"So turning the jammer on will be our signal to go?"
"Our range is too short, Cross. Unless Emily is stronger …." Amaryst lets the comment trail off, hoping that her human friend will surprise her once again.
Emily pursed her lips and shrugged. "A hundred feet, maybe?" She said. "And I'd have to see or hear the target to make it work. So...not really ship to ship I guess."
"As good as any," Cross said, his shape settling again. "Diesel, see about fabbing up some faraday rigs for any cores brave enough to join us on this. We also need a good place to stash the Argintum where she'll have a low enough sensor profile to be overlooked. Anyone have anything else?"
"Does anybody want my reaction cannon? It will put an enemy down faster than the sidearms that most of you are carrying."
Amaryst considers offering up her heavy armor too, but decides she's going to need it if her combat is unsuccessful.
Maldor shakes his head at Amaryst's offer. "I admit it looks like an awesome weapon, but without the proper training I'm just as likely to hit something I don't want to...I'll pass. I will, however, like to take any spare nuts, ball bearings, bolts, old rocks, or anything else lying around that I can fit in a pouch. I have the ability to make them a pretty nasty surprise for someone else!"
"They do have plenty of rocks here."
With the plan decided on, the group splits up. Jin begins working on faraday cages for the core mining vessels to wrap their life support apparatuses in. The cores provide him with ample spare metals to use to create the cages. He is able to engineer three of them in the time provided before the pirates return.
Diesel and the cores are happy to provide Maldor with a bag of space rocks.
Amaryst, Rollo, and Zenvisk take the Argintum around the nearby area until they find a suitable hiding spot in a crater on a particularly large asteroid just a few moments' flight away from the station.
When the time comes, the cores receive a ping from the pirates indicating that they're on the way and to prepare the tribute. Korvan, MLE, Maldor, Jin, and Cross put on their spacesuits and prepare any necessary equipment before packaging themselves in the tribute container and wait.
At the time appointed two ships, the truck and the freighter exit the Drift near the station. 'You know the drill,' comes over the core station's loudspeakers. With that, the truck comes to a stop near the station with its large EMP cannon pointed directly at the station. The freighter hovers nearby as the cores hook their vessels up to the shipping containers designed for this purpose and hitch them onto the pirate truck. 'If it isn't what we're expecting, you know what will happen,' says the pirate comm.
The infiltrating group is inside of a shipping container. They can open the panels in order to leave. In order to enter the pirate ship, they need to go along the hull until they reach an airlock. At that point, they need to hack through the airlock.
Amaryst sits in Argintum's pilot's chair and looks out the forward viewport. Although crater walls block much of the sky from view, if she cranes forward and twists her head to the left, she can just make out the station. It's an awkward posture made more so by her bulky armor. The lashunta slumps back to a more comfortable position and reviews her intial sequence of controls to clear the crater. Then she double checks her personal weapons and the big new reaction cannon strapped beside her. Foolishness. If I need that, the whole ship is probably an expanding ball of fire.
She glances over at Rollo. {Ready?}
And twists to look at K-van, bundled in his space suit, strapped in a chair. "Stay strapped in unless I tell you to move. Then follow us."
Then she sets the internal comm on full open.
"Zenvisk? Are you all set down there?"
Her hand rests on the button that will fire the vertical lift rockets and she waits for the burst of static, or -- what will the jammer sound like? -- noise from the external comm that will signal the beginning of combat.
Checking on the various systems across the ship from the science officer station, Zen will respond to Amaryst without turning to look in her direction. {Yup, all set and ready to go. All systems are lighting up green from here, and I have readied Engineering for if I need to repair anything.}
Cross is patient inside the cargo container, floating with his usual inhuman stillness. Microgravity was something he was used to and so was impending violence. He might not have a proper body any longer, but there were advantages to his simple humanoid chassis.
He waited as the pirate truck to started up the engines and began moving away from the station until he estimated they were a safe distance away. Tapping each member of the infiltration team on the shoulder, he pointed towards the hatch and kicked off towards it, preparing to lead the others out into the hard vacuum of space. They might have had a local network set up using their telepath but he still did not much care for using it if he did not have to.
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In the microgravity of the container Jin clearly has less experience than Cross as he several times has to right himself against the floor and a nearby wall, evidently quite disoriented by the affair.
With an unsteady nod towards Cross, he follows, bumping into the wall just below the hatch after pushing off the opposing wall and then holding to the rim for stability as he waits for their inevitable exit into the void.
Thank goodness for the space suit - otherwise you would see that Maldor is fairly bouncing off of the walls! Whether from nerves or excitement you couldn't tell, but he is definitely fully alert and ready for the assault. Once Cross signals the start of their op, his nerves suddenly settle into a steely calm from his years of training at the Institute. It also takes the young human a few tries to get the smooth maneuvering in vacuum of Cross, but he at least doesn't kick off into space...
(Good, Zen. Although my question was meant more personally. You sound more than calm enough.}
Amaryst looks back down at her controls and indicators. Then she stretches forward to look out the window again.
Emily had never really been in zero-g before, nor undergone many training simulations. The floating wasn't that different from sensory deprivation chambers, so she closed her eyes and tried to focus her thoughts. Despite the deficit in practical training, meditation techniques had been taught extensively. She was calm and ready when Cross tapped her shoulder, and followed him closely as they prepared to leave the container.
Seeing everyone ready to his satisfaction, Cross nods and cracks the shipping container doors. Anchoring himself, he looks to the others before opening the container.
"When we're out there, do exactly as I do. Mal, Em, you two stay right behind me. Jin, follow them and keep a hand ready for each. Once inside, hold off on triggering the scrambler until we're made. I don't want to tip out hand too early. Don't worry about keeping track of me, I'll be skirmishing where I can."
With that, he pushed the container doors open a touch and checked for the other ship before opening the doors the rest of the way.
Popping open a panel on the side of the ship, Cross can see that the Core vessels are hooking up a second container to the back of the pirate truck. The scales involved in space travel make it extremely unlikely that anyone can see them navigating around out there, and while there are ample handholds, the lack of cable makes moving in open vacuum dangerous.
You know that you have, at most, a couple of minutes in order to get up to the command module before the truck starts to move. If you're caught on the outside during a jump to the Drift, there's no telling what might happen.
Cross begins picking his course across the ship's hull, moving like a spider and either keeping both hands or a hand and a foot looped or hooked around anchoring points. While he could have probably put considerable distance between him and the others with how confidently he was moving, Cross kept stopping to check and make sure the microgravity newbies were following the course he set.
Emily followed along, trying her best to keep a tight hold to anything she could, while they progressed.
Maldor sees Emily start to drift off, and grabs for her. Luckily, there seem to be plenty of handholds...
Picking your way along a stationary ship with plenty of handholds isn't, per say, difficult... but it is very time-consuming and exhausting. Except for Cross, who has neither muscles nor lactic acid to fill them with, and who also has years of experience doing this. Nevertheless, all five of the spacemen manage to make it to the end of the shipping container and near the actual ship's airlock before the truck is fully loaded and it starts to move.
With a bit of force from maneuvering thrusters, the truck starts to rotate. The sudden difference in movement forces everyone to scrabble for a handhold to grab onto... MLE doesn't find one in time and bumps on the side of the ship, sending her into a tumble. With the ship going at a different speed, she'll need to catch herself or be caught soon or MLE will be free-floating in vacuum.
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Fast as a bolt of lightning Jin leverages his handhold to swing his body around and snatch Emily from the ether before she can float too far from the ship, then from the resulting momentum swings back and lands them both against the side of the airlock.
After a few moments of being stunned he shakes his head and then gets to work on the airlock, jacking into the airlock's severely outdated systems with ease as he searches for the right circuit to pulse to activate the airlock's decompression cycle and open her up.
Emily was caught off-guard by the sudden movement of the ship, and her subsequent tumble... She was grateful for Jin's hand, and his reflexes, as he brought her back to the hull. Trying to find better handholds and hang on tight, she was more eager than ever to get inside the ship, and out of the infinite vacuum.
Cross anchored himself beside the airlock and performed a quick headcount to make sure that none of his wayward ducklings of a squad had quietly drifted off into the void. Satisfied, he drew his pistol and waited for Jin to work his magic.
Maldor waits patiently, holding onto the hull and Em while Jin works the airlock. He puts his helmet against hers and speaks loudly so that the vibrations will carry sound through her suit without using comms gear..."Glad you're OK - I thought I'd lost you there for a second!"
Korvan draws his weapon as Jin manages to get into the airlock. Entering the small chamber to the inner airlock, the group waits as it pressurizes. After a short wait, the indicator light on the inner door glows GREEN. Now surrounded by air, the group can hear the rumble of the truck's engines as it turns to leave. It is imperative to hurry...
Now that the group is inside the airlock, Korvan huffs, "Next time we're bringing some cable."
Emily nodded to Mal, though the gesture was probably unseen in the bulky suit. "I'm sure someone would have picked me up later...right?" She commented hesitantly. Once the airlock was open she followed the other inside, thankful she wouldn't have to find out.
She followed the others' leads with her space suit and unholstered her pulsecaster pistol. It wasn't exactly her weapon of choice, but in an emergency it would be better than nothing. Once they were close to their enemies, her mind would be a much more dangerous weapon... Trying to stay as quiet as possible, Emily followed her training -- stay to center of the group, do what she was told, and let the squad bring her to the enemy...
Maldor's Skinsuit armor fit comfortably beneath his clothes, so he didn't need to make any other preparations other than drawing his own pulsecaster pistol and making sure his survival knife was readily accessible. He moved to one side of the passage, remembering his zipper positioning for tactical movement in enclosed spaces...
"Right, you guys keep behind me, I'll wave you up after checking each room," Cross ordered as his knife appeared in his other hand. "When we find a terminal, see about spoofing some kind of engine problem to stop the spin-up to drift."
He rolled his shoulders, having been wearing his same jacket and jeans even in the void of space. The core was not wielding the pulsecaster he had lifted from the psuedo-feds back on Earth. A willingness to take life was one of the few things he was not shy about advertising.
"Right, let's see what you four can do," Cross said, setting off without a backwards glance.
Opening the airlock door quietly, the group steps its first steps into what appears to be a cargo bay. The loud whir of the ship's exposed engines at the back of the ship masks some of the group's sound. This area is basically open all the way, and is filled with crates, pallets and barrels brimming with cargo. Jin spots a computer terminal, all the way at the back of the chamber with his back turned, face to a terminal. Evidently, the ship's engineer.
Two ways are provided to the second floor. Near the pirate engineer, two ladders lead to a scaffolding on the floor above. Closer to the group, stairs lead up to a closed door. A red light indicates locked on the door.
Cross stops at the sight of the engineer...
Then, with impressive control, he reins the anger in and leashes it. Turning it into something useful and under his thumb.
...then bounds forward, his feet landing in eerie silence before swinging his knife. Only at the last second is it clear that he was lashing out with the butt of the knife and not the blade, aiming to slam the thing into the engineer's temple. No doubt being concussed into unconsciousness would be unpleasant and have consequences but it was far better than everything else Cross might have done.
Maldor watches the closed door at the top of the stairs nearest him, incase someone decided to make a surprise visit to the cargo hold...
Cross is able to leap quite a distance in the low gravity, and Jin supports him with a blast from a pulsecaster rifle. The blast of nonlethal static along with the clubbing from Cross send the pirate sprawling to the ground with scarcely a cry, which is drowned out by engine noise anyway.
Once the coast is clear, Maldor will motion for Em to cross the bay so they can stick together and move further in. He will look for some cable ties or wires to use to bind the pirate, and a rag or something to gag him with...
Both things are easily available in this cargo hold. While it isn't totally stocked, cable and cloth are easy to find.
Emily watched as Cross and Jin took down the pirate and stood ready to help if needed, priming herself with a slight mental flex... She wasn't needed yet, and relaxed her mind after the man was left unconscious. She stuck with Mal as he moved and kept her eyes on the exits.
"See if you can delay the jump to Drift," Cross said as he moved to examine the door's mechanisms. He could try to bypass the lock himself but it would be better to let one of their two techies take a look at it first.
The pirate was indeed "logged in". You have access to some functions without any hacking necessary.
Jin is easily able to shut off the Drift engine cycle and delay the jump. Disguising it as routine maintenance for a couple of minutes should belay any sort of suspicion, but it won't buy any more than two or three minutes.
Jin is able to access the pirates' comms through the unconscious pirate's commlink. However, linking up their system to real-time positioning proves a greater challenge than he's equipped for at the moment. Their system seems to be pretty outdated, and after trying all the tricks he knows, Jin's knowledge is expended.
Korvan moves up, cocking a pistol and drawing his tac baton. "So," he says, "Are we going for the knockout or the kill?"
The door up the short flight of stairs is locked. Seems to be pretty standard when it comes to modern locks.
Maldor's eyes widen at Korvan's statement, and he blurts out, "Knockout! Knockout!!"
"Sure, then we hand them over to the cores they've been pissing on," Cross said, switching out his analog piece for his pulsecaster pistol. By his tone of voice it was clear that he had no illusions about what the cores might do with a bunch of captured pirates.