Futuristic ℋ℮їґṧ: SIGMA (Sci-Fi/Powers/Interstellar Warfare RP)

"It isn't gossip if no one is getting hurt in the process." I said after Adrian left. He seems to take his role as a Captain very seriously, but he can act like he should Command everything here sometimes. Well, I guess I do that too, so I can't complain, but my situations are different, right? I can't justify it like that though. It doesn't matter, I lean back in my seat and dismiss the thought, closing my eyes and trying to quiet my mind for the battle ahead.

(Deleted to include Bill into the dropship.)

After walking out of briefing, I felt like I had grasped only the bare minimum in what seemed only like a five minute meeting. I'm sure it was longer, too, but everything has been a blur for awhile now. Ever since Smierc started these attacks, that's how I've felt; partially drained, not completely there. I still had all my strength and wits of course, but it felt like something was missing, for lack of a better term. Right now I couldn't put my finger on what that was...

While in this deeper thought process, I found myself routinely getting my gear ready, throwing my HoloSniper behind my back into its proper magnetic holster and doing the same with my sidearm. I adorned my armor, its steel-gray color-coating practically blending in with the equally-dull hangar. Once I had my gear ready, albeit slightly behind time, I rushed off toward the hangar to meet Fireteam Comet, the men I'd be fighting with today.

I made it to the hangar just in time, helmet in hand while I weaved my way through the crowd before I finally managed to recognize Fireteam Comet's leader, Joachim. I gave a nod of respect before starting. "Sorry I'm a little late, day has been a bit of a blur. My name is Nyles, Carter Nyles. I guess I'm your sharpshooter for the time-being," I said, going ahead and introducing myself.

Bill
"Fireteam Comet?"
I briskly walk to Comet. I never was in a fireteam, better join one now or risk getting demolished alone.
"Permission to join up with you? I'm Bill Johnson. I was away for one of the Sector's exploratory programs, but with that program over, I was sent to the main missions."

J

I began double checking my ammo, and my magnetic holsters, making sure my holo-machete doesn't fly out midflight and impale someone or something important. So far, so good. I sat there, leaning my head against the hard metallic sides of the dropship, keeping an ear out for any more chatting, as the muffled sound of other dropships taking off fill the hangar.

And of course, some foreign voices came up in my ears. I opened my eyes, and glanced to the source of the sound. There were 2 guys outside the dropship, asking permission to join... my Fireteam? Well, one's assigned as my sniper-marksman-guy-dude, the other is probably a loner who needed to join up temporarily.

"Yeah, come in. We already have a sharpshooter, but two won't hurt. And Bill, you can stay with our group for this mission." I said to them, motioning my guys to scoot over and make room for the newcomers. Huh, that's weird. We already have a sharpshooter, and they gave us another one? And he doesn't look like a sniper type, his hunky build makes him look more suitable with LMGs. And these guys are old, way older than any of us in Comet.

I glance over to Carlison, our resident Snipey dude, and he gave a confused look back at me, also puzzled by NU Command's decisions. Well, I guess the more, the merrier. My AI adds those two on the Fireteam Roster, one sharpshooter, one heavy.

Bill
"Thank you."
I sit down in the dropship.
"If you need to know, I specialize in the creation of sturdy robotic minions. However, the more powerful, the more time I need."
I take a seat, and reflect on my recon mission. Lee and Mystery were alive. Or were they?

J

"Alright. Show time." I said to myself, grabbing my LMG firmly again. The dropship's engines whir up loudly, becoming muffled as the ship's landing hatch closed with a hydraulic hum to it. I glanced out the window, at the ground crew directing the few dropships left in the hangar to their positions, ours included.

I feel a sudden pressure pushing me downwards, as the dropship lifts up, and then my body jerks a bit as the dropship accelerates. The view outside the windows change drastically, to the vast nothingness of space with the stars and stuff. The pilot announces he's going into warp. And he does, and the view changes to... whatever that is.

"So, game plan?" I asked everyone.

GearBlade654 Henrypika LoneSniper87 Trappy JacobLG

Bill
I shoot a calculated look.
"I believe my part will be leading the charge."
I start conjuring an animated old-fashioned knight on an empty chair. Progress is going by decently, though it could be faster.
Then, when that's done, I summon a what seemed to be 2 pillars of metal on treads on 2 more chairs. And a spike on top.
"I'll have my minions keep us covered from enemy fire, but that's all the idea I got. You guys?"

DM

Captain Nuremberg finished the preliminary report to the Commander, as the Captain walked down to his command station. The Commander, Perez, mulled over the recent developments. This strike against the Smiercs is a bold one, and may possibly endanger the offensive capabilities of the New Union Navy should it fail. However, he knew inside his heart that this is not a choice the New Union can even afford to have at this point in the Cruento War.

"All Sabre Corps and Twisted Wolf personnel, be advised. Radio comms should be limited to local teams, as we do not want to risk our dropship exit from hyperspace once you reach the operational space, over.", said Captain Nuremberg over the tactical network.


Adrian

The incoming transmission from the Captain confirmed what I had thought was going to be the case. Radios are to be kept at a local level, which is going to make large scale cooperation rather difficult once we get into our positions. Even so, as long as we keep to the mission details, we should be able to take down the Smierc's strike fleet at Portus.

I've trained myself on the names of the Portus underground rebellion leaders. There is Kris Nantucket, the main leader of the underground movement. I recognized the name as soon as I read it, as it was my old school teacher's name back when my family lived on Portus. It's going to be a bit of a bittersweet reunion, as the mission is going to potentially determine the tide of the entire Cruento War.

Daelen

"No. You won't be leading the charge, Johnson." - Dav spoke up, before looking up at the man. - "Sorry to ruin your big show mate, it's Dav, I'll be the squad's support gunner. About you, I'm sorry to say there won't be any charging." - He added, before sitting up on the rather small chair, his hands gripping on the LMG tightly. This Bill Johnson confused Dav, to say the least. Obviously, they wouldn't charge head-on towards the enemy while being very deep inside enemy territory now, would they? Dav would not claim to be sane himself, but even he knew no sane men would do that, the equivalent of signing their death-warrant.

"Buddy, I really don't mean anything, nor do I want to start a feud before the big brawl. But to be frank, I think Joachim here would prefer going in that hole unnoticed, plant the bomb, roast the fuckers and bail." - His eyes quickly turned to his friend, and received a nod. "Keep your minions, too big a presence, we don't need an army. I say we find some neat holes on the thing. Surely they must have some maintenance hatches for such a facility. We should just wing it after that. The Smierc are smart, friend, for that I doubt any 'game plans' would survive contact with the enemy."

Bill
"Hm. Alright."
I disintegrate the pillars and the knight.
I sit back on the chair, scratching my chin in deep thought.

Katherine

I set up a private communications channel linking everyone on the dropship at Perez's orders, "Testing," I tapped the little headset a few times, before putting my take in.

"This should be relatively easy, assuming they don't already know that we're attacking, and if we're going in the stealthy way, I should probably go since I'm pretty light. Also, I already have a silenced pistol and a good melee weapon in case of obstructions." I looked through the crowd for signs of approval. "Of course, the choice is up to you guys."

Out of boredom, I materialize a small fireball in my palm and start to juggle it, setting my eyes on a familiar newcomer. "Oh, hi Bill. It's been a while since I saw you in the... crossover."

Bill
I look at Katherine.
This time, my only response is a firm nod. I didn't even know who she was until now.

"Good point." I said to Dav as he talked about hatches. "Also, everyone, turn your comms off until we get off this thing, yeah? We don't want the, catching wind?" I told them. "Katherine I'm going with you, you and I make a decent partnership so far."

I took my seat in the dropship, thankful to be taken onto the team without question. Once positioned comfortably, I tuned into the conversation, ready to toss in my own two cents now. "Well I'm hoping these ships will be run by some form of electricity because that would make our job a breeze. I could get us past any door in a flash, hell probably take down a power grid. If that doesn't work out then I'm a hell-of-a-shot at any distance and I can still get us past any doors with relative ease. It'll just take a whole lot longer," I finish, shrugging at my last statement.

"I know this is supposed to be an ambush, but if I'm being completely honest, when have the Smierc not been ready for us?" I followed up after hearing some disagreement among the squad. "Excuse my cliche saying, but we should have some sort of plan for if shit swings South," I add, looking around for any responses.

(Gonna be gone on a trip till the 30th. Still gonna try and get some posts out though.)

J

I sat there, listening to our discussion of tactics. My friend, Dav, shot down the new guy, Bill's idea of leading the charge. It was kinda ridiculous, anyways. And even if that were to happen, surely it would make more sense for a sniper guy to stay back. Now I know that Katherine's got the quiet stuff, and her lean figure can make the maneuvers work. Miller's gonna go with her, since a backup is always a good thing.

Carter speaks up. Apparently his powers are electricity-related, though I doubt an advanced alien empire would have mere human electricity as their power source in their own starship technology. Though I could be wrong, who knows. Then he goes on and almost possibly jinxed us from the start.

I glance around, at my team and our armaments. "When shit goes South," I motioned my hand to the entirety of Fireteam Comet, before continuing, "We're the plan. Between us and the rest of Omaha, we've got more than enough firepower to hold them off for a while as we retreat to a more advantageous position or something. We could probably blow a hole in the ships with Dav's explosives, to save time planting the nukes if we're spotted."

I move my right hand onto my holstered machete, while my left hand cradles a green flame, slowly materializing into a miniature form of the Fire Claymore, tinted bright green, and only as big as my middle finger, before continuing in a lower, quieter voice, with a smirk on my face. "And besides, between these puppies, I can probably stay quiet for a while."

I began thinking tactics in my head, about our rules of engagement, and how Fireteam Comet's gonna move in stealthy situations. Parkins is good for breaching and close quarters takedowns, with his mechanical limbs providing more than enough pressure to break a neck or even crush a Smierc guard's trachea, effectively choking him. Davo can summon those Spear Hands of his and do some quick work against some Smierc, although his range is limited to running distance anyways. John and Danny have their combat knives, but I doubt they can throw it very far. Or accurately. Carlison, well, I saw him grab a silencer about two days ago, thanks to my... generous funds. So he'll be our major backup.

Damn. At moments like these, I wished we had less firepower.

DM

The dropship group finally exits hyperspace and enters into a discrete orbit around Portus. Already, the dropships' scanners are indicating that there is a massive buildup of enemy forces around their orbital spacedocks. As planned earlier, the dropships begin the re-entry procedures, making sure that the Smiercs would not be able to detect them. This, however, would force the dropships to travel a fair bit longer in order to meet up with the Portus underground movement.

The dropships pass a deserted ravine and enter one of the few scattered oases on the primarily desert planet of Portus. From the distance, a young rebel recruit reports to the underground leader, Kris Nantucket, that the New Union forces are planetside. With this in mind, the rebellion leader orders for his forces to go out and secure a landing perimeter.

After a quiet landing, Kris Nantucket goes to a group of Sabre Corps personnel and greets them. Coincidentally, this happens to be Fireteam Nexus.


Adrian

The landing itself wasn't too remarkable to say the least, and it should be so. We wouldn't exactly want the Smiercs to suddenly notice a 30-40 dropship group landing on their occupied Outer Territory planet, Portus. As I got Fireteam Nexus ready to exit, I saw the rebel leader in the distance heading towards us with his armed rebels. Yup, that's Mr. Nantucket alright.

"Hey Mr. Nantucket, remember me?
"And who might you be...? Wait... is that you Adrian?"

It took a moment for Mr. Nantucket to confirm that it was me, Adrian T. Morrison, from years ago. He gave me a big hug, which I happily returned, and welcomed me back home. The area of operations is known as Pike's Oasis, one of the few vacation spots that us Portus natives could afford without going out-of-planet.

Then I snapped back into reality and urged Mr. Nantucket to lead our group inside to give us the latest intel.

"Sure thing. You boys probably are nervous, just as we are, about this mission. We can't let those Smiercs end society as we know it without a fight. Follow us. My rebel boys will keep watch over your dropships, so don't worry about them.", said Mr. Nantucket to the Sabre Corps and Twisted Wolves shuffling out of their dropships.

After listening to what Joachim had to say, I wasn't sure whether or not to feel reassured. On one hand, many of us were horribly equipped for a stealth mission, but on the other hand Joachim was probably right; we have enough firepower to probably get ourselves through anything. With all that in mind, I reckoned I might be an ideal point man for the situation. "Well if it comes to it, I can be a point-man. Takedowns come easy when you can send a few amps of electricity through someone, and I can do that from a distance, too," I spoke, looking toward Joachim before wrapping up. "Beyond that I can hold my own in hand-to-hand if it ever came to that."

While waiting for a response from Joachim, I took to fiddling with my own abilities like some of the others were already doing. It had been awhile since I had exercised my powers too, so chaining a few bolts of electricity between my hands turned out to be good practice.

Katherine

I turned off my comms, briefly saying, "Aye, Captain." That was a pretty good call on Ash- I mean, Captain Miller's call. By having transmissions going and ending in the same position, we have the possibility of being spotted electronically.

We exit the light tunnel of hyperspace and enter orbit above a yellowish planet with a few patches of green. So, this must be Portus... Looks like a desert. As if on cue, we started landing after the 5th dropship descended onto the face of the planet, entering the atmosphere in the same way it's always been going.

After a while, we cruised through a ravine, landing where the five dropships before us were already unloaded. I put out my fireball, and unbuckled my harness, standing up to stretch.

(bump for others)

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J

We descended upon the bright yellow planet, its light shining through the dropship's windows as the thing rocked violently as it exited warp and did the re-entry stuff. It swooped down into a ravine, headed for an oasis of sorts, with other dropships from the group appearing in the windows.

As the ship lands, my powers vanish and the hatch opens, allowing for us to get out. I walk out first, my boots hitting the soft, warm sand as Katherine stood up to stretch near the hatch. I shield my eyes from the sun with my right hand, since my visors haven't calibrated the lighting yet.

As I blink rapidly to adjust to the sunlight, I could see... a beach. In front of me. A big, serene beach, with warm sand, and rough waves. The sound of rustling seawater hits my ears with an ethereal ring to it, and the sunlight feels hotter. I can see... silhouettes. People. New Union uniforms laying on the sand, covered with tarps to protect them from the sun. That's... Washington. Dipping through the waves, gasping for air as he rose out of it, followed by a high pitched laugh. Carolina. I scan the beaches, and I could spot everyone from my... Fireteam. Allison. Allison. There she is. She looks so... nice. At peace. Her hair flowing in the water.

I feel a pat on my back, and I blink my eyes from the sudden touch. What now lies in front of me is not a beach, but a simple dune of sand, with an oasis near it. I shake my head a bit, and began walking towards the rebel troops greeting Adrian and his Fireteam, my steps shifting slightly in the sand.

LoneSniper87

We finally landed on Portus, and I rose. I motioned to the rest of my Fireteam to follow suit, having them walk ahead, as I stepped out behind all of them. I stepped out from the craft and stood next to J as he stared at the oasis, obviously seeing something I wasn't. "Hey J, something wrong?" I asked him, my eyes still searching for any sign of what he sees.

DM

As the other Sabre Corps and Twisted Wolves start to file inside the discrete meeting hall, several rebel soldiers stood guard outside, making sure that there was no possible Smierc presence that could ruin the mission. Once the perimeter was secured, Kris Nantucket began to relay the intel that his rebel forces gathered while under Smierc control.

"You see here, the Smiercs are trying to completely end this war by hitting the New Union's naval production center, Potenza. Sure, I've heard that Ocroria serves as a secondary production center because of the war strains, but if Potenza is taken over, Ocroria is not going to be enough to replace New Union ships. The only way we can hit that strike fleet in Portus' orbit in their space docks is to hitch a ride on their cargo transports."

With that said, Kris opened up a diagram of the Smierc's main HQ, where the cargo transports land and take-off on a regular basis.

"We've managed to nab a cargo shipment schedule from one of the Smierc's computers. Once we get to their main HQ and sneak into their landing pads, we should be able to steal 3 to 4 of their cargo transports to get a clear ride to the orbital space docks. These cargo transports should be large enough to handle almost 10 of your dropship capacity, so 3 to 4 should be fine for now."

Kris closed up the mission presentation and let a signal out to the rest of the rebels.

"We the rebels will secure our own transports to get up to that space dock. Remember, if we are caught, there's no turning back. I'm not sure how we'll even manage to get inside their ships if they get alerted of rebel and New Union forces attacking their main HQ."

After the briefing, Kris let out an order for his rebel attack squads to form up and prepare to move out to the main HQ. Several hover-jeeps were provided for both the rebels and the New Union forces as transports. Of course, these hover-jeeps will need to be left behind once they near the HQ, or risk detection.


Adrian

I was impressed. For most of my childhood on Portus, I saw Mr. Nantucket as a quiet, if not almost mute, man with a strong will. Looks like the war forced him to adopt a more outspoken persona in order to muster his forces and keep up his troop's morale.

"Mr. Nantucket, I'm just glad that you're still alive... I wasn't sure how the Smiercs had been treating the folk around here ever since they annexed this planet."
"Oh, believe me. It's been horrible. That's why I can't let the next generation suffer under the Smiercs... I just can't."

A silent exchange of looks was enough for Mr. Nantucket to convey the hardships the people of Portus suffered under the tyrannical Smiercs. Now, I hope this operation will pave a path for liberation...

Outside the meeting hall, several hover-jeeps are stationed for us as transports. I order Fireteam Nexus into one and follow the convoy to the enemy's main HQ. This is either going to be one of the greatest moments of the Cruento War, or one of the worst in human history...

Katherine

I walk out of the meeting with Miller and a sense of satisfaction, finally seeing someone with sense leading our forces. "I like this plan already. It's like that slogan you said on my first mission. 'Fortune favors the bold.'"

I catch a glimpse of Adrian talking to the leader of the local rebellion, Nantucket. He had a look of exhaustion and sadness, probably from the fact of having lost his planet to the Smierc.

I decide to wait outside one of the camouflaged hover jeeps for the rest of the crew to gather here.

After having listened to Nantucket's briefing, I can honestly say I felt a little more at ease. However much at ease you can feel about invading a warrior-based species' main headquarters, that is...

Once the briefing was finished, I promptly went outside, headed for the hoverjeeps. I planned on being on the first ones, but the scenery caught my eye and made me stop, dead in my tracks. Hmph. Perhaps "scenery," isn't the best word to describe the desert planet, but to me that was what it was. The dunes of sand were so elegantly crafted to my eyes. The perfect planes of sand, towering high in tall dunes, spilling out onto the landscape endlessly, was enough to make me forget why I was here. Maybe that's because it reminded me so much of home.

I don't know quite how long I was standing idly, staring at the landscape before me. It very well could have been mere seconds, but it felt like I had been gawking much longer. I was finally pulled out of my delusion by the sound of shuffling footsteps. Quickly I made for the hoverjeeps, which were only ten or twenty meters from where I had stopped to stare like a lunatic.

I saw a familiar face and veered my way toward her, deciding it was best to get introduced. I just hoped she had missed me gaping at such a desolate landscape, and I sure-as-hell hope everyone else did as well. "Hey, I'm Carter. Carter Nyles. I don't think I caught your name," I said, extending a hand.

Henrypika