[b][i]EFG Curious[/i][/b]

Meanwhile on the Faira ship, things have been doing same and yet different. With the general tour of the ship complete along with the Primarch, the new reinforcements from the 5th fleet were already made aware of where their workstations were to be as well as their quarters. Much like the pilots on the Explorer, each of them had a suit waiting inside, albeit those manufactured on the Curious were much more resembling their Faira counterparts and came loaded with all of the software they would need to perform their duties, alongside with an invitation to visit engineering if they desired any customizations.

“Well, people, I look forward to working with you. I want you all in the briefing room tomorrow at 0800 when you start working. Until then you are off - go recharge, go get to know the crew, call home - whatever you want. We’ll set up your schedules as we go along.” Astra relieved them.

“Thank you, commander. Are there any shipwide occurrences we should be aware of? Evacuation drills and the like?” Prefect Linsis inquired, wondering how the Faira on the Latanos would cope with almost daily unannounced exercises.

“This chime,” Astra said, playing the sound from her suit and causing every Faira in earshot to drop what they were doing and grab for something bolted to the superstructure, “means the ship is about to jump. You should grab something firm even if you wear the suit, especially in combat or crash jumps, as they can toss the ship about. Anything else is announced over the intercoms in your suits. Evacuation is handled by the same Faira that man the transport rooms, so just report to the closest one to you. As for the rest, all will be explained to you tomorrow during your orientation once you report to your station.”

“Duly noted.” Linsis nodded, the reaction of the Faira crewmembers letting the Narix know this was serious. Just what manner of terrible things would be happening every jump? “That would be all from us for now. If any questions come to mind, we will be sure to ask at the briefing.” Saluting, the four turned to leave.

“Looks like we are off duty for now. Going easy on us. Few final pointers: Ertanax, think twice before you speak. No need for interspecies incidents. Faustus, remember what they told us at the briefing about bringing up their home. And Nihlus, try not to tell them every last detail of everything we have.”

[b][i]The next day, 0800[/i][/b]

The briefing room was prepared when the Narix would have started filing in, a projection already set up. 

[center][img]http://forsythe.8u.cz/files/Curious_Group.png[/img][/center]

Alongside, the command crew of the Faira has also entered, all taking whatever seat was free at the moment, with the Commander taking the ‘stage’ to the front.
“Alright people, the orders just came in. The Vanguard and Fifth are amassing next to the jump node, we’re going through today. With the coordinated jump between ourselves and the Narix Fleet, the Studious group has returned home for refit on the Frigate’s systems. Once they are cleared out of OpEval, you can expect us to be given some Civ’Leave as well.”

A round of happy murmurs followed.

“Before that, we are once again taking the point. The entire group will translate the node in standard formation, but this time, the NSS Latanos is accompanying us through the jump. They will be testing their ad-hoc sync drive, so expect a rough ride. Everyone who doesn’t need to be on their feet should be strapped in.”

“That said, that is not the only addition, as you have certainly noticed, and some changes. Captain Aurigae and several others have departed for the Latanos, and Lieutenant Zana will be taking her place on the other shift as commanding officer. For the duration of their stay here, Prefect Linsis will be my XO, and Adept Faustus will act in a similar role to the Lieutenant. Lieutenant Farsa will be substituted by Lieutenant Cartis, formerly the Sector Commander of the Studious group, as our Oracle. Specialist Niziz will be substituting for Specialist Xyth as our sector controller. The Specialist is fresh out of training, so give her a warm welcome. Master Engineer Omicri’s place will be filled by Specialist Alesi, Master Engineer of the ECV Wisdom form Studious group, and she will be assisted by Technical Centurion Ayrton Nihlus and Technician First Class Tarith Ertanax. Lieutenant Zana will be substituted by Specialist Arga as our new helm. Finally, Specialist Euris is to be substituted by Specialist Eridae. Please welcome the new members of our crew from the Narix fleet as you would our own. Our lives are in each other’s hands after all.”

“We jump in two hours. The floor is open if you have questions.”

As their names were mentioned for the first time, each of the Narix stood up with a bow of their head.

Two hours to get set at their new posts. Then they would see what the jump drive fuss was all about. Tarith was not at all happy the Narix were testing a new drive and she wasn’t there. She wasn’t even told and had to learn about it from a different species. That indeed stung a little.

As the crowd got up when no questions followed, the people responsible for the Narix came and approached them. “Prefect, you’re with me.” the commander said, beckoning the Narix to follow her.

“Looks like it’s your lucky day, we get to lounge for twelve more hours while the rest does the hard work, Adept.” Zana smirked at Faustus, inviting him to her quarters for a round of games.

“Right, I am used to a vessel far smaller than this, I think I can use both of your hands.” The new Master engineer nodded to the two Narix to be in her care.

The Marines were approached by the mother of all giants, a black-suited Faira who towered head taller over all of them. “Right, let’s see what you can do. Grunts, to the cargo hold, you and mine are going to run spars. Centurion, I’d like you to accompany me to inspect our defensive measures, I and the builders in the shipyards would like your input.” Virgo ordered.

“Sparring in this gravity? Why have the suits?” one of the marines murmured among the crowd as they marched in formation to where the cargo bay was located. Meanwhile, the centurion matched his pace with the biggest Faira he’s seen so far. “Can’t the Faira who work the transporters be classified as a defense measure? What’s stopping them from thinking any intruders outside of the hull, or better yet, straight into the brig?”

“They could, however they will be too busy deploying us through sealed bulkheads to where we need to be. Also, not everyone can do that all day like the Commander. Deploying squad after squad of enemy combatants outside would tire them rapidly. We have our own ways though. HEY! YOU! WITH THE QUESTIONS!” Virgo waited for the concerned Narix marine to detach from the group, before activating the anti-intruder foam on him, leaving his head sticking out of the block. “We do.” she answered his question, multiple weapons deploying from her suit to show them off. “Take a wager how long it takes him to chisel himself out?” Virgo offered to the Centurion.

“What’s interesting is his name means ‘stone’ in your language.” the centurion scratched the foam with an amused expression. “Usually, we seal the intruders in a given section, cut life support and keep making sudden gravity changes in that section until they give up or die, but this works rather well. Petrus is an engineer, he’ll figure out a way. Just make sure he gets out before he dies of dehydration or life support failure, he’s a father of four.” the centurion finished, flicking the foam off his fingers.

“Well, the option is there, and our marines use gravity manipulation to good effect, you’ll see at the spars, but if the enemy has their own life support suits, all you’re doing is slamming the door on them. We figured not being able to move was a good first step, then chisel them out one by one and safely transport them to holding under watch.” Virgo said, loosening the Engineer’s helmet so he could move his head at least. “Word of advice, unless you too have iridium teeth, biting your way out is not a good option. If you are willing to suffer some indignity, feel free to call for help.” Virgo smirked, before giving the poor engineer a salute and turning to walk off with his commander.

“As you have noticed, the internal space of our ships is very small to their size, and we mostly use the services of our sisters to get around, so we could make the corridors twisted, sort of illogical to follow unless you know the layout, and aside form the foam that also acts as fire retardant - it’s original purpose really - we can toy with gravity and life support, and there are checkpoints at strategic places.” she pointed forward to where there were turrets mounted on the walls right behind a bulkhead.

Leaving Lindus to be excavated by the rest of his team, Uristis listened to the Faira marine commander. “Then aside from needlessly illogical layout, our defensive measures are pretty much the same except crew numbers. But wouldn’t the foam be an obstacle? Say you get boarded in a fight, you seal the intruders and block the halls with the foam. What if you have to get through that hall to contain battle damage and no transport is available? How many halls do you have running parallel to each other if one or more get blocked for any reason?”

“There are two main paths running the length of the ship. Transport is usually available in some manner, as I took care to have one squaddie that can do what the transport specialists can at least once or twice before needing rest. It is not a universal requirement in the fleet or the military as a whole.” the Master of Arms noted.

Just two main paths? Sure, easier to hold, but equally as limiting. “Your checkpoints, what do they look like? An airlock with guards, maybe monitored from a security office?”

“A bulkhead rather than an airlock.” Virgo noted as they passed through the checkpoint, knocking on the internal rail of the door that would slam shut by the gravity if the mechanism failed. “The guns are a scaled down version of the PDG on the hull of the ship. Our designers are very, very fond of standardization. What of your ships?” she asked.

“Standardization, or defenses?” the Centurion asked.

“I asked for the latter, but now that you mentioned it...” Virgo shrugged.

“As I said earlier, much the same. But While we can’t mess with gravity or move our opponents by thought alone, our ships have more surveillance than our capital city. One of the biggest problems an intruder would face on a narix ship is the constant watchful gaze of security officers on duty. Another part of our defense plan are strategically placed entrances. Unless you mindjump wherever you wish, you have to go through the hangars on larger ships or storage on smaller ones. And if you manage to break out of there, anywhere you try to go, you’ll have to cope the crew as a whole, sealed bulkheads, gravity changes and most importantly, a force of marines that can be quickly directed to block your path anywhere aboard the ship. Don’t let Lindus fool you, in the first year of his service, during an uprising, he bludgeoned two hostile combatants to death with his empty rifle, and that was before power armor. Now imagine a few dozen like him at once. Unless mindspace usage is common among the various species that no doubt roam the stars and we are the exception, that would make a hole in our plans.”

“As a side note of the standardization, mostly everywhere but the Fifth Fleet.” he chuckled. “As we were expected to be away for long periods of time, ships of the Fifth were modified - better crew quarters, cooks recruited out of civilian restaurants, a fully-fledged movie theatre, a library.”

“Oh? And yet, your CO and most everyone of you looks baffled when they see our morale sectors. Imagine what the others of your military would feel like. If this merging of forces thing goes through, we’ll need many more ships for all the volunteers.” Virgo snickered as they reached a transport room, where Virgo had them jumped to the cargo hold. A small section of it was taken by various obstacles that simulated both the inside of a ship and obstacles one might find on a planet. “I apologize for the pathetic playground of a training area, but as I said, for a ship one kilometer in length, the Comet class is really cramped even by our standards. We moved your weapons to the armory, care to run a few comparison tests before the stonemasons arrive?””

All but team two started to examine the obstacles, waiting for the ‘stonemasons’ to arrive. “That name is going to stick with them for at least two months, sir. And we thought a library is weird to have on a warship, you put a part of a city here and as we understand, it’s standard issue. THAT is what we find, as you say, baffling.”

“Once, if that is, they decide to let you through to Naris, I think you should apply for a visit. We turned one of our moons into training grounds. So what now? Start with physical, move to obstacles, then marksmanship?”

Though he intended to add something, he was interrupted by the hasty arrival of the stonemasons. “Team two reporting, sir...s!”

“I see one issue that needs fixing. Centurion, for now, you will retain command of your squad. You personally will be getting your orders from me, just like the rest of my squad commanders. Later, when we see each other work, I might mix up the squadrons around, we shall see.” Virgo cleared up the chain of command.

“We’d like to see what utensils you brought.” One of the Faira squad leaders said, and Virgo nodded. “SL, bust out the equipment.” she ordered, and what looked like targets made out of layers of different materials were brought up. “Benchmarking targets.” Virgo explained. “Let’s see what kind of stuff your weapons can go through before we go to the rest.”

“Our weapons fire tungsten projectiles, are we sure no one will be harmed and nothing will be damaged by ricochets?”

“The first layer to get through is the standard issue personal shield. If those projectiles draw their energy from velocity rather than mass, they won’t do much more than splatter on the on the last layer at most. The first actual armor layer is the suit standard you and we are wearing, which is a ceramic fiber in metal matrix composite plate and 3D nanofiber metal mesh underlayer. Behind it are three layers of what we use for ship armor - reconstituted biopolymer plastic, heavy metal armor alloy and what’s upscaled version of the suit’s armor plate.” the master explained, “Although if it makes you feel any better, we’ll put up a shield around as well. You know what to expect of your stuff the most.”

“Acastus, Erixa!” Ursitis gestured at the targets. “Start with low settings. And someone make sure there are no flammable materials around the targets.”

The two named soldiers retrieved their equipment -  a standard rifle and a longer marksman variant. Going first, the team’s field medic quickly disassembled her weapon to make sure everything was in order before putting it back together and taking her place at the firing line. Adjusting a knob on the side of the weapon, she disabled the safety and waited for an all-clear.

“Engineers struggled to figure out a way to make the weapons work without punching a hole through walls that weren’t meant to be penetrated, such as weak hulls. We’ll start with the lower ones and work from there.” Ursitis explained.

Given the signal, the Narix raised her weapon and fired, producing a rather massive muzzle flash from the heat generated by the friction between the sabot and the rails. Upon impact, the incendiary mix in the tip ignited, detonating the explosive filler, shattering the bullet’s steel cover and sending its splinters flying. The tungsten penetrator would then continue on through the target.

Or it would have if it didn’t detonate prematurely upon contact with the shield. Upon closer examination, a dent in the armor indicated the penetrator was going sideways when it hit.

“200 meters per second, 77 kilojoules.” The marine announced. “What do you reckon the impact force was?”

“Not enough to go through a shielded standard issue suit. Light suit worn by command staff, diplomats and citizens might have left them with a bruise, heavy suit like mine, probably I’d feel it and that’s about it, but that’s because of the shield, and not everyone chooses to equip it. Humor me and let’s do another round without it.” Virgo frowned, already having the idea of what this round was going to do and not liking it one bit.

Again assuming her stance, the marine fired once more. Without the shield there to disrupt the projectile’s intended operation, it detonated when it was meant to, the suit layer gave way, the penetrator went right through before shattering upon impact with the second, ship layer.

[i]“So something to nullify shields.”[/i] Ursitis made a mental note for the R&D. “Shall we try with shield and a higher setting? Say 300 meters per second?”

“All of you that claimed a full body shield is unnecessary? At the end of your shift, you are going to engineering, and you are getting it, no questions asked.” Virgo ordered, making the mental note to push this up the chain of command to make it a fleet-wide order. “Feel free to go up to your comfort zone.” she nodded to the Narix, herself wondering about the result.

Nudging the medic away with an elbow, the marksman took her spot. “Why would you have access to shields like this and NOT use them?” she shook her head, setting up her rifle. “Let’s go 500. Shame we only brought this ammunition type.” Increasing the power assistance of the suit to withstand the recoil, she fired full of expectations.

Noticeably flinching backwards as the shot was fired, the suit kept the barrel pointing the same way despite the recoil strong enough to fully compress the shock absorbing stock. Perhaps somewhat unexpectedly, the penetrator went through the shield, the suit and still had enough energy left to gough a notch into the second layer.

“Well, that’s much better.” the marksman commented. “Have a theory why the shield failed, sir?” she turned to Virgo, lowering her rifle.

“Engie?” Virgo asked one of her squadmates, who seemed to have been monitoring the shootings. 

“Seems like on the initial test, the shield vaporized the casing and ignited the explosives. The penetrator element was deflected by the magnetosphere. In the second test, the penetrator went pretty much straight through, and the shield couldn’t heat the round up enough in the time it was in contact to ignite it or compromise its integrity. Can we do one even faster? I think the shield might actually start setting it off like when it impacts a solid target.”

“Can do.” the marksman turned the knob to an area marked in orange and waved one of her squadmates over. Unfolding the bipod, she used her squadmate to support the weapon as she took aim.

“These settings are extreme, meant to be used when the weapon is resting against a solid piece of rock or something similar. The second suit substitutes that.” the Centurion noted.

When the second soldier let the marksman know his helmet microphones were disabled, the marksman fired, the muzzle flash nearly a meter in length. At 800 meters pers second, the kinetic penetrator alone carried over 1200 kilojoules.

“Tell me you got that, because I would prefer not to repeat that.” the marksman stretched her right arm.

“I imagine that is not too usable in ship combat?” Virgo frowned, “Also, sidenote, the bang and stench are absolutely abysmal. Seems to me like the weapon might also maim the user upon the highest setting.” the master of arms shook her head.

“Confirmed,” the engineer said, “ignition at the shield threshold.” the engineer noted, “Seems like the shield has a weak spot to that particular round around 500 meters per second, and the standard suit can not handle the penetrator at and above that speed. Heavy I think would survive until you need to support the weapon.” the engineer reported.

Nodding, Virgo headed off to the target to examine it. “Seems like the penetrator would also go right through, probably pretty hot. Unless you hit something major, it would not do much to us. You, being mostly liquid form what I understand, is a different story.” Virgo said as she returned to the firing position. “Would you like to try our own, or should I demonstrate? We do have handheld versions as well.” Virgo offered.

“Correct, this is for planetary applications, when you have to disable a vehicle or hit something at 1600 meters. When used correctly, even this setting is safe, but this tests the border between what’s safe and what’s not.” the marksman turned the settings down again. “We do have air rifles in stock, but left them all at home. Those are nearly silent, but have to be pumped to keep their effectiveness.”

“We certainly won’t turn down a demonstration.” the centurion nodded, waving at his squad to clear the firing line. “If any of you feel the urge to try ours, you only need to ask. Somehow you even have the right amount of fingers.”

“Aleph squad, form up.” Virgo said, and four of the Faira lined up at the range. “I don’t know how much you have been told about our ship weapons, but it’s a lot similar on the smaller scale. First is the sidearm, which are small caliber and low speed plasma blasters.” Virgo explained, and the first Faira deployed the weapon from the forearm pod on her suit and shot with it, once at the unshielded target and once on the shielded one. The damage was completely undone by the shield, and there was a good sized scorch mark on the suit layer plate, but not much more.

“Leaves something to be desired. What’s the range and how many times can it fire before you’re out. I assume it’s at least ammo efficient?”

“Not very effective, but against a soft target in last resort situation, it can save your antennae. It is also so compact that you can very easily conceal it. As far as ammunition goes, it uses plasmatized nitrogen, so within atmosphere, the suit replenishes the clip from there. The tank is big enough not to be a bother, but the gun needs a cooldown after fifty rounds, hence why we usually have one on each arm.” Virgo explained.

“Next there is the anti-materiel laser.” the next Faira continued, bearing a handheld version of the weapon, pointed it to the targets. It took a few seconds to go through the shield, almost none to go through the suit layer before it bit into the ship armor, going halfway through before the weapon shut down and vapors from nitrogen poured on it’s heatsink.

“Good against one target, but everyone in the star system is going to know where you are. If what you kill has friends, staying in the same place would not be advisable.”

“Honestly, we do not count on deploying Marines to planets. This is for ship bound work, just in case some diminutive race or technical geniuses figured out armor vehicles that could fit in, or to defend hangars against boarding attempts.” Virgo noted, “then there is the dual-mode plasma cannon.” she nodded to the remaining two Faira

The first one deployed the cannon from shoulder mounts, firing high-velocity blobs that punched through the shield after several rounds and melted the suit layer, but gone no further. The other Faira shot it in a continuous beam mode, punching right through the shield, but it took a second or two to amass the damage on the armor.

“But, most of us prefer this.” Virgo said, mindjumping next to the target and swinging her arm forward, a red and white plasma lance forming in her hand that she rammed easily through both the shield and suit armor. It was obvious that compared with the Faira’s superior speed and mindspace mobility, it was not to be taken lightly. “Mindspike can take many forms, from lances through blades to chains.”

“That could be a problem.” someone at the back of the assembled squad murmured. The centurion kept silent, but was inclined to agree. “How long can you last in a engagement doing that?” He said, recalling a mention of only being able to execute similar feats for short periods of time. “How far can you go, and how accurately?”

“Most depends on skill really. Some of my marines can’t jump at all as they are oracles rather than psychokinetics. In general, we either have to have a Faira homing us in on the other end, or be able to sense in some way where we go - sight, echolocation, … But as it is a proprietary mindspace ability with no ammo feed, it relies on a gaseous atmosphere being present.” Virgo said as she got back. “Most marine-level psychokinetics will manage a knife-long spike at least though, enough to go through to vital organs.”

“Assuming you know where they are. If you wanted to kill me, for whatever reason one might wish remove such a blessing upon this universe, where would you strike?” the centurion inquired with a great deal of sarcasm i his voice.

“Sensory abilities and communication, so mostly your head, hypothetically. The engineers might target something important they can recognize on the suit instead. Mobility if I could not figure out anything else of the target - cut of all legs and it is a safe enough bet that it’s neutralized. Technically, you don’t need the enemy killed.” the master of arms answered, “You?”

“Joints and softer points, such as throat. With a firearm, whatever I can hit, so mostly your chest. If I was designating a target for a friendly or myself, assuming I had enough time to pick a target, I’d go for weak points in the suit - neck, joints, gaps in armor. But given what we’ve seen here, I might switch the underslung shotgun for a grenade launcher, and those things don’t care where you aim.”

“Oh, I meant with a blade or hand to hand.” Virgo said, “Guns, the largest target, so torso probably, as you said. I assume you can not produce plasma blades at will, do you have an alternative?”

“Several, but most are primarily tools.” he said, drawing his knife and handing it to Virgo. “Single-edged blade for cutting or hacking, saw on the other side. The small edge on the top side of the tip serves to cut wires. The tip is self-explanatory. There are larger variations for clearing away vegetation that can also be used to remove a limb or two. For less or non-lethal, blunt batons, be it rubber or metal. Those are very popular among civilians and civic guard, but still can break bones.”

“Not that useful here then, save for perhaps repairs to broken door panels.” Virgo said, flipping the knife in her hand a few times before launching it against the practice target. The knife passed through the shield, but bounced off of the plate. “Well that was interesting.”

“It seems like the suit’s sensors thought it too slow to be a projectile. We might want to adjust the software a little.” the engineer said.

“Oh well, now that we’re a bit familiarized with the tools, fancy seeing how our teams do against one another?”

“If you have a non-lethal way, sure. I am quite interested how that will turn out. Lindus, get the practice shells!“