Futuristic Unlit IC

[Dragongal]

Adira had a bit of an easier time than Silas when it came to sneaking - the ground barely shifted under her light, cautious steps, and she didn't have to stoop quite so low. In her comm channel that only Silas could hear, she said, "Yeah, but flat and straightforward can mean less cover... and how long do we have, considering the pace of the other groups? If they do something to get caught, this whole place will go on high alert, and if they don't have hovercraft, then it'll take even longer for us to get out of here." She looked around cautiously, with the display of her helmet showing her various measurements for distances, inclines, and temperatures. Her lips twitched into the slightest smile that was invisible behind the face of her helmet. After making sure she was on the channel with just Silas, she asked, "This is a little nostalgic, I have to say. sneaking around a new, unknown planet, checking for hostiles and looking for resources... kind of takes you back, doesn't it?" After a moment, she added, "Not that it matters now, we have a job to do."

 

[Solar Daddy]

Hearing Adira speak about their old jobs together brought back some memories he was fond of, and smiled a bit under his helmet as he kept to scouring the ridge line for spotters. When she had finished talking, he told her, "There's no point in forgetting it. As long as you don't lose yourself in thought." He eventually stopped when they entered a large clearing with plenty of sunlight. "I don't like this." He told Adira, then sighed. "I don't see any better way through, though. So far this seems to be the only viable path to bring cargo through. We could risk doing a flyover with the ship and doing a hot pick up? That seems a little risky for my taste, though. We'll see if we can get out of there without being spotted." He kept guiding Adira through the arching rocks that beamed overhead, making sure to test the ground for solidity every couple of feet. He had fallen into obscurely hidden sinkholes on Kilo before, and it was traumatic enough to force him into a habit of checking every mission. Eventually, the two of them made their way through the dark shadows along the ridge of a crag, and stopped about a hundred meters away from a checkpoint. There were floodlights filling the entire entry point, with guards posted along the perimeter and a fully set up sentry in the center. "Damn... What do you think, distract and slip by, try and kill a few silently...?" Silas asked. He was less skillful in a stealthy approach compared to his squad mate, and figured her council would prove to be more helpful than his own.

 

[Vudukudu]

Once Kepler was joined by D-A1, which he would insist on calling her to avoid humanizing the thing, he set off at a trot. He wasn't looking to strain his leg, which was still somewhat sore, but he figured a small dose of painkillers ought to do it. While en route to Kilo, the chem-synthesizers in his body had done their work refilling his internal reservoirs that supplied his juggernaut Implants. The last job had strained that supply considerably, and it took time to refill. Hopefully, what he'd produced in their downtime would suffice for the day. With DA-1 a few feet off to his right, the pair slipped between the sandy crags of Kilo. Though the heat was certainly dissimilar, the claustrophobic tightness of the tunnels and narrow passes they maneuvered through reminded him of home, though those walls had been made of cold durasteel.

From behind him, the voice of D-A1 called out quietly. "If you don't mind my asking, Kepler--" It started, and he grimaced.

"I would prefer you refer to this unit by it's formal designation." He interrupted, casting a glance back over his shoulder.

The AI replied seamlessly. "Formal Designation, Unit Kepler-34-B." It corrected, then continued about its line of questioning. "Why did you select this route instead of the leftmost pass?"

Kepler pulled up a map of the area on his HUD, and examined it once again. "This unit prefers the scenic route." He answered after a few moment's hesitation. He adjusted the carbine hanging across his chest, and carefully threaded his way through another tight space before emerging into an open area, within view of the comms tower. Without skipping a beat, he slid to one knee, gliding down a small hill into the cover of a boulder jutting out of the sand. D-A1 was close behind, and once they were settled into their cover he peeked around it to survey the area with his optical magnification.

 

[Gradous13]

Otto motioned for Kestrel and Lydia to halt as one of the patrols approached. They were in good concealment but if they moved even a bit the team could be in deep trouble. The odd part was that it had only been ten minutes since the last patrol passed them which meant a shift change. Otto waited for a moment before quickly making his way towards the rock formation that would allow them to begin to make their way towards the objective. Once in place he peeked out to make sure no one else was coming. The squad that passed them was now a good hundred meters away allowing him to motion to Lydia and Kestrel to move to him.

Once Otto’s team were at an overlook position they would survey the area for areas to enter and exit. Otto switched his comms to his teams channel that ways their chatter wouldn’t interfere with Kepler’s team “Remember, our first objective is the the shipping manifest and our second is trying to commandeer a way to move some of the metal Icarus is mining to our ship.” Otto paused a moment, checking their six before continuing to mentally map out a rout in and out “The second objective is going to be a clusterfuck unless Kepler can get the majority of the personnel away. If for some reason this doesn’t happen I’m calling it and take responsibility.”

With Otto taking point, Kestrel's just fine with covering the rear, putting Lydia in the middle and letting the doctor set a pace she could keep up. For her part, the tall blonde soldier still felt some lingering stiffness and soreness from the concussive blast of the explosion in space but a potential combat situation was doing wonders for getting her limber once more. Her implant seemed to be working perfectly again, at least. At least for now.

Waiting for Lydia to join Otto, Kestrel came in from behind and dropped next to Otto, sighting down the magnifier of her rifle lens. One hand kept her gun secure while the other went to her belt, snapping out several of her mini-drones and flicking them into the air where the insect-sized machines hovered in place to expand her field of vision.

"Yeah, we can probably do the shipping manifest," Kestrel said, noting several entry points and settling down to track the patrol patterns in hopes of spotting a gap. "I think we can get inside the ship anyway, if not through one of the doors then possibly through an access hatch. I can probably handle any door sensors they may have in place. Boarding ships was something of a specialty for me, once upon a time." She sighed in fond memory, of a time and a place now very very far away. "Transport, though, is another matter. Ore is heavy. To move anything of meaningful size, we'll probably need to use their equipment and their tracks. There's no way to sneak that, short of a big distraction or some good social engineering. After all, if they think we're employees as well, we might get away without firing a shot."

Then she shrugged. "We'd probably need Kepler or someone to slice their systems and insert a cover identity for us, though. That's beyond my expertise."

With a glance over at Lydia, Kestrel lightly bumps shoulders and smiles at the other woman. "Having fun yet?"

Half of Lydia was still sour at the fact that they were carrying out such a risky mission at all, but the other half had moved on to be prepared for as much as she could. She followed behind Otto and listened intently to the potential parts of the plan that Kestrel elaborated on.
‘Well, cover identity for a medic shouldn’t be difficult. If you have a med-not and walk with purpose, people don’t tend to question where you’re going. Oh—‘ Whatever hint of dislike for the operation Lydia had quickly turned to stern speculative energy.‘Everyone has to have a medbay. One of you two fake an injury and… well,’ She nodded toward Kestrel. ‘You wouldn’t have to try hard to fake it, would you? Anyway, us two carrying Kestrel asking for a medbay should probably get us in. If you guys want to try that. No shots fired, not hacking. Acting isn’t my specialty either, but if that works, then I won’t need to use my specialty. Which would, by the way, not be fun, just like the entirety of this operation.’ The last jab was directed toward Kestrel, whose shoulder Lydia nudged back.

"It's not a bad plan for an approach. Let's see how close we can get to those buildings there, outside of the ship's perimeter. And then, once we're close enough, we try the wounded bird angle just in case anyone's looking our way. I'll try to get the doors open once we're there, if they're locked. And once we're inside, well, gunfire doesn't sound so loud when contained by walls. Just in case it comes to that."

Kestrel puts an arm around their doctor and gives her a sideways hug. "Cheer up! If they catch us, we can only die once."

Otto listened to Kestrel’s and Lydia’s ideas while observing for movement patterns. He kept in mind the shift change from earlier and watched the buildings some seventy meters away, there was a lot of movement at first with personnel coming and going. As they began to clear up Otto figured there could be a manifest in one of those buildings “Kestrel, send those drone to scout the buildings, One of them is probably an admin building with a copy of the manifest.” He paused for a moment “I didn’t see a whole lot of firepower with those entering and leaving the building so if they have weapons, they are probably self contained. If we do strike gold and a manifest is in the building use a drone to see if there is a medical station, even a small one inside said building and we can give your idea a try with Lydia taking lead, just play the asshole medical officer role and if anyone else says tries to be in charge I’ll take care of them. Also, have the injury be from a fall or something, your the doc, be creative with it”

"Good idea," Kestrel says agreeably.

With a thought, toggled through her implant, the blonde soldier directs half a dozen of her small drones forward. Flying in at elevation, far too small to be spotted from the ground, one takes up position in the sky to maintain solid survelliance of the area. Four drop to spots overlooking each cardinal direction of the encampment of buildings, to provide closer ground-cover intel. And then one slips in through a crack in the door, entering the first structure.

It takes a good twenty minutes, largely because there's still a couple of people present. Though the drones use virtually silent contragrav engines, human eyes are still keen enough to spot movement in environments with very little movement so she has to be careful. Silently directing while letting Otto and Lydia cover her, Kestrel at last straightens up, stretches her arms and pops her neck to relieve some stiffness.

"Right, so the building on the back left looks like a good prospect. There's no one in that one, I found a first aid kit at least and I find an arrangement of computers that look likely. Slicing via drone is trickier than I care to try, unless we think we can hang out here for the rest of the day without being detected. But based on terminal placement, I suspect I've found a dedicated manifest computer with some supporting terminals for providing statistics on what's mined, extracted, delivered and so on. At least, that's what those displays show right now. I think it's worth a shot."

"So, we go in straight, see if we can get by without detection, and someone fakes a limp if we're spotted?"

“That’s the plan, I’ll call in first then we move” Otto said then switched to a frequency for the entire crew. “This is Blue Team, we are beginning our infiltration now, possible manifest location found, out” He let go of his PTT switch and looked back to his team “Alright, let’s move”

 

[Solar Daddy]

*Kepler's team would come within a few hundred meters of the comms area, a set of three nearly identical buildings. A tower jutted out from the center of the compound with a blaring red light at the top. There were plenty of guards about, with some patrolling the perimeter while others lazied about on their tablets or cleaning weapons. However, there was a clearly laid out path between the patrols of guards that led into the darker regions of the compound with less light to hide in. In addition to this path through crates and radio equipment, there was an open irrigation trench running along the perimeter of the compound, which would make for easy cover to sneak around to the back of the buildings. However, they'd have to search through each building as they didn't know which one housed the communication controls they needed.

*Otto's team would find a way into the building with relative ease, as the shift change for this location provided a bountiful boon to them. With the commotion having finally settled, their team moved in through the shadowy passes that provided them protection from the guards posted to that outpost. They had a few close calls, with some guards rounding corners just moments before they were about to pass. They managed to make it to a safe point, just in front of the building they chose to infiltrate. Unfortunately, the entrance was guarded by two men with kinetic rifles, both looking rather sharp; however it wasn't a very well lit entrance and probably wasn't within sight of any other guards. The team would notice a rather obvious construction fault to the side of the building, where the constructors hadn't quite set up the prefab building correctly. There was a 1 x 1 meter vent open that looked to go inside the building, however it was well lit and had the possibility of getting them caught.

 

[Dragongal]

Adira had followed carefully, and now stood with her arms crossed while she thought. After a few moments of silences, she checked that only Silas could hear her through their comms, and said, "This whole mission is a bit risky for my taste," she mumbled, then looked out at the guards. "There's floodlights covering every inch, I doubt there aren't cameras there, too. Whether we kill them or try to get past, we'll get caught. Even if we don't, the sound of fighting will alert other guards, and could get our teammates killed," she said. "Silas, it's too risky."

With that said, Adira took a step back and looked around at the barren landscape. "If that's our only route, this is a suicide mission. But maybe there's another way." She took a few steps back to where she had noticed some rocky outcroppings earlier, and after pushing aside a few large boulders, revealed a small path. "It's not perfect cover, but it might get us to a better vantage point - somewhere where we won't have to kill those guards and get caught."

 

[Epiphany]

Kestrel sat in silent observation of the outlying buildings, still sifting through the optic feed from her thumb-sized drones seeded in the air, swapping between varying camera angles to get a sense of what their options were. Then the blonde soldier sighed before glancing over at Otta and Lydia. "Looks like there's two was in. I say we chance the vent. I might see if I can manage a small distraction while we get in to improve our odds. Don't get me wrong," she added, grinning at Otto. "I'm not one to run from a fight. But those two guards are too alert. Even if we took them out, it's possible they're on an tactical net. A drop in their vitals could be picked up and tip the whole operation off to us. Even if they're not, we'd have to hit them perfectly in case they have their own panic button. I mean, I'm up for it if you are but I think the vent's our best play."

 

[Spazzycat101]

Lydia Camden​

As Kestrel mentioned that the guards’ vitals dropping would likely alert backup, Lydia sighed heavily.
‘Did you not bring a stun-gun? Their vitals won’t drop too noticeably if they’re just unconscious. It’s not like the average person bleeds out whenever they fall asleep.’ As she spoke, Lydia unholstered her pistol and casually pointed out how it had no setting aside from ‘non-lethal phaser.’ ‘We weren’t supposed to bring normal guns anyway.’ Lydia replaced her weapon.
‘I do like the non-confrontational idea better, but it is possible to get in through either way without killing. I feel like sometimes people don’t understand that…’ the last sentence was more or less mumbling.

 

[Vudukudu]

Kepler squinted at the patrols, making mental calculations of the spacing and timing, as well as how precisely to time their movements. "D-A1. Accounting for current sunlight, patrol timing of.." He started, holo-casting a map of their target before them constructed from orbital imagery. "One minute, six and a half seconds.. Assuming security and surveillance equipment at 15 yard intervals, enhanced visual range of enemy targets, calculate odds of detection running each of these routes." He concluded, waving one finger through the map along three different pathways.

"58%, 61%, 43%." The android answered dimly. "Optimized routing can offer a 41.5% risk threshold by making these changes."

Kepler frowned and took a closer look at the map. "Run hypothetical scenario in which Patrol 1 is lethally subdued in a five second time-frame. Presume vitals monitors can be handled preemptively. Calculate odds of immediate detection, detection after 30 seconds, and then every thirty second interval for the next five and a half minutes."

The android took a few moments longer this time, a detail which Kepler noted. "65%, increasing by roughly 7% every thirty seconds." It reported, offering up a frown of its own. He didn't like when it put on expressions. It was more physically capable of it than he was.

"Then we will resolve this quietly, using optimized route 4." He asserted, giving a simple nod in the android's direction. 41.5% odds were slightly better than a coin flip, he supposed. He keyed into his comms channel with the other teams, then cleared his throat.

"This unit is ready to approach its objective. Are other teams prepared to engage?"

 

[Solar Daddy]

"Good spot." Silas told Adira, walking by her to take lead with a reassuring shoulder pat on the way. "We'll be fine. We haven't died yet have we?" Silas started his ascent in the shadows of the rocks, making sure his foot placement was in spots that wouldn't cause a landslide and give away their location. He also made sure that his movements were very clear to Adira so she could step in the exact spot he did, ensuring neither of them made a noise. Eventually, they two of them got to an overlook, just out of the sunlight, above the outpost. It was clearly manned by many sharp guards, although none of them seemed to even know this ledge existed. The two of them carefully glided along the rocks, when he heard Kepler radio in. He brought up his wrist and pressed a quick button, which sent a message - he didn't want to risk speaking when they were this close to the guards. The message was a simple We're good on our end text, and Silas continued on his way. Eventually, the ledge came to an abrupt end, and the only way to continue was to drop down, only a couple of meters, but still within sight of the checkpoint. Silas saw no other option, and dropped down as quietly as possible. When he ensured no one saw him, Silas radioed back to Kepler. "Go for it, we're just outside the ship. It'll take a second to get around the defenses, but for the most part, we're here. Otto, have you guys found the manifest yet?" Silas looked up to the ledge, and offered a hand to help Adira down. "Careful. Don't slip."

 

[Epiphany]

Lydia's suggestion about using nonlethal force is...well, a surprising one. While that was standard practice aboard the generation ship Kestrel grew up on, the Mutter's Spiral, the broader universe had rarely cared about such methods and all of her experience since had been with the lethal varieties. So she stared in mute incomprehension for a moment before finally chuckling and shaking her head.

The blonde soldier then nodded and said, "I was a last minute addition. And if you don't mind, I'll just borrow that. Unless you're a good shot yourself. Otherwise, I've had some practice at long-distance shooting with pistols. Happy to give it a try."

Kestrel then waits for Lydia to either try taking out the guards herself or for the doctor to turn over the pistol. If it's the later, Kestrel takes careful aim, lines up her shots and squeezes the trigger, firing once for each guard in rapid order.

 

[Spazzycat101]

Lydia Camden​

When Kestrel offered to take the shots herself, Lydia shook her head.
‘Nah. I’ve got it.’
She then took aim; inhumanly and eerily steady aim.
Lydia pulled the trigger once, and then again before the first guard had even started to fall.
‘Alright.’ She continued coldly and replaced the pistol and, even though vital readings were sketchy at best at such a distance, she took a moment longer to watch the guards—HR ~60 RR ~14 SCTM -W-||HR ~65 RR ~13 SCTM -W- —nothing abnormal.
‘No drop or dramatic fluctuation in their vitals. Nobody should come running. In that regard, we’re clear to go.’ Lydia nodded toward Otto. ‘Lead the way.’

 

[Solar Daddy]

"We're moving in now, Kep. Go for it." Otto stated, giving the go ahead to the other team while he believed Silas to be preoccupied. Otto had stayed mostly silent during Lydia and Kestrel's interaction, though when the shots were taken, he said, "Those were great shots. Let's get inside before someone sees. Can you two take care of the bodies while I look for the manifest?" Otto carried his rifle with a firm grip as he traversed the dark space between them and the building. He searched one of the guards until he found a key card, swiping it on the door quickly. When it opened, Otto gave a nod to his teammates and went inside. He searched through the various terminals inside, before finally finding the manifest. He sifted through its contents before radioing back to Silas. "Looks like we've got a jackpot of neodymium. Those are used for those nasty tarnish bullets that rip people apart, right?"

Silas soon radioed back, saying, "That sounds right. Keshar Arms makes those neodymium bullets that crystallize after being fired. Notoriously hard to fix being shot from them. Nasty way to go. It's insane how they're not illegal... But, I'm sure Waning would be happy knowing their men aren't getting torn up with them."

"You heard the man ladies, we've got the manifest - I downloaded it to my suit, so we can begin our route to meet back up with Silas's group." Otto grabbed his weapon again and left with his team, taking the most shaded route possible to get to the defenses surrounding the ship. Once outside of their range by about fifty meters, Otto said, "Alright, looks like there's a place to slip through to the left if we go between the pit and the rocks, assuming we won't be shot instantly by any turrets we've failed to pick up on. I say that's our best chance - it'll also get us pretty close to the bridge of the ship, so that's a nice little bonus. Just need to find a way in from there."

 

[Epiphany]

The blonde soldier sat back as Lydia took out the guards and whistled low and slow. "Pretty good shot for a Doctor. Maybe I should have stayed on the ship to rest up; clearly you don't need me."

With a friendly wink, Kestrel let Lydia follow after Otto, taking up the rear in case of any unexpected guests. Of course, her mini-drones remained in position, providing her with comprehensive surveillance of the immediate building. As Otto breached the entry, Kestrel bent down and hefted one soldier's body over one shoulder. Then she pointed at the second downed guard and said to Lydia, "I've got that him too if you want." Of course, the doctor's examination of Kestrel's medical records had already revealed the unusual cybernetic augmentation she had. Clearly, lifting weight wasn't an issue for the blonde.

Once inside, Kestrel carried the guard(s) to a side room and dumped them in there. She frowned at them before glancing back at Lydia. "Don't suppose you've got anything in that kit for keeping them unconscious? Once we shot them, that started a countdown timer until they are either discovered or they wake up and alert their CO. We might get a little more time if you can make sure it's the former."

Moving back out into the hallway, Kestrel joined up with Otto, once more putting Lydia between them as she covered the rear. She left one drone to monitor the building's immediate area and a second inside to watch the two unconscious men, to note when they woke up or were discovered. Lack of oversat limited her range of communication with them but as long as she didn't go miles and miles, she should be able to maintain a feed. And if not, deploy a couple of more drones to signal relay.

When the group gets into position, she nodded along with Otto's assessment. "I'll drop another drone and see if it spots anything. Eyes up, people, just in case." And after flicking out another thumbnail-sized mobile drone, Kestrel moved out with the group.

 

[Vudukudu]

Kepler and his robotic companion, upon being given the signal, surged down the hillside with sidearms drawn. Tucked into the corner of his HUD, he kept a flattened version of his map present, marked with rough estimates of patrol routes, and they deftly maneuvered about them. Once within the perimeter, they didn't waste time hiding among crates or trenches and entered the nearest building silently. They appeared to have entered a mess hall, though empty for the moment, and Kepler brushed some of the dust off his robe. "Find me a computer. Anything on the network will do." He instructed, gesturing towards the staircase at the far end of the room before turning towards a nearby door. Peeking through it, it looked to be a storage room. D-A1 had already crossed the room, stalking purposefully with a weapon at the ready.

He joined her swiftly, flowing around the furniture almost like liquid, and led the way up the stairs. The second floor had a computer they could use, though it was unfortunately occupied by a soldier. Kepler squinted at him, briefly pondered what other options were available, then crossed the room. His target wasn't exactly the most aware, so when he felt the barrel of a needle pistol press to the nape of his neck he was a bit more than surprised.

"Breathe easy. This unit has already breached your communications system, nothing you say or do will leave this room." He bluffed, for once grateful that his mechanical tone kept him sounding steady and firm. The soldier's hands slowly raised to the sides, and he let out a deep breath.

"Put your commlink on the table, then your sidearm, and then sit down." He instructed slowly, applying a bit of pressure with the gun barrel. His hostage hesitated, but then obeyed. "D-A1, is his heart rate monitor still online?"

The man's reaction was one of confusion and panic, and he blurted out "What monitor, I --?"

Before he could finish, Kepler squeezed the trigger, punching a hole between the C3 and C4 vertebrae. At this range, the needle didn't even need to dispense its payload, instead punching a hole through the neck and out the throat. "Move him away from the windows." He said, glancing towards D-A1 who readily obeyed. With a computer secure, he wired himself in and rapidly surveyed the compound, every network-enabled device serving to give him a map and understanding of the area. The man had not, in fact, been equipped with a monitor as he had initially suspected. From the look of it, however, the guards wearing armor had one integrated into their equipment, and he would have to be wary of that. Once he found the computer system he was looking for in the comms building, he pulled out and pointed it out to D-A1.

Using the text option on their team's comms, he gave a brief update. "Target identified, moving in."

 

[Solar Daddy]

Adira smiled slightly behind her helmet when she took his hand as she slid down the slope. On her feet again, she looked around. "Better be quick," she said softly. They slunk along the rocks a bit to avoid being caught in any of the floodlights, or worse, seen by a guard. Slowly, they made their way over toward the door into the ship. There were plenty of rocks to hide behind, but it wasn't as much shelter as Adira would have preferred. "What now?"she hissed, her hand on the hilt of one of her pistols.

Silas had stayed along with Adira closely, slipping past the ships manned defenses with some ease. They had passed through a ditch that kept them from being seen by the turrets posted. Once at the starboard end of the ship, Silas grinned, saying, "I have an idea. Just stay close." He gave her a quick wink with his wry smile, a signature of his whenever he was confident in himself. He traversed the rocks lowly as they got up to the blasting engines of the ship. It was clearly getting ready to takeoff, as it was firing test pulses to make sure the engines were working fine. "This is a Kit and Backer, Helios model. Notorious for their fortified shields, strong central cannons, and -" He abruptly kicked in some weak plating, and lifted up the subsequent grate underneath it for Adira to slip through. "A little trick I picked up back when I was a shipbreaker."

Adira was impressed with Silas's knowledge of such a trivial thing. "We don't have long before it takes off," she gestured for him to lead the way, since he knew where it led in the first place.

Silas crawled into the small space, managing to get between the outer hull plating and the interior rooms of the ship. He glided along through the thin space, eventually stopping and pointing up silently. He stepped up to a wall, pulled a latch, and pushed open the access panel that lead into the depressurization room. "Be careful coming up, watch your step." He readied his weapon and made a quick sweep of the room. "This is Silas, we're inside. Otto and team, are you guys anywhere close to the ship?"

 

[Gradous13]

Phase one was complete, manifest acquired, now to infiltrate the ship unseen. Not a problem for himself, or Kestrel, and so far Lydia has show excellent capabilities which made him worry less.

Otto led his team to the front left of the freighter in the cover of a pit and several good sized rock formations. He took point and made his way from shadow to shadow, keeping his body as flat to the ground as possible while looking for potential threats. "Looks like the enemy has pushed most of their automated sentries close to the outer perimiter" Otto mentioned as he stopped at the last shadowed area.

Before them was a large landing area, seemingly large enough for two ships had the mass amounts of containers hadnt been present. These containers were now a mere fifty meters away "Alright, Kestral, since your drones are up, use them for surveillance on the surrounding area so we dont have any surprises." Otto waited a moment observing the enemy personnel. A gap in their movement opened a path ahead of them "Let's Move." He said and moved swiftly across to several large shipping crates. Once everyone was across he led them towards the midsection of the ship where the cargo hold would be. Silas came over their comms looking for a Sitrep "Affirmative, we are headed towards the cargo hold via container area"

Once they navigated the containers there was a short distance between the three and the ship, "There's our entrance, that maintenance hatch on the belly, I'll get it open and give you two a boost up, we'll link up with Silas's team once we're inside."

 

[Epiphany]

Putting Lydia in the middle, Kestrel watched the rear and her drones, juggling the multi-tasking required with a practiced ease owing to a lifetime of training in doing exactly this. Well, she was much more used to ship corridors than the wide open spaces of plantoids but if anything that made it easier to peripherally spot movement. That said, she appreciated having the two to follow. One less thing to track.

She coordinated with Otto once they reached the containers, verbally cuing him in where needed. I really need to see who in the crew has an implant or tactical net I can link into, going forward. Shame to collect this data without being able to feed it to teammates.

On Otto's order, she moved, keeping the doctor between them. While Otto reported in, Kestrel kept her rifle up and her eyes on the surrounding terrain, tracking patrol movements in case someone deviated. "You got it," she said to Otto as he explained his plan. "Let's get this done."

 

[Solar Daddy]

Silas pulled out his energy pistol and leaned against the wall of the air venting room. He waited for the cycle to complete, with Adira on the other side, before sweeping the doorway when the bulkhead slid open with a hiss. Seeing that no one was guarding their entry, he moved with Adira into the bowels of the ship. It was as big as a mansion, but the majority of it was open space filled to the brim with cargo containers. Silas started to check the tags of each one, saying, "Otto, Kestrel, Lydia - We're at the starboard side near the large cargo bay doors. Good job with the manifest, I think we've found a decent sized container of that Neodymium." Silas quickly stopped talking and hid between two of the containers with Adira as a patrol quickly sweeped by.

As they passed, one of the guards moved their hand above their head in a circle to a few other guards off the ship. "Get on board, we're taking off in 3!" Silas internally panicked, wanting to fidget with the gears in his pocket badly. He brought up the keypad on his wrist and sent a message to the group since he couldn't speak.

>Leaving in 3, Hurry it up_

Silas then began unstrapping the cargo from its position, afraid that it was looking more and more like they'd be shooting their way out. He cut a few of the straps, and started attempting to tug the large crate, about the size of a fridge, making little success with it. When he knew the guards had passed, he radioed back in, "Moving this thing is going to be a two person job, I need help with this. Kepler, DA1, we're going to need all radio traffic jammed soon, it might go live in the next few seconds. I don't know how we can drag this stuff out of here without looking suspicious. If possible, set up a distraction. Any will do fine. I hope."

 

[Vudukudu]

Kepler's gaze scanned the compound from the nearby window, and his focus was interrupted by the hurried nature of Silas' last message. For good measure, he pumped two more tox-needles into the limp body's face, then made a hurried exit with DA-1 at his back. "Understood. This unit is on it." He replied, tucking a fresh magazine into his pistol. He pulled up the holo-map and its simulated patrol markers, then slipped out the door he'd entered through. At this rate, sneaking by was hardly an option. A well-timed sprint, however, was not off the table.

"DA-1, find somewhere to wait. Less movement to be seen." He instructed. He was happy to have an excuse to be rid of the robot. One less mobile profile was beneficial, as was not having to worry about her 300 pounds of machinery making noise on the rocks. He took a moment to suck in a breath, then lurched forward into a run. His injured leg was slowing him down, but not enough to be a problem. His target destination was a tower, and he had a far greater chance of being spotted climbing along its exterior staircase then he did actually crossing the compound. He skittered up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Noise was no longer a primary concern given the clock he was trying to beat, though he suspected the clattering noises weren't going to be of particular concern to anyone. Reaching the highest floor, he unceremoniously nudged the door open with his shoulder and breached.

The four equipment operators inside must have been waiting on someone to come back, because one immediately began to spin in his chair and utter a "Hey Loui--" before getting riddled with needles. Kepler's performance here wasn't exactly clean, and he was in fact better in theory than practice most of the time. Still, shooting four unarmed men before they could hit their comms wasn't too terrible a challenge at close range, and once their convulsing bodies stopped he reloaded and holstered his weapon. "Disabling comms on your mark, Captain." He said, then pressed his fist to the power box in the room. On cue, he'd punch a blade through it, disabling the local system.

 

[Epiphany]

>Acknowledged. We'll be with you in 1.

Less than one. Otto's team joined up with Silas' crew, right on cue. With a quick smile, the blonde soldier slung her rifle over her shoulder and moved to join Silas at the crate. She gave it an experimental push, nudged it a bit more to gauge the weight and then shook her head. "I think I can manage this on my own...but I could use someone to watch my back and keep it balanced. Here."

Kestrel crouched down at the base of the cargo container, found straps for a good grip and tugged it taut against her back. Then she said, "Okay someone push it over on me and I'll get it moving." If there were any objections, she just smirked and said, "Most of my bones and half of my musculature is iron carbon composite. It's about as tough as the container itself is. I can manage it if someone can just keep an eye on it and tip it back if it starts to unbalance, alright?"

Assuming she could get a volunteer, Kestrel took the weight of the container with a grunt before her knees straightened with an audible, and somewhat mechanical, creak. "Point the way, boss," she said, face still showing an easy smile which mostly concealed the strain at the corner of her eyes.

She'd definitely need a nap after this.

 

[Gradous13]

For times sake Otto wasn't about to argue with Kestrel for him to take the container, instead helping her move their prize "If you need to switch let me know, Ill take over" Otto told Kestrel "Lydia, Stay in front of Kestrel and Ill keep assisting Kestrel" Otto drew his weapon in his right hand and kept a tight grip on the Container's straps" Otto looked at Silas, "I hope theres a plan aside from movin this by foot." Otto was now on the look out for possible transport aside from enemy contact, the faster they could break contact the better, but first things first, getting the cargo off the ship.

 

[Solar Daddy]

Silas, with a warm smile, greeted Otto's team with a sigh of relief. "It's good to see you guys again, let's regroup with Kepler and DA1 and get the hell out of here. Thanks for taking the crate Kestrel, I'll need to remember that when I need to haul some metal to the ship for repairs." He chuckled. With his group mostly back together, Silas drew his pistol again, guarding Kestrel's forward left flank with Adira directly behind him, and Otto on Kestrel's right. He made sure to be a body shield for both Lydia and Kestrel in hopes of keeping the soldier and medic alive just in case. Before they left the ship, Silas said, "Kepler, cut the comms now. I'll have regroup orders for you soon." The group stepped out through the open cargo door, but the second they passed through the hull, they were spotted by two Icarus soldiers to the left. With a swift shot, Silas had three beams through the closer guard before he even turned to face them. Luckily Silas' thoughts were correct in believing Adira would automatically know to take out the remaining guard, given he was further away and her weapon had better range than his.
With Otto helping to steadily take out the two guards on his side, the group made it past the ships boundaries and into the shadows. The loud propulsion from the ship's jets masked the noise of Kestrel carrying the heavy container luckily, and with teamwork, they managed to move the object between the two heavy fortifications set up some 100 meters apart. The darkness of this area of the planet was a great boon to their actions, otherwise they'd have no doubt been dead by now. Silas didn't want to force Kestrel to drop the crate for them to decide, so on the way to the arching crags in the distance, he pulled up the navigation map of the surrounding area that was compiled from his teams paths. Seeing a relatively clear path that was likely to be easy for Kestrel to transport the crate, Silas made a decision.
As they started making their way forward, Silas radioed in to Kepler. "I've set a waypoint marker on the communal map, you should be able to see it. Meet up with us here and help escort Kestrel to The Ambivalence. We should be just outside of a compound by the time you reach us so stay low and quiet. They'll be on alert with a lack of comms."

 

[Vudukudu]

On cue, Kepler's arm-blade punches through the power junction belonging to the local comms antennae. Though not visible to him, the green light on the antennae mounted on the roof seizes its flashing. Silas was clearly more optimistic about a reasonably quiet extraction than he was; Kepler was expecting a mess once enemy comms went dark. It wouldn't take them more than a few moments to realize what had happened, and he would almost certainly encounter opposition heading down the staircase. If it wasn't handled quietly, everyone on the compound would hear a gunshot and he'd be surrounded.

"D-A1, begin immediate exit." He messaged, making his way over to the windows to take a look outside. Among the floodlights, guards had raised their weapons and begun searching the compound, their movement akin to angry ants from this viewpoint. One particular group in the center of the compound catches his attention when they set up what appears to be a mortar tube in the center of the compound.

"Leaving without you would be tactically unwise." D-A1 replies curtly. Kepler frowns and begins making his way towards the door, turning away just in time to not be staring directly at the bright flash emanating from a parachute flare now shedding reddish light over the area. They must have found the body.

"The other team will need fire support to fulfill the mission objective. Unit survival is no longer necessary to fulfilling parameters. Begin rendezvous with Adira-Captain and the others." He replied. There were a few moments of silence before he got a reply.

"Understood."

Being atop a three story tower was not a good place to begin, but time would be of the essence. He raised his pistol, gave the door a kick, and then started his descent.

 

[Solar Daddy]

Adira kept her gun in her hand, looking around constantly for enemies. While she was ambidextrous, and could have held two guns, she wanted a free hand in case she needed to help someone. Not that there was much she could do, she wasn't nearly as strong as Kestrel, but her aim was quick and exact, and that was all she needed. Adira looked over at Silas and said, "If we have to, we're abandoning this crate immediately."

Silas agreed, saying, "It won't come to that, though. We're capable of lugging a heavy crate across this hellscape unseen. I believe." He said, looking over at Adira for a split second. "We've just got to keep moving." Silas's hopes were shattered when he saw the red flare go up into the sky. He gazed up at the hue painting over the arching crags, and soon his eyes shifted to looking at the four Halcyon cruisers in orbit above them. "Adira, how long does it take to get The Ambivalence started up and out of atmosphere?"

Adira scowled at the flare and said without looking away, "About a minute, but she won't be happy not getting a chance to warm up." She gripped her gun more tightly. "Time to drop that damned crate?"

"We can make it with the crate. They don't know where we went or where we parked. Without comms, no one will know what's going on. Stay with Kestrel and make sure she can carry it. I'm going to scout for us and just be sure. I'll let you know if you need to drop the crate." Silas began to jog ahead up the increasingly narrow path, eventually slipping out of sight.

"Silas!" Adira hissed as he ran ahead, then rolled her eyes and sighed.

Silas traveled through the darkened pass, hoping the flare would attract the soldiers to the location of where it was fired, keeping them away from his group. It wasn't too terribly far away though, so he knew they needed to make it quick anyway. Silas was more than excited to see the path they chose had little turning points or steep adjustments in ground level. He hoped to make it as easy as possible for Kestrel to lug the crate to their ship. Silas held his weapon firmly in his hands, keeping it raised as he passed and cleared each blackened corner he could barely see in to.

Eventually, Silas reached a point where he could look over the surrounding area without revealing himself too much. From here, he could see The Ambivalence, sat still in all her majestic beauty, as well as the comms relay where the flare had gone off, and where Kepler should be approaching from. He started up his comm link to his team. "Alright, I've stopped about a hundred meters from our ship, the path should be clear but keep your guard up." He awaited Kepler and D-A1, as well as Kestrel and the rest of the squad travelling with her. He was perched between two rocks to keep an eye on both directions his team would be coming from and waited for them with a sharp watch.