdi has left his weapon charged and not cleared it.
At the hour mark your team is lined up. Ga has never trained on this kind of armor and he needs a few points corrected, otherwise they look good. Smith still looks like he's about to undertake another day on the farm.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez approved the weapon load outs with little comment.
Urashdi, unless you're gonna throw it right back up, you better eat whenever you get the chance. You never know when the next meal will come.
"Portola, we'll get to that in just a moment."
"Urashdi, clear that damn weapon."
Dom switched back to normal optics and gathered up his fire team.
"Okay, form up people. Switch to secure fire team comms." Dominguez gave them a moment before continue on the secure comm channel. "Okay, everyone check in." He ensured everyones' comms were functioning properly.
"Okay, I know you're all virgins, so listen up. I personally prefer my people not hopped up on any mood altering substances, but you're each your own soldier, so make your own call. Forget what the corpsman told you, if you don't use it, tell him you did or you lost it. In the corps we keep everything we can. You never know when it might come in handy, it might even save your life, or the guy-next-to-you's life. I want you to put everyone down that is armed. We may not be able to tell the difference between friend and foe. I will take the fall if something goes wrong. Apparently the real reason for this op is some senator VIP. We'll have his picture before go time. He is our number one priority. The mission comes before our lives. We will get the job done, the Corps always does. Any questions?
Just Another Ref
"No Sir!" You double-time them back out to the assembly point.
Fire Team One is already there, again, and again they are ragged but straightening up fast. Corporal Oatridge greets you with a wide grin. "Well Corporal Dominguez, ready to kick ass I hope. We could use some good back-up, something might get by us."
A few minutes later PFC Chambless precision-parades his team to the assembly point. They look sharp. He puts them at rest, then casually greets his fellow team leaders. He always seems so comfortably at ease, almost incognizant of rank. "Corporal Oatridge, corporal Dominguez. A free cruise aboard a luxury liner this time, yes? We really must visit the bar." His voice is pleasant, but his eyes are rock steady. You've seen him act like this under fire too. Officer material.
You're near the access bays and the boat people are running in and out of the assault craft like chickens with their heads cut off. You distinctly hear a _petty_ officer trying to yell and hiss at the same time through his teeth, "Whaddya mean it's not? Fill it now!" You remember someone saying something about never watching sausage being made. A dull slam echos in the bay, and you see the interior of one of the boats rock back and forth on its mounts. If the outer hatch is open then the mount is a single pressure boundary to vaccuum. All the boat people freeze, staring at the mate point. When the boat stops rocking they all start running again.
A dull quiet beep sounds in your helmet. You lower your visor - everyone else does so too at the same time - and display the message. It's a news graphic of some high mucky-muck with his family. "Senator Balk is seen here visiting the slopes of the Lilith Skyery on a fact-finding mission blah blah". Must be him. The portrait is good, you'll recognize him.
A dozen navy boys come through a hatch and head towards you. The support teams. One of them, the prissy little navy medic who woke you up, sees your name on your armor and moves to you, bringing three boys with her. They're all in vacc suits and carrying lots of gear. She extends her hand. "Corporal Dominguez pleased to meet you again I'm Chief Socha we'll be your support team for today. Petty Officers Sorcha Niles and ... Pataki is it? ... are your electrician mech and comm support, I of course am the corpsman. I know we're not a team yet but we're here to back you so just lead the way."
Pataki looks like he's ready to piss his pants.
More navy boys move up, the Master-at-Arms and his gunner's mates. Some are wearing vacc suits, but many are wearing only flack vests and close helmets. Some have ACR's but most have shotguns. You look at their shell bandoliers - you're not sure about the navy's color coding, but it looks like they have buckshot and slugs. On their belts they carry pouches with rescue balls - plastic bubbles that you step into, seal, and inflate if you find yourself caught in a vaccuum. They divide up and line up behind the Fire Teams in straight lines. The Master-at-Arms stands to their side, not looking at anyone in particular.
The boat pilots move up and stand in a line off to one side.
"OFFICER ON DECK!" The marines snap to, everyone else lurches to attention. The Lieutenant strides in, full armor, carrying only a shotgun. The Gunny is right beside him, matching step for step. They march to the head of the formation and change face smartly. The Lieutenant scans over the crowd for a moment, saying nothing. He steps forward slowly and walks the ranks, starting with the boat pilots, silently looking them up and down, then checks the support teams. The Gunny stays withhim. He moves to inspect the gunner's mates, the Chief falling in beside him according to navy custom. Stopping at one man the Lieutenant looks closely at his gear, then grabs his bandolier and shakes it. Shells go flying everywhere. The Lieutenant speaks quietly but everyone hears him.
"Chief some of this equipment is defective. I want it replaced."
"This is what we have sir. Some of them are carrying shells in their pockets."
"Chief, identify immediately who has defective equipment, and also who has training in weapons besides these. Sergeant, take the identified men to Team Two's lockers and outfit them as best you can. You have seventeen minutes to outfit them, Chief you have three minutes to reorder them as you see fit."
While the gunners mill the Lieutenant strides to the front. "Marines, sailors, as you know we're up against hijacking terrorists. We will storm the ship and retake it. The vessel, ICS Jefferson Davis, is brand new so we don't know the ship's layout or any internal features. We don't know the number of the enemy, the ship's crew or the passengers. We don't know how the enemy is armed, or whether the crew is still resisting them. We don't know where the passengers are, if they're being held in their rooms or in some central location. What little intel we have indicates the enemy still doesn't know we're here so we do have the element of surprise. Docking collars have been installed on the assault boats so we will do simultaneous hull breach entries in the rear where we believe engineering is likely to be. After that is secured a ship's engineering team will move in to operate the engineering plant while the assault boats stand by to receive any casualties or other evacuees. We will then move forward quickly or stealthily as the situation warrants and crush any opposition we find. Marines will lead, gunners mates will secure rear areas and provide support as asked. Gentlemen, this is a civilian passenger liner with Imperial citizens. Check your targets before you shoot. I and Sergeant Hinchcliff are in charge, next are my marine Fire Team leaders Corporal Oatridge, Corporal Dominguez, and Private First Class Chambless. Do what they say."
"Any questions?"
Alejandro Dominguez
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, Oatridge."
"Forget the bar, just give me the alcohol." Dom grinned at Chambless.
Dom eyed the Navy slackers as they approached. He looked Pataki over quickly. "Don't worry, if they get to you guys, we must all be dead." Dominguez laughed at his own joke.
Dom listend to the briefing impassively. "SIR, NO, SIR!"
"No Sir!" You double-time them back out to the assembly point.
Fire Team One is already there, again, and again they are ragged but straightening up fast. Corporal Oatridge greets you with a wide grin. "Well Corporal Dominguez, ready to kick ass I hope. We could use some good back-up, something might get by us."
A few minutes later PFC Chambless precision-parades his team to the assembly point. They look sharp. He puts them at rest, then casually greets his fellow team leaders. He always seems so comfortably at ease, almost incognizant of rank. "Corporal Oatridge, corporal Dominguez. A free cruise aboard a luxury liner this time, yes? We really must visit the bar." His voice is pleasant, but his eyes are rock steady. You've seen him act like this under fire too. Officer material.
You're near the access bays and the boat people are running in and out of the assault craft like chickens with their heads cut off. You distinctly hear a _petty_ officer trying to yell and hiss at the same time through his teeth, "Whaddya mean it's not? Fill it now!" You remember someone saying something about never watching sausage being made. A dull slam echos in the bay, and you see the interior of one of the boats rock back and forth on its mounts. If the outer hatch is open then the mount is a single pressure boundary to vaccuum. All the boat people freeze, staring at the mate point. When the boat stops rocking they all start running again.
A dull quiet beep sounds in your helmet. You lower your visor - everyone else does so too at the same time - and display the message. It's a news graphic of some high mucky-muck with his family. "Senator Balk is seen here visiting the slopes of the Lilith Skyery on a fact-finding mission blah blah". Must be him. The portrait is good, you'll recognize him.
A dozen navy boys come through a hatch and head towards you. The support teams. One of them, the prissy little navy medic who woke you up, sees your name on your armor and moves to you, bringing three boys with her. They're all in vacc suits and carrying lots of gear. She extends her hand. "Corporal Dominguez pleased to meet you again I'm Chief Socha we'll be your support team for today. Petty Officers Sorcha Niles and ... Pataki is it? ... are your electrician mech and comm support, I of course am the corpsman. I know we're not a team yet but we're here to back you so just lead the way."
Pataki looks like he's ready to piss his pants.
More navy boys move up, the Master-at-Arms and his gunner's mates. Some are wearing vacc suits, but many are wearing only flack vests and close helmets. Some have ACR's but most have shotguns. You look at their shell bandoliers - you're not sure about the navy's color coding, but it looks like they have buckshot and slugs. On their belts they carry pouches with rescue balls - plastic bubbles that you step into, seal, and inflate if you find yourself caught in a vaccuum. They divide up and line up behind the Fire Teams in straight lines. The Master-at-Arms stands to their side, not looking at anyone in particular.
The boat pilots move up and stand in a line off to one side.
"OFFICER ON DECK!" The marines snap to, everyone else lurches to attention. The Lieutenant strides in, full armor, carrying only a shotgun. The Gunny is right beside him, matching step for step. They march to the head of the formation and change face smartly. The Lieutenant scans over the crowd for a moment, saying nothing. He steps forward slowly and walks the ranks, starting with the boat pilots, silently looking them up and down, then checks the support teams. The Gunny stays withhim. He moves to inspect the gunner's mates, the Chief falling in beside him according to navy custom. Stopping at one man the Lieutenant looks closely at his gear, then grabs his bandolier and shakes it. Shells go flying everywhere. The Lieutenant speaks quietly but everyone hears him.
"Chief some of this equipment is defective. I want it replaced."
"This is what we have sir. Some of them are carrying shells in their pockets."
"Chief, identify immediately who has defective equipment, and also who has training in weapons besides these. Sergeant, take the identified men to Team Two's lockers and outfit them as best you can. You have seventeen minutes to outfit them, Chief you have three minutes to reorder them as you see fit."
While the gunners mill the Lieutenant strides to the front. "Marines, sailors, as you know we're up against hijacking terrorists. We will storm the ship and retake it. The vessel, ICS Jefferson Davis, is brand new so we don't know the ship's layout or any internal features. We don't know the number of the enemy, the ship's crew or the passengers. We don't know how the enemy is armed, or whether the crew is still resisting them. We don't know where the passengers are, if they're being held in their rooms or in some central location. What little intel we have indicates the enemy still doesn't know we're here so we do have the element of surprise. Docking collars have been installed on the assault boats so we will do simultaneous hull breach entries in the rear where we believe engineering is likely to be. After that is secured a ship's engineering team will move in to operate the engineering plant while the assault boats stand by to receive any casualties or other evacuees. We will then move forward quickly or stealthily as the situation warrants and crush any opposition we find. Marines will lead, gunners mates will secure rear areas and provide support as asked. Gentlemen, this is a civilian passenger liner with Imperial citizens. Check your targets before you shoot. I and Sergeant Hinchcliff are in charge, next are my marine Fire Team leaders Corporal Oatridge, Corporal Dominguez, and Private First Class Chambless. Do what they say."
"Any questions?"
Alejandro Dominguez
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, Oatridge."
"Forget the bar, just give me the alcohol." Dom grinned at Chambless.
Dom eyed the Navy slackers as they approached. He looked Pataki over quickly. "Don't worry, if they get to you guys, we must all be dead." Dominguez laughed at his own joke.
Dom listend to the briefing impassively. "SIR, NO, SIR!"
Just Another Ref
[Some orientation. The speed is for use during combat ops when immediate physical action is required. You've been on it before, it's very effective and has few aftereffects if used only ocassionally, but it slightly impairs your judgement. The narcotic is for pain. The stabilizer is a sort of medic-in-a-syringe, stabilizing an injured patient and rapidly accelerating response to injuries. It kinda-sorta works. One thing it's very good at is delaying spinal injuries effects.
Your armor comm system has twenty channels programmable to any frequency. Number one is dedicated exclusively to the unit CO, two belongs to your immediate commander, three is devoted exclusively to your fire team and you, four is a general line that receives and transmits simultaneously everything on channels one through eight, five through eight provide contact with nearby associated units. Nine involves artillery calls. The rest are a hodgepodge of other uses. A little blue light will blink to tell you if a call is incoming. You have no "secure" transmissions. When you transmit you broadcast, and everyone who's listening hears it. The transmissions are encrypted, and though a big computer can break the encryption in two or three minutes this is considered sufficient for tactical use.
Feel free to make other suggestions, I'll probably accept them.]
The Lieutenant checks his watch. "Pilots to the boats. Teams board when pilots call ready. I'm with Team One in boat one, Sergeant you are with Team Four in boat three. Corporal Dominguez you have the Chief Master-at-Arms and some of the initial engineering team in boat two. All clocks are synchronized, hull breaches will take place simultaneously in twenty minutes. Good luck."
You have a few minutes before boarding. The Chief MAA moves up beside you, but says nothing. He has a shotgun that looks thirty years old, flack vest, no bandolier, his pockets bulge.
A boat petty officer appears and waves thumbs up, the Lieutenant calls, "Boarders Away!", and everyone moves forward.
Your boat is ... a bus, you think. Some seats, but mostly overhead handholds and support bars spaced along the entryway. The support engineers move immediatly to the second airlock forward, where they will perform the hull breach entry. [You'll need to decide the boarding order, meaning you'll have to arrange everyone now. Who do you want first, closest to the forward airlock and first onto the liner?] It's a bit crowded, but everyone fits. Your marines look good, the gunner's mates look nervous.
Chief Socha dogs the aft outer hatch then the aft inner hatch, then hits a comm panel. "Bridge, aft airlock secured."
"Very well. All hands, radio silence. Corporal Dominguez to the bridge."
When you get there you see surprisingly little out the window. One of the pilots says, "Ten minutes. I assume you'll want to select the entry point yourself. The liner is hiding in the gas giant's radiation belt that just happens to coincide with a dust ring. We are hiding in it too. We can't see it with our equipment, we're relying on last reported position obtained by our parent ship's sensors. Effectively we're flying blind, but don't worry, we've done this before."
During the transit the dust sometimes clears a bit and you can see the gas giant. It's a pretty dark blue, all swirly and full of storms like the eye of some great goddess.
At ten minutes you still see nothing. The dust here is fairly clear, you should see something. The pilots start looking at their insturments and then out the window. After a minute one of them says quietly, "Decel?" The other checks a panel. "To drop? Maybe ...."
A panel changes a display and flashes a message. Both pilots suddenly grab their controls and jerk them over. The display fills. "Ah ****, spin you pig! ..."
An incredibly loud screech bellows from the aft bulkhead, followed by a cannon boom that almost covers over the tearing rip. The gas giant in the window suddenly jerks away. You feel the artifical gravity strain, yank your guts in two different directions, then fail entirely. You fly straight back, hit your butt on someone's head, spin a full circle and hit the aft bulkhead flat. An explosion of lights fills your eyes ....
"I got you!" "No, I got you first!" You both laugh. Mom brings a plate of cookies. Your brother puts down his toy gun to eat. You keep yours.
.... noise. Yelling, someone screaming. Shift limbs, feel intact. Escaping air somewhere near you. Chief Socha is trying to bandage a gunner's mate who looks to be bleeding to death, but she can't because she has a broken arm. Everyone is pushed to the sides and ends of the boat. Pilot yelling, "Tom! Tom get off the slew panel! Tom can you hear me! Get off the slew!"
Alejandro Dominguez
"I want a sitrep (situation report), fire team three, check in."
Dominguez didn't waste any time with inaction or waiting for his team to check in, instead he moved to the pilot. "Where the **** is the slew? I'll get him off." Dom quickly moved to do just that.
With that taken care of he returned to the pilot. "Okay, what's our situation, and are we still able to achieve our operational objectives?"
Just Another Ref
Portola and Urshadi both sing out. Smith seems to be buried under a pile of gunner's mates, but he's tossing them off with no problems. Ga is silent.
One of the pilots has been knocked out of his harness and is sprawled unconscious on the control panel, actuating various controls. The scene outside the window is spinning madly. When you pull him off of them several displays clear and center and the remaining pilot seems to regain control of the boat. The world outside stabilizes. He plays with the panel a minute. "Yeah ... yeah we're ... still functional, barely." He yells aft, "Restoring gravity", and chokes slightly. You feel come grav coming back, but it's only about a third of what it was before. The pilot is bleeding down one side of his face. "Yeah, I can get you to the liner. It's right behind us." The boat slowly spins about, and you suddenly see the ship. It's big and quite long, maybe bright red though it's hard to tell out here so far from the star's light. A weapon's turret hangs askew, still spitting sparks. The ship's bridge window is obvious, as are the nacelles aft. You think you see another boat lurking at the ship's rear. You also see someone at the ship's window, looking out as if searching for something, but he's missing your boat as it drifts aft towards engineering.
"Where do you want to go?" The pilot tries to yell aft again but chokes badly. "You have a medic, right? See if you can get him here to check Tom."
Heading back aft you see a gunner attempting to straighten Chief Socha's arm while another wraps it in a brace. She's directing the efforts of two other gunners who are attempting to stop the bleeding of the one Socha was working on earlier.
One gunner is laying in a corner, twisted up like a rag doll. You seem his eyes are open, and he's breathing.
The Chief MAA is blocking the hull breech with his left arm, laying it along the split while your support team mechanic is breaking out an emergency hull patch.
Pataki seems to be different. He's working with your electrician, a slip of a girl who now has a broken cheek, to determine the status of the breach collar. "I think it will still work, Corporal. We can always find out the hard way." He grins reluctantly.
Ga is out cold. You press his status display and get normal readings, but he's gone for now.
Alejandro Dominguez
"Just get us on that ship. I don't care where. Just do what's easiest. We don't need anymore problems." Dom hesitated, but then added, "Actually coordinate with one of our other boats. If it's not too difficult, try to get us close. We might need to do a rapid evac, and if it comes to that, I'm not sure this tub can take it." Without another word, Dominguez moved away from the pilot.
"Good, Pataki, make it work, 'cause otherwise we will be finding out the hard way."
Without even turning away, Dom yelled, "MEDIC!" Once the medic arrived he continued, this time in a regular speaking voice. "I don't need to tell you how to do your job. Take care of that poor bastard over there in the corner, and there's a pilot up front that needs your attention. One of my men is unconscience, but his vitals are stable, see to him later. Now get moving."
Dom shifted his voice so that everyone close could hear. "Okay, people, I want you all to get your **** together. I know some of you are already banged up, but we still have a job to do. I'll be first man through the door. My fire team will follow me through." Dom would never tell another soldier how to command his troops. He'd let the navy personnel worry about the navy personnel. "I want you all ready. We're gonna try to get close to one of the other ships. If we end up needing a rapid evac and the pilot doesn't think ours can take it, we need to move all of our people and whatever kit you can carry over to one of them. Don't forget to blow this ship, we don't want anything to fall into the wrong hands. Any question?
Dominguez wasn't happy. He had people down and out, and they hadn't even made initial contact with the enemy. He hated putting his life in some navy pilot's hands.
[Some orientation. The speed is for use during combat ops when immediate physical action is required. You've been on it before, it's very effective and has few aftereffects if used only ocassionally, but it slightly impairs your judgement. The narcotic is for pain. The stabilizer is a sort of medic-in-a-syringe, stabilizing an injured patient and rapidly accelerating response to injuries. It kinda-sorta works. One thing it's very good at is delaying spinal injuries effects.
Your armor comm system has twenty channels programmable to any frequency. Number one is dedicated exclusively to the unit CO, two belongs to your immediate commander, three is devoted exclusively to your fire team and you, four is a general line that receives and transmits simultaneously everything on channels one through eight, five through eight provide contact with nearby associated units. Nine involves artillery calls. The rest are a hodgepodge of other uses. A little blue light will blink to tell you if a call is incoming. You have no "secure" transmissions. When you transmit you broadcast, and everyone who's listening hears it. The transmissions are encrypted, and though a big computer can break the encryption in two or three minutes this is considered sufficient for tactical use.
Feel free to make other suggestions, I'll probably accept them.]
The Lieutenant checks his watch. "Pilots to the boats. Teams board when pilots call ready. I'm with Team One in boat one, Sergeant you are with Team Four in boat three. Corporal Dominguez you have the Chief Master-at-Arms and some of the initial engineering team in boat two. All clocks are synchronized, hull breaches will take place simultaneously in twenty minutes. Good luck."
You have a few minutes before boarding. The Chief MAA moves up beside you, but says nothing. He has a shotgun that looks thirty years old, flack vest, no bandolier, his pockets bulge.
A boat petty officer appears and waves thumbs up, the Lieutenant calls, "Boarders Away!", and everyone moves forward.
Your boat is ... a bus, you think. Some seats, but mostly overhead handholds and support bars spaced along the entryway. The support engineers move immediatly to the second airlock forward, where they will perform the hull breach entry. [You'll need to decide the boarding order, meaning you'll have to arrange everyone now. Who do you want first, closest to the forward airlock and first onto the liner?] It's a bit crowded, but everyone fits. Your marines look good, the gunner's mates look nervous.
Chief Socha dogs the aft outer hatch then the aft inner hatch, then hits a comm panel. "Bridge, aft airlock secured."
"Very well. All hands, radio silence. Corporal Dominguez to the bridge."
When you get there you see surprisingly little out the window. One of the pilots says, "Ten minutes. I assume you'll want to select the entry point yourself. The liner is hiding in the gas giant's radiation belt that just happens to coincide with a dust ring. We are hiding in it too. We can't see it with our equipment, we're relying on last reported position obtained by our parent ship's sensors. Effectively we're flying blind, but don't worry, we've done this before."
During the transit the dust sometimes clears a bit and you can see the gas giant. It's a pretty dark blue, all swirly and full of storms like the eye of some great goddess.
At ten minutes you still see nothing. The dust here is fairly clear, you should see something. The pilots start looking at their insturments and then out the window. After a minute one of them says quietly, "Decel?" The other checks a panel. "To drop? Maybe ...."
A panel changes a display and flashes a message. Both pilots suddenly grab their controls and jerk them over. The display fills. "Ah ****, spin you pig! ..."
An incredibly loud screech bellows from the aft bulkhead, followed by a cannon boom that almost covers over the tearing rip. The gas giant in the window suddenly jerks away. You feel the artifical gravity strain, yank your guts in two different directions, then fail entirely. You fly straight back, hit your butt on someone's head, spin a full circle and hit the aft bulkhead flat. An explosion of lights fills your eyes ....
"I got you!" "No, I got you first!" You both laugh. Mom brings a plate of cookies. Your brother puts down his toy gun to eat. You keep yours.
.... noise. Yelling, someone screaming. Shift limbs, feel intact. Escaping air somewhere near you. Chief Socha is trying to bandage a gunner's mate who looks to be bleeding to death, but she can't because she has a broken arm. Everyone is pushed to the sides and ends of the boat. Pilot yelling, "Tom! Tom get off the slew panel! Tom can you hear me! Get off the slew!"
Alejandro Dominguez
"I want a sitrep (situation report), fire team three, check in."
Dominguez didn't waste any time with inaction or waiting for his team to check in, instead he moved to the pilot. "Where the **** is the slew? I'll get him off." Dom quickly moved to do just that.
With that taken care of he returned to the pilot. "Okay, what's our situation, and are we still able to achieve our operational objectives?"
Just Another Ref
Portola and Urshadi both sing out. Smith seems to be buried under a pile of gunner's mates, but he's tossing them off with no problems. Ga is silent.
One of the pilots has been knocked out of his harness and is sprawled unconscious on the control panel, actuating various controls. The scene outside the window is spinning madly. When you pull him off of them several displays clear and center and the remaining pilot seems to regain control of the boat. The world outside stabilizes. He plays with the panel a minute. "Yeah ... yeah we're ... still functional, barely." He yells aft, "Restoring gravity", and chokes slightly. You feel come grav coming back, but it's only about a third of what it was before. The pilot is bleeding down one side of his face. "Yeah, I can get you to the liner. It's right behind us." The boat slowly spins about, and you suddenly see the ship. It's big and quite long, maybe bright red though it's hard to tell out here so far from the star's light. A weapon's turret hangs askew, still spitting sparks. The ship's bridge window is obvious, as are the nacelles aft. You think you see another boat lurking at the ship's rear. You also see someone at the ship's window, looking out as if searching for something, but he's missing your boat as it drifts aft towards engineering.
"Where do you want to go?" The pilot tries to yell aft again but chokes badly. "You have a medic, right? See if you can get him here to check Tom."
Heading back aft you see a gunner attempting to straighten Chief Socha's arm while another wraps it in a brace. She's directing the efforts of two other gunners who are attempting to stop the bleeding of the one Socha was working on earlier.
One gunner is laying in a corner, twisted up like a rag doll. You seem his eyes are open, and he's breathing.
The Chief MAA is blocking the hull breech with his left arm, laying it along the split while your support team mechanic is breaking out an emergency hull patch.
Pataki seems to be different. He's working with your electrician, a slip of a girl who now has a broken cheek, to determine the status of the breach collar. "I think it will still work, Corporal. We can always find out the hard way." He grins reluctantly.
Ga is out cold. You press his status display and get normal readings, but he's gone for now.
Alejandro Dominguez
"Just get us on that ship. I don't care where. Just do what's easiest. We don't need anymore problems." Dom hesitated, but then added, "Actually coordinate with one of our other boats. If it's not too difficult, try to get us close. We might need to do a rapid evac, and if it comes to that, I'm not sure this tub can take it." Without another word, Dominguez moved away from the pilot.
"Good, Pataki, make it work, 'cause otherwise we will be finding out the hard way."
Without even turning away, Dom yelled, "MEDIC!" Once the medic arrived he continued, this time in a regular speaking voice. "I don't need to tell you how to do your job. Take care of that poor bastard over there in the corner, and there's a pilot up front that needs your attention. One of my men is unconscience, but his vitals are stable, see to him later. Now get moving."
Dom shifted his voice so that everyone close could hear. "Okay, people, I want you all to get your **** together. I know some of you are already banged up, but we still have a job to do. I'll be first man through the door. My fire team will follow me through." Dom would never tell another soldier how to command his troops. He'd let the navy personnel worry about the navy personnel. "I want you all ready. We're gonna try to get close to one of the other ships. If we end up needing a rapid evac and the pilot doesn't think ours can take it, we need to move all of our people and whatever kit you can carry over to one of them. Don't forget to blow this ship, we don't want anything to fall into the wrong hands. Any question?
Dominguez wasn't happy. He had people down and out, and they hadn't even made initial contact with the enemy. He hated putting his life in some navy pilot's hands.
Just Another Ref
The pilot says, "I'll coordinate. Hull integrity is poor. May not be able to return aboard. We'll know after breach." He seems to be minimizing his words, and struggling with each one.
Chief Socha is moving very fast. Her arm is braced and she seems to be using it again. She quickly checks the bandage on the bleeding gunner, interrogates the gunner in the corner before slapping a hypodermic at him, then leaves him there otherwise untouched to push past Pataki and your electrician to tend the pilot.
The Chief MAA is putting his sleeve back down and retrieving his weapon. The outside of his left arm looks half-frozen and abraded. Your mechanic reports that the breech is sealed for now but that the aft hull probably has a lot of pinholes in it. He returns to working with Pataki and the electrician.
The liner appears to be four decks high. You look at the aft section and it does appear that engineering is there. The port and starboard nacelles are almost certainly maneuver drives, if standard practice has been followed. The power plant modules are likely to be near centerline.
Breech is scheduled to take place in three minutes. You can make the schedule if you hurry.
[The above graphic is a bare outline of the engineering hull, top-down view, no internal details yet. You must choose where on the graphic you make your breech. Your engineering team will attempt to make the breech on a clear portion of the bulkhead and not right onto a blockage. "Forward" means towards the front of the boat, etc. You may breech on a bulkhead on any of the four deck levels (though there may not necessarily be a deck on a given level, the space may be one big open area), on a deck (on the lowest deck), or in an overhead (on the uppermost deck). Breeching on a deck or an overhead is usually a bad idea because of interference to the artificial gravity plates there and also because of difficulty in entering and exiting, but breeching the overhead can sometimes give a tactical advantage.]
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez decided to put down forward and on the second deck. If it was open, he hoped it wouldn't be too long a drop. If it was just him and his Marines under ideal circumstances, he probably would have gone with an overhead breach, but now it seemed like they were going to have to abandon their vessel. He didn't want any more trouble than he'd already gotten, but he was pretty sure that not wanting it wasn't going to stop it from happening.
Just Another Ref
You show the pilot where, and he moves in. He's unsteady, and you think he's going to ram the other vessel, but he manages to get control and gently press the breech ring against the hull.
Your engineering team drop their faceplates, shut the inner hatch, pop the outer hatch, and finally pop the breech ring hatch. You watch through the inner hatch porthole. They take soundings and scans against the hull, and then the mechanic drills a hole and the electrician scoots a probe through. She says something, and Pataki gives you a thumbs up while the mechanic starts anchoring the ring to the liner's outer hull. Pataki begins laying out some kind of cord from a spool labled "Category 4" in large red letters while the electrician traces out a line inboard of the ring.
The Chief MAA is instructing his remaining gunners. "Just follow them in. Stay down, back them no matter what, and return fire if fired upon. We can do this, they don't know we're coming."
You hear Chief Socha up front talking to the pilot.
Ga is still down. You check his readout again. Some of the signs are slowly drifting down to yellow.
When the mechanic finishes he and the electrician begin laying the line on the hull. Pataki pops the inner hatch, and you feel your ears pop with higher pressure. "When they finish we'll be good to go. The cord will cut the hull and drop the plate inward. The cord will be quiet but the falling plate will be noisy, there's no way to avoid it. We didn't see anyone farside."
The mechanic and electrician pile back in and close the inner hatch without dogging it. "We're hot, get down." The electrician is holding some kind of actuator in her hand. "Your call corporal, say when."
The cord suddenly shines bright white and seems to melt the hull rather than burst it. The plate falls away, the mechanic hauls open the inner hatch, and you charge in.
You're directly on a deck with a large open overhead - the second deck spans two deck levels. Ahead of you are the maneuver drives looming large. They seem to be idled, but even idled this close to them you can feel their gravitic torsion turning your balance slightly. Overhead you see a catwalk allowing access to the upper drive machinery. On the far bulkhead you see three hatches total. Some equipment hangs on the bulkhead. Everything looks new. No-one seems to be here.
Alejandro Dominguez
Immediately after noting Ga's worsening condition, Dominguez got the Medic on the radio, "I was wrong, my man isn't stable. His vitals are dropping." Dom left it at that.
"Listen up people, as soon as we open this tin can, we pile through. I want the room cleared, and every entry point secured."
Dominguez check his kit over quickly. He readied the Gauss. [Private to GM: I'm pretty sure that's the quiet one. ]
Dominguez looked at the electrician and nodded his head. "Go."
Dominguez tensed, he would go through the breach the moment the plate came to a rest.
The pilot says, "I'll coordinate. Hull integrity is poor. May not be able to return aboard. We'll know after breach." He seems to be minimizing his words, and struggling with each one.
Chief Socha is moving very fast. Her arm is braced and she seems to be using it again. She quickly checks the bandage on the bleeding gunner, interrogates the gunner in the corner before slapping a hypodermic at him, then leaves him there otherwise untouched to push past Pataki and your electrician to tend the pilot.
The Chief MAA is putting his sleeve back down and retrieving his weapon. The outside of his left arm looks half-frozen and abraded. Your mechanic reports that the breech is sealed for now but that the aft hull probably has a lot of pinholes in it. He returns to working with Pataki and the electrician.
The liner appears to be four decks high. You look at the aft section and it does appear that engineering is there. The port and starboard nacelles are almost certainly maneuver drives, if standard practice has been followed. The power plant modules are likely to be near centerline.
Breech is scheduled to take place in three minutes. You can make the schedule if you hurry.
[The above graphic is a bare outline of the engineering hull, top-down view, no internal details yet. You must choose where on the graphic you make your breech. Your engineering team will attempt to make the breech on a clear portion of the bulkhead and not right onto a blockage. "Forward" means towards the front of the boat, etc. You may breech on a bulkhead on any of the four deck levels (though there may not necessarily be a deck on a given level, the space may be one big open area), on a deck (on the lowest deck), or in an overhead (on the uppermost deck). Breeching on a deck or an overhead is usually a bad idea because of interference to the artificial gravity plates there and also because of difficulty in entering and exiting, but breeching the overhead can sometimes give a tactical advantage.]
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez decided to put down forward and on the second deck. If it was open, he hoped it wouldn't be too long a drop. If it was just him and his Marines under ideal circumstances, he probably would have gone with an overhead breach, but now it seemed like they were going to have to abandon their vessel. He didn't want any more trouble than he'd already gotten, but he was pretty sure that not wanting it wasn't going to stop it from happening.
Just Another Ref
You show the pilot where, and he moves in. He's unsteady, and you think he's going to ram the other vessel, but he manages to get control and gently press the breech ring against the hull.
Your engineering team drop their faceplates, shut the inner hatch, pop the outer hatch, and finally pop the breech ring hatch. You watch through the inner hatch porthole. They take soundings and scans against the hull, and then the mechanic drills a hole and the electrician scoots a probe through. She says something, and Pataki gives you a thumbs up while the mechanic starts anchoring the ring to the liner's outer hull. Pataki begins laying out some kind of cord from a spool labled "Category 4" in large red letters while the electrician traces out a line inboard of the ring.
The Chief MAA is instructing his remaining gunners. "Just follow them in. Stay down, back them no matter what, and return fire if fired upon. We can do this, they don't know we're coming."
You hear Chief Socha up front talking to the pilot.
Ga is still down. You check his readout again. Some of the signs are slowly drifting down to yellow.
When the mechanic finishes he and the electrician begin laying the line on the hull. Pataki pops the inner hatch, and you feel your ears pop with higher pressure. "When they finish we'll be good to go. The cord will cut the hull and drop the plate inward. The cord will be quiet but the falling plate will be noisy, there's no way to avoid it. We didn't see anyone farside."
The mechanic and electrician pile back in and close the inner hatch without dogging it. "We're hot, get down." The electrician is holding some kind of actuator in her hand. "Your call corporal, say when."
The cord suddenly shines bright white and seems to melt the hull rather than burst it. The plate falls away, the mechanic hauls open the inner hatch, and you charge in.
You're directly on a deck with a large open overhead - the second deck spans two deck levels. Ahead of you are the maneuver drives looming large. They seem to be idled, but even idled this close to them you can feel their gravitic torsion turning your balance slightly. Overhead you see a catwalk allowing access to the upper drive machinery. On the far bulkhead you see three hatches total. Some equipment hangs on the bulkhead. Everything looks new. No-one seems to be here.
Alejandro Dominguez
Immediately after noting Ga's worsening condition, Dominguez got the Medic on the radio, "I was wrong, my man isn't stable. His vitals are dropping." Dom left it at that.
"Listen up people, as soon as we open this tin can, we pile through. I want the room cleared, and every entry point secured."
Dominguez check his kit over quickly. He readied the Gauss. [Private to GM: I'm pretty sure that's the quiet one. ]
Dominguez looked at the electrician and nodded his head. "Go."
Dominguez tensed, he would go through the breach the moment the plate came to a rest.
Just Another Ref
[Private to Alejandro Dominguez: Yes, the Gauss Rifle is reasonably quiet, but not silent. It hums and pings distinctively when fired, and the round does generate a sonic crack as it moves.]
You're directly on a deck with a large open overhead - the second deck spans two deck levels. Ahead of you are the maneuver drives looming large. They seem to be idled, but even idled this close to them you can feel their gravitic torsion turning your balance slightly. Overhead you see a catwalk allowing access to the upper drive machinery. On the far bulkhead you see three hatches total. Some equipment hangs on the bulkhead. Everything looks new. No-one seems to be here.
Everyone except for the wounded and the medic has piled in. Your fire team splits up neatly to cover all three visible hatches - Urshadi the forward, Portola the aft, and Smith the overhead catwalk hatch when he finally sees it. Portola is licking his lips, Urashdi is clearly nervous, Smith looks very calm, but all are disciplined and focused. The gunners and their Chief spread out adequately, apparently checking out corners and covering your marines' back. They are ill-practiced but seem to be figuring things out.
Your support team is looking over the maneuver drive control panels. "We can override these from here, if necessary." Pataki finds a ship's comm panel at the controls and flips through some channels. " ... esults. What is the problem back there?" "Just about got it, nobody's going anywhere. Passengers in the well, 'cept for a few. Uh, hang on."
The Chief MAA is near you. "Advance, or bring in wounded and secure this compartment first?"
Alejandro Dominguez
"Secure this compartment, then bring in the wounded. Once that's done, me and my men will advance. You will hold this point. Coordinate with one of the other boats so that we can get home. If we need assistance, I'll radio. Any questions?"
Dom plans on attempting to use whatever element of surprise may still remain. His men are better equiped and trained for this operation, and he'd rather not have the navy along for the ride as a great big question mark.
Just Another Ref
The Chief snaps his fingers. "You three, help the corpsman move Erger and Uruush in here, and the marine. You others, by the hatches for support."
Chief corpsman Socha approaches you. "Neither pilot is fit to fly except in a do-or-die situation. One is on stabilizer, the other could bleed out at any moment but says he'd rather stay up in case you need a pilot. Private Ga is in a coma. The injured gunners are unavailable." She looks pale, and winces when she moves her broken arm, but she's still moving fast.
The wounded are layed out in a corner with Chief Socha hovering over them. Your marines haven't moved and are still covering the hatches. The gunners are standing by. Your engineering support team is lined up to one side. Niles the mechanic has picked up a discarded naval shotgun, and Pataki has Ga's Gauss rifle/grenade launcher. He's grinning. "You don't mind, do you?" Sorcha the electrician is crouched behind both of them and is looking very hyper. One of her hands is shaking. The Chief MAA is addressing his men. "Alright gunners. The Marines are going through, we're staying here until they call us." Several of them look up - apparently they don't like that at all. Others look relieved.
Alejandro Dominguez
"Good job, Socha. I don't care what that pilot says, you see to that man's wounds. We will not be re-boarding that ship. Make sure everyone can be moved, we don't have a choice." Dominguez turned away from the corpsman. He knew she would do her job. She'd done well under pressure. He'd make sure to mention that in his post-op reports.
Dom approached the Chief MAA. "Listen, I'm giving you and your men the difficult job. I need you to hold this point. Have one of your men radio the other boats. I want to know who the nearest is, and get a rough idea of how to get there. Me and my people will check the route and radio back for you to bring your men and the wounded up. By that time I want our boat rigged for remote detonation. Provide those detonation codes to Command & Control. Have them blow it if, and only if, it's mission failure, otherwise, I'm sure they'll want to recover her. Have the techs prep to override the drives, but don't have them do anything unless I give the word. They will evac with you, so if I haven't given the word by then, just have them leave the drives alone. Any question?" Dom waited for the info on the other boats.
[Private to Alejandro Dominguez: Yes, the Gauss Rifle is reasonably quiet, but not silent. It hums and pings distinctively when fired, and the round does generate a sonic crack as it moves.]
You're directly on a deck with a large open overhead - the second deck spans two deck levels. Ahead of you are the maneuver drives looming large. They seem to be idled, but even idled this close to them you can feel their gravitic torsion turning your balance slightly. Overhead you see a catwalk allowing access to the upper drive machinery. On the far bulkhead you see three hatches total. Some equipment hangs on the bulkhead. Everything looks new. No-one seems to be here.
Everyone except for the wounded and the medic has piled in. Your fire team splits up neatly to cover all three visible hatches - Urshadi the forward, Portola the aft, and Smith the overhead catwalk hatch when he finally sees it. Portola is licking his lips, Urashdi is clearly nervous, Smith looks very calm, but all are disciplined and focused. The gunners and their Chief spread out adequately, apparently checking out corners and covering your marines' back. They are ill-practiced but seem to be figuring things out.
Your support team is looking over the maneuver drive control panels. "We can override these from here, if necessary." Pataki finds a ship's comm panel at the controls and flips through some channels. " ... esults. What is the problem back there?" "Just about got it, nobody's going anywhere. Passengers in the well, 'cept for a few. Uh, hang on."
The Chief MAA is near you. "Advance, or bring in wounded and secure this compartment first?"
Alejandro Dominguez
"Secure this compartment, then bring in the wounded. Once that's done, me and my men will advance. You will hold this point. Coordinate with one of the other boats so that we can get home. If we need assistance, I'll radio. Any questions?"
Dom plans on attempting to use whatever element of surprise may still remain. His men are better equiped and trained for this operation, and he'd rather not have the navy along for the ride as a great big question mark.
Just Another Ref
The Chief snaps his fingers. "You three, help the corpsman move Erger and Uruush in here, and the marine. You others, by the hatches for support."
Chief corpsman Socha approaches you. "Neither pilot is fit to fly except in a do-or-die situation. One is on stabilizer, the other could bleed out at any moment but says he'd rather stay up in case you need a pilot. Private Ga is in a coma. The injured gunners are unavailable." She looks pale, and winces when she moves her broken arm, but she's still moving fast.
The wounded are layed out in a corner with Chief Socha hovering over them. Your marines haven't moved and are still covering the hatches. The gunners are standing by. Your engineering support team is lined up to one side. Niles the mechanic has picked up a discarded naval shotgun, and Pataki has Ga's Gauss rifle/grenade launcher. He's grinning. "You don't mind, do you?" Sorcha the electrician is crouched behind both of them and is looking very hyper. One of her hands is shaking. The Chief MAA is addressing his men. "Alright gunners. The Marines are going through, we're staying here until they call us." Several of them look up - apparently they don't like that at all. Others look relieved.
Alejandro Dominguez
"Good job, Socha. I don't care what that pilot says, you see to that man's wounds. We will not be re-boarding that ship. Make sure everyone can be moved, we don't have a choice." Dominguez turned away from the corpsman. He knew she would do her job. She'd done well under pressure. He'd make sure to mention that in his post-op reports.
Dom approached the Chief MAA. "Listen, I'm giving you and your men the difficult job. I need you to hold this point. Have one of your men radio the other boats. I want to know who the nearest is, and get a rough idea of how to get there. Me and my people will check the route and radio back for you to bring your men and the wounded up. By that time I want our boat rigged for remote detonation. Provide those detonation codes to Command & Control. Have them blow it if, and only if, it's mission failure, otherwise, I'm sure they'll want to recover her. Have the techs prep to override the drives, but don't have them do anything unless I give the word. They will evac with you, so if I haven't given the word by then, just have them leave the drives alone. Any question?" Dom waited for the info on the other boats.
Just Another Ref
Sorcha moves to the drive control panels, looks them over carefully, and sets a few switches. "Ready for full shutdown." She is shaking all over and is barely coherent.
"Aye." Niles hefts a thermite grenade, sets a dial, then runs back onto the assault boat. He reenters the engineering space a moment later, dogging the breech collar hatch behind him. "Give the word and the boat drives melt." He clearly is very unhappy about that.
"Break radio silence, aye." Pataki pulls up a dial, hesitates, then punches in a frequency and moves aft all the way to the bulkhead, pressing against it. "Fire Team Three aboard, port drive nacelle, request rondevous point for casualty evac." He listens, fiddling with his dials. "Two decks two high. Unknown. We're on the upper." After a moment he reports. "Team One not responding. Team Four is on-scene but delayed, trying to locate a breech point. From the Gunnery Sergeant, two minutes, combined entry to upper main space, your team and his. They will be full aft, far starboard side, this deck."
Over the ship's interior comms you hear someone demand again, "Engineering team, what is going on back there? I want that engine room." Someone else replies, " ... uh, hang on. Stand by." The second voice sounds suspicious.
The Chief MAA looks at the comm speaker, then at you. "They know we're here."
Alejandro Dominguez
"**** it. We're going loud people. Sorcha, shut them down. Niles, frag it. Pataki, tell them that we'll be there in two, but that we'll be heavy with the support teams and wounded. Okay, people, change of plans, we'll all be moving together now. Socha, you take as many people as you need to get the wounded moving, start with support personnel. You all stay to the middle. Me and my men will take point." Dominguez looks at the Chief MAA. "You and your men will be the rear guard. I want your men to be split into two teams. I may need to call one team up if we run into heavy resistance."
Dominguez turned to address everyone. "You see someone armed that's not one of ours, you put them down. Any questions?"
With the element of surprise blown, Dom saw only one option. One of his instructors had always phrased it in a way that Dom liked. It was time for 'a preponderance of force at a decisive point.' He knew that his order to break radio silence could cost them this mission and their lives. He just hoped it wouldn't go down that way.
Just Another Ref
Everyone lines up and you lead the way through the hatch (1). Smith, accompanied by a single gunner, simultaneously moves through the catwalk hatch (2).
You are stepping out between an enormous power plant flask and its collection tower. Ahead to the left is another smaller power plant assembly, aft of it are the jump drive vanes. The way to where the other assault ship is breeching seems to be past (3). Directly ahead of you is a ladder rising to the overhead catwalk and a hatch in the deck immediately below the ladder. You hear Smith and his gunner stepping heavily in the overhead catwalk.
You immediately encounter two individuals, a woman at (A) and a man at (B). Both are wearing orange coveralls and head set comm systems, and both have longarms. They are facing forward towards (D), weapons ready, but turn as you suddenly appear on their flank. They both aim at you, eyes wide. The woman at (A) is wearing an orange cap with a prominent logo on it, "Starways". She fires at you with a shotgun. The man is looking at you, blinking, and starts to point his weapon up.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez fully expected his men to drop these two before he could get a word in edge-wise, but he had to try. Dom dove for cover and yelled out, "HOLD YOUR FIRE, DAMN IT! WE'RE FRIENDLIES!" He could live with collateral damage. It wasn't something he liked, and he figured it would eventually catch up to him, but he could live with it.
Just Another Ref
You feel the shot splatter hard against your armor. Nothing penetrates, and your HUD doesn't even register the hit. The man at (B) is yelling "Hilde, stop stop stop!" He is pointing is weapon away, towards the deck. Portola behind you has his shotgun up at her but doesn't fire. She stares, then suddenly lowers her weapon, stamps her foot and turns away. You see Smith quickly lean over the catwalk railing above you with his laser, take in the scene, then without stopping smoothly continue moving down the way looking over his weapon for targets, his gunner copying his every move.
You get up to let your team in, and they start stepping through. A pellet is stuck in one of your armor joints, limiting your movement there. You pry it out.
The man checks towards (D) and steps towards you. "Where did you come from? They're trying to break into upper level here, they're almost in. I think they hold the rest of the boat." He keys his comm headset and starts to say something, but suddenly stops. "They hear us. My chief is in EOS, you can see him through the glass if you step over here (E)."
Hilde turns back. "Sorry for shooting you, glad you're here, is anyone else coming?" She seems hard. You see several other orange-coverall-dressed people towards the other side of the space.
As your group steps through you see Sorcha your electrician towards the back sitting on her butt holding her tear-covered face. Looks like a pellet hit her in her broken cheek.
Alejandro Dominguez
"Medic, see to Sorcha."
Dominguez turned to look Hilde over. "Any of your people banged up? Any more of you armed?" Dom wasn't going to be handing out anymore information than absolutely necessary. He needed answers before he could decide what needed to be done next.
Sorcha moves to the drive control panels, looks them over carefully, and sets a few switches. "Ready for full shutdown." She is shaking all over and is barely coherent.
"Aye." Niles hefts a thermite grenade, sets a dial, then runs back onto the assault boat. He reenters the engineering space a moment later, dogging the breech collar hatch behind him. "Give the word and the boat drives melt." He clearly is very unhappy about that.
"Break radio silence, aye." Pataki pulls up a dial, hesitates, then punches in a frequency and moves aft all the way to the bulkhead, pressing against it. "Fire Team Three aboard, port drive nacelle, request rondevous point for casualty evac." He listens, fiddling with his dials. "Two decks two high. Unknown. We're on the upper." After a moment he reports. "Team One not responding. Team Four is on-scene but delayed, trying to locate a breech point. From the Gunnery Sergeant, two minutes, combined entry to upper main space, your team and his. They will be full aft, far starboard side, this deck."
Over the ship's interior comms you hear someone demand again, "Engineering team, what is going on back there? I want that engine room." Someone else replies, " ... uh, hang on. Stand by." The second voice sounds suspicious.
The Chief MAA looks at the comm speaker, then at you. "They know we're here."
Alejandro Dominguez
"**** it. We're going loud people. Sorcha, shut them down. Niles, frag it. Pataki, tell them that we'll be there in two, but that we'll be heavy with the support teams and wounded. Okay, people, change of plans, we'll all be moving together now. Socha, you take as many people as you need to get the wounded moving, start with support personnel. You all stay to the middle. Me and my men will take point." Dominguez looks at the Chief MAA. "You and your men will be the rear guard. I want your men to be split into two teams. I may need to call one team up if we run into heavy resistance."
Dominguez turned to address everyone. "You see someone armed that's not one of ours, you put them down. Any questions?"
With the element of surprise blown, Dom saw only one option. One of his instructors had always phrased it in a way that Dom liked. It was time for 'a preponderance of force at a decisive point.' He knew that his order to break radio silence could cost them this mission and their lives. He just hoped it wouldn't go down that way.
Just Another Ref
Everyone lines up and you lead the way through the hatch (1). Smith, accompanied by a single gunner, simultaneously moves through the catwalk hatch (2).
You are stepping out between an enormous power plant flask and its collection tower. Ahead to the left is another smaller power plant assembly, aft of it are the jump drive vanes. The way to where the other assault ship is breeching seems to be past (3). Directly ahead of you is a ladder rising to the overhead catwalk and a hatch in the deck immediately below the ladder. You hear Smith and his gunner stepping heavily in the overhead catwalk.
You immediately encounter two individuals, a woman at (A) and a man at (B). Both are wearing orange coveralls and head set comm systems, and both have longarms. They are facing forward towards (D), weapons ready, but turn as you suddenly appear on their flank. They both aim at you, eyes wide. The woman at (A) is wearing an orange cap with a prominent logo on it, "Starways". She fires at you with a shotgun. The man is looking at you, blinking, and starts to point his weapon up.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez fully expected his men to drop these two before he could get a word in edge-wise, but he had to try. Dom dove for cover and yelled out, "HOLD YOUR FIRE, DAMN IT! WE'RE FRIENDLIES!" He could live with collateral damage. It wasn't something he liked, and he figured it would eventually catch up to him, but he could live with it.
Just Another Ref
You feel the shot splatter hard against your armor. Nothing penetrates, and your HUD doesn't even register the hit. The man at (B) is yelling "Hilde, stop stop stop!" He is pointing is weapon away, towards the deck. Portola behind you has his shotgun up at her but doesn't fire. She stares, then suddenly lowers her weapon, stamps her foot and turns away. You see Smith quickly lean over the catwalk railing above you with his laser, take in the scene, then without stopping smoothly continue moving down the way looking over his weapon for targets, his gunner copying his every move.
You get up to let your team in, and they start stepping through. A pellet is stuck in one of your armor joints, limiting your movement there. You pry it out.
The man checks towards (D) and steps towards you. "Where did you come from? They're trying to break into upper level here, they're almost in. I think they hold the rest of the boat." He keys his comm headset and starts to say something, but suddenly stops. "They hear us. My chief is in EOS, you can see him through the glass if you step over here (E)."
Hilde turns back. "Sorry for shooting you, glad you're here, is anyone else coming?" She seems hard. You see several other orange-coverall-dressed people towards the other side of the space.
As your group steps through you see Sorcha your electrician towards the back sitting on her butt holding her tear-covered face. Looks like a pellet hit her in her broken cheek.
Alejandro Dominguez
"Medic, see to Sorcha."
Dominguez turned to look Hilde over. "Any of your people banged up? Any more of you armed?" Dom wasn't going to be handing out anymore information than absolutely necessary. He needed answers before he could decide what needed to be done next.
Just Another Ref
Members of your team are filing the wounded past you towards E and F, where two other armed Skyways engineers are standing. The man guides you to step starboard and look through a thick glass window into C, which seems to be a control room. Three individuals are there, two of them armed with pistols. One seems to have a wrench for a weapon. They stop and stare on seeing you through the glass.
Hilde answers. "No, no-one here is hit yet though we're expecting them any moment. And this is about all we have" as she waves her shotgun. "I don't know what happened to the master-at-arms up forward. He has couple of suits of combat armor but we haven't seen him."
Smith calls down, "Topside clear, no upper access."
You hear a loud bang to starboard. The engineers there are facing aft and raising their hands, yelling "Engineering, engineering." You see your Sergeant moving into view at E, weapon up, followed closely by PFC Chambless and others. They note you and continue forward, securing their area.
A loud pop sounds within the control room at C. A piece of the bulkhead falls in and hurls one of the engineers into a corner. Two men from the outside reach in with handguns and start firing. A loud bang rings out at D and you see men begin to rush in. The first few are holding up large semi-clear shields that reach from the top of the head to the shins. The man who was talking to you ducks into a corner, Hilde drops and begins shooting. The shot splatters on the shield. The lead man fires - a hand laser - and a gunner next to you flails, blood and flesh scattering. The incoming men suddenly notice you and Portola next to you. Out of the corner of your eye you see the Gunny begin firing, then lurch back on being hit by something.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez yelled as he fell to the floor going prone. "RETURN FIRE!" As he hit the deck he brought his Gauss to bare and started firing at the attackers' feet. If they brought the shields down, he'd go for their heads.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he registered that he had seen the Gunny get hit. He hoped it wasn't anything serious, the Gunny was a good man, a hard ass, but a good man.
Just Another Ref
Your shot hits the man squarely in the ankle. He spins around like a ballerina and tumbles to one side to the deck, trying to pull his shield over himself and reorient his weapon aft. Portola fires a round at another man with a shield - it hits the shield and detonates, cracking it in half and breaking the man's arm. The man drops it and aims his own weapon one-handed at Portola. Hilde blocks your line of fire to the first downed man. You hear your gauss weapon whining as it rapidly recharges for another shot. Two other incoming men plant their shields on the deck and fire around them. You feel lead shot impacting your arms and weapon. Pataki is moving up. The engineer you were talking to lurches back and falls on you. An incoming man in the back of the pack is readying a grenade of some kind, but doesn't seem to have a good grip on it.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez pushed the engineer off of him and took aim at the man with the grenade. If he wasn't able to drop that bastard, things were about to get a lot worse.
Just Another Ref
The man with the broken arm, Portola, Hilde, and a gunner all fire at once. The broken-armed man comes apart under the assault, but Portola is hit. You hear the crunch - an armor-piercing round - and he staggers and trips back onto some piping. Pataki steps in front of him to cover him and moves forward, ACR on full auto. You can't get a good shot at the man with the grenade, but you fire anyway. The high-velocity round takes off the corner of one shield and barrels into the bulkhead next to him, scaring him into dropping the grenade. You don't think he pulled the pin yet. The man with the hand laser manages to reorient and lase. The light energy burns through Hilde's shotgun and her arm and engages your gauss weapon. The recharge whine stops immediately, and a laser warning in your HUD races up through green and yellow and stops just short of red.
Alejandro Dominguez
A string of curses ran through Dominguez's head, but he did not give them voice. Instead, he dropped his gauss, not wanting to risk firing it after it had taken a hit, and quickly got to his feet. He grabbed Portola and tried to pull him clear of the engagement so that a medic could see to him. He dropped Portola, drew his ACR, and returned to join Pataki at firing on the aggressors. He just hoped things went better with the ACR than they had with the gauss.
Just Another Ref
You grab Portola by a ridge in his armor and drag him behind the collector. You can see the round sticking out of his upper chest, he seems stunned and is trying to pull it out. Chief Socha is there and pushes you towards the combat yelling "Go!" as she leans towards Portola. A bright flash and loud boom rock the compartment and the gunners who had been firing stagger back. Socha cringes and holds her ears. You feel untouched in your armor and sling your ACR into position as you move around the collector to engage the remaining incoming. You see them falling as Urshadi guns them down from behind. Pataki is flat on his back trying to get up. Hilde is trying to shove Pataki's ACR one-handed under the shield of the man you first hit while he is trying to keep her weapon's muzzle out - a struggle of cripples. The man with the grenade is sitting in a corner, the weapon back in his hand, his eyes bleeding, grasping at the top of the bomblet as if trying to find the pin.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dom took careful aim at the man with the grenade. He had to put him down or Murphy would be in charge of the next round of events, too. Dom squeezed the trigger.
Just Another Ref
The man crumples under the impacts. His grenade rolls away, the pin pull-ring clacking on the deck with each revolution. Hilde fires at the downed man and a few of the rounds slip along the deck and hit him, and he sags onto the deck. Urshadi kicks away the shield and holds his weapon to the man's chest. He sees it, nods, and slowly tries to raise his hand laser to engage Urshadi. Urshadi fires.
Hilde stands up, holding the ACR in her right hand, her left arm in bad shape. She has trouble talking. "EOS" she says, pointing at the control room, and moves past (D) towards it. Pataki is getting up, yelling "Hey, my gun." You hear the shooting on the starboard side slowing down and ceasing.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez immediately moved to join Hilde. He moved quickly and precisely. He was slightly hunched over and wherever his eyes looked, his ACR pointed.
[Private to GM: I could guess what EOS stands for, but I'm not sure. ]
Members of your team are filing the wounded past you towards E and F, where two other armed Skyways engineers are standing. The man guides you to step starboard and look through a thick glass window into C, which seems to be a control room. Three individuals are there, two of them armed with pistols. One seems to have a wrench for a weapon. They stop and stare on seeing you through the glass.
Hilde answers. "No, no-one here is hit yet though we're expecting them any moment. And this is about all we have" as she waves her shotgun. "I don't know what happened to the master-at-arms up forward. He has couple of suits of combat armor but we haven't seen him."
Smith calls down, "Topside clear, no upper access."
You hear a loud bang to starboard. The engineers there are facing aft and raising their hands, yelling "Engineering, engineering." You see your Sergeant moving into view at E, weapon up, followed closely by PFC Chambless and others. They note you and continue forward, securing their area.
A loud pop sounds within the control room at C. A piece of the bulkhead falls in and hurls one of the engineers into a corner. Two men from the outside reach in with handguns and start firing. A loud bang rings out at D and you see men begin to rush in. The first few are holding up large semi-clear shields that reach from the top of the head to the shins. The man who was talking to you ducks into a corner, Hilde drops and begins shooting. The shot splatters on the shield. The lead man fires - a hand laser - and a gunner next to you flails, blood and flesh scattering. The incoming men suddenly notice you and Portola next to you. Out of the corner of your eye you see the Gunny begin firing, then lurch back on being hit by something.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez yelled as he fell to the floor going prone. "RETURN FIRE!" As he hit the deck he brought his Gauss to bare and started firing at the attackers' feet. If they brought the shields down, he'd go for their heads.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he registered that he had seen the Gunny get hit. He hoped it wasn't anything serious, the Gunny was a good man, a hard ass, but a good man.
Just Another Ref
Your shot hits the man squarely in the ankle. He spins around like a ballerina and tumbles to one side to the deck, trying to pull his shield over himself and reorient his weapon aft. Portola fires a round at another man with a shield - it hits the shield and detonates, cracking it in half and breaking the man's arm. The man drops it and aims his own weapon one-handed at Portola. Hilde blocks your line of fire to the first downed man. You hear your gauss weapon whining as it rapidly recharges for another shot. Two other incoming men plant their shields on the deck and fire around them. You feel lead shot impacting your arms and weapon. Pataki is moving up. The engineer you were talking to lurches back and falls on you. An incoming man in the back of the pack is readying a grenade of some kind, but doesn't seem to have a good grip on it.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez pushed the engineer off of him and took aim at the man with the grenade. If he wasn't able to drop that bastard, things were about to get a lot worse.
Just Another Ref
The man with the broken arm, Portola, Hilde, and a gunner all fire at once. The broken-armed man comes apart under the assault, but Portola is hit. You hear the crunch - an armor-piercing round - and he staggers and trips back onto some piping. Pataki steps in front of him to cover him and moves forward, ACR on full auto. You can't get a good shot at the man with the grenade, but you fire anyway. The high-velocity round takes off the corner of one shield and barrels into the bulkhead next to him, scaring him into dropping the grenade. You don't think he pulled the pin yet. The man with the hand laser manages to reorient and lase. The light energy burns through Hilde's shotgun and her arm and engages your gauss weapon. The recharge whine stops immediately, and a laser warning in your HUD races up through green and yellow and stops just short of red.
Alejandro Dominguez
A string of curses ran through Dominguez's head, but he did not give them voice. Instead, he dropped his gauss, not wanting to risk firing it after it had taken a hit, and quickly got to his feet. He grabbed Portola and tried to pull him clear of the engagement so that a medic could see to him. He dropped Portola, drew his ACR, and returned to join Pataki at firing on the aggressors. He just hoped things went better with the ACR than they had with the gauss.
Just Another Ref
You grab Portola by a ridge in his armor and drag him behind the collector. You can see the round sticking out of his upper chest, he seems stunned and is trying to pull it out. Chief Socha is there and pushes you towards the combat yelling "Go!" as she leans towards Portola. A bright flash and loud boom rock the compartment and the gunners who had been firing stagger back. Socha cringes and holds her ears. You feel untouched in your armor and sling your ACR into position as you move around the collector to engage the remaining incoming. You see them falling as Urshadi guns them down from behind. Pataki is flat on his back trying to get up. Hilde is trying to shove Pataki's ACR one-handed under the shield of the man you first hit while he is trying to keep her weapon's muzzle out - a struggle of cripples. The man with the grenade is sitting in a corner, the weapon back in his hand, his eyes bleeding, grasping at the top of the bomblet as if trying to find the pin.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dom took careful aim at the man with the grenade. He had to put him down or Murphy would be in charge of the next round of events, too. Dom squeezed the trigger.
Just Another Ref
The man crumples under the impacts. His grenade rolls away, the pin pull-ring clacking on the deck with each revolution. Hilde fires at the downed man and a few of the rounds slip along the deck and hit him, and he sags onto the deck. Urshadi kicks away the shield and holds his weapon to the man's chest. He sees it, nods, and slowly tries to raise his hand laser to engage Urshadi. Urshadi fires.
Hilde stands up, holding the ACR in her right hand, her left arm in bad shape. She has trouble talking. "EOS" she says, pointing at the control room, and moves past (D) towards it. Pataki is getting up, yelling "Hey, my gun." You hear the shooting on the starboard side slowing down and ceasing.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez immediately moved to join Hilde. He moved quickly and precisely. He was slightly hunched over and wherever his eyes looked, his ACR pointed.
[Private to GM: I could guess what EOS stands for, but I'm not sure. ]
Just Another Ref
[Private to Alejandro Dominguez: Enclosed Operating Station, or also Engineering Operating Station ]
Urshadi falls in alongside you exactly as he's been taught. He looks zen. You follow Hilde past (D) into the atrium forward of EOS. She's holding her new ACR one-handed like a pistol, clumsily trying to point it around the corner into the EOS space. You see another marine - Chambless - appear at (H), target Hilde briefly, then orient towards EOS and move forward. Another marine behind him attempts to orient towards the open forward access at (G).
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez pointed at Hilde then his eyes then back the way they had come and finally down, telling her to watch the way they came and stay put. She was wounded and he didn't want her getting any worse. Then he made sure he had Chambless' eye and he chopped forward with his hand twice, signalling for Urshadi, Chambless, his follow, and himself to storm and clear the room. Without hesitation he moved to do just that.
Just Another Ref
For a moment Hilde looks blankly at you, then seems to understand. She moves back, clearing the way for you and Urshadi. Chambless points to his man, his eyes, then towards the forward access at (G). Your backs will be covered.
On the signal the three of you rush EOS. On clearing the broken bulkhead and gaining a line of sight inside you see three men down and two men up, one frantically pointing a weapon and one not.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez rushed the room. "DROP YOUR ****IN' WEAPON! DO IT!" If the man made any hostile move whatsoever, Dom would put him down.
Just Another Ref
The one man is simply standing there, his arms folded, a disgusted look on his face. He puts his hands in the air.
The other is screaming, wide-eyed. He swings his weapon at you and opens fire. It's a revolver, a big one.
Alejandro Dominguez
Rather than drop and allow someone behind him to take the rounds, Dominguez stood tall and squeezed his own trigger.
Just Another Ref
He hits you in the chest. The round impacts hard and staggers you, but it doesn't penetrate. You and Chambless cut him down. Some blood splatters on the man with the folded arms. He wipes it off disdainfully - a real character.
Chambless' man calls quietly, "Clear on the entry."
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez trained his ACR on the other man in the room. "You stay put. Move and I won't hesitate to drop you."
"PFC, secure that man's weapon." He watched the man as the Marine crossed the room. If he twitched the wrong way, Dom would not hesitate to pull the trigger.
[Private to GM: I don't actually know Chambless' rank, but I didn't want to use his name. ]
Again addressing the man, "Who are you?"
Just Another Ref
[Private to Alejandro Dominguez: Understood. ]
Chambless steps over a body and moves to the man, staying out of your line of fire. He checks him over one-handed, finds a revolver, and tosses it back into engineering. "He has no other large weapon. Of course, I'm not a policeman." He sounds pleasantly calm.
Urshadi is oriented to the access hatch. Smoke lingers in the passageway, and the reek of slaughtered bodies fills the air.
The man is very well dressed, his nails are manicured, and his hair is perfectly combed. He's leaning back on the control panel. Except for the blood on his clothes and the puddle of blood he's standing in he's ready for an audience with a Duke. He looks you over. "I would appear to be your prisoner, Corporal. My name is Antoine Prise. I don't need to provide a service number, do I?"
A speaker announcement sputters from the control panel. "Engineering Team, are you through yet? One of the maneuver drives indicates off-line, is it intact?"
Alejandro Dominguez
"Cute, now turn around and put your hands behind your head." Dominguez immediately moved to help (i.e. force) the man comply. His day was just getting better by the moment. He kept his ACR pointed at the man's back and shoved him towards the Lt. He could figure out what to do with him. Dom would just as soon shoot him as keep him as a prisoner.
Just Another Ref
[Just to reorient. Chambless is PFC Chambless, the fire team leader for Team Four. The Lieutenant and Team One are not yet aboard. The voice on the ship's intercomm on the engineering panel appears to be a terrorist leader asking about the progress of terrorists trying to take over engineering, and is not from your own ship.]
Chambless' man and Urshadi cover the forward entrance. PFC Chambless yanks a wire from a damaged panel and ties the prisoner's hands. "One casualty my team, several gunners down. Lieutenant's not aboard yet, his boat is probably lost. We're only here because we saw the sparks from your collision." He finishes tying and looks at you pleasantly. "You're senior."
The prisoner looks around at you. "Rough day?"
[Private to Alejandro Dominguez: Enclosed Operating Station, or also Engineering Operating Station ]
Urshadi falls in alongside you exactly as he's been taught. He looks zen. You follow Hilde past (D) into the atrium forward of EOS. She's holding her new ACR one-handed like a pistol, clumsily trying to point it around the corner into the EOS space. You see another marine - Chambless - appear at (H), target Hilde briefly, then orient towards EOS and move forward. Another marine behind him attempts to orient towards the open forward access at (G).
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez pointed at Hilde then his eyes then back the way they had come and finally down, telling her to watch the way they came and stay put. She was wounded and he didn't want her getting any worse. Then he made sure he had Chambless' eye and he chopped forward with his hand twice, signalling for Urshadi, Chambless, his follow, and himself to storm and clear the room. Without hesitation he moved to do just that.
Just Another Ref
For a moment Hilde looks blankly at you, then seems to understand. She moves back, clearing the way for you and Urshadi. Chambless points to his man, his eyes, then towards the forward access at (G). Your backs will be covered.
On the signal the three of you rush EOS. On clearing the broken bulkhead and gaining a line of sight inside you see three men down and two men up, one frantically pointing a weapon and one not.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez rushed the room. "DROP YOUR ****IN' WEAPON! DO IT!" If the man made any hostile move whatsoever, Dom would put him down.
Just Another Ref
The one man is simply standing there, his arms folded, a disgusted look on his face. He puts his hands in the air.
The other is screaming, wide-eyed. He swings his weapon at you and opens fire. It's a revolver, a big one.
Alejandro Dominguez
Rather than drop and allow someone behind him to take the rounds, Dominguez stood tall and squeezed his own trigger.
Just Another Ref
He hits you in the chest. The round impacts hard and staggers you, but it doesn't penetrate. You and Chambless cut him down. Some blood splatters on the man with the folded arms. He wipes it off disdainfully - a real character.
Chambless' man calls quietly, "Clear on the entry."
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez trained his ACR on the other man in the room. "You stay put. Move and I won't hesitate to drop you."
"PFC, secure that man's weapon." He watched the man as the Marine crossed the room. If he twitched the wrong way, Dom would not hesitate to pull the trigger.
[Private to GM: I don't actually know Chambless' rank, but I didn't want to use his name. ]
Again addressing the man, "Who are you?"
Just Another Ref
[Private to Alejandro Dominguez: Understood. ]
Chambless steps over a body and moves to the man, staying out of your line of fire. He checks him over one-handed, finds a revolver, and tosses it back into engineering. "He has no other large weapon. Of course, I'm not a policeman." He sounds pleasantly calm.
Urshadi is oriented to the access hatch. Smoke lingers in the passageway, and the reek of slaughtered bodies fills the air.
The man is very well dressed, his nails are manicured, and his hair is perfectly combed. He's leaning back on the control panel. Except for the blood on his clothes and the puddle of blood he's standing in he's ready for an audience with a Duke. He looks you over. "I would appear to be your prisoner, Corporal. My name is Antoine Prise. I don't need to provide a service number, do I?"
A speaker announcement sputters from the control panel. "Engineering Team, are you through yet? One of the maneuver drives indicates off-line, is it intact?"
Alejandro Dominguez
"Cute, now turn around and put your hands behind your head." Dominguez immediately moved to help (i.e. force) the man comply. His day was just getting better by the moment. He kept his ACR pointed at the man's back and shoved him towards the Lt. He could figure out what to do with him. Dom would just as soon shoot him as keep him as a prisoner.
Just Another Ref
[Just to reorient. Chambless is PFC Chambless, the fire team leader for Team Four. The Lieutenant and Team One are not yet aboard. The voice on the ship's intercomm on the engineering panel appears to be a terrorist leader asking about the progress of terrorists trying to take over engineering, and is not from your own ship.]
Chambless' man and Urshadi cover the forward entrance. PFC Chambless yanks a wire from a damaged panel and ties the prisoner's hands. "One casualty my team, several gunners down. Lieutenant's not aboard yet, his boat is probably lost. We're only here because we saw the sparks from your collision." He finishes tying and looks at you pleasantly. "You're senior."
The prisoner looks around at you. "Rough day?"
Alejandro Dominguez
"****."
Weapon still pointing at the man's back, Dominguez addressed him. "Okay, so it looks like you're one of our gracious hosts. How many are you and how are you deployed. Don't **** with me on this. I will put a bullet in your head and no one here's gonna say it was anything other than justifiable."
[Private to GM: Oops, sorry about that. ]
Just Another Ref
[Private to Alejandro Dominguez: No problem. ]
The man turns and smiles. "Yes, I can most certainly cooperate with you and tell you all about us. Quid pro quo of course. I will be an innocent passenger and go freely on my merry way when this is all done." He speaks with smooth confidence, no hint of shame or fear, blood on his shoes and face. "I can definitely make it worth your while, now and later. Hundreds of innocent lives could be saved once again by the fearless Imperial Marines, not to mention how many of your own associates you will preserve. So many men down and missing already, you need all the help you can get. If you give the order, Corporal Dominguez, I know your companions here will follow it."
Urshadi maintains his orientation to the forward hatch, but Chambless' man is looking at the prisoner. Chambless slaps him in the helmet. "Cover!" "Yes PFC." The man reorients to his task.
Alejandro Dominguez
"Fine, but I don't make anything happen for you until the situation here is completely under control by my definition. Now spill it." Dominguez didn't ask the man if he agreed because he didn't want to give him the opportunity to do otherwise. He would get the information he needed one way or the other, this way would just be easier.
[Private to GM: Dom has every intention of ****ing this guy over just so you know. I was thinking about him actually ending up killing him, so it could be an example of the darker things he did while in the Corps, something he's still trying to cope with or find redemption for. Obviously the guy isn't an innocent, but it would still be murder. ]
Just Another Ref
"Excellent. Well then, first things first." He slides sideways to the engineering control panel and awkwardly activates the comm panel switch with an elbow.
"Blake, Prise. Done on upper level. Lower level should be taken momentarily and we should have everything on-line shortly."
Someone answers. "Alright, about time. Keep everything up, we still have some things to do."
Prise replies, "No problem." He toggles the switch. "Well Corporal, if you have me untied we can get to work." He extends his hands back, looking you in the eye.
Through the EOS glass you see Smith on deck with his gunner. He sees you through the glass and gives a thumb's up. You also see Portola leaning against some machinery, a slug-sized twisted hole in his armor's breastplate. Petty Officer Niles is working a tool in the hole, smoothing out the rough edges to restore Portola's freedom of movement. The marine winces as if he's bruised. His armor is shifting colors to match the machinery around him. Chief Socha and the MAA are supervising the evacuation of casualties to the remaining boat. Petty Officer Sorcha is sitting on the deck with a tool pack, your gauss rifle between her legs, attempting to fix it. She's shaking all over but is still able to work. Mostly. One of the gunners is helping her. Pataki is over to one side, looking over the hand laser used by the man you first shot.
Alejandro Dominguez
"Chambless, go see to the men. I want the crtically wounded and non-functionally wounded prepared for evac and put on the boat, which it looks like they're already doing. I want the functionally wounded and the rest prepped and counted. I need to know how many bodies I still have to work with."
Dom looked his own little weasel in the eyes. "What the **** do you need your hands for to tell me what I need to know? You don't actually think I'm gonna arm you and let you help do you?"
Just Another Ref
Chambless responds immediately. "Aye aye sir." [The senior man present is frequently called "Sir" even if enlisted.] Urshadi and the other marine remain fixed on the forward hatch.
"Oh no, no weapon is necessary. The role of helpless passenger is sufficient. The binding however does hinder the perception of that role, yes? No need to quibble Corporal, I hardly think I can injure any of you at this point, and with our engineering team destroyed" - he says this very casually - "there is little likelihood my previous companions have any way forward from here. I have no reason to continue with them and every reason to cooperate with you."
Alejandro Dominguez
"Actually SOP, or Standard Operating Procedure, would be for us to bind anyone that we are questioning. But I tell you what, a little <i>quid pro quo</i>, right?" Dom removed the man's binding.
"Remember, **** with me and my people and I will kill you."
Just Another Ref
"But of course. Rather expected of one." He rubs his wrists. "Very well. We are - they were - fourty-two. At least, that is what I was told, and it seemed to be true. Given the fiasco back here there should be thirty remaining at large. We passengers were all herded to the elevator well at the center of the ship where a handful of terrorists could keep track of us simultaneously. They were all still there when the assault on engineering began. This deck, forward of this hatch, passes through the aft lifeboat access. Forward of that is aft passenger country, opening out onto the middle of the elevator well. Above is the passenger promanade area, and below that is one more passenger deck. You can expect two terrorists on each deck of the elevator well at all times. They were sharp at first, but in my opinion they may be getting bored and careless by this time. The passengers are such a spineless lot, it really is very disappointing. Forward of the well are more passenger staterooms, then another lifeboat deck, and lastly crew country, with the bridge forward of that. You should find most of the rest of the terrorists in crew country and on the bridge, plotting their evil plans.
"There are four passageways on each stateroom deck, and the promenade deck is completely open. Before entering passenger country you can access any of the decks you like via the emergency access trunks on the lifeboat decks. I am not an expert in tactics, as you can see ...", he waves he hand around engineering, "... but I suppose you will want to transit the promenade deck and then work the elevator well from the top down. Having bravely saved the passengers and being in complete control of ship's systems you can then deal with the terrorists forward at leisure, yes?
"You may want to note that the bridge has indications of the open/shut status of every hatch on board. We must keep track of all the exploring children now.
"Any questions?
"Corporal I would love to accompany you on your adventure, but perhaps I should stay here and continue to fool the terrorist leader as to the status of engineering, yes? After all he will recognize my voice."
Through the glass you see the last of the injured and dead being carried through the access breach to Team Four's boat. The Chief Master at Arms is rounding up his remaining gunners. Chambless is lining up the remaining marines. Portola is among them, moving a little slow. Some of the liner's engineering crew are trying to repair damage, with some of your ship's engineering crew assisting.
Alejandro Dominguez
"Any VIP's? Any hostages being kept elsewhere? Why was this ship the target?"
After the man answered, Dominguez called for Hilde. "Private, get in here and cover this man. If he twitches the wrong way, I want you to drop him. Otherwise, he will be returned with the rest of the passengers on my order."
He turned to the man again. "Don't **** with me. I'll radio if I need anything more."
Dom headed out to receive Chambless' report on the status of his men. He'll also call over one of the engineering crew to find out if there is a way to shut down the hatch status indicators.
[Private to GM: Actually, maybe Dom will let the guy go, or maybe he'll kill one of Dom's Marines and escape. Maybe he goes on to commit more crimes or something. Maybe that's the cross Dom bears. Just another idea. ]
"****."
Weapon still pointing at the man's back, Dominguez addressed him. "Okay, so it looks like you're one of our gracious hosts. How many are you and how are you deployed. Don't **** with me on this. I will put a bullet in your head and no one here's gonna say it was anything other than justifiable."
[Private to GM: Oops, sorry about that. ]
Just Another Ref
[Private to Alejandro Dominguez: No problem. ]
The man turns and smiles. "Yes, I can most certainly cooperate with you and tell you all about us. Quid pro quo of course. I will be an innocent passenger and go freely on my merry way when this is all done." He speaks with smooth confidence, no hint of shame or fear, blood on his shoes and face. "I can definitely make it worth your while, now and later. Hundreds of innocent lives could be saved once again by the fearless Imperial Marines, not to mention how many of your own associates you will preserve. So many men down and missing already, you need all the help you can get. If you give the order, Corporal Dominguez, I know your companions here will follow it."
Urshadi maintains his orientation to the forward hatch, but Chambless' man is looking at the prisoner. Chambless slaps him in the helmet. "Cover!" "Yes PFC." The man reorients to his task.
Alejandro Dominguez
"Fine, but I don't make anything happen for you until the situation here is completely under control by my definition. Now spill it." Dominguez didn't ask the man if he agreed because he didn't want to give him the opportunity to do otherwise. He would get the information he needed one way or the other, this way would just be easier.
[Private to GM: Dom has every intention of ****ing this guy over just so you know. I was thinking about him actually ending up killing him, so it could be an example of the darker things he did while in the Corps, something he's still trying to cope with or find redemption for. Obviously the guy isn't an innocent, but it would still be murder. ]
Just Another Ref
"Excellent. Well then, first things first." He slides sideways to the engineering control panel and awkwardly activates the comm panel switch with an elbow.
"Blake, Prise. Done on upper level. Lower level should be taken momentarily and we should have everything on-line shortly."
Someone answers. "Alright, about time. Keep everything up, we still have some things to do."
Prise replies, "No problem." He toggles the switch. "Well Corporal, if you have me untied we can get to work." He extends his hands back, looking you in the eye.
Through the EOS glass you see Smith on deck with his gunner. He sees you through the glass and gives a thumb's up. You also see Portola leaning against some machinery, a slug-sized twisted hole in his armor's breastplate. Petty Officer Niles is working a tool in the hole, smoothing out the rough edges to restore Portola's freedom of movement. The marine winces as if he's bruised. His armor is shifting colors to match the machinery around him. Chief Socha and the MAA are supervising the evacuation of casualties to the remaining boat. Petty Officer Sorcha is sitting on the deck with a tool pack, your gauss rifle between her legs, attempting to fix it. She's shaking all over but is still able to work. Mostly. One of the gunners is helping her. Pataki is over to one side, looking over the hand laser used by the man you first shot.
Alejandro Dominguez
"Chambless, go see to the men. I want the crtically wounded and non-functionally wounded prepared for evac and put on the boat, which it looks like they're already doing. I want the functionally wounded and the rest prepped and counted. I need to know how many bodies I still have to work with."
Dom looked his own little weasel in the eyes. "What the **** do you need your hands for to tell me what I need to know? You don't actually think I'm gonna arm you and let you help do you?"
Just Another Ref
Chambless responds immediately. "Aye aye sir." [The senior man present is frequently called "Sir" even if enlisted.] Urshadi and the other marine remain fixed on the forward hatch.
"Oh no, no weapon is necessary. The role of helpless passenger is sufficient. The binding however does hinder the perception of that role, yes? No need to quibble Corporal, I hardly think I can injure any of you at this point, and with our engineering team destroyed" - he says this very casually - "there is little likelihood my previous companions have any way forward from here. I have no reason to continue with them and every reason to cooperate with you."
Alejandro Dominguez
"Actually SOP, or Standard Operating Procedure, would be for us to bind anyone that we are questioning. But I tell you what, a little <i>quid pro quo</i>, right?" Dom removed the man's binding.
"Remember, **** with me and my people and I will kill you."
Just Another Ref
"But of course. Rather expected of one." He rubs his wrists. "Very well. We are - they were - fourty-two. At least, that is what I was told, and it seemed to be true. Given the fiasco back here there should be thirty remaining at large. We passengers were all herded to the elevator well at the center of the ship where a handful of terrorists could keep track of us simultaneously. They were all still there when the assault on engineering began. This deck, forward of this hatch, passes through the aft lifeboat access. Forward of that is aft passenger country, opening out onto the middle of the elevator well. Above is the passenger promanade area, and below that is one more passenger deck. You can expect two terrorists on each deck of the elevator well at all times. They were sharp at first, but in my opinion they may be getting bored and careless by this time. The passengers are such a spineless lot, it really is very disappointing. Forward of the well are more passenger staterooms, then another lifeboat deck, and lastly crew country, with the bridge forward of that. You should find most of the rest of the terrorists in crew country and on the bridge, plotting their evil plans.
"There are four passageways on each stateroom deck, and the promenade deck is completely open. Before entering passenger country you can access any of the decks you like via the emergency access trunks on the lifeboat decks. I am not an expert in tactics, as you can see ...", he waves he hand around engineering, "... but I suppose you will want to transit the promenade deck and then work the elevator well from the top down. Having bravely saved the passengers and being in complete control of ship's systems you can then deal with the terrorists forward at leisure, yes?
"You may want to note that the bridge has indications of the open/shut status of every hatch on board. We must keep track of all the exploring children now.
"Any questions?
"Corporal I would love to accompany you on your adventure, but perhaps I should stay here and continue to fool the terrorist leader as to the status of engineering, yes? After all he will recognize my voice."
Through the glass you see the last of the injured and dead being carried through the access breach to Team Four's boat. The Chief Master at Arms is rounding up his remaining gunners. Chambless is lining up the remaining marines. Portola is among them, moving a little slow. Some of the liner's engineering crew are trying to repair damage, with some of your ship's engineering crew assisting.
Alejandro Dominguez
"Any VIP's? Any hostages being kept elsewhere? Why was this ship the target?"
After the man answered, Dominguez called for Hilde. "Private, get in here and cover this man. If he twitches the wrong way, I want you to drop him. Otherwise, he will be returned with the rest of the passengers on my order."
He turned to the man again. "Don't **** with me. I'll radio if I need anything more."
Dom headed out to receive Chambless' report on the status of his men. He'll also call over one of the engineering crew to find out if there is a way to shut down the hatch status indicators.
[Private to GM: Actually, maybe Dom will let the guy go, or maybe he'll kill one of Dom's Marines and escape. Maybe he goes on to commit more crimes or something. Maybe that's the cross Dom bears. Just another idea. ]
Just Another Ref
[Private to Alejandro Dominguez: Hard to tell what the future holds, no need to play to it. We'll see what consequences unfold.]
"This ship is full the upper class anyway. I do not think any one in particular is a target.
"Yes, some of the passengers are locked in their staterooms, mostly older women and some children.
"I was not briefed on the reasons for this particular ship. I suspect it was simply convenient."
[Engineer Hilde has been evacuated already, though she had to be dragged off. To guard Antoine Prise you have available another Davis's engineer, a remaining gunner's mate, or one of your support team (Chief Socha, Petty Officer Sorcha, Petty Officer Niles, Petty Officer Pataki).]
PFC Chambless reports. "The Gunny, one of my men, and my electrician have been evac-ed. Your man Portola has some cracked ribs but claims he can continue. Your electrician, Petty Officer Sorcha, seems unstable. We have eight uninjured marines, Portola, and six remaining gunner's mates. Except for our electricans our support teams are intact."
You hear the gunner's mate working with your electrician yell "TEST!" and fire your gauss weapon at the deck. A half-powered round slams the deckmetal and dents it. He makes and adjustment then moves to report to you while Sorcha gathers up her tools. "Weapon repaired sir."
Alejandro Dominguez
"Great, now can someone tell me if we can shut down the hatch indicator on the bridge somehow?"
Dom dragged his informant over to the gunner's mates. "I want you to guard this passenger. He's my guest until I say otherwise."
Dominguez turned to address his men. "Okay, listen up people. You have done good, so far, but I expected nothing less. The remaining gunner's mates will secure this position and hold it until I say otherwise or my team is wiped out, at which point you will board the remaining boat and launch. And you will take our passenger friend with you unless I say otherwise. My team will consist of the remaining Marines. We will attempt to achieve the mission objectives and take control of the ship."
"Now, I'm not gonna give you some bull**** about service to some cause greater than yourselves. The Op is now FUBAR, and I'm damn proud of the way you've handled yourselves so far. Now you all just keep that up, and you do this for yourselves. This is the culmanation of your training. This is your purpose. Do yourselves proud. Any questions."
Dom moved to pull Portola aside. "Listen, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but you don't have anything to prove. I won't force you to stay. The decision is yours. I just wanted to let you know that I won't think any less of you if you do stay."
Dom's top priority was now to find out about the hatch indicator.
Just Another Ref
The Chief Master at Arms looks at you, eyebrows raised, then glances sideways at Antoine. He nods, looking you in the eye while saying, "Corporal, I will take care of him personally." One of the gunners points at Antoine and says, "But ..." The Chief yanks the gunner back and says, "Since you're not busy, here's what I want you to do ..."
Portola says that this is the best cruise he's ever been on and that he's still good for some action. If he gets worse he'll pop the narcotic.
One of the remaining liner's engineers overhears your question regarding the hatch indication system. "It's a positive system, if you deenergize it it will indicate a problem in the bridge." Sorcha asks him, "Can we bypass it?" Half of her face is black and blue, and she looks unsteady. "What is your system here?" "Three phase ungrounded. Uh ... A and C for the hatches if I recall." "Lighting is single phase?" They talk technical for a minute, then Sorcha tells you, "I can bypass most of the indicators, probably all of them. It will take anywhere from one to five minutes for each one."
Chief Socha returns. "The other medic is returning with the load of casualties I'm staying the pilot says he'll be back shortly and will try to locate and direct our missing boat."
Alejandro Dominguez
"Good job people, we'll use that as our ace in the hole."
Dom approached Antoine, "You're gonna radio back and tell them that you're sending back a small team to sweep for anyone you might have missed. Got it?"
Just Another Ref
"No problem." Antoine finds another comm console and tries to not be heard by anyone else. Moving towards it he steps over one of his dead former companions and kicks aside the body's arm as if it were a pile of rags blocking his way. Watching him walk it occurs to you that the man is physically fit and graceful.
"Blake, Antoine."
"Yes."
"I will be sending Bucky and Sur to check the rest of the aft spaces for any die-hards. You may see some movement. Not that Cline did a bad job, I simply wish to be thorough. You know me."
"Fine, but I still see a maneuver drive off-line. Get that drive back soon."
"Will do."
Alejandro Dominguez
While Antoine stepped away, Dominguez spoke quietly to the Chief Master at Arms. "Chief, you be careful with this one."
Dom turned to address everyone. "Okay, I want radio silence unless we go hot again. Chief, we will radio if we engage the enemy. If everything goes quiet after that and you don't get an all clear from us, you pull anchor and our people out of here."
"Marines, form up!" Once his men looked ready, Dom gave the order for them to move out along the path that Antoine had described for him.
Just Another Ref
"No problem. And I'll keep my eye on him, don't worry."
[Which do you have up, your ACR or your repaired gauss rifle?]
You step forward of the engineering entry hatch, followed by Smith, Portola, and Urshadi, and then your support personnel. PFC Chambless leads the rest of his fire team.
You're on an evacuation deck, brightly lit with rubber decks and utilarian equipment. As you move forward you step on several expended flattened lead bullets. The deck is tracked with bloody footprints everywhere. To port and starboard at (J) are hatches with large glow-in-the-dark signs saying "Lifeboat" 1, 2, 3, etc. There are several large placards with instructions on how to respond to various emergency situations, all apparently written as if to ignorant civilians, along with various first aid kits and other such. It's all very orderly except for the blood, the bullet marks on the bulkheads, and the two bodies at (M). One is in orange coveralls, unarmed, shot in the back. The other is in black coveralls and polished shoes, an empty magazine on the deck next to him, in his right hand a 9mm locked back in the empty position, in his left a full magazine. At (Q) a well-dressed man, several bullet wounds on him, is slumped against the bulkhead.
As he passes, Petty Officer Pataki snatches up the 9mm and the full magazine. He seems to have lost the ACR he had earlier.
The hatches at K are labled "Main Stbd Aft Access" and "Main Port Aft Access". They appear to be main entry airlocks with all appropriate controls. The forward-most hatches 11, 12, 13, and 14 are all labled "Main Aft Passenger Staterooms". The ladders on the forward bulkhead at M lead up to hatches in the overhead labled "Promenade Deck" and down to hatches on the deck labled "Lower Aft Lifeboats".
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez held he gauss rifle with steady hands as the moved. His ACR was once again secured across his back. He had his men form up at hatch 13.
"Chambless, you pop the hatch, and then we'll storm the room. Let's move people."
[Private to Alejandro Dominguez: Hard to tell what the future holds, no need to play to it. We'll see what consequences unfold.]
"This ship is full the upper class anyway. I do not think any one in particular is a target.
"Yes, some of the passengers are locked in their staterooms, mostly older women and some children.
"I was not briefed on the reasons for this particular ship. I suspect it was simply convenient."
[Engineer Hilde has been evacuated already, though she had to be dragged off. To guard Antoine Prise you have available another Davis's engineer, a remaining gunner's mate, or one of your support team (Chief Socha, Petty Officer Sorcha, Petty Officer Niles, Petty Officer Pataki).]
PFC Chambless reports. "The Gunny, one of my men, and my electrician have been evac-ed. Your man Portola has some cracked ribs but claims he can continue. Your electrician, Petty Officer Sorcha, seems unstable. We have eight uninjured marines, Portola, and six remaining gunner's mates. Except for our electricans our support teams are intact."
You hear the gunner's mate working with your electrician yell "TEST!" and fire your gauss weapon at the deck. A half-powered round slams the deckmetal and dents it. He makes and adjustment then moves to report to you while Sorcha gathers up her tools. "Weapon repaired sir."
Alejandro Dominguez
"Great, now can someone tell me if we can shut down the hatch indicator on the bridge somehow?"
Dom dragged his informant over to the gunner's mates. "I want you to guard this passenger. He's my guest until I say otherwise."
Dominguez turned to address his men. "Okay, listen up people. You have done good, so far, but I expected nothing less. The remaining gunner's mates will secure this position and hold it until I say otherwise or my team is wiped out, at which point you will board the remaining boat and launch. And you will take our passenger friend with you unless I say otherwise. My team will consist of the remaining Marines. We will attempt to achieve the mission objectives and take control of the ship."
"Now, I'm not gonna give you some bull**** about service to some cause greater than yourselves. The Op is now FUBAR, and I'm damn proud of the way you've handled yourselves so far. Now you all just keep that up, and you do this for yourselves. This is the culmanation of your training. This is your purpose. Do yourselves proud. Any questions."
Dom moved to pull Portola aside. "Listen, I appreciate what you're trying to do, but you don't have anything to prove. I won't force you to stay. The decision is yours. I just wanted to let you know that I won't think any less of you if you do stay."
Dom's top priority was now to find out about the hatch indicator.
Just Another Ref
The Chief Master at Arms looks at you, eyebrows raised, then glances sideways at Antoine. He nods, looking you in the eye while saying, "Corporal, I will take care of him personally." One of the gunners points at Antoine and says, "But ..." The Chief yanks the gunner back and says, "Since you're not busy, here's what I want you to do ..."
Portola says that this is the best cruise he's ever been on and that he's still good for some action. If he gets worse he'll pop the narcotic.
One of the remaining liner's engineers overhears your question regarding the hatch indication system. "It's a positive system, if you deenergize it it will indicate a problem in the bridge." Sorcha asks him, "Can we bypass it?" Half of her face is black and blue, and she looks unsteady. "What is your system here?" "Three phase ungrounded. Uh ... A and C for the hatches if I recall." "Lighting is single phase?" They talk technical for a minute, then Sorcha tells you, "I can bypass most of the indicators, probably all of them. It will take anywhere from one to five minutes for each one."
Chief Socha returns. "The other medic is returning with the load of casualties I'm staying the pilot says he'll be back shortly and will try to locate and direct our missing boat."
Alejandro Dominguez
"Good job people, we'll use that as our ace in the hole."
Dom approached Antoine, "You're gonna radio back and tell them that you're sending back a small team to sweep for anyone you might have missed. Got it?"
Just Another Ref
"No problem." Antoine finds another comm console and tries to not be heard by anyone else. Moving towards it he steps over one of his dead former companions and kicks aside the body's arm as if it were a pile of rags blocking his way. Watching him walk it occurs to you that the man is physically fit and graceful.
"Blake, Antoine."
"Yes."
"I will be sending Bucky and Sur to check the rest of the aft spaces for any die-hards. You may see some movement. Not that Cline did a bad job, I simply wish to be thorough. You know me."
"Fine, but I still see a maneuver drive off-line. Get that drive back soon."
"Will do."
Alejandro Dominguez
While Antoine stepped away, Dominguez spoke quietly to the Chief Master at Arms. "Chief, you be careful with this one."
Dom turned to address everyone. "Okay, I want radio silence unless we go hot again. Chief, we will radio if we engage the enemy. If everything goes quiet after that and you don't get an all clear from us, you pull anchor and our people out of here."
"Marines, form up!" Once his men looked ready, Dom gave the order for them to move out along the path that Antoine had described for him.
Just Another Ref
"No problem. And I'll keep my eye on him, don't worry."
[Which do you have up, your ACR or your repaired gauss rifle?]
You step forward of the engineering entry hatch, followed by Smith, Portola, and Urshadi, and then your support personnel. PFC Chambless leads the rest of his fire team.
You're on an evacuation deck, brightly lit with rubber decks and utilarian equipment. As you move forward you step on several expended flattened lead bullets. The deck is tracked with bloody footprints everywhere. To port and starboard at (J) are hatches with large glow-in-the-dark signs saying "Lifeboat" 1, 2, 3, etc. There are several large placards with instructions on how to respond to various emergency situations, all apparently written as if to ignorant civilians, along with various first aid kits and other such. It's all very orderly except for the blood, the bullet marks on the bulkheads, and the two bodies at (M). One is in orange coveralls, unarmed, shot in the back. The other is in black coveralls and polished shoes, an empty magazine on the deck next to him, in his right hand a 9mm locked back in the empty position, in his left a full magazine. At (Q) a well-dressed man, several bullet wounds on him, is slumped against the bulkhead.
As he passes, Petty Officer Pataki snatches up the 9mm and the full magazine. He seems to have lost the ACR he had earlier.
The hatches at K are labled "Main Stbd Aft Access" and "Main Port Aft Access". They appear to be main entry airlocks with all appropriate controls. The forward-most hatches 11, 12, 13, and 14 are all labled "Main Aft Passenger Staterooms". The ladders on the forward bulkhead at M lead up to hatches in the overhead labled "Promenade Deck" and down to hatches on the deck labled "Lower Aft Lifeboats".
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez held he gauss rifle with steady hands as the moved. His ACR was once again secured across his back. He had his men form up at hatch 13.
"Chambless, you pop the hatch, and then we'll storm the room. Let's move people."
Just Another Ref
PFC Chambless lines up his team behind him on the forward bulkhead, leaving room for yours on the aft. He pops the hatch and you charge through.
Lowered lighting. Fine carpet. A drop ceiling conceals the overhead piping. Brass fittings on all the doors. To your right is a laundry washing machine, to your left a standard sliding door labled "Supplies". The entire passageway is lined with standard sliding doors, each with a number that starts with 13 and is followed by two other numbers. Way ahead of you the iris valve is open. Through it you see ... two kids, sitting on the deck, playing some kind of hand game. An adult sits on the deck behind them, leaning against a railing, either dead or asleep. There seems to be a large open space behind them.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez raised his hand, issuing the order for his men to remain where they were. He inched forward.
He tried whispering to the kids to get their attention. "Psst. Hey, you guys okay?"
Just Another Ref
[I dunno man, that's a heck of a long way to inch!]
As you approach the space you hear coughing and the other small movements of a large number of silent people. A few children are crying. There is much air movement here. You can see it on people's clothing though you can't feel it through your armor. The overhead is well-lit, as if by sunlight, and you feel as if the upper deck is open to atmosphere. The space rises high above you, and past the railing it drops away beneath you. The walkway about the well is crammed with people, most of whom are dressed very well though some are in night clothing. Most are dozing fitfully. There is a slight open space between the inner and outer ring of people, as if they are maintaining a walkway. You remain aft of the iris valve.
(R) is where the two girls are. (S) is the railing. (T) is a ladder going down through a hole in the walkway, presumably down to the next deck. (U) is an open space. (X) are single seats, all occupied, mostly by women. (W) are planter boxes with live plants.
A bird - holographic, but very high quality - lands on the railing next to the girls. One holds out her hand and the bird hops onto it, moving and reacting just like a real bird.
Your call startles the girls, and the bird flies away. One of them backs away, crawling, staring at you. The other looks at you with big eyes and starts to cry quietly. "You killed the master-at-arms and took his armor."
At this one of the adults leaning on the railing opens his eyes. He's wearing black pants and a white coat, and a patch on his coat says "Chief Purser". He looks at your armor, your name, and then you, with hard eyes, right through your visor. For a second you feel like a boot back in basic.
He turns his eyes away from you, sits up slowly and speaks quietly and pleasantly. "Girls, come here. Come here, that's right. How would you like me to show you a new handgame? My sisters used to play it, and I think I can remember it. You know how boys are, maybe you can help me?" He gathers them in front of himself and begins showing them the hand-game. While he's doing that he also hand-signals you between the game motions. Many civilians, two bad guys this deck, two bad guys below, two bad guys above, strong weapons, go back, go up, come forward, bad guys careless, I wait. The man signs easily as if it is second nature to him.
The man behind the girls comes awake and sees you. He boggles, sits up, and rubs his eyes. "Huh, what ... ?"
Alejandro Dominguez
[Private to GM: Doh, the last picture didn't show that, so I was kind of flying blind. Sorry. ]
Dominguez pointed at the man, alerting Chief Purser to him, and then moved his finger to cover his lips signaling for him to be quiet. Slowly Dom backed off. If the man didn't raise the alarm, Dom would eventually turn and make his way back to his men.
If he didn't raise the alarm, all hell was about to break loose. Dom was prepared for that possibility, so he set his mind to preparing for the alternative. He would gather up his man and do as Chief Purser had instructed. They would make their way back out, then up, and finally begin their assualt on the upper level as the Chief had indicated.
Just Another Ref
[Private to Alejandro Dominguez: My fault, I screwed up. Sorry. ]
"Sir, I was just showing your girls here a game." The Purser winks. The man looks nervous, but moves towards his daughters and the purser. He keeps glancing at you. You eventually return.
Back in the lifeboat deck there are two hatches, port and starboard at (M), going up and down. Which do you choose?
PFC Chambless lines up his team behind him on the forward bulkhead, leaving room for yours on the aft. He pops the hatch and you charge through.
Lowered lighting. Fine carpet. A drop ceiling conceals the overhead piping. Brass fittings on all the doors. To your right is a laundry washing machine, to your left a standard sliding door labled "Supplies". The entire passageway is lined with standard sliding doors, each with a number that starts with 13 and is followed by two other numbers. Way ahead of you the iris valve is open. Through it you see ... two kids, sitting on the deck, playing some kind of hand game. An adult sits on the deck behind them, leaning against a railing, either dead or asleep. There seems to be a large open space behind them.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez raised his hand, issuing the order for his men to remain where they were. He inched forward.
He tried whispering to the kids to get their attention. "Psst. Hey, you guys okay?"
Just Another Ref
[I dunno man, that's a heck of a long way to inch!]
As you approach the space you hear coughing and the other small movements of a large number of silent people. A few children are crying. There is much air movement here. You can see it on people's clothing though you can't feel it through your armor. The overhead is well-lit, as if by sunlight, and you feel as if the upper deck is open to atmosphere. The space rises high above you, and past the railing it drops away beneath you. The walkway about the well is crammed with people, most of whom are dressed very well though some are in night clothing. Most are dozing fitfully. There is a slight open space between the inner and outer ring of people, as if they are maintaining a walkway. You remain aft of the iris valve.
(R) is where the two girls are. (S) is the railing. (T) is a ladder going down through a hole in the walkway, presumably down to the next deck. (U) is an open space. (X) are single seats, all occupied, mostly by women. (W) are planter boxes with live plants.
A bird - holographic, but very high quality - lands on the railing next to the girls. One holds out her hand and the bird hops onto it, moving and reacting just like a real bird.
Your call startles the girls, and the bird flies away. One of them backs away, crawling, staring at you. The other looks at you with big eyes and starts to cry quietly. "You killed the master-at-arms and took his armor."
At this one of the adults leaning on the railing opens his eyes. He's wearing black pants and a white coat, and a patch on his coat says "Chief Purser". He looks at your armor, your name, and then you, with hard eyes, right through your visor. For a second you feel like a boot back in basic.
He turns his eyes away from you, sits up slowly and speaks quietly and pleasantly. "Girls, come here. Come here, that's right. How would you like me to show you a new handgame? My sisters used to play it, and I think I can remember it. You know how boys are, maybe you can help me?" He gathers them in front of himself and begins showing them the hand-game. While he's doing that he also hand-signals you between the game motions. Many civilians, two bad guys this deck, two bad guys below, two bad guys above, strong weapons, go back, go up, come forward, bad guys careless, I wait. The man signs easily as if it is second nature to him.
The man behind the girls comes awake and sees you. He boggles, sits up, and rubs his eyes. "Huh, what ... ?"
Alejandro Dominguez
[Private to GM: Doh, the last picture didn't show that, so I was kind of flying blind. Sorry. ]
Dominguez pointed at the man, alerting Chief Purser to him, and then moved his finger to cover his lips signaling for him to be quiet. Slowly Dom backed off. If the man didn't raise the alarm, Dom would eventually turn and make his way back to his men.
If he didn't raise the alarm, all hell was about to break loose. Dom was prepared for that possibility, so he set his mind to preparing for the alternative. He would gather up his man and do as Chief Purser had instructed. They would make their way back out, then up, and finally begin their assualt on the upper level as the Chief had indicated.
Just Another Ref
[Private to Alejandro Dominguez: My fault, I screwed up. Sorry. ]
"Sir, I was just showing your girls here a game." The Purser winks. The man looks nervous, but moves towards his daughters and the purser. He keeps glancing at you. You eventually return.
Back in the lifeboat deck there are two hatches, port and starboard at (M), going up and down. Which do you choose?
Alejandro Dominguez
[Private to GM: I'm not too sure on the whole aft and starboard deal. Dom will choose the one that is closest to Hatch 13. ]
"Okay, people, let's try to keep the civilian casualities as low as possible."
Just Another Ref
[Private to Alejandro Dominguez: Starboard is right, port is left. ]
You pop the starboard emergency access trunk hatch, at (Y), and are immediately greeted by a tremendous commotion and many flashing lights. Forward you see theatre seats, and to starboard you see a stage (Z). The stage and the area in front of it are filled with dancing human shapes in various poses and actions. After a moment you realize that they are holographs, and it's a combination ⌧ and light show. High quality. It's dark and hard to see anything but the laser light projections. The show extends to the overhead with the space seemingly extending high above and filled with many obscene forms pulsing and maneuvering to the overwhelming sound of the music. You can't make out the back of the theatre.
Slightly more real-looking are two well-dressed people sitting at (A) where it is brightest, an older man and a young girl. He is in a tuxedo, she in a long dress. He is trying to kiss her but she is fighting him. He pulls back and slaps her across the head with something, and she falls to the carpet in front of the stage. He yells something to her, not angrily, but you can't hear it in all the other noise.
Alejandro Dominguez
Good, if Dom couldn't hear them, than chances are they could hear him. Dominguez signaled for his men to hold position and to watch him. They'd know what to do if things started to go bad. Dom quickly moved to close with the asshole in the tux, his approach hopefully covered by the entertainment.
He tried to get as close as possible without being seen before saying, "Don't move, asshole." Dom tried to arrange an angle so that he could fire with out hitting the girl.
Just Another Ref
Smith moves up the ladder behind you.
As you step forward the entertainment program becomes aware of you and some kind of half-dressed half-woman half-cat thing begins dancing in front of you, looking you in the eye. Her projection is better oriented to your sight and she appears somewhat more substantial than before, partially interfering with your line-of-sight to the man.
He notices the change in the display, and the white light coming up from the open hatch. He finally sees you. His voice rises dimly above the driving music. "Hey, you got the armor. Good .... " He seems to look at you more closely, at your raised weapon and the chevrons on your arm. He suddenly turns to run, pointing his arm at you and firing. A laser shines out from it, aimed wildly. The laser light confuses the entertainment system and the entire show momentarily shatters into thousands of uncoordinated shapes and colors moving in unpredictable directions. You can't see anything.
Alejandro Dominguez
As reality shattered around him Dominguez squeezed off a shot that was aimed a little ahead of where he had seen the man last hoping to lead just enough. After that he fell to the floor and scrambled for cover.
As reality began to resort itself, Dom began issuing orders, "Portola, secure the girl and shut off the system, the rest of you with me."
Dom took off after the man, knowing his Marines would soon be right behind him. "Be aware. There are at least two hostiles on each level."
Just Another Ref
The disruption clears and the dancers reappear. Maneuvering to the other side of the theatre seats you see the man laying on the deck at (B), dead. You hit him square. Beyond him in the theatre wall is a ragged hole from the round as it continued on its way.
Chief Socha, the medic, is tending the girl, who does not seem to be seriously hurt. Portola is scrabbling around at the control console (C) forward of the stage. He finds the controls and shuts down the show. The noise ceases and normal lighting comes on.
(D), (E), (F), (G) are swing doors out of the theatre.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dom went and kneeled by the girl. "I'm sorry miss, but we have to go now. We are going to go and try and take out the hostiles that are holding most of the hostiles. I will send someone for you when we have succeeded."
Dom didn't bother asking her for information. If she wasn't in shock, she would volunteer anything useful on her own.
Dom talked just loud enough for his men to hear him. "Okay, I want simultaneous entries on these three doors." He indicated the doors (E, F, & G).
"On my mark." He waited for everyone to take up a ready position.
"Mark."
Just Another Ref
"Uh ... I'll ... just wait here then."
Your teams thunder through the doors, you at (E). You find yourselves in a hallway. To port where the hallway opens up is what appears to be an eating area with restaurant-style booths. You don't presently see anyone else but your teams.
You can procede into the dining area, or through the doors forward of the hallway.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez signaled for his men to hold position and edged his way to the corner so that he could get a better view of the eating area.
Just Another Ref
You lean out at (H).
The dining area is nice, gold trim on red leather, silver table settings. The overhead appears to reach high into a holographic open-air environment. The far port bulkhead has a large ship's logo on it, gold planet with a gold swirl around it on a red background. On either side of this are various scenic 3D graphics, many of them moving. Some of them show internal views of a ship, presumably this one. Glancing at them it occurs to you that they are probably interactive. One appears to be shattered, probably by a shotgun.
At (M) are two bodies, men, dressed in black pants and white coats with the ship's logo patch on their right breast pocket. At (L) is another body, a man in dress blues with gold braid on his cuffs. An officer.
At (J) you notice several men, all well-dressed, most with weapons of one kind or another slung across their backs or hung on their belts. They are all carrying cartons of food from the kitchen, and are walking towards and through the open iris valve at (K). Before the iris valve closes behind them you think you see a large number of faces in the space beyond.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez ordered his men to take firing positions with eyes on the iris (K) before making his way to the 3D representations of the ships. He wondered what the chances were of them being live representations, actually capable of showing where people are real-time. Regardless, he wanted to get an idea of the layout ahead so that he could properly organize the assault.
[Private to GM: I'm not too sure on the whole aft and starboard deal. Dom will choose the one that is closest to Hatch 13. ]
"Okay, people, let's try to keep the civilian casualities as low as possible."
Just Another Ref
[Private to Alejandro Dominguez: Starboard is right, port is left. ]
You pop the starboard emergency access trunk hatch, at (Y), and are immediately greeted by a tremendous commotion and many flashing lights. Forward you see theatre seats, and to starboard you see a stage (Z). The stage and the area in front of it are filled with dancing human shapes in various poses and actions. After a moment you realize that they are holographs, and it's a combination ⌧ and light show. High quality. It's dark and hard to see anything but the laser light projections. The show extends to the overhead with the space seemingly extending high above and filled with many obscene forms pulsing and maneuvering to the overwhelming sound of the music. You can't make out the back of the theatre.
Slightly more real-looking are two well-dressed people sitting at (A) where it is brightest, an older man and a young girl. He is in a tuxedo, she in a long dress. He is trying to kiss her but she is fighting him. He pulls back and slaps her across the head with something, and she falls to the carpet in front of the stage. He yells something to her, not angrily, but you can't hear it in all the other noise.
Alejandro Dominguez
Good, if Dom couldn't hear them, than chances are they could hear him. Dominguez signaled for his men to hold position and to watch him. They'd know what to do if things started to go bad. Dom quickly moved to close with the asshole in the tux, his approach hopefully covered by the entertainment.
He tried to get as close as possible without being seen before saying, "Don't move, asshole." Dom tried to arrange an angle so that he could fire with out hitting the girl.
Just Another Ref
Smith moves up the ladder behind you.
As you step forward the entertainment program becomes aware of you and some kind of half-dressed half-woman half-cat thing begins dancing in front of you, looking you in the eye. Her projection is better oriented to your sight and she appears somewhat more substantial than before, partially interfering with your line-of-sight to the man.
He notices the change in the display, and the white light coming up from the open hatch. He finally sees you. His voice rises dimly above the driving music. "Hey, you got the armor. Good .... " He seems to look at you more closely, at your raised weapon and the chevrons on your arm. He suddenly turns to run, pointing his arm at you and firing. A laser shines out from it, aimed wildly. The laser light confuses the entertainment system and the entire show momentarily shatters into thousands of uncoordinated shapes and colors moving in unpredictable directions. You can't see anything.
Alejandro Dominguez
As reality shattered around him Dominguez squeezed off a shot that was aimed a little ahead of where he had seen the man last hoping to lead just enough. After that he fell to the floor and scrambled for cover.
As reality began to resort itself, Dom began issuing orders, "Portola, secure the girl and shut off the system, the rest of you with me."
Dom took off after the man, knowing his Marines would soon be right behind him. "Be aware. There are at least two hostiles on each level."
Just Another Ref
The disruption clears and the dancers reappear. Maneuvering to the other side of the theatre seats you see the man laying on the deck at (B), dead. You hit him square. Beyond him in the theatre wall is a ragged hole from the round as it continued on its way.
Chief Socha, the medic, is tending the girl, who does not seem to be seriously hurt. Portola is scrabbling around at the control console (C) forward of the stage. He finds the controls and shuts down the show. The noise ceases and normal lighting comes on.
(D), (E), (F), (G) are swing doors out of the theatre.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dom went and kneeled by the girl. "I'm sorry miss, but we have to go now. We are going to go and try and take out the hostiles that are holding most of the hostiles. I will send someone for you when we have succeeded."
Dom didn't bother asking her for information. If she wasn't in shock, she would volunteer anything useful on her own.
Dom talked just loud enough for his men to hear him. "Okay, I want simultaneous entries on these three doors." He indicated the doors (E, F, & G).
"On my mark." He waited for everyone to take up a ready position.
"Mark."
Just Another Ref
"Uh ... I'll ... just wait here then."
Your teams thunder through the doors, you at (E). You find yourselves in a hallway. To port where the hallway opens up is what appears to be an eating area with restaurant-style booths. You don't presently see anyone else but your teams.
You can procede into the dining area, or through the doors forward of the hallway.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez signaled for his men to hold position and edged his way to the corner so that he could get a better view of the eating area.
Just Another Ref
You lean out at (H).
The dining area is nice, gold trim on red leather, silver table settings. The overhead appears to reach high into a holographic open-air environment. The far port bulkhead has a large ship's logo on it, gold planet with a gold swirl around it on a red background. On either side of this are various scenic 3D graphics, many of them moving. Some of them show internal views of a ship, presumably this one. Glancing at them it occurs to you that they are probably interactive. One appears to be shattered, probably by a shotgun.
At (M) are two bodies, men, dressed in black pants and white coats with the ship's logo patch on their right breast pocket. At (L) is another body, a man in dress blues with gold braid on his cuffs. An officer.
At (J) you notice several men, all well-dressed, most with weapons of one kind or another slung across their backs or hung on their belts. They are all carrying cartons of food from the kitchen, and are walking towards and through the open iris valve at (K). Before the iris valve closes behind them you think you see a large number of faces in the space beyond.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez ordered his men to take firing positions with eyes on the iris (K) before making his way to the 3D representations of the ships. He wondered what the chances were of them being live representations, actually capable of showing where people are real-time. Regardless, he wanted to get an idea of the layout ahead so that he could properly organize the assault.
Just Another Ref
Your teams take imprompteu positions as directed.
You walk up to an image and run your hand across the lower edge of the screen. A menu appears on the right. You spot a "Ship" selection, and activate it. Another menu comes up: Forward, Aft, Port, Starboard, Bridge, Well 1, Well 2, Well 3. Selecting Bridge you suddenly view a ship's command center with four men. They appear to be well-dressed passengers, and are armed. Beyond them a man in dress-blues lies on the deck, dead. One of the men gives another an order, and he nods and moves off-screen. There is no sound.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez sets himself to finding the room that the iris (K) opens up to.
Just Another Ref
You spend a couple of minutes cycling through the ship displays. It's definitely realtime. The well images are the elevator well, and there are at least two hundred passengers sitting on the chairs, concourses, and deck. You can't tell from the display where the bridge is in relation to the rest of the images, but the elevator well seems to be just on the other side of (K).
(AA) is a large open area through the first and second decks, such that one can see from the first deck to the third deck. A railing lines the open space. (BB) are the open cage elevators, back to back, apparently made of brass. (FF) are the concourses around the open area. (DD) are ladders going from the first to the second decks, while (EE) are ladders going from the second to the third decks. The third deck seems to be a kiddie play area, and there's at least a dozen children here along with many adults. (HH) are large kiddie climbing toys. The cabinets in the concourses appear to be damage control equipment lockers. (3) seems to be an electrical load center, labeled "3". You see the chief steward you met earlier on the second deck, at (S). The man who woke up had pulled his daughters to him and is arguing with the chief steward as quietly as he can. All the other passengers seem resigned or weakly restless.
(GG) are the only armed men you see. They seem to be standing over the others. The ones on the second deck are talking with each other. There only seems to be one on the first deck.
The port and starboard bulkheads are lined with graphic representations of what seems to be a large open building, with a city beyond. The whole view is quite beautiful.
All the iris valves are shut.
[If anything is unclear or you have any questions just ask.]
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez quickly surveyed the scene before him. Everything depended on speed.
"Portola, pick a buddy." Dom waited. "Okay, you two will stay here until we have this area cleared. I want real time updates as to what the bad guys are doing and where they are. When I give the all clear, I want you to go back to the theater, collect the girl, and then meet up with me."
"Chambless, we're gonna split into two fire teams, alpha and bravo. We will assault this deck together. Each team will leave a man behind to secure the deck and see that the passangers don't get out of hand. Then we will drop down this ladder." Dom indicates the ladder (DD) immediately beside the two hostiles on the next deck.
"As you can see, we're gonna be right on top of some bad guys. Once they're neutralized, we'll drop two more men. You and bravo will take the ladder at starboard, and alpha and I will take the one at port." Dom indicates the two ladders (EE).
"Then we'll engage the two remaining hostiles."
"Any questions or suggestions?" If not, Dom would prepare to launch his assault as planned. No plan lasts past initial contact. Dom prepared himself for the inevitable.
Just Another Ref
Portola picks Urshadi. "Will do."
PFC Chambless quickly looks at the displays. "If we enter simultaneously at (K) and (JJ) we can catch this man in a crossfire. Our backpack lasers could maneuver quickly to here [points at (KK) on the first deck] to enable them to snipe down at the men on the second and third decks as necessary in case we're slow or things go bad."
If you accept this he adds, "With your two men here and the two lasers on first deck you have no-one left. Roach!" "Yes PFC." "You work for Corporal Dominguez now until he says otherwise." The man looks at you and says, "Sir."
Alejandro Dominguez
"It's Corporal, not sir. Sounds good, let's go with those changes."
"Okay, people, listen up." Dom relayed the plan and incorporated Chambless' changes.
"Speed is the key. Let's get this over quickly. I don't want any casualities, so watch your ass. Let's go." Dom waited for the two fire teams to stack at the doors for the simultaneous entries, and then gave them a green light.
Your teams take imprompteu positions as directed.
You walk up to an image and run your hand across the lower edge of the screen. A menu appears on the right. You spot a "Ship" selection, and activate it. Another menu comes up: Forward, Aft, Port, Starboard, Bridge, Well 1, Well 2, Well 3. Selecting Bridge you suddenly view a ship's command center with four men. They appear to be well-dressed passengers, and are armed. Beyond them a man in dress-blues lies on the deck, dead. One of the men gives another an order, and he nods and moves off-screen. There is no sound.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez sets himself to finding the room that the iris (K) opens up to.
Just Another Ref
You spend a couple of minutes cycling through the ship displays. It's definitely realtime. The well images are the elevator well, and there are at least two hundred passengers sitting on the chairs, concourses, and deck. You can't tell from the display where the bridge is in relation to the rest of the images, but the elevator well seems to be just on the other side of (K).
(AA) is a large open area through the first and second decks, such that one can see from the first deck to the third deck. A railing lines the open space. (BB) are the open cage elevators, back to back, apparently made of brass. (FF) are the concourses around the open area. (DD) are ladders going from the first to the second decks, while (EE) are ladders going from the second to the third decks. The third deck seems to be a kiddie play area, and there's at least a dozen children here along with many adults. (HH) are large kiddie climbing toys. The cabinets in the concourses appear to be damage control equipment lockers. (3) seems to be an electrical load center, labeled "3". You see the chief steward you met earlier on the second deck, at (S). The man who woke up had pulled his daughters to him and is arguing with the chief steward as quietly as he can. All the other passengers seem resigned or weakly restless.
(GG) are the only armed men you see. They seem to be standing over the others. The ones on the second deck are talking with each other. There only seems to be one on the first deck.
The port and starboard bulkheads are lined with graphic representations of what seems to be a large open building, with a city beyond. The whole view is quite beautiful.
All the iris valves are shut.
[If anything is unclear or you have any questions just ask.]
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez quickly surveyed the scene before him. Everything depended on speed.
"Portola, pick a buddy." Dom waited. "Okay, you two will stay here until we have this area cleared. I want real time updates as to what the bad guys are doing and where they are. When I give the all clear, I want you to go back to the theater, collect the girl, and then meet up with me."
"Chambless, we're gonna split into two fire teams, alpha and bravo. We will assault this deck together. Each team will leave a man behind to secure the deck and see that the passangers don't get out of hand. Then we will drop down this ladder." Dom indicates the ladder (DD) immediately beside the two hostiles on the next deck.
"As you can see, we're gonna be right on top of some bad guys. Once they're neutralized, we'll drop two more men. You and bravo will take the ladder at starboard, and alpha and I will take the one at port." Dom indicates the two ladders (EE).
"Then we'll engage the two remaining hostiles."
"Any questions or suggestions?" If not, Dom would prepare to launch his assault as planned. No plan lasts past initial contact. Dom prepared himself for the inevitable.
Just Another Ref
Portola picks Urshadi. "Will do."
PFC Chambless quickly looks at the displays. "If we enter simultaneously at (K) and (JJ) we can catch this man in a crossfire. Our backpack lasers could maneuver quickly to here [points at (KK) on the first deck] to enable them to snipe down at the men on the second and third decks as necessary in case we're slow or things go bad."
If you accept this he adds, "With your two men here and the two lasers on first deck you have no-one left. Roach!" "Yes PFC." "You work for Corporal Dominguez now until he says otherwise." The man looks at you and says, "Sir."
Alejandro Dominguez
"It's Corporal, not sir. Sounds good, let's go with those changes."
"Okay, people, listen up." Dom relayed the plan and incorporated Chambless' changes.
"Speed is the key. Let's get this over quickly. I don't want any casualities, so watch your ass. Let's go." Dom waited for the two fire teams to stack at the doors for the simultaneous entries, and then gave them a green light.
Just Another Ref
[Private to Alejandro Dominguez: He called you sir because you are the senior man on the scene. I had thought to add this little military protocol quirk just for a bit of game color. ]
You line up at (K) with Smith behind you and Roach behind him. Chambless lines up at (JJ), his man with a crossbow leading and his laser backpack man in the rear. Your support people are behind you all.
Just before you move you hear Portola report over comms, "One bad guy on second deck walking away, to starboard [the right]."
You signal to advance. You and Chambless' man actuate the iris valves simultaneously and step in.
The man at (GG) has moved slightly. He turns to (JJ) not expecting trouble, and freezes. The crossbow bolt hits him squarely in the center of the upper chest and rips a terrible hole in him. In a great display of will he raises his weapon, another hand laser, and actuates it. The slug from your gauss weapon slams him back against the elevator safety screen, continuing through him and ricocheting in the elevator cages noisily. He falls flat against the deck.
Your repaired gauss weapon did not feel or sound right with that last shot. Dozens of passengers are staring openmouthed at you. You glance at the crossbowman and Chambless - they have smoking burn tracks across their armor, but they seem to be moving. Smith and the other backpack laserman rapidly move out, swinging around the port and starboard concourses to reach the (KK) points. Smith trips over a teenager scrambling to get out of his way and falls hard on the deck, scattering the pieces to some kind of board game everywhere. He shoves himself back up and continues on. You and Roach move to the port (DD) ladder, while Chambless and his crossbowman are running for the starboard (DD) ladder.
Someone below is calling up. "Kiika?" Some of the passengers are starting to say, "Marines!"
Alejandro Dominguez
[Private to Just Another Ref: Sorry, it's always been my experience that enlisted men are referred to by their rank, regardless of situation, and that Sir is reserved for officers. No worries either way. ]
Dominguez quickly stowed his gauss and replaced it with his ACR. He signalled for the passengers to stay down, but he didn't really expect them to obey. They would probably soon panic, just making his life harder. He moved to execute the next stage of the plan.
Just Another Ref
Roach follows your lead trying to signal the passengers to silence. You reach the port (DD). Glancing down to second deck you do not see the pair of terrorists, and you immediatly slide down the ladder and turn, stepping out of the ladder cage and orienting your ACR. One target is frantically running away from you, towards the forward port iris valve, surrounded by startled passengers. You hear gunfire and screaming near the starboard (DD), a seeming large commotion. Your target running forward is yelling, "Armor armor!" He has his firearm pointed in your general direction and fires wildly. The round slams your shoulder and jerks you back, and you involuntarily fire your weapon. Several rounds fly in his direction and seem to involve some passengers. At the open gunfire all the passengers yell or scream, but most duck down. A green light shines in your HUD indicating armor integrity still good. Roach is dropping down the ladder.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez cleared the way so that Roach could take care of the hostile shooting at them. Dom aimed his ACR at the fleeing hostile and fired. The last thing he needed was to let someone get away.
Just Another Ref
There is gunfire and great activity at second deck (GG2). The target who shot at you is at (GG1) and is running for the port forward iris valve. You aim and fire, and several rounds drop him. You notice Smith, your backpack laser man, up on first deck above you at the (KK) point, trying to aim at something on the third deck below you, but he doesn't seem to be able to get the shot.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominuez signalled for Roach to head towards the commotion (GG2). Dom hazarded a look over the railing to see what Smith was trying to shoot at and to see if he had a better angle.
Just Another Ref
Roach heads starboard.
Looking over the railing you see lots of terrified children and parents running around. One of the terrorists is moving forward towards the port iris valve leading while holding up a child one-handed to shield himself from Smith's laser. The child is struggling and is all over him.
The ladder to the third deck is right ahead of you and is clear, at least on this deck. The third deck is fifteen feet below the railing you are looking over. The terrorist has a shotgun, ammo unknown. You do not see the other terrorist on third deck. The struggle to starboard on second deck seems to be winding down.
Alejandro Dominguez
Mentally, Dominguez surveyed his options. He couldn't let that terrorist get away. He couldn't afford to. At the same time he didn't have a clear shot.
Dom braced himself and dropped down to the next deck, preparing to roll as he hit, hoping to ease some of the impact. He immediately tried to catch up to the terrorist.
Just Another Ref
You manage to find a clear spot and jump. You hit the deck hard and are forced to roll, unfortunately knocking down a woman who falls on top of you. The hijacker ahead of you hears you hit, jerks around, and sees you climbing to your knees. He hurls at you the child he is carrying and the kid lands on your weapon as you try to raise it. He raises his own at you.
Smith's laser hits the hijacker's weapon. The explosive round in the chamber cooks off and detonates, breaking the gun and sending shrapnel everywhere. The hijacker staggers, stunned.
You lift you weapon with the child on it and fire. His clothing jams the weapon's operation so you only get one shot, but the single round hits the hijacker and throws him down.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez forced the child to the side, attempting to clear his weapon. If he couldn't get it clear fast enough, he'd risk using the gauss again. Either way, he needed to make sure the bad guy he had just dropped was down for the count. And once that was done he needed to ensure the rest of the deck was clear.
Just Another Ref
You hear an ACR being fired somewhere to starboard (the right). Portola reports that he and Urshadi are coming forward. You unjam your weapon and survey the hijacker you shot. He's not getting up again. You move to starboard and see PFC Chambless hanging upside down by his foot from the railing between second and third deck, his ACR pointed forward. The chief steward and some women are trying to help him down. While dangling Chambless reports by radio that the remaining hijacker has escaped forward through the third deck starboard passageway (ZZ) but that he thinks he hit him. Roach leaps down from second to third deck, rolling and exclaiming as he hits the hard metal.
Orientation: You have Portola and Urshadi moving forward onto the first deck. Smith and the other laserman are still on first deck. The second deck has no troops on it. You and Roach, and Chambless when he gets down, are on the third.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez radioed his team. "Portola, Urshadi, second deck. Roach, you're with me. Chambless get this area secured."
Dom moved to follow the wounded hijacker through the passageway (ZZ), he hoped they could catch him before he could find any friends.
[Private to Alejandro Dominguez: He called you sir because you are the senior man on the scene. I had thought to add this little military protocol quirk just for a bit of game color. ]
You line up at (K) with Smith behind you and Roach behind him. Chambless lines up at (JJ), his man with a crossbow leading and his laser backpack man in the rear. Your support people are behind you all.
Just before you move you hear Portola report over comms, "One bad guy on second deck walking away, to starboard [the right]."
You signal to advance. You and Chambless' man actuate the iris valves simultaneously and step in.
The man at (GG) has moved slightly. He turns to (JJ) not expecting trouble, and freezes. The crossbow bolt hits him squarely in the center of the upper chest and rips a terrible hole in him. In a great display of will he raises his weapon, another hand laser, and actuates it. The slug from your gauss weapon slams him back against the elevator safety screen, continuing through him and ricocheting in the elevator cages noisily. He falls flat against the deck.
Your repaired gauss weapon did not feel or sound right with that last shot. Dozens of passengers are staring openmouthed at you. You glance at the crossbowman and Chambless - they have smoking burn tracks across their armor, but they seem to be moving. Smith and the other backpack laserman rapidly move out, swinging around the port and starboard concourses to reach the (KK) points. Smith trips over a teenager scrambling to get out of his way and falls hard on the deck, scattering the pieces to some kind of board game everywhere. He shoves himself back up and continues on. You and Roach move to the port (DD) ladder, while Chambless and his crossbowman are running for the starboard (DD) ladder.
Someone below is calling up. "Kiika?" Some of the passengers are starting to say, "Marines!"
Alejandro Dominguez
[Private to Just Another Ref: Sorry, it's always been my experience that enlisted men are referred to by their rank, regardless of situation, and that Sir is reserved for officers. No worries either way. ]
Dominguez quickly stowed his gauss and replaced it with his ACR. He signalled for the passengers to stay down, but he didn't really expect them to obey. They would probably soon panic, just making his life harder. He moved to execute the next stage of the plan.
Just Another Ref
Roach follows your lead trying to signal the passengers to silence. You reach the port (DD). Glancing down to second deck you do not see the pair of terrorists, and you immediatly slide down the ladder and turn, stepping out of the ladder cage and orienting your ACR. One target is frantically running away from you, towards the forward port iris valve, surrounded by startled passengers. You hear gunfire and screaming near the starboard (DD), a seeming large commotion. Your target running forward is yelling, "Armor armor!" He has his firearm pointed in your general direction and fires wildly. The round slams your shoulder and jerks you back, and you involuntarily fire your weapon. Several rounds fly in his direction and seem to involve some passengers. At the open gunfire all the passengers yell or scream, but most duck down. A green light shines in your HUD indicating armor integrity still good. Roach is dropping down the ladder.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez cleared the way so that Roach could take care of the hostile shooting at them. Dom aimed his ACR at the fleeing hostile and fired. The last thing he needed was to let someone get away.
Just Another Ref
There is gunfire and great activity at second deck (GG2). The target who shot at you is at (GG1) and is running for the port forward iris valve. You aim and fire, and several rounds drop him. You notice Smith, your backpack laser man, up on first deck above you at the (KK) point, trying to aim at something on the third deck below you, but he doesn't seem to be able to get the shot.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominuez signalled for Roach to head towards the commotion (GG2). Dom hazarded a look over the railing to see what Smith was trying to shoot at and to see if he had a better angle.
Just Another Ref
Roach heads starboard.
Looking over the railing you see lots of terrified children and parents running around. One of the terrorists is moving forward towards the port iris valve leading while holding up a child one-handed to shield himself from Smith's laser. The child is struggling and is all over him.
The ladder to the third deck is right ahead of you and is clear, at least on this deck. The third deck is fifteen feet below the railing you are looking over. The terrorist has a shotgun, ammo unknown. You do not see the other terrorist on third deck. The struggle to starboard on second deck seems to be winding down.
Alejandro Dominguez
Mentally, Dominguez surveyed his options. He couldn't let that terrorist get away. He couldn't afford to. At the same time he didn't have a clear shot.
Dom braced himself and dropped down to the next deck, preparing to roll as he hit, hoping to ease some of the impact. He immediately tried to catch up to the terrorist.
Just Another Ref
You manage to find a clear spot and jump. You hit the deck hard and are forced to roll, unfortunately knocking down a woman who falls on top of you. The hijacker ahead of you hears you hit, jerks around, and sees you climbing to your knees. He hurls at you the child he is carrying and the kid lands on your weapon as you try to raise it. He raises his own at you.
Smith's laser hits the hijacker's weapon. The explosive round in the chamber cooks off and detonates, breaking the gun and sending shrapnel everywhere. The hijacker staggers, stunned.
You lift you weapon with the child on it and fire. His clothing jams the weapon's operation so you only get one shot, but the single round hits the hijacker and throws him down.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez forced the child to the side, attempting to clear his weapon. If he couldn't get it clear fast enough, he'd risk using the gauss again. Either way, he needed to make sure the bad guy he had just dropped was down for the count. And once that was done he needed to ensure the rest of the deck was clear.
Just Another Ref
You hear an ACR being fired somewhere to starboard (the right). Portola reports that he and Urshadi are coming forward. You unjam your weapon and survey the hijacker you shot. He's not getting up again. You move to starboard and see PFC Chambless hanging upside down by his foot from the railing between second and third deck, his ACR pointed forward. The chief steward and some women are trying to help him down. While dangling Chambless reports by radio that the remaining hijacker has escaped forward through the third deck starboard passageway (ZZ) but that he thinks he hit him. Roach leaps down from second to third deck, rolling and exclaiming as he hits the hard metal.
Orientation: You have Portola and Urshadi moving forward onto the first deck. Smith and the other laserman are still on first deck. The second deck has no troops on it. You and Roach, and Chambless when he gets down, are on the third.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez radioed his team. "Portola, Urshadi, second deck. Roach, you're with me. Chambless get this area secured."
Dom moved to follow the wounded hijacker through the passageway (ZZ), he hoped they could catch him before he could find any friends.
Just Another Ref
Portola responds affirmative.
As they lower Chambless several of the women are kissing him repeatedly on his faceplate. "Yes sir, I'll secure it."
As you open the (ZZ) iris valve you see off in the distance ahead a man running, looking back. As he runs he shoots at you, another shotgun. You hear and see the round sliding along the port (left side) bulkhead, chipping paint and spreading sparks from about halfway down the hall to the corner right beside you, smashing a nice round hole in the iris valve control panel. Armor piercing. He is just ducking through the forward hatch, trying to reload, but he seems to be trying to do it one-handed, tucking the weapon under his left arm as he breaks open the action.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez took careful aim and fired. He hoped he could put him down from here. Running down the hallway with this guy's armor piercing shotgun trained on him didn't really appeal to him.
Just Another Ref
You're not sure but you think you hit him. He falls away out of sight. After a second you see an arm reach around, grab the hatch, and haul it shut. You see the wheel spinning as someone on the far side dogs the hatch.
[Orientation: The hatch has labels on it indicating it leads to another lifeboat deck. If that is so then by law the hatch has no locks of any kind and can be opened at any time.]
Alejandro Dominguez
"I guess we do this the hard way then." Dominguez quickly moved down the passageway and made ready to open the hatch. He signalled for Roach to stay back. He planned to pop the hatch open and dive through.
Just Another Ref
You swing the hatch wheel and dive through, weapon up, at (A1). It's a lifeboat deck. You are met with a hail of gunfire from (B2). Most of it seems to be lead shot, but something hits you very hard below the knee and throws you face down to the deck. You orient and fire, but they seem to have shields. Roach leans out and fires his own weapon, is hit himself, keeps shooting. You drop someone.
Suddenly the men at (B2) start to fall forward, towards you. In a second they are all down on the deck. You look past them and see Petty Officers Pataki, Sorcha, and Niles, all with smoking weapons.
Sorcha drops her shotgun and falls to her knees, her mouth open, a blank look on her damaged face. Niles leans down and talks to her quietly.
Pataki looks at his empty 9mm and tosses it over his shoulder. He grins. "Still with you Corporal."
Alejandro Dominguez
"Glad to hear it." Dominguez tried to force himself to a standing position using his good leg.
"We need to fall back and regroup. Secure their weapons and let's get back to the others."
Portola responds affirmative.
As they lower Chambless several of the women are kissing him repeatedly on his faceplate. "Yes sir, I'll secure it."
As you open the (ZZ) iris valve you see off in the distance ahead a man running, looking back. As he runs he shoots at you, another shotgun. You hear and see the round sliding along the port (left side) bulkhead, chipping paint and spreading sparks from about halfway down the hall to the corner right beside you, smashing a nice round hole in the iris valve control panel. Armor piercing. He is just ducking through the forward hatch, trying to reload, but he seems to be trying to do it one-handed, tucking the weapon under his left arm as he breaks open the action.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez took careful aim and fired. He hoped he could put him down from here. Running down the hallway with this guy's armor piercing shotgun trained on him didn't really appeal to him.
Just Another Ref
You're not sure but you think you hit him. He falls away out of sight. After a second you see an arm reach around, grab the hatch, and haul it shut. You see the wheel spinning as someone on the far side dogs the hatch.
[Orientation: The hatch has labels on it indicating it leads to another lifeboat deck. If that is so then by law the hatch has no locks of any kind and can be opened at any time.]
Alejandro Dominguez
"I guess we do this the hard way then." Dominguez quickly moved down the passageway and made ready to open the hatch. He signalled for Roach to stay back. He planned to pop the hatch open and dive through.
Just Another Ref
You swing the hatch wheel and dive through, weapon up, at (A1). It's a lifeboat deck. You are met with a hail of gunfire from (B2). Most of it seems to be lead shot, but something hits you very hard below the knee and throws you face down to the deck. You orient and fire, but they seem to have shields. Roach leans out and fires his own weapon, is hit himself, keeps shooting. You drop someone.
Suddenly the men at (B2) start to fall forward, towards you. In a second they are all down on the deck. You look past them and see Petty Officers Pataki, Sorcha, and Niles, all with smoking weapons.
Sorcha drops her shotgun and falls to her knees, her mouth open, a blank look on her damaged face. Niles leans down and talks to her quietly.
Pataki looks at his empty 9mm and tosses it over his shoulder. He grins. "Still with you Corporal."
Alejandro Dominguez
"Glad to hear it." Dominguez tried to force himself to a standing position using his good leg.
"We need to fall back and regroup. Secure their weapons and let's get back to the others."
Just Another Ref
Your struck leg is numb, but seems able to bear your weight. You flex the knee and you can tell it's going to need attention, but it works for now. You look at your armor there, and it's badly abraded along one side of the fluting. Must have been an explosive shell, partly turned. You never even heard it. You glance at the bulkhead behind you, and see shrapnel marks in the paint. Thing could have taken your whole leg.
Roach is in pain, but he moves up to the corner and orients forward towards the next hatch to cover the petty officers, holding his weapon left-handed. The petty officers collect weapons. Pataki fancies one, and hooks it onto his belt.
The portside airlock indicator (by (C3)) switches from green to yellow. Outer hatch open. Someone's coming in.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez signalled for his people to take cover and orient towards the hatch. Dom tried to take some cover himself and aimed at the hatch. He wondered what the chances were that it wouldn't be a hostile.
Just Another Ref
There is no cover, only your armor. You and Roach crouch in the passageway facing the airlock hatch. Petty Officers Niles and Sorcha watch the forward lifeboat deck hatch, while Pataki stands at the corner, ready to respond either forward or aft.
The light flicks to red and the inner hatch flies inward, followed by two marines crowded together. Everyone strains tautly for a terrible second, then the incoming marines continue on. It's Fire Team One, Corporal Oatridge on the left. He looks over your crew, takes in the situation, and leads his man past you to orient to the forward lifeboat deck hatch alongside your petty officer support team. As he passes he looks you over, glances at your name, and pops his faceplate for a second. He's grinning. "Damn Dom, looks like you need a vacation." He moves on, stepping over the bodies and tracking blood.
Dom? He's never called you that. You look down and notice that your breastplate is all scraped up. All that remains of your name is "Dom". You glance at your rank. It's still there, mostly.
Other marines move in and orient to the deck's entrances. A support team remains in the airlock. The Lieutenant steps forward, a shotgun in his hand, and pops his faceplate. "Corporal Dominguez, report."
[Orientation: Salutes are not used in a combat area.]
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez was glad he wasn't the ranking person anymore. He felt a weight lift off his chest. "Sir, our boat got pretty banged up on the way in. The flight team was able to hold us together and we breached the hull. They deserve an award for that one. We fragged the boat, it wasn't gonna be going anywhere any time soon. We met up with one of the other boats, and some of the engineering crew. We repelled an assault and we retain control of the engines. Our casualties are there with the one operable boat and the Navy men. We have been moving and clearing. We have just recovered a large number of hostages. Chambless is securing that area now. I suggest we regroup there. We also have access to a live representation of the ship."
Dom waited for his orders.
Just Another Ref
"Your casualties are back aboard our vessel." The Lieutenant looks over the space, noting the hatches and apparently trying to orient to the Davis' internal layout. "We're too thin for defense. I anticipate evacuating the passengers to the lifeboats while the hijackers are knocked back. Gunners, you will secure this space and the one above it. Engineers will fall aft to the engineering spaces. Team Three support, you will follow me back to the passengers. Team One, you will continue the assault forward towards the bridge, support following. Corporal Dominguez, well done. If you are able to continue you and your man will support Corporal Oatridge as he moves forward."
Roach is taking his narcotic. He nods at you. It occurs to you that he looks like a streetfighter.
Alejandro Dominguez
"Yes, sir."
Dom returned Roach's nod with one of his own. It was good to have good people in the field with you.
Dom radioed back to his people to let them know the plan and have them move up so they could join Oatridge after Team Three and the Lt. had taken control of the hostages.
Dom wondered what had become of Antoine if the casualties had been evac'ed.
Your struck leg is numb, but seems able to bear your weight. You flex the knee and you can tell it's going to need attention, but it works for now. You look at your armor there, and it's badly abraded along one side of the fluting. Must have been an explosive shell, partly turned. You never even heard it. You glance at the bulkhead behind you, and see shrapnel marks in the paint. Thing could have taken your whole leg.
Roach is in pain, but he moves up to the corner and orients forward towards the next hatch to cover the petty officers, holding his weapon left-handed. The petty officers collect weapons. Pataki fancies one, and hooks it onto his belt.
The portside airlock indicator (by (C3)) switches from green to yellow. Outer hatch open. Someone's coming in.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez signalled for his people to take cover and orient towards the hatch. Dom tried to take some cover himself and aimed at the hatch. He wondered what the chances were that it wouldn't be a hostile.
Just Another Ref
There is no cover, only your armor. You and Roach crouch in the passageway facing the airlock hatch. Petty Officers Niles and Sorcha watch the forward lifeboat deck hatch, while Pataki stands at the corner, ready to respond either forward or aft.
The light flicks to red and the inner hatch flies inward, followed by two marines crowded together. Everyone strains tautly for a terrible second, then the incoming marines continue on. It's Fire Team One, Corporal Oatridge on the left. He looks over your crew, takes in the situation, and leads his man past you to orient to the forward lifeboat deck hatch alongside your petty officer support team. As he passes he looks you over, glances at your name, and pops his faceplate for a second. He's grinning. "Damn Dom, looks like you need a vacation." He moves on, stepping over the bodies and tracking blood.
Dom? He's never called you that. You look down and notice that your breastplate is all scraped up. All that remains of your name is "Dom". You glance at your rank. It's still there, mostly.
Other marines move in and orient to the deck's entrances. A support team remains in the airlock. The Lieutenant steps forward, a shotgun in his hand, and pops his faceplate. "Corporal Dominguez, report."
[Orientation: Salutes are not used in a combat area.]
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez was glad he wasn't the ranking person anymore. He felt a weight lift off his chest. "Sir, our boat got pretty banged up on the way in. The flight team was able to hold us together and we breached the hull. They deserve an award for that one. We fragged the boat, it wasn't gonna be going anywhere any time soon. We met up with one of the other boats, and some of the engineering crew. We repelled an assault and we retain control of the engines. Our casualties are there with the one operable boat and the Navy men. We have been moving and clearing. We have just recovered a large number of hostages. Chambless is securing that area now. I suggest we regroup there. We also have access to a live representation of the ship."
Dom waited for his orders.
Just Another Ref
"Your casualties are back aboard our vessel." The Lieutenant looks over the space, noting the hatches and apparently trying to orient to the Davis' internal layout. "We're too thin for defense. I anticipate evacuating the passengers to the lifeboats while the hijackers are knocked back. Gunners, you will secure this space and the one above it. Engineers will fall aft to the engineering spaces. Team Three support, you will follow me back to the passengers. Team One, you will continue the assault forward towards the bridge, support following. Corporal Dominguez, well done. If you are able to continue you and your man will support Corporal Oatridge as he moves forward."
Roach is taking his narcotic. He nods at you. It occurs to you that he looks like a streetfighter.
Alejandro Dominguez
"Yes, sir."
Dom returned Roach's nod with one of his own. It was good to have good people in the field with you.
Dom radioed back to his people to let them know the plan and have them move up so they could join Oatridge after Team Three and the Lt. had taken control of the hostages.
Dom wondered what had become of Antoine if the casualties had been evac'ed.
Just Another Ref
When you try to contact Team Three your comm system seems erratic. You have to repeat yourself several times before Portola, Urshadi, and Smith understand you. You and Roach line up behind Corporal Oatridge's team, the gunners take up positions behind you.
Oatridge calls, "19. Sensor." One of his people at the hatch at (ND) sets a grenade while another pops the hatch, and they throw it in and slam the hatch shut. You and Roach set your comm system to 19. Your own reception is lousy, but you can make out the space from where the grenade lands at (D4). It's a crew lounge, chairs all around at (F6), lots of dead bodies in orange and black coveralls piled up in the eating area at (E5). The door at (J9) is shut, the door at (G7) is open. (G7) looks like a locker with a security keypad next to it. The big box around (D4) and (F6) is an open area up to the next deck with a railing all the way around it. Nice open space. On the forward bulkhead is the Starways logo, a bright gold planet with a gold swirl around it on a red background. Below it you see a small sign, "Signals Bridge" and an arrow pointing to a passageway forward.
Well-dressed men with weapons oriented towards the (ND) hatch are on this deck at (KA), and looking over the railing on the overhead deck at (KAA). Definitely not crew. They see the grenade bounce in and they duck for cover, their mouths open to try and save their hearing. After a moment they poke their heads out again.
Oatridge calls, grinning, "Again, frag." The same two people set the weapon, throw it in, and slam the hatch shut again. You see the hijackers remain upright, and some move towards the grenades. The sensor grenade signal link suddenly fails and through your boots you feel a solid thump in the deckplate. Oatridge points forward and yells, "Pile in." His men throw open the hatch and fly through, their support team following, you and Roach moving up last, the gunners remaining behind.
While it doesn't fill the space, smoke is everywhere. You see Oatridge's men quartering the space well with their weapons, firing forward and up and left and right. The remaining hijackers are returning fire but are disoriented.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez moved through and looked to prioritize available targets. His first targets would be those that were returning fire, but seemed to be regaining their senses. They would be followed by those returning fire, but that were still out of it.
Just Another Ref
You drop two hijackers and force a third to retreat. The terrorists are reeling back. Corporal Oatridge and his team are moving forward, splitting into two sections, one heading for the bridge hallway accesses and one heading for the port ladder up, his support team moving with them. You hear orders in your comm system but they're garbled. The noise from all the firing is overwhelming. You slow slightly to reload.
Something hits you on the back of the head and you go down hard. Someone, a smaller person, jumps on your back, seems to cock a weapon, and starts trying to force it between your armor joints at your neck.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez thrashed reactively and tried to roll to his side and force his attacker off of him. Panic danced at the edge of his reality. The way they had come should have been cleared.
Just Another Ref
You rotate easily enough under the hijacker, but as you turn his weapon goes off. Shotgun, lead shot. This guy is taking you on with a scattergun, but he knows what he has to do to make it work. Some of the shot rides between your armor joints and bruises your neck and shoulder, but a lot of it skids off your helmet and jars your faceplate. Comms goes away entirely, and your HUD starts to roll.
He tries to rechamber a round. You grab his arm and weapon to keep him from reloading, but he cocks it by slamming the butt into your helmet. For a brief second you see the empty shell hanging half-out of the discharge port and you try to hold it there, thinking to jam the action. But it gets away from you, he jerks back on the pump, and the new round slides home. Your HUD is displaying a test pattern. He's trying to turn the shotgun towards you.
Someone clubs him in the side of the head. It's a terrible blow, and the hijacker slides off of you, dead already, the weapon clattering to the carpeted deck.
A man stands next to you, dressed in orange coveralls with a Starways logo on the shoulder. He can barely stand. Bleeding from his eyes and nose. He has a large object, maybe a table leg. He's yelling at you and pointing to the access ladder starboard and forward of you. You can't quite hear him.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez is just glad to be alive, but he doesn't have time to think about that now. Rather than try and figure out what the man is saying, Dom looks to where he's pointing.
When you try to contact Team Three your comm system seems erratic. You have to repeat yourself several times before Portola, Urshadi, and Smith understand you. You and Roach line up behind Corporal Oatridge's team, the gunners take up positions behind you.
Oatridge calls, "19. Sensor." One of his people at the hatch at (ND) sets a grenade while another pops the hatch, and they throw it in and slam the hatch shut. You and Roach set your comm system to 19. Your own reception is lousy, but you can make out the space from where the grenade lands at (D4). It's a crew lounge, chairs all around at (F6), lots of dead bodies in orange and black coveralls piled up in the eating area at (E5). The door at (J9) is shut, the door at (G7) is open. (G7) looks like a locker with a security keypad next to it. The big box around (D4) and (F6) is an open area up to the next deck with a railing all the way around it. Nice open space. On the forward bulkhead is the Starways logo, a bright gold planet with a gold swirl around it on a red background. Below it you see a small sign, "Signals Bridge" and an arrow pointing to a passageway forward.
Well-dressed men with weapons oriented towards the (ND) hatch are on this deck at (KA), and looking over the railing on the overhead deck at (KAA). Definitely not crew. They see the grenade bounce in and they duck for cover, their mouths open to try and save their hearing. After a moment they poke their heads out again.
Oatridge calls, grinning, "Again, frag." The same two people set the weapon, throw it in, and slam the hatch shut again. You see the hijackers remain upright, and some move towards the grenades. The sensor grenade signal link suddenly fails and through your boots you feel a solid thump in the deckplate. Oatridge points forward and yells, "Pile in." His men throw open the hatch and fly through, their support team following, you and Roach moving up last, the gunners remaining behind.
While it doesn't fill the space, smoke is everywhere. You see Oatridge's men quartering the space well with their weapons, firing forward and up and left and right. The remaining hijackers are returning fire but are disoriented.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez moved through and looked to prioritize available targets. His first targets would be those that were returning fire, but seemed to be regaining their senses. They would be followed by those returning fire, but that were still out of it.
Just Another Ref
You drop two hijackers and force a third to retreat. The terrorists are reeling back. Corporal Oatridge and his team are moving forward, splitting into two sections, one heading for the bridge hallway accesses and one heading for the port ladder up, his support team moving with them. You hear orders in your comm system but they're garbled. The noise from all the firing is overwhelming. You slow slightly to reload.
Something hits you on the back of the head and you go down hard. Someone, a smaller person, jumps on your back, seems to cock a weapon, and starts trying to force it between your armor joints at your neck.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez thrashed reactively and tried to roll to his side and force his attacker off of him. Panic danced at the edge of his reality. The way they had come should have been cleared.
Just Another Ref
You rotate easily enough under the hijacker, but as you turn his weapon goes off. Shotgun, lead shot. This guy is taking you on with a scattergun, but he knows what he has to do to make it work. Some of the shot rides between your armor joints and bruises your neck and shoulder, but a lot of it skids off your helmet and jars your faceplate. Comms goes away entirely, and your HUD starts to roll.
He tries to rechamber a round. You grab his arm and weapon to keep him from reloading, but he cocks it by slamming the butt into your helmet. For a brief second you see the empty shell hanging half-out of the discharge port and you try to hold it there, thinking to jam the action. But it gets away from you, he jerks back on the pump, and the new round slides home. Your HUD is displaying a test pattern. He's trying to turn the shotgun towards you.
Someone clubs him in the side of the head. It's a terrible blow, and the hijacker slides off of you, dead already, the weapon clattering to the carpeted deck.
A man stands next to you, dressed in orange coveralls with a Starways logo on the shoulder. He can barely stand. Bleeding from his eyes and nose. He has a large object, maybe a table leg. He's yelling at you and pointing to the access ladder starboard and forward of you. You can't quite hear him.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez is just glad to be alive, but he doesn't have time to think about that now. Rather than try and figure out what the man is saying, Dom looks to where he's pointing.
Just Another Ref
You still hear (or feel) shooting going on, but Corporal Oatridge's team seems to have moved quite a bit forward. You don't see Roach. Your exterior mic system seems to be damaged, everything is much quieter than it was a moment ago. You can hear yourself breathing. The man is pointing towards (LX) and the iris valve leading down, but you see no action there.
The man in the orange jump suit half collapses, but leans towards you and yells. It exhausts him. "They took our armor. Went down there ... aft through the fuel deck ... engineering. Said bombs ... going ... the hull."
There's fighting in the space above you. At the railing overhead you see several more hijackers appear at the forward (KAA) and begin shooting at something up on their level to port. You recognize one as being the apparent leader you saw gesturing on the bridge earlier. He has the look of a captain who knows what he's doing and who's plan is succeeding. He suddenly notices you and the man next to you, and that look fades greatly. He has a hand laser.
Alejandro Dominguez
Somewhere in the back of his mind, Dominguez found it funny that the moments in his life that everything happened so quickly, the moments that he would only remember as a blur, those moments always seemed to move in slow motion.
Even as he was musing, his body had begun to move in reaction. He forced himself to his feet and fired off a few rounds at the man above him. They were aimed more at forcing him to take cover than actually hitting him. He didn't have time to aim. As he finished his burst, he tried to lift the man that had saved his life over his shoulder and make his way to the iris valve (LX) he had indicated and hopefully get out of the line of fire.
As he moved he was talking into his probably inoperable radio. "If anyone can read me, this is Dominguez. Hostiles are moving aft through the fuel deck and into engineering. It sounds like they plan to blow the hull. I am moving to intercept. My radio is busted, so I can not respond." Dom repeated back his message, hoping that someone could hear him, but doubting it.
Dom was pissed. Oatridge should have known better. He was moving before he had cleared the area. He strained to push that out of his mind. Sometimes it couldn't be helped. Maybe it wasn't Oatridge's fault.
Just Another Ref
Your fire scatters all over the railing and overhead, and forces the leader to cover. You haul the man up and move, your knee suddenly protesting severely. As you move the leader above exposes himself greatly to fire from Oatridge's team and leans over the railing to shoot at you, drawing a circle of flame in the carpet around you but failing to hit you.
Near the iris valve you put the man back down. He's now missing half his left hand and is in great pain. He seems to be at the end of his rope.
The valve is shut. The control for it is right next to you.
Alejandro Dominguez
As long as the man was covered from current shooting, Dom planned on leaving him right there. There wasn't anymore he could do for him and with the terrorists attempt to breach the hull, he had bigger problems.
"I will send someone back for you if I can. Thank you."
Dom reached for the controls to open the iris. He'd have to move his ass if he wanted to make a difference.
Just Another Ref
The iris valve control panel works, and you slide down the ladder to Fourth Deck. The valve closes behind you. When you hit bottom your knee really hurts, and you hesitate a second. There is no hatch leading further down. Your breath is loud in your ears.
Crew area. Cream-white walls, cables and piping in the overhead, tiled deck. You're at (A). A dead body - a passenger, maybe - is at (B). (C) is a hatch leading aft. It is not dogged, but rather is slightly cracked open. A violation of integrity protocol. The doors around (D) seem to be stateroom entrances. The cabinet beyond (D) is labled "Linens".
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez tried to force the pain out of his mind. If he didn't do something to stop these terrorists, it would be the last thing he ever felt. Dom forced his way through the hatch (C) and scanned the room. If he was sure it was cleared, he would turn to dog the hatch before moving on.
Just Another Ref
You slip into the dimly-lit space. It's clearly a cargo hold, filled mostly with luggage at (E). Ahead at (F) you see an exit sign and another manual hatch - you can see that it too is partly open. You're at the loading bay, with a large cargo door to port and a cargo robot parked at (G) inside its "Store Robot Here" lines painted on the deck.
As you glance at the robot you suddenly notice someone hiding behind it, looking at you.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dom wonders to himself if there could be anymore complications. He points his rifle in the direction of the person he's found. "Okay, I see you. Come out nice and slow with your hands up."
Just Another Ref
They slowly show themselves a little more clearly, but they don't come out from behind the robot. It's a boy, maybe fourteen years old. He has a control box in his hands. You suddenly realize that the power-on light on the robot is lit.
"You're a marine." He points aft. "They went that way. Three of them, two in armor. One has a laser, I don't know what the others had."
Alejandro Dominguez
"Good man. You need to make your way to meet up with the other passengers." Dom relayed to him what he thought to be the safest route for him to follow. "Make sure to close the hatches behind you as you go. If you run into any Marines, tell them that Dominguez is headed aft in pursuit of 3 hostiles and his radio is inoperable. You got that?"
Even before the kid could answer, Dom had started moving for the next hatch (F) to enter it in the same manner he had entered the last. He favored his leg as much as possible without letting it slow him down, or not much at least.
You still hear (or feel) shooting going on, but Corporal Oatridge's team seems to have moved quite a bit forward. You don't see Roach. Your exterior mic system seems to be damaged, everything is much quieter than it was a moment ago. You can hear yourself breathing. The man is pointing towards (LX) and the iris valve leading down, but you see no action there.
The man in the orange jump suit half collapses, but leans towards you and yells. It exhausts him. "They took our armor. Went down there ... aft through the fuel deck ... engineering. Said bombs ... going ... the hull."
There's fighting in the space above you. At the railing overhead you see several more hijackers appear at the forward (KAA) and begin shooting at something up on their level to port. You recognize one as being the apparent leader you saw gesturing on the bridge earlier. He has the look of a captain who knows what he's doing and who's plan is succeeding. He suddenly notices you and the man next to you, and that look fades greatly. He has a hand laser.
Alejandro Dominguez
Somewhere in the back of his mind, Dominguez found it funny that the moments in his life that everything happened so quickly, the moments that he would only remember as a blur, those moments always seemed to move in slow motion.
Even as he was musing, his body had begun to move in reaction. He forced himself to his feet and fired off a few rounds at the man above him. They were aimed more at forcing him to take cover than actually hitting him. He didn't have time to aim. As he finished his burst, he tried to lift the man that had saved his life over his shoulder and make his way to the iris valve (LX) he had indicated and hopefully get out of the line of fire.
As he moved he was talking into his probably inoperable radio. "If anyone can read me, this is Dominguez. Hostiles are moving aft through the fuel deck and into engineering. It sounds like they plan to blow the hull. I am moving to intercept. My radio is busted, so I can not respond." Dom repeated back his message, hoping that someone could hear him, but doubting it.
Dom was pissed. Oatridge should have known better. He was moving before he had cleared the area. He strained to push that out of his mind. Sometimes it couldn't be helped. Maybe it wasn't Oatridge's fault.
Just Another Ref
Your fire scatters all over the railing and overhead, and forces the leader to cover. You haul the man up and move, your knee suddenly protesting severely. As you move the leader above exposes himself greatly to fire from Oatridge's team and leans over the railing to shoot at you, drawing a circle of flame in the carpet around you but failing to hit you.
Near the iris valve you put the man back down. He's now missing half his left hand and is in great pain. He seems to be at the end of his rope.
The valve is shut. The control for it is right next to you.
Alejandro Dominguez
As long as the man was covered from current shooting, Dom planned on leaving him right there. There wasn't anymore he could do for him and with the terrorists attempt to breach the hull, he had bigger problems.
"I will send someone back for you if I can. Thank you."
Dom reached for the controls to open the iris. He'd have to move his ass if he wanted to make a difference.
Just Another Ref
The iris valve control panel works, and you slide down the ladder to Fourth Deck. The valve closes behind you. When you hit bottom your knee really hurts, and you hesitate a second. There is no hatch leading further down. Your breath is loud in your ears.
Crew area. Cream-white walls, cables and piping in the overhead, tiled deck. You're at (A). A dead body - a passenger, maybe - is at (B). (C) is a hatch leading aft. It is not dogged, but rather is slightly cracked open. A violation of integrity protocol. The doors around (D) seem to be stateroom entrances. The cabinet beyond (D) is labled "Linens".
Alejandro Dominguez
Dominguez tried to force the pain out of his mind. If he didn't do something to stop these terrorists, it would be the last thing he ever felt. Dom forced his way through the hatch (C) and scanned the room. If he was sure it was cleared, he would turn to dog the hatch before moving on.
Just Another Ref
You slip into the dimly-lit space. It's clearly a cargo hold, filled mostly with luggage at (E). Ahead at (F) you see an exit sign and another manual hatch - you can see that it too is partly open. You're at the loading bay, with a large cargo door to port and a cargo robot parked at (G) inside its "Store Robot Here" lines painted on the deck.
As you glance at the robot you suddenly notice someone hiding behind it, looking at you.
Alejandro Dominguez
Dom wonders to himself if there could be anymore complications. He points his rifle in the direction of the person he's found. "Okay, I see you. Come out nice and slow with your hands up."
Just Another Ref
They slowly show themselves a little more clearly, but they don't come out from behind the robot. It's a boy, maybe fourteen years old. He has a control box in his hands. You suddenly realize that the power-on light on the robot is lit.
"You're a marine." He points aft. "They went that way. Three of them, two in armor. One has a laser, I don't know what the others had."
Alejandro Dominguez
"Good man. You need to make your way to meet up with the other passengers." Dom relayed to him what he thought to be the safest route for him to follow. "Make sure to close the hatches behind you as you go. If you run into any Marines, tell them that Dominguez is headed aft in pursuit of 3 hostiles and his radio is inoperable. You got that?"
Even before the kid could answer, Dom had started moving for the next hatch (F) to enter it in the same manner he had entered the last. He favored his leg as much as possible without letting it slow him down, or not much at least.
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