Naleena got on her com. "Jess, we're at the first bomb. Frank and Iole are diffusing it. We took four prisoners. How are things on your end? And can you start 'negotiating' with the terrorists?"
Naleena's signal was routed to VERA on a link that had been set up between the two when VERA was part of the shuttle. VERA forwarded her message to Jess.
Iole looked at an imprint in the explosives clay. Something dark grey was flush with the surface and looked like it had a small hole in it. For a moment, she thought it was another detonator, but she scanned it with her omni-tool. When she was clear it wasn't going to set off the bomb in any way, she pushed her fingers into the clay, and removed a minute plastic box.
"It's a camera, hidden probably to watch out for anyone diffusing the bomb. Looks like its signal was jammed with the communicators. Which is good." Iole stood, tossed the box on the ground, and crushed it with her heel. "Let's get out of here. Three more bombs to go, that we know of."
Note: Appended Text in blue
Naleena turned to the team. “Okay let’s move out. There’s another utility tunnel entrance near the support column. The next site is in the residential district. This group scattered, and appeared to head northeast. I don’t think they’ll be a problem. I expect the next group will be waiting for us. Stay frosty.”
She led the infiltration team down the ladder into the tunnel. It was a long walk: about 2 kilometers two abreast.
Frustrated by the inability to contact Jess due to the efficiency of the com blackout, and the fact that VERA neglected to inform her about the totality of it, she stopped and contemplated for a moment. Why didn't VERA tell me about this so I could come up with alternatives? What did she expect me to use? Smoke signals? Ravens? .... Ah! She stood looking at the fiber optic network cable.
"Frank, hand me your cable splicer," Naleena said.
"Uh, are you sure that's a good idea?" Frank asked.
"I've done this before when robbing museums," she said, turned and smiled at him. "Trust me here. I know what I'm doing."
Naleena cut the conduit and made a splice into the cable. She monitored it on her omni-tool to make sure where the communications were going, and she found the line that went to the network shack in the main entry, and cut the line. It would be repaired later.
"Hello! This is Spectre T'sarius," she repeated several times
The technician on the other end heard her and contacted his boss. "Hey, Steph. I'm picking up something weird. Someone is talking on one of the lines from inside."
"Put it on speaker," Steph said.
"Hello! This is Spectre T'sarius. Can you hear me?"
Steph grabbed a headset. "Yeah, this is Stephanie Taylor with Ashland News. I hear you."
"I need to speak with Captain Stone. She's at the main entrance to the dome. Is there any way you can patch me through to her?"
Steph looked around. "Yeah, she's at her desk. I'll get her," Steph said. "Hey, Captain Stone! There's a Spectre T'sarius on the headset. She wants to speak with you."
(time compression to save time and writing because we’re in a hurry)
The tunnel exit was in sight. It was in a similar location to the first: in an alleyway. The infiltration team left the tunnel and took cover behind some dumpsters and haphazardly arranged crates. Unlike the financial district, his area was more of a slum. The rich/poor line was easy to see. One could see the sparkling towers of the high rise condos further away, but this area was for the less fortunate. It reminded one more of Omega. It was filled with broken dreams.
There were a couple men sitting against one of the buildings sharing a bottle.
“What the f*ck?” one of them shouted. “Who the hell are you guys?”
“Quiet!” Naleena whispered.
“The hell I’ll be quiet!” one shouted.
“Hey, Joe, these guys have guns,” the other said, “I wouldn’t ****** them off.”
“F*ck off!” Joe said and took another drink.
“I think you two are tired. Good night,” Naleena shot both of them with her SIG, “That probably alerted every terrorist in the area. Assault team, get up here. This could get ugly.”
Modifié par sH0tgUn jUliA, 12 novembre 2014 - 07:45 .
On board the Medusa
Morgan had been thrown a set of orange bay maintenance coveralls by Jobe. He had a choice between that and the medical gown that was slit open in the back, so the coveralls won. With wounds still tender, Morgan took time getting into the coveralls. He actually broke a sweat across his brow from movement his body hadn’t been used to in a few days.
“You’re gonna be sore. That’s a good thing. Take it from the Doc,” Jobe remarked. Jobe felt comfortable enough leaving Morgan alone after he saw him fend for himself.
When Jobe was gone, Morgan took the time to reach out, stretch, and flex his limbs. No doubt, he’d be uncomfortable for a while, but getting up had a calming effect for him as well. Being laid up was, in fact, a killer. Not only for his physical care but for his mental. Morgan could be quietly purposeful, determined in his mind, but he needed to be able to act, even in his most serene moments. Morgan didn’t like helpless nor did he do it well.
A walk around the ship would do him good, Morgan thought, even if the Medusa wasn’t what it was supposed to be yet. Something better lay ahead and he would try to see the ship through its scars, and through the damage that had been inflicted on it. One of Morgan’s leg muscles spasmed slightly from lack of use, but Morgan himself was glad to get on. He had an idea for something to keep him occupied, so his first stop would be maintenance storage and then the bridge.
~ ~ ~ ~
Back on Caleston
The assault team moved up as instructed. Mira took the lead for a bit, keeping her eyes and ears open. Moving ahead to cover, she did a quick check, then signaled back to Iole with her hand for a status update.
Iole had hoisted the Hellbringer up again, and used its motion detector to scan for movement. There was nothing, then a group of 3 blips showed up at the edge of its range. She signaled back to Mira and the infiltration team, holding up 3 fingers and pointing the direction the motion detector indicated.
“We could use a sniper,” Jenus said under her breath to Tallis who was next to her. “If someone had a rifle that wouldn’t wake up the neighborhood. If not, one of us will have to roll up ahead at these three approaching. Take them out before they see us.”
"Sorry guys." Frank shrugged, looking down at his rifle. Unlike his old Hammer II, it couldn't be equipped with a suppressor.
I know what I'm doing when I get back to the ship...
"One of you go on ahead. If something goes wrong, I'll be watching." He pointed at the building across the street. There appeared to be a ladder in the alley for roof access.
Frank stayed low, and began making his way across.
"Our opponents don't appear to be as skilled as I thought, if a comms blackout is enough to hinder them." Essul said aloud as he glared, getting the sig saur ready as he looked to the two downed men naleena had taken out. "It's still nothing to celebrate yet...not until the hostages are safe." He siad, the last part softer then the first as he looked towards the others, and back the way they came.
Things had been going well, more then well in fact, things seemed to be going quite smoothly. Despite that however, essul had a sense of dread. A foreboding that something could still turn south, and if that happened, a sense of deeper worry about what he was going to do. The terrorists would need to be neutralized, the hostages freed, but would he be able to do it? If something might happen to him, would the others stick to the plan, or try to eliminate the enemy instead of neutralize them.
His eyes drifted to ashley, looking away a few moments later as he spoke up out of his slight spacing out, "I'm sorry...about earlier." He said to her, hands fidgeting on his pistol slightly as he spoke, obviously nervous, "I...I should not have tried to moderate your actions from the rear. I will try not to let it happen again."
Jenus squinted while she watched Frank move out, then she curled her lips in a smile and mentioned to Iole, “You’re boyfriend is weird, but useful.”
Iole rolled her golden eyes behind her clear, visor-glasses. “He’s not my boyfriend, you musclehead.”
“Sure he’s not.” Jenus snapped her fingers near Irina. “Watch my back, also, Red?” Then she peered up at Anika, “How about you cover me as a third, Too Tall.”
Mira huffed, “Jenus…”
Holstering her SIG and hoisting her Disciple, Jenus cut off Mira, “What, Textbrain? I’m asking nicely?”
With a sigh, Mira said, “We’ll all cover you. Go ahead.”
Jenus pantomimed a ‘who me?’ expression, grinned broadly, and then went on ahead. The infiltration team was already forward, moving the direction of their next objective, but Jenus was veering towards the right, using cover, to intercept the targets Iole had picked up on her motion detector. With speed and flawless execution, Jenus slipped from one piece of cover to another, without being detected. She got up behind an abandoned skycar, where she thought she’d be able to spot the three targets, but Jenus couldn’t spot them.
EARLIER between Naleena and the news team - in the utility tunnel while connected to the fiber optics.
Ms. Taylor tried to get Jess’ attention, but Jess was dealing with Major Guyvatus Artalus, Turian Special forces. “Captain Stone is busy with a new arrival to whom I’m listening to on a live feed right now. One of my reporters is standing by ready to interview this Turian. “
“Stephanie, since Captain Stone doesn’t seem to be available, could you tell me what is going on?”
Ms. Taylor fumbled and switched things. “I’ll do better than that. I’ll let you listen.”
Naleena listened to the feed through the mic of the reporter standing nearby. The reporter wasn’t close enough to be noticed but he was using a parabolic mic and able to pick up the conversation with ease. Naleena’s usual deep blue color turned a pale shade.
“Well, there you go, Spectre,” Ms. Taylor said, “Now if you don’t mind, I need to interview this Turian.”
“And I need to speak with Captain Stone and that Turian, Ms. Taylor,” Naleena replied.
“Sorry, the news comes first. People need to know.”
The com went dead.
“Sh*t! Of all the f*cking things!” Naleena shouted, and yanked her connection free from the fiber optic cable.
“Uh, you probably just made that cable more difficult to repair,” Frank said.
Naleena’s aura glowed blue momentarily, and she addressed the team. “This mission just got a whole lot more complicated. There’s a team of Turian Special Forces with Spectre Authority about to barrel through. If we’re going to complete this mission we’ve got to hurry. The guy has a history of a lot of bloodshed.”
“ROE has changed. We have to move quickly. We’ll still use the tranq darts if our position allows us. If not, lethal force is authorized. We don’t have the time to wait for the opportunity. Frank has assured us that the bombs can’t be detonated because of the blackout. That Turian will get those hostages killed. We have to get to them first. Let’s move out!”
Return to This Post after the Blue Type.
The infiltration team moved ahead toward the three Batarians they spotted earlier. All three had their SIGs drawn. Naleena motioned toward Eteon and shook her head. Eteon touched her Chakram and Naleena nodded and mouthed "Just in case."
"I'm telling you, there's nothing over here," one of the Batarians said. He didn't have a helmet.
The one who appeared to be the recon team leader turned. "I've had enough of your belly aching."
"F*ck you! It's probably just some wino. This area is full of them. Too bad security is so tight. Would make a hell of a slave grab," he replled.
There was one more who was quiet, and didn't have a helmet. Only the recon team leader did. Naleena motioned to Ashley and Essul to take out the the unhelmeted ones with the darts. Naleena switched to her Carnifex with AP rounds and teamed with Eteon on the team leader. Ashley nodded to Naleena and she picked up a stone and tossed it against the building across the street. The recon team froze and went to inspect the area. Ashley and Essul cloaked and moved within range and fired. Naleena hit the third one with a Stasis field. It was all silent. The Batarian collapsed when the field wore off and Essul ripped open the hatch in the back of the terrorist's armor and Ashley shot another dart. Essul breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at Ashley.
"Don't think I love doing things this way. I'm a marine. I follow orders," Ashley said, "Right now, Blue is my superior officer. She said 'if possible.' It was still possible, and I'd rather be silent than be shot at."
"I get it. You don't like aliens." Essul said.
"I didn't say that. I don't trust aliens," Ashley said. "I worked with a team of aliens once, and we got the job done. But in the end let me put it this way. If it came down to saving a group of your own kind or a group of humans, you'd pick your own kind. I'd pick my own kind. Let's not pretend. It doesn't mean I hate aliens. Red tells me you're not a total dick, so that's a start."
Naleena saw the two talking. This could turn ugly. "Alright, let's move out."
Jenus turned to see the three batarians she was looking for taking out by the infiltration team. She stood up out of her cover and threw her Disciple down in frustration. "What do I look like? I'm walking around on vacation?!"
Mira, Iole and Tallis snickered.
"Come on," Mira called over to her. "Pick it up and let's keep moving. There are people to save."
Iole whispered under her breath to Tallis, "Jenus had been boomed."
Tallis snorted and put her hand over her face. Tears popped out of her eyes as she held back the laughter that threated to burst out of her.
"In position." Frank said over comms.
He brought the scope to his eye.
"Well, sh*t."
Frank slung his rifle, and slowly descended the ladder. He ran to catch up with the assault team.
Naleena looked at the map on her omni-tool readout. It indicated they were not far from the column. The area around the column provided plenty of cover. It was a park. There were trees in the park that helped provide natural air exchange, and less of a sterile feeling. There were also fountains and a man-made stream that flowed in a circle around it. The column was in the center. The side from with the team was entering was poor residential, and the other side of the park was the wealthy district in between the column and the financial district. The cover was good for the team, but it was also good for the terrorists. This would be a nasty bugger.
The team approached. Naleena had the assault team in front, Iole on point, as they approached the intersection across the street from the park. Iole scanned the area with her tracker, and gave the all clear signal and motioned for the infiltration team to cross. It looked like there were two paths in the woods that appeared to lead to the center. Naleena decided to split the team and take them.
“Essul, you and Williams take the path on the left. Eteon and I will take the path on the right.” Naleena said.
Ashley nodded. “Looks like we’re going to be working together. Just so we’re clear on this Essul, if those bastards were human I still wouldn’t hesitate to put a bullet in their heads if I was ordered. There are hostages and 200,000 lives at stake here.”
Naleena just hoped Essul and Ashley would work together. The combination seemed logical from a skills standpoint. She hoped it wouldn’t backfire. She waved the Assault team across.
“Dahlia, Anika, Avan, Mira, and Tallis, you’re with Essul. Jenus, Iole, Irina and Frank, you’re with me,” Naleena said, and then asked the huntresses, “Do you know how to make animal calls?”
Mira turned her head to Naleena with curiosity. “Yes. Well Jenus not so well.”
“Hey, I can too.” Jenus replied.
“Anika?”
“I know one.”
“That’s good enough,” Naleena said, “Since the coms are down we need a way to coordinate our attack. If we’re quiet and not seen, we can use these. The huntresses can move to false positions, and make the sounds. This will attract the terrorists, and perhaps we can ambush them.”
-earlier-
Essul had been caught off guard by naleenas outburst, her shimmering aura making him unsure of what she'd heard on the cable, but he knew it wasn't good. His face paled as he heard news of the turians, hands shaking as his sense of dread came back.
"They can't do this! There must be some way we can stop them!" Essul said adimently, fear in his voice as he heard the news. Visions in his mind of turian soliders gunning down every batarian they saw, terrorist or victim alike, while more people were executed as human shields and wards against the encroaching death. Hearing the news, essuls jaw tightened as he worked with the others, hoping to make it in time.
This was now a race against time, and essul looked down to the pistol in his hands as they moved up. Would they have enough time? Would they need to make the sacrifice of this in order to save the others.
-Present-
Essul nodded to naleena, acknowledging the orders as he glanced irritatedly to williams, listening to her speak. His fist tightened as he stared towards the forrest, somewhat amazed at the engineering feat while also looking to the path ahead. If they could, taking to the air might have resolved this matter. Though he doubted the terrorists would allow any aircraft to take off without authorization.
Mostly however, he was holding himself back from going at it with williams. Her stances he understood all too well, when you were in the thick of the situation, the needs of the many outweighed the concerns of the few. But her way of doing it got to him, her desire to see their races as a factor in deciding who the many were. Essul knew in his heart which he'd picked, given the two groups.
He'd try and save both, even if it meant he might die doing so.
But a part of him doubted, a part of him wondered if what williams was saying might not be true. That in the end, if his back was to the wall, would he really sacrifice human lives to save those of his people? Could he make such a choice? He knew, as her last words rang in his ears and his gaze traveled to the sig saur he was using, the answer to that question. He knew from his need to keep these fools and bastards alive, the truth of the matter.
"I understand, Williams..." Essul said as he looked her in the eyes, fighting back a glare as he nodded his head in acknowledgement, "There's priorities to be met. You have yours...and I have mine." He said with as he looked away, towards the wooded path, "Right now though, we need to hurry. Because those turians coming don't have our priorities. Sounds like they'd rather end lives then save them." He said with growl while he punched a fist into his palm, "I think we can both agree to stop them, for now."
"Baaaaaaaaaa." Frank made the sound of an Earth goat, while looking ahead through the scope of his rifle. He smirked.
Moving up to the second rigged column turned out not to be as much of a problem as anticipated. Once the approaching batarians were dealt with, as well as the problematic drunks, both the infiltration and assault teams moved in quickly. The infiltration team put six batarian guards down, each with non-lethal methods and most without even permanently hurting them. Iole’s motion detector had been critical in spotting some of them as they had tried to flank.
The explosives at the second column, in the northwest part of the dome, were set similarly to the first. Iole, now moved up to point with the assault team, was too valuable to leave behind to deal with the explosives. And with time of the essence, keeping both Frank and Avan back seemed like a bad idea.
Mira was the first to recommend, “Everybody can move on. I’ll stay back with Tallis to guard Avan.”
Iole nodded. “It looks like it is rigged the same way, and I’m sure Avan can handle any discrepancies, if they come up.”
Both groups moved on. Tallis stood away from the bomb, at the main access hall leading to the column, keeping a watch. Mira stayed with Avan, crouched near the explosive.
“Easy job,” Mira wondered aloud. “Right?”
Inside the Com Building
Osarem was pacing back and forth in the room that was filled with desks and computer terminals. “The coms are down. I know they’re making an assault now. Why else would they do this?”
“I’ve sent out runners to all positions, but I haven’t heard back from the teams,” Camak said.
“Not good enough. They need to see that what they’re doing has a price, and there’s no way of letting them see this. F*ck!” Osarem said and kicked the chair out from under the desk sending it across the room. “And we’re in the f*cking communications building! Wireless coms are down!”
It was silent in the room for several seconds. One of his lower ranking people finally spoke. “Sir, I believe there is a fiber optic network in the basement that we might be able to use. It was installed for use during high intensity solar storms.”
“Of course!” Osarem replied. “Set up the connection. Camak, get that reporter out of that office and set up his equipment in the basement. I want him to report on the execution of our first hostage.”
“Yes, Sir.” Camak replied.
“Then set up a com line. I want to speak with whoever is running this foolhardy operation and let them know their actions have consequences.”
The third bomb like the first and second went like clockwork, however, just as they began their approach to the Communications Building, Major Guyvatus Artalus and his Turian Special Forces unit arrived on the scene.
Artalus was smoking his cigar and strutted up to Anika. “I assume you’re in charge here? Where is the bomb?”
Anika pointed to Naleena.
Naleena restrained herself from showing her aura as she waited for the Turian to approach.
“So you’re in charge? And what’s this? A Batarian?” Artalus bristled.
“May I ask what the hell you’re doing in here?” Naleena asked.
“I’m disarming bombs and killing terrorists. I have Spectre Authority, stand aside!”
“And I have Council Sanction for this mission along with that of Jonas Ashland. Now get your Turian ass out of here before I beat you with your own spine.” Naleena said. “That’s an order.”
Artalus blew smoke in her face and began to wave to his troops to secure the area.
“Big mistake.” Naleena said, her aura glowed blue and she lifted Artalus up off the ground with her biotics.
The Turian Special Forces troops aimed their weapons at Naleena. Naleena’s team aimed their weapons at Artalus.
“Looks like we have a standoff. How many have you disarmed?” Naleena asked keeping him hanging in the air.
“Put me down!”
“Tell your men to lower their weapons and answer the questions.”
Artalus motioned to his men, and they lowered their weapons. Naleena’s did the same. “Two. One on a column and one by the mine entrance.”
“Good. I don’t want any bloodshed, but I’m a Spectre, and I want you and your team out of here. What you can do is take the unconscious Batarians back to the Command Center for interrogation,” Naleena said and set him back down, “Now, get moving.”
Artalus swore and grumbled in an obscure Turian dialect, and stomped off with his troops. With the Turians out of the way the team proceeded toward the Communications Building. VERA had marked another tunnel entrance nearby. The Communications Building was where she said the terrorists held the hostages. That would be a job for the infiltration team.
“Avan, I want you to take Williams, Essul, and Eteon into the tunnels and get into the Communications building. Follow fiber optic cables when you get near it. There may even be an entrance into the building from the tunnel. Neutralize the terrorists, and find the hostages. I’ll stay up top with the Assault team.”
Guyatus's departure had been welcome, if worrisome. The more time he spent outside the more opportunity he had to mess up Naleena's teams advance on the target location. She looked over at the comm tech and was tempted to tell him to turn the antenna's back around towards where the team were. It ran the risk of alerting the Batarian's but then again, she needed to know what was happening....
Suddenly the comm tech's head snapped up and he called out. "It's the Batarian's! Their calling"!
The whole tent suddenly snapped into action as people who had been milling around suddenly dove for their workstations and settled in behind them. Hands fumbled on their headsets as the comm tech beckoned JEss over and handed her a pad. On it, an 'accept call' sign flashed as the tech's head bent down to focus on his equipment. As suddenly as the tent had turned into a hive of activity, it suddenly went quiet except for the pad's tones echoing eerily in the now still enclosure. All eye's on Jess, looking at her in something akin to nervous anticipation of what was to follow.
Jess sighed. This was what she was paid for......
She pressed the accept icon
Meanwhile, aboard the Medusa.
Dogger Merry and his wife, Sherie Merry stepped off the shuttle and onto the hanger bay decking of the Medusa. It was like coming home. Except there were changes. Dock workers everywhere stripping old paneling off the bulkheads, exposing the old girls innards. The sections that hadn't been taken down looked as if someone had let a maniac loose on them. Smashed apart crates lay welded to the sheet metal and painted in garish colours that served no reason other than to mar what was otherwise bay. It was empty of all the old stacks of crates, he'd never known it to look so empty. Sounds reverberated inside what was essentially now a empty metal box.
Dogger turned and extended his hand towards Sherie who took it to aid her descent. "Not quite what I was imagining when you described the ship". She noted, looking around at the workers strpping the walls.
"It ain't like it used to be Sher. Never known the old girl to be so...... manhandled like this...... Cap'n must have hit something fierce to be putting her through a dock workers scrum".
"Well? What are we here for"? Sherie asked impatiently. "If we're here to help your captain, shouldn't we go and find her"?
"N'minute". Dogger slurred eyeing a group of worker's who were hefting a giant laze saw. "Became acting XO the second I stepped foot aboard. Gotta grab the guy in charge of thi......".
The group with the saw managed to switch it on and Dogger yelled as they brought it to a patch of densely packed crate plates. The saw slashed through them with ease, making a long job short when they hit something else at the far back and sparks flew out from the horrid gash they'd left in the bulkhead. The whole bay was plunged into darkness and spots of light came on where workers wwere activating their personal lights before the emergency lighting kicked in, bathing the entire bay in red light.
Sherie looked around the blood red bay and turned to Dogger. "I take it, this isn't normal"?
Dogger sighed and started clumping over towards where those with the Laze saw were arguing. "I'll let you know when things are normal". He called abck over his shoulder.
Also, still on the Medusa…
Morgan was up on the bridge, finishing the one job he wanted to do first. The captain’s chair had been restored to its former glory, or at least as close as Morgan could get it. Its worn metal surface was scrubbed clean, only showing the wear of its use. The leather seat was cleaned, had lotion applied, and then sprayed with water repellent meant specifically for the material. Morgan had even dug the grime out of the recesses with a small brush he had found in a tool kit. Again, his only recently used muscles were weak and he had broken a sweat performing his task.
When Morgan stood back to admire his work, he saw a small yellow signal flashing on one of the control panels. Morgan went over to examine the antiquated alert system, which didn’t even stream on a head up display for this low level alarm. The panel showed a power outage in the hangar bay.
All the way at the other end of the ship, Morgan mentally grumbled. Well, I wanted to get around. He picked up the tool kit with the cleaning materials and headed to see what was going on.
In the Com Centre – Jess’ panel
Jess hit the accept button, and a human news reporter appeared on the screen. He was visibly shaking, and his voice sounded quite alarmed.
“This is Chris Proctor, Ashland News Agency, live from Dome 410. I’ve been taken hostage by the Batarian ter…,” he said, then received a rifle butt to the ribs, “patriots who have seized control….”
The Batarian shoved him out of the way. “Out of the way! You humans first invade our space and steal our worlds, then you destroy a mass relay in our space and killing 300,000 of our people and expect no reprisal? This could have ended peacefully by returning the Armstrong Cluster to the Hegemony. But instead you sent an assault team. I warned you.”
The Batarian dragged a blindfolded human hostage into view of the camera. “Witness the results of your efforts.” He drew his pistol and executed him. “Pull back your teams, meet our demands, or one hostage will die on camera every half hour. Long live Black Fire!”
Unfortunately, the news team had broadcasted that as well.
The infiltration team moved up to the tunnel access, under cover of the assault team. VERA’s mark showed the entrance was a manhole cover in an alley one block away from the communications building. It would lead under the intervening building, and reach another maintenance hatch located in the sub-basement the team was going to.
Ashley moved ahead, on point, sweeping back and forth with her assault rifle and using the tactical cloak she had been given for the mission. All was clear so she moved ahead as the rest of the team kept an eye out in all directions. Reaching the manhole cover, and with no sign of trouble, Ashley decloaked and unlocked the cover with the maintenance utility program provided by the city on her omni-tool.
A loud gunshot rang out, and Ashley Williams’s upper left arm was ripped open. She screamed and dropped as members from both teams went to cover.
“Sniper! Sniper,” Tallis yelled.
“Where?!” Mira asked, keeping down.
Tallis pointed to an apartment building behind both teams.
“How?” Jenus asked. “The motion detector would have picked them up.”
“Not if they weren’t moving,” Mira said as she scowled at Jenus.
Several of the windows were open, but Iole was the first to spot a receding cloud of dust in one. It was barely discernable in the light. Iole snapped her Hellbringer up and around the corner she had hidden behind.
Iole shouted, “Six up and three in,” just before she let loose a swarm of projectiles from the machine gun. Almost instantly, a hole was ripped open where the window was, along with a cloud of red mist. What was left of the batarian inside fell apart in chunks, seen easily now as light passed through the wider aperture.
More shots then fired from a number of windows, pinning Iole behind the corner again.
Ashley was still out in the open, lying on the ground, groaning in pain.
Jess watched the man shot through the head impassively as around her the negotiation team gasped. A few puts hands to their hands to their mouths to swallow down bile as others stood stunned. Jess opened her mouth to speak through the pad when it winked out.
"They cut the transmission". The com tech said looking visibily upset.
"Nothing we could have done". Jess reassured him. "He was dead the moment they decided to kill him. They won't hesitate. We've seen that now. It means they've pushed this beyond negotiations. People will want the Batarian's rushed.....".
As if on cue, the comm tech's equipment lit up again. He looked down and then at Jess again. "It's Guyvartus".
"Speak of the devil....". Jess groaned.
“Approach is a damned kill zone!” Naleena shouted, “Take cover!”
Naleena made note of the windows. She tapped thermal on her omni-tool and the lens on her eye changed visual ranges. Six white images appeared behind building facades with weapons. “Anika, hand me your grenade launcher.”
Naleena cloaked and moved into a better position, took aim, then fired into one of the windows. Fire erupted on Naleena’s position when she decloaked after the shot. Iole fired another barrage and took out another. This allowed Irina to move into position, she switched her Mattock to full auto, and a sniper barrage opened up.
Essul ran out under fire, firing his weapon up at the window and grabbed Ashley, dragging her toward the building out of the line of fire. Ashley was in agony, and Essul opened her armor, ripped open a medigel pack and applied it to the wound.
Ashley looked up at him between grimaces, and laughed. “Red was right. You’re not a total dick. Thanks. I owe you.”
“They’ll redeploy,” Naleena ordered, “Use the opportunity to move. Mira take Williams place on the infiltration team. Go!” She handed the grenade launcher back to Anika.
“I gave her enough medigel to stop the bleeding. She’s out of the mission, but she’ll be alright,” Essul said as he moved a few heavy crates in the area around her to provide cover, and he started off to the tunnel hatch.
“Hey, Batarian. Just so you know. This doesn’t mean we’re kissing or anything like that,” Ashley said.
Essul smiled and shook his head while jogging toward the tunnel.
“And watch your ass in there.”
Essul gave her the thumbs up as he dropped down with the rest of the infiltration team.
Naleena and the Assault Team approached the Com Building from the south on the surface route. There was no point in moving by stealth anymore. It made more sense to provide a distraction for the infiltration team. Still gathering some recon of the defenses around the building made some sense. She and Dahlia scouted ahead staying in the shadows. The Batarians were dug in and had used razor wire and barricades to protect their perimeter. This was going to be a bastard to get through, and now there were three more snipers to worry about. There were at least a dozen of them and they appeared to be armored. Naleena zoomed in on one of them who had taken off his helmet. He had a marking on the side of his neck: A peculiar marking she hadn’t seen before. She was lining up a shot on him, but he replaced his helmet before she could fire a shot.
She and Dahlia returned to the team.
“There are about a dozen of them out there. They’re dug in, armored, and heavily armed,” Naleena said, “They’re not like the ones we’ve encountered earlier. I suspect at least one may be Batarian SIU or former SIU. If he is, he will not allow himself to be captured. Lethal force is authorized. Commandos and Anika take the right flank. The rest of you (Irina, Dahlia, Frank), down the left side with me,” Naleena drew the Collector Particle Beam. “I can take down the barricades with this.”
“So we’re abandoning the non-lethal?” Anika asked.
“There’s too many of them. We could disable the shields on a few and maybe stasis them. We’d have to rush, keep the rest pinned with suppressing fire, tag them and hope we didn’t get hit. I can’t risk the team,” Naleena said, “Then there’s fire from inside the building. I won’t know if the infiltration team was successful because coms are out. Still when we get them down to about five, we might be able to return the ROE to our original.”
Anika nodded.
Naleena pulled up a map on her omnitool and displayed it for Anika. “Anika, I want you to move the team one block east and up around to this position here. It will provide you a good position and decent cover. Plus you’ll see the buildings across and be able to hit them with your grenade launcher if any snipers get brave. We’ll hit hard from the southwest side. I didn’t see any activity to our backs.”
Anika looked into Naleena’s eyes. “Be careful, please.”
Naleena smiled. “You too. Keep your head down. Alright everyone. Move out!”
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