NationStates Jolt Archive

OOC: This RP is semi-closed, if you want to join contact myself or TMB.

Typhus woke; it was O’ five hundred and more than time to get up. He rose, the clock on the wall showed only ten hours left till arrival at Pegasi I. He rose quickly, as usual the floor was cold enough to make him numb, and walked to the shower. Twenty minutes later Typhus felt vaguely human. He dressed in his old standard issue combat boots, a pair of khakis, a black shirt, and his grandfather’s dueling jacket.
Typhus headed out of his chambers and to the mess. The rest of his team was sitting together nursing cups of coffee. He snagged a cup of coffee off of a passing private’s tray and joined them.
”Morning, sir,” Wolf muttered.
”It’s too damn early to be morning.”
There was a chorus of “Ayes” and everyone the table fell silent.
“Sir,” Mitch, the team’s scout, asked, “Any word on what this mission’ll be?”
”Not a word. The briefing will be in half an hour.”
“Good!” Haan growled, “The sooner we do that the sooner I get to kill someone.”
”Heh,” Typhus muttered.

Typhus and his team filed into the chamber, there was a large holo-projecter embedded into the floor with two tiers of seat surrounding it. They took seats on the first tier and watched as a small walled complex rotated slowly before them.
”That is your objective,” A dark man wearing a heavy greatcoat, stepped down to stand next to the projector. “This research station was recently overrun by unknown forces; the last transmissions were nothing but screams and pleas for help.”
”So, why does that warrant a Draconian team?”
”Because no one could identify the hostiles, because they were not human, or otherwise, “the man said gesturing to Ssss’Rak, “Apparently one of the drilling teams from the base hit a bunker of some sort. Whatever came out killed ‘em all and it’s your job to go in there and neutralize the threat.”
”What do we get for support?”
”If it is deemed that the enemy has enough numbers we will have three squads from the Crimson Legion waiting for deployment. Also, our Monolithian allies will be sending a squad down to help out. Anything else? ”
”Any reason we are going to have to not use lethal force?”
”No.”
”Alright then, let’s get ready,” Typhus stood, took one last look at the hologram of the station and walked out, his team following.

Typhus watched his team arm. Techs swarmed over his team attaching armour and loading ammunition into its various holders, while his team selected their weapons. He had been armed first, he never bothered to adjust his weapons set, it simply wasn’t necessary.
”Come on, we have ten left!” He shouted, his voice amplified by the suits speaker.
The techs were thrown into a final frenzy while his team stood serenely, rocks among the chaos. When five minutes later everyone had finally been armed they stood their matte black armour making them look even more imposing. Ssss’Rak towered over the others, his custom armour made him taller and even gaunter. (Ssss’Rak is a Thri-keen http://www.freewebs.com/thundercorp/racesandpeoples.htm)
“Well? You think we’ve got all day? Hit the pods and get ready for insertion!”
Each team-member moved to his or her drop bay and punched the button located just above the top of the door. The scanners located in each tube ran up and down the soldiers looking over their armour while they remained perfectly still. Within seconds servomotors whirred into action attaching more and heavier plating over the already large Draconian Armour. This went on for several minutes while typhus listened to the bored chatter occupied his team.
Finally the whirring stopped and the process was over, Typhus’s optics were covered but he knew the inside of the pods well enough to not worry. The final countdown began as the ship maneuvered into geo-synch orbit over the site.
The captain’s voice cut through the conversation suddenly, “Good luck, and may you make the Masters proud.”
With that Typhus began muttering the final seconds. “30, 29, 28…” When he hit 5 the world dropped out from under him and the Draconian team plunged toward the rusty-brown earth Kilometers below. Within 2 minutes they had plunged far enough into the atmosphere that the added armour fell away and sight was restored to Typhus and his men. The rest of the team was meters below him and quickly moving into formation. They had planned an LZ 3 kilometers from the outpost which should give them enough room to scout the area, watch the objective from afar for any enemy patrols, and to prepare a decent assault plan with their allies. His suit’s Titan G.I.D. kicked in seconds later slowing his descent gradually until he wafted down to land almost softly on the hard earth. His men had moved formed a perimeter in the rocky valley they had chosen as an LZ. He surveyed his rusty surroundings and his team.
“Mitch, move out. I want you to get a visual of that outpost. Ssss’Rak, get to an elevated position and keep an eye out for our allies. Black, Wolf, and Villain, move out and patrol the area.”
Blue acknowledgment lights winked on, on Typhus’ HUD. The rest of his men got ready for a long wait while Typhus ran another set of system diagnostics.

The frigate, relatively small for its class, approached the rusty-red orb at a surprisingly fast speed. Upon closer inspection, the craft sported a once white rectangle, now a dirty-cream with age and a black rectangle facing straight up. The craft was Monolithian of origin.

The door slid open and Rhys’ blue skin was bathed in a sickly white. A shadow fell across his face as he groaned.
“Good morning colonel.” Said the silhouette.
“Morning?” asked Rhys, looking over at the antique kinetic clock he prized “It’s barely half past 2.”
“Your point?” asked Jack, his grin reaching from ear to ear.
Rhys groaned once again and threw his pillow at Jack who caught it and returned it promptly, hitting Rhys square in the face.
“All right! All right! I’m getting up.” Said Rhys, rolling out of bed and walking hunched towards his armoire and dressing himself. After a few moments of silence, Rhys appeared at his door and reared himself up to his full height of roughly one and a half meters, clothed in some loose black pants and a gray t-shirt with the imperial crest embroidered over his heart.
“Did we get the orders?” he asked.
“Why else would I be up this early?” he asked rhetorically.
Rhys smiled and headed off to communications with Jack following. Shortly after, they both appeared at the door of the mess and looked at their team. Victoria, the teams sniper sat flanked by Julia, the demolitions expert and Troha, the first of the four “breakers”. Sitting opposite were Alphonse, Yuwp and Harry, the other three “breakers” and Roland, their "Operative". Scattered about the other tables were various other members of The Roc.
“ZENiTH, Report to the briefing N.O.Y.D.*” barked Jack, watching team ZENiTH drop their cutlery and scuttle off.

“ZENiTH,” called Colonel Rhys Nej-kaion, “We have been called on by the empire to assist the Padmasan Draconian team “Flayer” in a clean-sweep operation.”
“Assist a Draconian team?” laughed Victoria, “That’s like being asked to help a Tick destroy a fighter.”
“Your point?” asked Rhys continuing “A research station has been overrun by a force of unknown origin and size. Use of lethal force on an acknowledged hostile is green light. Standard clean sweep R.O.E.** is in effect.”
“Why don’t we send in an aerial attack group? It’d have the same effect.” Asked Yuwp.
“Don’t ask me, these orders are from the top. It’s a simple in, kill everything and out mission. Any complications are supposed to be “dealt with accordingly”. Aerial support is on standby but will only come to our aide if it’s condition violet.”
“Sound like fun.” Said Troha.
“To a brute like you, maybe, to me, sounds like a cakewalk.” Said Alphonse.
“Seems like you’ve all got the gist of things, get some rest and your gear into Combat Readyness, we drop in twenty. ZENiTH… Dismissed.”

The next ten minutes were all it took for ZENiTH to reach combat readiness, mechanics and technicians poured over every facet of the armour. After suiting up, Fenrir Spec-Ops unit ZENiTH were onboard the “HotDrop” Subduconaut and inbound for the LZ that their Padmasan allies had kindly chosen.

After breaching the atmosphere and fifty thousand kilometers from target, the red light came on. A low hum came over the silence of the cabin. The teams G.I.D.s glowed a light blue. A chorus of “Running hot” came into each members head. A few seconds later the light swapped to an amber “Stealth on.” Came Rhys’ voice. The team became a ghost’s shadow and the HotDrop ramp dropped. After what seemed to be an eternity, “Green light! Go-Go-Go!”.

*Now or you’re dead. Pronouced Nn-oid.
**Rules of Engagement. Pronounced Are-Oh-Eee.

tag for further involvement

Typhus opened his eyes and the landscape leapt to meet him… He had spent the last hour running diagnostics, enhancement programs, and tweaking the scanners. The rest of his team sat about doing similar things, though Mitch was setting up cameras to watch the out post and there was a patrol moving about.
”How much longer are we gonna wait around, sir? This is boring as hell.”
Typhus looked over a Druga who was field-stripping his Aggie for the third time. “Tell ‘ya what, why don’t you take Maligant and go out hunting… we could do with something better than ration bars and there’s no way we are assaulting with less than one day spent watching that base.”
The Fast attack specialist looked up eagerly and nodded. “We’ll be back fast as fast, sir.”
”Bah,” Typhus replied, “Take your time and bring enough for all of us.” The two men trotted off to the east, directly away from the base. Typhus smiled and opened a private comm to Mitch, “Is there even the slightest chance that idiot will find something out there?”
“Technically, though it’s about as likely as Ragnarok getting taken out by a corvette,” the reply came back.
”Good, how long till you can get back and we can laze about?”
”I’m setting up the last camera now, sir. I’ll be only a minute longer.”
Typhus paced for a minute and then looked up sharply. A sonic boom sent alarms flying onto his HUD as his team jumped up weapons being brought to bear on the approaching objects. Typhus stopped himself and called for his men to stand down.
”Ssss’Rak, where are they landing?”
”Two groups, each a couple hundred meters to the sides. If they were off a little more they would be in that base.”
”Damned fools, lack any sense! Everyone pull back a hundred meters north, let them reach the LZ, we don’t want anyone getting trigger-happy.”
”As if it would matter if they got trigger-happy,” Black muttered as he loped alongside Typhus out of the canyon.
”True.”
As the Monolithians landed and approached the canyon Typhus and his men stood to the north waiting, they would reveal themselves when it was less likely the Monolithians would expect them. Besides, they had to keep these new allies on their toes…

The CSS Visigoth was en route to conduct routine patrol of Crimson Sparta's newfound home, Pegasi IV. Their mission was to secure the planet from any opportunists that might try to interfere with the colonization.

Admiral Ogana was on the bridge when the planet came into view on the screen. They weren't at the planet for more than thirty minutes, just in time to transport down the survey crews, when the sensors noticed Padmasan and Monolithian ships moving towards Pegasi I.

Although Crimson Sparta was new to the system and didn't know much about what was on each planet, there was some information on an outpost on Pegasi I. Ogana guessed that the ships were doing something there. He opened a frequency to the Padmasans and inquired if there was anything he could do.

Ogana was hailed back and advised of the situation. Things on the planet required ground troops, and Ogana knew just the man to send. He called Lord Kage to the bridge and told him to gather a crew. This would be the first big test of Crimson Sparta's laser rifles and sidearms in a hostile area.

Kage put together a crew of himself and five others, and took an Archangel down to the planet surface.

"Padmasan and Monolithian troops, be advised that Crimson Sparta is sending a ground force as well."

Rhys swore. The pilot had turned directly over the installation, he had said something about a L.A.D.A.R. ping just before they jumped.
“Damn flyboys.” He said over the secure channel to Jack “They’ll be the doom of us.”
A chuckle came as the reply “Maybe we could arrange for a pincer onto the LZ? A little surprise for our Draconian friends.”
Rhys grinned, his pointed teeth reflecting the green from his systems board.
“Lets do it.” Said Rhys flipping to the unit channel “Pincer on the LZ. Hold until MTZ and OSK has confirmed friendly locations. Confirm.”
A chorus of ‘Rog. Wilco’ came back at him.

Moments later, he touched ground, it was sandy, but solid enough to hold them and not squeak, he noted that it could very possibly give away his position if he wasn’t careful, his team had noticed this as well and noted it for themselves. He checked his HUD Map for his teams positions and noted that his sniper, known as the OSK [One Shot Kill] had taken up position on the largest hill overlooking the LZ and the “Operative”, known as the MTZ [Shortened form of Metzli, the stealth suit of choice] had already started on his spiral towards the centre of the LZ.

“Sir, I’ve found an observation camera of some sort. Should I disable it or just give them a nice little message?”.

Lord Kage was just about to pilot the Archangel out of the bay when a communication from the bridge stopped him. Apparently the Padmasan ship hadn't received the signals from the Visigoth, and Admiral Ogana didn't want to tread on their territory... yet. He was the highest admiral of the fleet, but this was a system claimed by Padmasa and they called the shots.

Kage sat back at the pilot controls while the rest of his team suited up. Watoga was putting on his outer armor while Shunji made sure his weapon power pack was fully charged. The other members-- Seo, Ito, Nishi, and Anami-- all sat back and talked amogst themselves. They were young, all of them, the first class out of the academy. Space was a relatively new venture for Crimson Sparta, and the Visigoth was the furthest ship from Earth. Only the best of the best from the academy were given this post, but they still hadn't gotten their feet wet in actual space combat yet.

"Sir?"
"What?" Typhus hissed as the crouched waiting for the Monolithians to reach the LZ.
"One of 'em put a sign infront of camera 3."
"He must think he's very funny."
"Probably."
Typhus Watched as the blips moved into the LZ and pressed the tab. In the canyon 3 flash grenades went off while smoke grendades that formed an inner permiter made it nearly impossible to see. Typhus and his men rose and ran foward When they arrived Typhus found the Monolithians arrayed for combat, Typhus walked foward humming the Padmasan Anthem disturbingly loudly over his suits speaker.

"Who's the funny man here and when would you like to start the shooting?"

They stood and grinned to themselves as the Padmasans ran towards them in their clumsy armour.

"Could hear them a mile off" Rhys chuckled as they bounded towards the Monolithian team.
"Cloaking off please."

The main task force shimmered into view through the smoke.

"Who's the funny man here and when would you like to start the shooting?" asked someone who seemed to be their C.O.

"That would be Roland, if you would all kindly turn around to meet him."

Roland, the Operative, shimmered into view, waving to their Padmasan friends.

Their sniper, still cloaked on the hill, kept a constant vigil.

"A piece of advice to your lads. Cloaking doesn't block out most of the Electromagnetic spectrum. Oh, and Roland, you might want to turn around," Typhus himself didn't turn but contented himself with examining his counterpart.

The man turned and found himself staring at the chestplate of Ssss'Rak who had an ARZ 11mm level with his eyes.

Typhus smiled, and waved to a sniper that was above them and facing the outpost. Of course Mitch had creeped up behind the fool and was about to tackle him.

"Mitch! Stand down, he'll probably pull the trigger if you jump on him that way. Hell his armour will probably snap, the light stuff they use around here."

Tyhpus turned to the man who had spoken and offered his hand. "Captain Typhus of the Draconian Cult. Welcome to the desert."

OOC: Back in the game.