[h2] Commander Stader Volger
89th LSC CO[/h2]

Volger could admit that despite his many years of working alongside AC’s; he had worked with a lot of mid-tier Lances. So the display of the Lance at the moment was rather impressive. Fending off enemy AC’s, supporting the LSC, harrying capital ships and strike craft. 

All while outnumbered and on the back foot. 

Volger made a mental note to update his plans as he turned the last corner to his destination. The [i]Venture’s[/i] starboard shuttle bay held a few civilian cargo haulers but none of the Onyx-9 troopers scurrying through the bay paid the craft any attention. They were too busy assembling a set of frameworks towards the closed bay doors.

The thruster frames were in essence; giant thrusters attached to a a ceramic carbide skeleton. The skeleton having anchor points and straps for personnel ( alive or dead) and equipment. They were mainly used for post battle casualty collection and prisoner transport. 

However, Volger and Onyx-9 were using them for a different purpose today. He eyed his display. The frigate passing closet. The dancing AC’s. The fire of the [i]Indomitus[/i].

“Stand by…” Volger took his place in the stack. He shouldn’t have been there. He knew a commander had no place being this close. But he couldn’t resist. Old habits-

Lt. Dvalin’s AC scored a kill. Following the kill with a flurry of missiles and beam rifle fire that had the nice effect of cluttering sensors.

[color=82ca9d]Onyx-9 Execute!!![/color]

The boosters the platoon in the debris field had assembled kicked off as the ones on the [i]Venture[/i] followed a split second after. The troopers clinging to them for a scant, precious two seconds. Kicking off almost immediately after getting the initial kickstart of the frames boost. 

Hurriedly getting free as the frigate’s point defense guns hurriedly engaged what it took for missiles. A fire team was too slow to kick off and disappeared in the flurry of explosive shells that perforated the space. 

The gambit however worked for the most part. The cluttered battle space and the sudden speed of the frames allowed the troopers to close. Now free of the frames; the troopers used their own boosters to close the distance. 

Volger felt a thrill as he passed a turret slashing away at a distant target. His armor invisible to the anti ship based sensors. He felt the impact of his boots hitting the hull; magnetic activating as vibrations of the frigate at work ran through the contact points. 

Around him, his visor highlighted the troopers making it though the point defenses. Obviously, the pirates hadn’t sprung for the external anti boarding measures. Or removed the limiters for the turrets to allow them to depress to the hull. 

[i]’A shame’[/i] 

Volger thought as his HUD helpfully marked his target on the hull. It was an awkward one hundred meter magnetic assisted walk to the crosshairs but it gave his troopers on the “X” to gather. Two squads had made it before the frigate had started evasive maneuvers; aware of their presence but not wanting to send crew out into the hull in the middle of a fight. 

The AC’s of both sides danced overhead as Volger’s troopers worked. Affixing the hull charge to the indicated spot. 

Volger toggled his comms but waited until the demo trooper triggered the charge. The shaped charge’s vibration matching the intensity of light and flame; but the vacuum took the roar. The rush of escaping atmosphere was accompanied by the flailing bodies of the compartment’s inhabitants; the same bluish-gray pattern uniform of the professional pirates from the [i]Venture[/i]. They wore shipboard survival armor. So they would probably survive space if they could get somewhere with atmosphere before life support ran out. 

Muzzle flashes from a trooper beside Volger polarized his visor. The frigate crew stilled amidst globules of red. From the breach more muzzle flashes flared as troopers piled in. Volger flowed in as he keyed his comms.

[color=a2d39c]Onyx-9 Actual to Lance. We have taken Shrike-class frigate’s aft fire control. Stand by while we shut down rear offensive and defensive fires. [/color]

Volger could never understand why the Shrike class had two fire control centers nor why the aft center was so close to the hull. Sure it made overhaul and upgrades easier; but also more vulnerable. 

Case in point as a the two squads of Onyx troopers, now in the ship’s artificial gravity, cleared the compartment. The previous crew, those that had been strapped in, were now slack in their seating. The occasional sidearm halfway pulled. The compartment’s weapons locker untouched in a corner by the blast door.

One trooper, the hacker, pulled a corpse off a console to affix an override device. The device gave a cheerful green light and soon the thumb of weapons fire subsided substantially. Throughout the room; weapon displays and targeting vectors turned an angry red of flashed warnings and indicators. 

[color=a2d39c]Onyx-9 Actual. Guns are spiked. We’re ready to pull.[/color]