The Dividing Line - Space

[Shrike7]

Re: The Dividing Line - Space

The woman chuckled at the Pan Kor's quip, giving a shrug as she was shoved off towards her smaller ship. "We'll try and get you something less ship-sized to shoot soon. I've never taken Alpha into live-fire combat before, this should be interesting." She said, slipping into the cockpit. Seconds later the ship lifted off, the engine ports on the back end still dull and silent, the main bay doors opening to let it out, before closing again.

Could maybe use you on the bridge. Not many physical controls left, but if things go south, there's enough to escape to subspace if needed.

Out in the void itself, Caitlin's overgrown Dagger flew about wildly and erratically, shifting flightspeed and direction at a seemingly impossible pace, making itself quite hard to target. Her tactics seemed rather amateurish otherwise, picking out a single mantis at a time and focusing it down with her coilgun, picking targets based on proximity and little else, unless someone was pinging targets for the group, which was unlikely.

 

[tomaito89]

Re: The Dividing Line - Space

Talen cursed under his breath, but not over the comm channel. "Reno, hang back from the fight a bit. Let the smaller crafts do their job. Provide fire only to assist."

Reno's response was emotionless. "Affirmative. Firing for support." When she was controlling most of the ship, especially in combat, Reno shut down her emotional processors as well as most of the programs that contributed to her personality. This allowed her to focus her efforts on advanced targeting and maneuvering algorithms and the like.

"You have control of the bridge, Reno. I'm going for a walk." With that, Talen left the bridge and walked into the room-that-was-supposed-to-be-a-kitchen-but-is-now-used-as-extra-storage. Or, "Upper Cargo Bay," for short. While there, he grabbed an oxygen tank and mask, a set of magnetic tethers, and his AM rifle, Anya. He also made sure to cram as much ammo as he could fit into his tactical vest.

"Orders confirmed. However, Captain, as your assistant I am obliged to inform you of the risks involved in your current course of action and to state that it would be ill-advised."

"Thanks for the warning, but I'll take my chances." Talen fitted himself into the harness and slung Anya over his shoulder. "Reno, seal off the main deck."

You could almost hear Reno sigh. Her hologram certainly rolled its eyes, though. "Confirmed. Sealing blast doors. Preparing for rapid depressurization. Enjoy your walk, Captain. And don't die." Once all the doors were sealed, Talen released the hatch that lead to the top part of the Rogue, where the railgun was. He made sure he was properly sealed in, and prepared to have more fun than he had in years. It's not often one gets to practice firing on live targets in space, after all.

 

[Unknown Squid]

Re: The Dividing Line - Space

Being ganged up on was not part of Kars' plan, but one he was plenty able to adapt to nonetheless. And an "easy target" the fighter craft most certainly wasn't. It's flight path erratic yet highly reactive in the extreme, whilst the four 30mm gatling guns seemed to be perfectly set up to adjust their tracking in sync with the crafts twists and turns, each aiming for separate targets.

Kars curses sternly as a series of flashes and a clatter of shrapnel make known the impact the shields. Ko squawking a little but utterly focused on guiding the four guns to their optimal targets. Having made their ambush and let the bugs get close, they were now surrounded far more than was ideal. And that one suborn shotgun bug needed to die. "Spinning." Kars exclaims to Ko simply and sharply, a warning. The Hell Strafer proceeding to blast it's engines and going into a wild high G spin, letting loose a full salvo of unguided rockets in a wide cone towards the biggest concentration of Mantis. All the rockets "air bursting" in the space among and around the Nnyarthall warriors. Ko cheering as at least one is caught close to the blast, and as two more dazed Mantis are swiftly acquired by the main guns, being torn and blown to shreds.

The Strafer then hitting the after burners and swooping towards The Concordance. If the bugs wanted to pick on the little guy, they would have to do it whilst dancing around close to a web of point defence fire. Weaving it's path daringly close to the strangely organic looking larger vessel, and deliberately working to line up the Mantis with the point defence guns. As it flys the Strafer would only ever point in a certain direction for the exact duration of it's forward thruster burns, spinning to face it's targets no matter which direction it went. All the time using it's powerful vectored thrust to literally strafe and circle targets and threats.

Should the Mantis wise up to being drawn towards a crossfire zone, Kars would pursue, and continue the same game as needed. Every larger ship present was potential cover, and a source of covering fire. The bugs couldn't focus on both the auto guns and Kars at the same time, and him and Ko were ready to prey on any lapse of attention.

He noted the new launch of Caitlin's unusual fighter craft also. Mentally commenting on it's curiously abnormal flight characteristics in the back of his mind as he focuses. For now it was something not to crash into. The straight forward tactics at least helping with that.

"Got another!" Ko growls and laughs with somewhat celebratory sadistic mirth.

 

[Aust_Nailo]

Re: The Dividing Line - Space

Both Meera and Annika were shocked at the sight of the enemy making a full frontal assault on the newly arrived ships. Seems the Nyantharl were not going to wait, or give this station up without a fight. However, both the women reacted differently to the situation, given both had different experiences with combat.
------

Meera let out a yelp as she threw her ship into full reverse, joining Fletch and Maria near the rear of the engagement. She was honestly terrified at the prospect of combat and was not ready to fight much like her male companions. She was a scientist! Not a soldier!"I...I can't stay at the front! I'll just stay back and provide additional cover to the unarmed ship. O...OK!"

-----
Annika and her Sword however were much more eager to see combat. Annika had a tiny bit of experience in combat, having had to fight off bandits who tried to steal parts from the occasional junk sight. However, the Coilguns on her ship were hardly going to be effective if she didn't time her shots. The best she could do was try to intercept the enemy as they leaped towards their targets. "It's like shooting fish in a barrel! Come on! Lets take it to them!"

 

[Rule 34]

Re: The Dividing Line - Space

The Nnyarthall eventually found themselves outmatched. Between Draven's plasma bolts, the railgun blasts from Talen and the constant lockdowns by the Klarr's shield bubbles, the other ships had an easy time picking groups of them off. However, the death blow for the space battle was when Nadia's ship dropped into realspace. "Well, sweep my poopdeck and call me a scallywag," she broadcasted in an especially thick accent. "Whatever happened to DO NOT ENGAGE?!" With a sigh, the Garik turned her ship to her side and opened the hatches. The main Mantis swarm found themselves sprayed by a dense storm of lead as all RFCs opened fire on them at once. Realizing their impending defeat, the large suits turned around and fled back to the station.

Fletch cursed under his breath. "That won't be fun. The bugs have the advantage in there." "Yeah well, we don't have a choice. Everybody, get ready for landing. If we want to hold this system, we have to throw them out."

 

[Chibichibi]

Re: The Dividing Line - Space

The Klarr announced their agreement with enthusiasm. Maria, on the other hand, "I'll stay back here until I'm needed after the fighting. For emergencies during the fight Vlado can go."she turned to the Garik, "If that's acceptable to you, that is." Then she commed Fletch's ship, "You better be careful in there. Don't you dare get hurt."

 

[Shrike7]

Re: The Dividing Line - Space

Caitlin didn‘t respond when their leader arrived in the middle of the fight, trusting someone else to fill the Garik in once things were calmer. Once the Mantis were on the run, she parked her fighter along the side of the Concordance a moment, passing a command between the two ship-organisms to halt the larger ship‘s rotation. That done, she opened the bay doors again for her to take the fighter in properly, opening a channel to the Pan Kor inside. They‘ve fleen into the station itself, it‘s your turn. Hop into the shuttle, i‘ll fly you over. she sent, getting out of her fighter to float over to the shuttle herself.

She held a moment once the shuttle had hit space, waiting for the general order to land to come in. Pre-empting that, she sent a comms to Nadia. If they have gravity on that station, i‘ll be too slow to be anything but a liability in there. Do you have anything else i can do if that‘s the case?

 

[Caulder]

Re: The Dividing Line - Space

Krell, having gone up to the bridge to try and puzzle out the controls there, pushes himself back towards the elevator. "Finally! Something I know how to do." he says over his radio, taking the elevator back down to the hangar and pushing himself off towards the shuttle, dragging himself in and preparing his grenade launcher, as well as ensuring his revolver was loaded.

"Just sit back and enjoy the comm chatter, Doc. I'll have that station cleaned up in no time." he says, reaching a hand up to hold on to a railing near the door, ready to move as soon as possible. It was high time he did what he was known for.

 

[tomaito89]

Re: The Dividing Line - Space

Talen fired a few more shots at the fleeing enemy, taking delight in imagining their screams. Then he descended back into the "Laughing Rogue."

"Reno. Fire up the maintenance deck, I'll be needing to switch my layout. And prepare to go aboard. We've got squatters to clear out."

The AI paused before responding."Like the ones on Vrachos IV?"

Talen looked very sullen at the mention of Vrachos IV. "Nothing like that. These guys will actually be armed and capable of fighting back." He had stepped onto the maintenance deck. The heavy blast doors closed with a hiss. A single blue light appeared overhead, signalling the special equipment was in use.

 

[SiphonTalvesh]

Re: The Dividing Line - Space

Nadia received no reply immediately from the Ingrali ship, however it suddenly vanished off her sensors as it seemed to flicker out of existence. It'd be clear to her what had just happened, he had cloaking tech on board. A private channel opened. to which Draven spoke to her only on.


"I'll take responsibility for that one, tactical error, stupid one on my part. Won't happen again. Let me know where you want me and when, for the time being, I'll remain cloaked."


Something seemed ... off about his voice now, she couldn't tell if it were serious, or if he were just pissed at the turn of events and this is what his people sounded like mad.

 

[Rule 34]

Re: The Dividing Line - Space

"You're landing with us, big guy. We can use some muscle," Nadia answered on Draven's channel before sending out a general comm. "Alright, the Concordance can stay behind and guard the Shining Star. How's Vlado going to get to the station, though?" The Garik next to Maria sighed and pressed a button on his suit. "My garb is pressure-resistant and environmentally sealed, Madam. I could jump over to The Mighty Quinn if Mister Fletcher would be so kind to navigate his vessel next to ours." Nadia had to fight the urge of making a "blabbermouth" gesture.

"Sure, won't be a problem. And don't worry, Maria. 's much as I'm not a fan of the TPD, they're building their suits to outlast their soldiers." Now that the battle was over, The Mighty Quinn moved slightly to the side and back, lining up their air hatches. With a hiss, the Quinn's outer hatch opened. "Come on over then." Vlado bowed down towards Maria with a snap of his heels and picked up a solid steel suitcase, presumably holding medical supplies. He disappeared into the airlock and after a moment of depressurization floated over towards the Quinn.

 

[Chibichibi]

Re: The Dividing Line - Space

She waved of Vlado and then tapped her comm again, "I know that. But be careful. You don't want to orphan Lemmy now do you?"

----

Deelin and Taavan each began to suit up, eager to be down on the station and to do their part. "We're ready to go, Commander."

 

[Unknown Squid]

Re: The Dividing Line - Space

((Small note. Whilst they are talking via short range suit coms here, I'm choosing not to underline Kars' and Ko's speech for this bit during the parts where they're not actually broadcasting to the rest of the gang.))

Kars sighs as he watches the Mantis retreat back into the station. "This will be fun." he mutters. An opposite to Fletch's statment, but with the same meaning. "Time to chase bees out of their hive." said as he remotely directs the rear section of the Hell Strafer to fly over and float nearby. Climbing out of his hatch as he does so. Ko sits tight, dreading the idea of actually chasing down Mantis suits into close quarters, unsure of whether she was expected to come along or not.

"You're guarding the ship squirt." Kars says over short range coms as he hops over to the rear section of the ship through space. Landing to open up the cargo compartment on the side, and proceeding to unbuckle and pull out a five foot personal heavy rail gun from the shaped niche it sat in. The gun bearing something of an anti armour sniper rifle design, complete with advanced scope. Also pulling something that looked like a foot long plastic wrapped orange rod from another case, and checking on the pulse laser pistol kept holstered to his leg. "I want you to keep tabs on the bugs from outside. Don't let any of them go creeping from place to place by skipping outside through the cracks."

"Wait you want me to actually pilot the ship in combat!? Against real bad guys?" Ko exclaims. Just a little shocked at the unexpected responsibility. More or less a first, in a situation this serious.

"If they show themselves. Then you remind them why they're hiding." He replies releasing from the other section of the ship he had been standing upon, and slowly floating in the direction of the station. Railgun held straight along his body length, with his knees gripping either side of the stock and a large portion of the rail sticking out ahead of him.

"Uh, rodger! I can do it!" Ko responds enthusiastically.

"You better. If I find a single dent in my strafer you're going without legs for a week." The Kopak threatens casually.

Ko grimaces as she mulls over whether he really would, and which planets week he would use this time, but stows such thoughts of failure and transfers full piloting functions to her cockpit. The thought of being given full unsupervised control of the Hell Strafer, whilst in a genuine combat situation to boot, was somewhat exciting for her. Although she would have perhaps preferred not being pitted against Mantis suits specifically in such an opportunity.

With this said and done, Kars would twist to face The Dividing Line, and fire his jetpack. The small high output jetpack accelerating the spacer and his oversized gun at impressive speeds toward the station. He would aim to follow the other ships in, and touch down on the hull of the station nearby wherever they chose to dock.

 

[Shrike7]

Re: The Dividing Line - Space

Moments after it had left, Caitlin's shuttle settled back into the bay of the Concordance, the scientist floating out in the null gravity, headed for the elevator and her lab. The ship was aware enough to look after herself until she could plug in should the worst happen, and she had a new project to consider...

Once in the lab, she started up the incubator in the corner, running it through diagnostics and a cleaning cycle while she got onto the comms, sending a message over to the Shining Star. You were... Maria, right? I'm not at the helm, so stick fairly close for cover, alright? Also, do you have any medical texts for Pan Kor? Records for our friend in particular would be better, but I find that prospect doubtful, given the circumstances.

 

[Chibichibi]

Re: The Dividing Line - Space

Mariaa frowned at her console and moved her ship closer. "Yeah, I have quite a few, actually. What do you need them for?"

 

[Shrike7]

Re: The Dividing Line - Space

I haven't dealt much with Pan Kor, and Krell is interested in me growing a suit for him. The amount of precision required is substantial, so I need to do my research, is all. May also need to use your facilities to acquire a stem cell sample from him at some point, I'm not sure if my facilities can restrain him if he decides to kick, eh? Caitlin sent back, pausing a moment to check the readout on the incubator. Are you capable of broadcasting that info, by chance?

 

[Chibichibi]

Re: The Dividing Line - Space

"Grow a... what?" Maria stuck on that. "What on the Frozen World of Abernath are you talking about?"

 

[Shrike7]

Re: The Dividing Line - Space

A living suit such that I am wearing. It's a segment from the same organism I've grown into the ship, but Krell's wouldn't be. She explained, Maria remembering the odd skintight suit she had seen the scientist wearing under her lab coat on the station.

I created it to interface with ship systems and the pilot simultaneously, creating a much faster response than typical controls allow. On a larger frame, such as a Pan Kor, it would have more room for combat organs and applications, but even on me it protects against the vacuum of space, and some small arms fire.

 

[Chibichibi]

Re: The Dividing Line - Space

"That is incredible. When they get the station clear you and I are going to sit down and have a very long talk about this. As for the books... They aren't digital. My Anatomy professors felt we should be old fashion and we worked printed books and real cadavers." Maria hummed thoughtfully, "I think I may have a digital anatomy model stashed in my files somewhere, though."

 

[Shrike7]

Re: The Dividing Line - Space

Printed books? That's incredible to see these days. Caitlin responded, astonished. We will have plenty of time on the station once things calm down, I'm not in much hurry, just looking to pass the time. If you have digitals easily available, go ahead and send them, otherwise I wouldn't worry about it.