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"For fucks sake" Stryker cursed as Renli alerted him to the goings-on down below "Thanks, I'll handle it, get back to your post"

Stryker crawled down out of the forward battery and made a beeline for the elevator, hoping he'd still have something resembling a crew when he got down to the cargo bay.

"WHAT IN ALL THAT SHINES IN THE FUCKING 'VERSE ARE YOU ALL DOING DOWN HERE?" Stryker roared as he stepped out of the elevator. He took a breath and observed around for bodies. His eyes wandered up to the sparking wreck that used to be a speaker.

"Not gonna lie, I was just thinking it's only a matter of time before someone put a round into one of those things" he said to break the tension "Alright, alright. Time for a fucking speech, really hopin' I'd never have to do this. First thing- full disclosure. I'm not a leader guys. I've worked alone my entire career, never been part of a team, now I'm in charge of one. Dawson... the Alliance. They had their reasons for throwin' me onto this ship, same as everyone else. Hell, maybe they were hopin' for us to kill each other off, save space in the prisons. Listen, none of us really wanna be here, stuck under the Alliance's foot, that much is obvious, but think about this... we're stuck together for now, and the one thing we universally have in common is a hatred of the Alliance, we stay alive long enough, maybe we find a way to give them what's comin to 'em. I'm no expert, but I hear that combat builds bonds or some bullshit like that, you never know, the guy next to you might be the only one that can save your life in a tight spot, so give it a go, just this once.... and if that don't work, we'll clear out that gym upstairs for a weekly fight club, to boost the morale. Now, everybody breathin, pile into shuttle 1. They gotta purge the air in shuttle 2 so Grayson can get his shot, and we don't have that many airtanks, so sorry if some of you are uneasy with your shuttle-mates, but that's all we can do. Good hunting guys"
He fished out his datapad and quickly enabled the full-range of voice commands for the drones.
"Platform 772, Platform 900, board shuttle 1, enable flight control on Platform 900. Platforms 116, 209, 361, 444, 529, 614, 688 and 928, board shuttle 2. Run IFF pre-operation scans. Standing orders- eliminate all hostile targets. Move out"

Stryker gave a final nod to the team as he boarded the elevator to head back up to the Command Deck. Upon arrival, he tapped into the comms line to the cockpit as he walked back down to the forward battery for a final check on the weapons systems.
"Tibulus? Seal down the cargo bay and lower the ramp, the crew's ready to move out"

---------

Grayson chuckled to himself as he hung out the side of shuttle 2 all during the chaos and Stryker's following tirade. The guy sounded like the coach in a bad sports film from the 21st century. He'd decided to stay out of it, the way he looked at it, he'd stuck his neck out enough for the crew so far this trip, playing nice with his new best friends (at least until one of them tried to kill him). When they got the order to roll out, he swung his legs inside then cleared the doorway for the drones that'd be riding with him and SAL.
"Come here often?" he joked to the blank-faced automatons as they piled in.

Finally, the lockdown alarm rang out and the shuttle doors sealed up as the cargo ramp began to lower. SAL fired up the engines and they were off with a light thump as the shuttle slipped beyond the ship's artificial gravity field. Grayson got to work immediately, unloading the weapon case at his feet containing the ZR-98 Heavy Sniper Rifle. It was a specialty weapon not often used in Alliance circles, but the thing still reeked of their blatant lack of imagination when it came to firearm design and aesthetics. The only reason he agreed to bring it was the rotating cylinder that lay just underneath the barrel, the graviton field emitter, a device that would produce a bubble of artificial gravity to seal the bullets inside, and ensure they'd find their mark, instead of floating uselessly in the expanse when he shot them.

The ZR-98 was effective up to an astounding 15km, the only thing that kept it from being the most popular weapon in the galaxy was its sheer weight of nearly 50 pounds and unwieldiness unless strapped in to some kind of stabilizing device. The shuttles' were quite a ways out from the station, so he took his time to ensure the weapon would be fully secured to the shuttle's heavy weapon mount. After almost 10 minutes, SAL chirped up to alert him they'd be entering within range for communications.
"Fire up the comms then, try and bullshit our way inside"

SAL flicked a few switches and the radio whined as a voice crackled to life.
"....dentififed craft. Hailing unidentified craft, you are entering restricted space, identify yorself or you may be fired upon"
"Transport Shuttle UH-991 Kodiak from the Uniac Mining Federation Flagship Mirantha. This is an unannounced inspection. I have company representatives on board who are demanding access to your station"

Silence.

"Kodiak, we're not seeing any Flagship on our long-range scanners, how copy? Please re-align your shuttle's flight path until we confirm"
SAL muted the radio "Showtime, opening hatch"
Grayson did a quick final check to make sure his suit was sealed, then flicked the oxygen tank on and opened the flowline jury-rigged to his suit. With his eye implant already engaged, it only took him a second to identify the weakest points on the station's satellite array. He gripped the rifle and fired. He re-racked the bolt, adjusted slightly and fired again, then a third shot quickly behind. He increased the zoom to watch his handiwork. There was no sound of course, no big explosion, just a faint spark as the three antennas broke free and drifted off. Piece of cake. Grayson pulled the weapon mount back out of the way as the shuttle hatch re-sealed, then poked his head up into the cockpit to see how the negotiations were going.
"Negative Station Command" SAL was saying "I can ensure you that we have relayed the Flagship's holding pattern accurately. Any issue must be on your end"
"Copy that Kodiak, the fact remains that we have no ship signatures on any of our scanners right now. We cannot confirm registry, so we must ask you to kindly turn back"

As a precaution, Grayson tapped into the squad's comms line.
"Stryker, I don't think they're buyin it, we might need some help, I'll keep the line open"
He turned back just in time to hear the raio officer's ultimatum
"Please avert course, or I will give the order for your craft to be fired upon"
"Cut the call" Grayson said "We're goin' in loud. Stryker? Wanna open that door?"

------

"Copy that Grayson. SAL, AP-900, divert to holding position Gamma, transmitting now" Stryker stood in the forward battery, his hands hovering over the controls for the main cannon.
"Pilot, fire her up, bring us into range. Gun crew, I've unlocked your controls. On my command, be ready to rain hell down upon that station"
He twisted a knob, the ship's main cannon was heating up. The screen in front of him lit up with a feed from a front-mounted camera. He could see the station in the distance, his targeting controls lit up 2 tiny red specks, the shuttles, and then a blue dot, the target. The cannon was ready, the ship in range, and the comms open.
"Hold her here, we're in position. When I confirm the hit, burn away and close the gap between us and the station, we don't want em twisting that Planet Cracker around to fire on us while we're at effective range" Stryker said calmly as he gripped the trigger. His finger tightened up.
"I've always wanted to say this.... from hell's heart, I stab at thee" The trigger clicked.

Stryker was blinded by the brilliant blue beam of particle energy that rocketed out of the main cannon. It streaked across the system at high velocity, twisting violently until it found its mark- the Helsin facility's cargo bay door.
Back at the shuttle, Grayson was awestruck at the destruction of the thick plating blocking their entrance. He tapped SAL on the shoulder, who seemed similarly lost for words
"Let's get in there mate"

Grayson had the MARS rifle configured to an assault formation, ready to go. The shuttle slipped inside, followed seconds later by the other. The twin craft landed in unison, the hatches popped, and the games began. Grayson slipped out before the drone's crowded the way, firing a grappling cable from the Spider's Web up to the rafters. He used his Cyber Eye to scan the room. Plenty of shuttlecraft and bodies lay destroyed in the wake of the Revenant's cannon, a few small fires burned throughout the main throughfare of the large cavernous room. He looked in-between intact shuttles and reapir bays to see living miners, uniformed in gray jumpsuits running for the exits. He took a few potshots at them, more so to alert the squad than to kill 'em. At the rear of the room, he saw a door slide open and armed robot stomped inside.
"Ladies and gents, may I spare your attention for just a moment?" He said into the comms "Your first course for the evening comes courtesy of.. I wanna say.... Quasar Cybernetics, they have that look anyway. We have 12 Security bots armed with automatic laser weaponry, to amateurs, I would say rest in peace. To you crazy sons of bitches, I say 'Bon appetit'... also I call dibs on the first one"

The MARS reassembled to its base sniper mode, long enough for Grayson to sight up on the lead drone and fired a shot that cracked through the cargo bay like lightning. The bot's head erupted in a shower of sparks, gel and ricocheting metal that only Grayson could truly appreciate, given his vantage point.