FourtyTwoI figure I'll just go ahead and move us ahead to the next segment a little later today, unless anyone wants me to hold off until they have a chance to post!
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@PlatinumSkink Yeah, there's a few points where the armor is not as well plated she could exploit, like just above the collarbone, deep in the joints, and along the side of the waist. And of course, they're all susceptible to psionics!
@Rultaos These particular guys are in ballistic armor, so fire away!
As for @Turbowraith, don't worry, there's a particular event coming in my next post that'll serve as a good reason for us all to spare Joe (waiting on 1 or 2 more posts before I pull the trigger on that)
@Rultaos These particular guys are in ballistic armor, so fire away!
As for @Turbowraith, don't worry, there's a particular event coming in my next post that'll serve as a good reason for us all to spare Joe (waiting on 1 or 2 more posts before I pull the trigger on that)
@Tickout We gotta deal with these Federation troops first, I've got a general idea of what the groups will be based on skillsets, but I won't be revealing that until the proper time (and the next twist)
@PlatinumSkink Yeah of course! We have no need of dice rolls or whatever, I trust you all to manage yourselves. Just keep it within the realm of realism, like I'm not gonna have Grayson flawlessly headshot 50 targets in 10 seconds without taking a single notch of damage myself. As long as you don't go overboard, anything you wanna do is fine by me.
Aboard The Revenant
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@Banana@Azereiah
"Ok, good first assault, time to back off a little.... bring us out and around for another rush" Stryker said as he monitored the control panel. Alot of the Revenant's weapons felt like patchwork jobs, whether that was from its years lost to the Deadzone or an intentional choice by the Alliance to sell it's persona as a pirate vessel, Stryker had no clue. Since he fired the opening salvo, he'd been running some basic program-subroutines on the weapons, and they'd just completed as he spoke.
"Main cannon's just about cooled off and the side cannons are finally online. I'm transferring my controls over to the co-pilot's seat and coming down there" He cut off the comms system in the forward battery and made his way down the ladder to join the pilot and gun crews towards the nose of the ship.
"Cycle out your heat sinks now while we have a chance" He said as he walked past the gunners and into the open door of the cockpit. With a sigh of relief, he collapsed into the co-pilot's chair.
"That's better" he said to no one in particular as he spun to run a control check on the cannons "Tibulus, carry her out a bit further, then hold for my signal... 2 more klicks or so, we'll throttle up to full burn and joust along their right side to maximize damage"
He tapped in to the squad comms for an update.
"Boarding party, status report"
-----------
Helsin Station Upper Cargo Bay/Crew Hangar
-----------
"Almost done with the welcome party" Grayson said into the comms as he slipped cover to return fire. He'd come down from his perch in the rafters for fear of being too exposed. Now he crouched at the base of a shipping container with SAL and a few of the combat drones.
"We've lost 3 of our bots" he said "Might wanna give em a little more in the way of self-preservation mate. Hold a minute"
He turned his attention to SAL.
"What say we give 'em the 'ol shadow striker?" He said as he reached to his wrist computer to engage his armor's camo function "Load in some explosive buckshot, what do ya think, silenced and using bloomer 7's?"
SAL responded quickly "Analysis is showing that would be effective, targets are susceptible to loss of mobility when targeting the torso base, loss of combat ability when targeting the left arm-shoulder joint, and loss of all functions when targeting the head"
"Yeah, I figured as much" Maverick shot back as he held a moment to let his rifle re-configure to a mid-range suppressed battle rifle. He loaded in a mag of 7.62 Shrapnel rounds, went invisible and snuck off to find appropriate cover and a good firing position. He heard SAL's shotgun blast out a steady thuwump of explosive rounds. Hell, if he didn't speed up, the robot might eradicate all the targets. He spotted the cluster of security bots, only 4 were still standing at this point, and though they'd all be scrap in a minute, they weren't giving up easy. Benny's virus must have worn off by now, as all 4 of them were concentrating fire on where he'd just left SAL and most of the crew. He posted up, froze for a second to allow the camo to smooth out, then took his first shot.
BLZZZRRRR The bullet had exploded upon contact into dozens of shards, shredding through the drone's head like a shotgun would a human's at point-blank. The bot flopped uselessly to the floor, sparking and spasming as it carried out it's last actions. A few seconds later and all the targets were down, either by Grayson's hand, or the others at the back end of the shooting gallery.
"Stryker? Grayson here. We just cleared the cargo bay. Everyone's still alive. Getting ready to move in deeper. What d'you reckon?"
"Split into two groups and work your way around the ring in opposite directions I guess" Stryker replied after a beat "Only way to ensure zero survivors. Keep an eye out for anything that looks Federation, or looks useful to us"
"Copy that" Grayson disengaged his camo and walked off to rejoin the others, he looked around at the group and posed a question.
"So how we gonna split this up?"
Belov, the Russian, seemed displeased "It does not matter how we divide ourselves. This is no fight, this is a massacre, there's nothing to be gained here" the large man turned and stomped off towards the doorway that led deeper into the station.
The sound of sudden laserfire shook Grayson, he turned to witness Belov go down, and beyond his prone form, a squad of Federation troopers, garbed in yellow full-body armor
"CONTACT!" Grayson shouted as he dived for cover. He fumbled with his comms "Stryker, we found the Federation, I repeat mate, we've got Federation troops up our arses!"
@Turbowraith@Tickout@BKburke@Dark Light@Xandrya@mackielars@Rultaos@PlatinumSkink
--------
On the Revenant
--------
The ship's sensors picked up movement from the station, something massive. Stryker pulled up a magnified view to see the Planet Cracker's main laser shaft beginning to tilt up in the general direction of the ship. A distinct red glow coming from it's end
"We've got problems of our own Grayson" Stryker said "We're mid-reload and the Planet Cracker is preparing to fire on us. Tibulus, fuck waiting for the reload, we're going in now, close that gap between us and the station now, before that laser turns us to dust!"
-------
@Banana@Azereiah
"Ok, good first assault, time to back off a little.... bring us out and around for another rush" Stryker said as he monitored the control panel. Alot of the Revenant's weapons felt like patchwork jobs, whether that was from its years lost to the Deadzone or an intentional choice by the Alliance to sell it's persona as a pirate vessel, Stryker had no clue. Since he fired the opening salvo, he'd been running some basic program-subroutines on the weapons, and they'd just completed as he spoke.
"Main cannon's just about cooled off and the side cannons are finally online. I'm transferring my controls over to the co-pilot's seat and coming down there" He cut off the comms system in the forward battery and made his way down the ladder to join the pilot and gun crews towards the nose of the ship.
"Cycle out your heat sinks now while we have a chance" He said as he walked past the gunners and into the open door of the cockpit. With a sigh of relief, he collapsed into the co-pilot's chair.
"That's better" he said to no one in particular as he spun to run a control check on the cannons "Tibulus, carry her out a bit further, then hold for my signal... 2 more klicks or so, we'll throttle up to full burn and joust along their right side to maximize damage"
He tapped in to the squad comms for an update.
"Boarding party, status report"
-----------
Helsin Station Upper Cargo Bay/Crew Hangar
-----------
"Almost done with the welcome party" Grayson said into the comms as he slipped cover to return fire. He'd come down from his perch in the rafters for fear of being too exposed. Now he crouched at the base of a shipping container with SAL and a few of the combat drones.
"We've lost 3 of our bots" he said "Might wanna give em a little more in the way of self-preservation mate. Hold a minute"
He turned his attention to SAL.
"What say we give 'em the 'ol shadow striker?" He said as he reached to his wrist computer to engage his armor's camo function "Load in some explosive buckshot, what do ya think, silenced and using bloomer 7's?"
SAL responded quickly "Analysis is showing that would be effective, targets are susceptible to loss of mobility when targeting the torso base, loss of combat ability when targeting the left arm-shoulder joint, and loss of all functions when targeting the head"
"Yeah, I figured as much" Maverick shot back as he held a moment to let his rifle re-configure to a mid-range suppressed battle rifle. He loaded in a mag of 7.62 Shrapnel rounds, went invisible and snuck off to find appropriate cover and a good firing position. He heard SAL's shotgun blast out a steady thuwump of explosive rounds. Hell, if he didn't speed up, the robot might eradicate all the targets. He spotted the cluster of security bots, only 4 were still standing at this point, and though they'd all be scrap in a minute, they weren't giving up easy. Benny's virus must have worn off by now, as all 4 of them were concentrating fire on where he'd just left SAL and most of the crew. He posted up, froze for a second to allow the camo to smooth out, then took his first shot.
BLZZZRRRR The bullet had exploded upon contact into dozens of shards, shredding through the drone's head like a shotgun would a human's at point-blank. The bot flopped uselessly to the floor, sparking and spasming as it carried out it's last actions. A few seconds later and all the targets were down, either by Grayson's hand, or the others at the back end of the shooting gallery.
"Stryker? Grayson here. We just cleared the cargo bay. Everyone's still alive. Getting ready to move in deeper. What d'you reckon?"
"Split into two groups and work your way around the ring in opposite directions I guess" Stryker replied after a beat "Only way to ensure zero survivors. Keep an eye out for anything that looks Federation, or looks useful to us"
"Copy that" Grayson disengaged his camo and walked off to rejoin the others, he looked around at the group and posed a question.
"So how we gonna split this up?"
Belov, the Russian, seemed displeased "It does not matter how we divide ourselves. This is no fight, this is a massacre, there's nothing to be gained here" the large man turned and stomped off towards the doorway that led deeper into the station.
The sound of sudden laserfire shook Grayson, he turned to witness Belov go down, and beyond his prone form, a squad of Federation troopers, garbed in yellow full-body armor
"CONTACT!" Grayson shouted as he dived for cover. He fumbled with his comms "Stryker, we found the Federation, I repeat mate, we've got Federation troops up our arses!"
@Turbowraith@Tickout@BKburke@Dark Light@Xandrya@mackielars@Rultaos@PlatinumSkink
--------
On the Revenant
--------
The ship's sensors picked up movement from the station, something massive. Stryker pulled up a magnified view to see the Planet Cracker's main laser shaft beginning to tilt up in the general direction of the ship. A distinct red glow coming from it's end
"We've got problems of our own Grayson" Stryker said "We're mid-reload and the Planet Cracker is preparing to fire on us. Tibulus, fuck waiting for the reload, we're going in now, close that gap between us and the station now, before that laser turns us to dust!"
@PlatinumSkink Yeah, still a left leg, don't need to worry about that!
@Tickout Hide, you shall not sir! I just realized I forgot to mention we might have to split up the boarding party (a little more than it already has by itself, and Maxi may or may not have a role to play before this is all done... but I mean I don't know for sure, not like there's a real plan or anything..... *taps fingers together evilly*
@Banana@Azereiah@Turbowraith@Tickout@BKburke@Dark Light@Xandrya@mackielars@Rultaos@PlatinumSkink
Forgot to tag everyone earlier when I made up those 2 races up there ^
So we're gonna keep things moving at a brisk pace. I'll hold off on that for another hour or 2 tomorrow morning in case anyone who hasn't yet wants to get a post in. Things are gonna get a bit more complicated from here on out as...
... things happen. If you don't want the spoilers, don't worry about it, everything will be fine, scout's honor!
Forgot to tag everyone earlier when I made up those 2 races up there ^
So we're gonna keep things moving at a brisk pace. I'll hold off on that for another hour or 2 tomorrow morning in case anyone who hasn't yet wants to get a post in. Things are gonna get a bit more complicated from here on out as...
... things happen. If you don't want the spoilers, don't worry about it, everything will be fine, scout's honor!
Oh god, I just realized I forgot to bullshit up a couple of races to inhabit the station, since its Federation-aligned so therefore the few humans on board are only there as slaves. Ok here we go:
Molvina- Short Humanoid species (Average height of 5'0). Pale-green skin, slightly pointed ears, mostly hairless. Hailing from Molus Vagar, a system in Federation space, the Molvina are a technologically-advanced race, noted for their contributions to the Galactic Conclave in areas of medicine, mining, and long-range communication systems. The Helsin Mining Corp was originally founded by the Molvina.
Nurrin- Humanoid serpent species. Tan skin, flat, expressionless faces, completely hairless and quite tall (average height of 6'0). Not particularly intelligent, but physically adept. They excel at physical tasks and warfighting, but they are not a bloodthirsty race. They make up the main labor force of the Helsin station.
Molvina- Short Humanoid species (Average height of 5'0). Pale-green skin, slightly pointed ears, mostly hairless. Hailing from Molus Vagar, a system in Federation space, the Molvina are a technologically-advanced race, noted for their contributions to the Galactic Conclave in areas of medicine, mining, and long-range communication systems. The Helsin Mining Corp was originally founded by the Molvina.
Nurrin- Humanoid serpent species. Tan skin, flat, expressionless faces, completely hairless and quite tall (average height of 6'0). Not particularly intelligent, but physically adept. They excel at physical tasks and warfighting, but they are not a bloodthirsty race. They make up the main labor force of the Helsin station.
@Banana@Azereiah@Turbowraith@Tickout@BKburke@Dark Light@Xandrya@mackielars@Rultaos@PlatinumSkink
"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.
"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.
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