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Krystal and Chase: Storm Front

Part 2: Changing Plans

As the strike teams approached the shipyard, they began to break up from the large groupings they had been travelling in into smaller teams, each one given a specific target to hit on the shipyard itself. As his own strike team prepared for the attack, Chase opened communications between his own craft and other members of the strike team he and Krystal were now part of.
“Locking in first target, the shielding capacitors.” The bomber leader stated, a waypoint appearing on Chase’s HUD, “Switching to EMP bombing systems.”
“Roger that.” Chase replied, “We’ve got you covered.”
“Do you think they know we’re here?” one of the bomber pilots asked.
As the teams moved into attack formations, the shipyard came to life. Turrets of various makes rose from various points on the shipyard, the defensive network targeting the strike teams before beginning to open fire! Pulse lasers filled the void as fighter teams evaded the anti-air cannons, returning fire with their own weaponry.
“They do now! Evasive maneuvers, keep those cannons off our bombers!” Chase ordered.
Chase rolled left as a burst of laser fire passed his wing, the fox retaliating with a burst of pulse laser fire that was absorbed by a shimmering shield covering the turrets. He cursed silently, remembering that the shields around the shipyard were still completely intact. As laser fire from the shipyard continued to force their forces to evade, Chase pushed forward with a small team of bombers following his lead. Rolling through bursts of turret fire, Chase’s mind focused as his AI continued to feed information onto the Phoenix’s HUD.
The bombers around the Phoenix surged forward, their afterburners blazing as the distance between them and the shipyard shortened. Chase watched as the bombers skillfully dodged around the defensive turret shots, the fox piloting as he followed behind them, trailing their movements as the other interceptors continued to created a chaotic pattern of flight to keep the turrets off guard. Once the bombers were within range, they unleashed their payloads. Glowing dots glistened in the darkness as the bombers spun away from the shipyard, retreating from the turret fire as their smart bombs locked onto the turrets, their engines flaring before each bomb’s computer guided it’s course. Within seconds, the bombs struck the turrets; their shields failing as the EMPs detonated against them, a shimmering wave of energy pulsing through as the shipyard’s shields overloaded and failed.
But victory was short lived, as a second row of turrets arose from the shipyard’s upper decks. As they rose, the guns swiveled, targeting the corporate ships before opening fire. As turret fire filled the void once more, Chase’s team evaded the fire, returning fire to keep the automated turret’s attention off the bombers.
“So far so good.” Chase thought to himself as he deployed a firefly homing missile, the orange glow firing out from under his wing, “Now if we could take out most of these turrets they’ll be forced to launch fighters. Then things will really get exciting.”
Off the fox’s left wing, Krystal rolled around a burst of turret fire. The vixen gritted her teeth as she felt the shields absorb two rounds of pulse lasers she couldn’t evade. She glanced over her HUD before switching to homing missiles as well, the vixen continuing her evasive maneuvers as she attempted to get a single lock. Her HUD lit up with targets across the Sev`fel shipyard, lock on signals beeping rapidly at her as Krystal selected an experimental missile, the F-9 Hurricane weapon system. She smiled as five turrets lit up with lock-on signals before her thumb moved over the secondary fire trigger, flipping up the cover before pressing the button down.
The missile bay under her Phoenix opened as a cylindrical, blue missile with four, black fins fired. The blazing engines propelled the missile forward, the fins directing it around the laser fire before the body detonated. Five smaller missiles erupted from the body, smaller engines propelling them towards their targets as the onboard computers used Krystal’s lock-on data to pick a target. The computers guided the smaller warheads to their destinations, detonating on impact with the turrets. Five turrets exploded along the shipyard, blossoming into red-orange fire.
As if on cue, streaks of missiles appeared from the strike groups, turrets exploding as the missiles struck them after the teams split off to avoid the incoming turret fire. With its defenses weakening, the shipyard went into full alert, red lights flashing across its surface as the heavy plated bay doors. From the shipyard a small fleet of sleek, forward swept wing design fighters emerged. These gray fighters, armed with four pulse cannons, two on each wing, and a fully loaded missile bay shot forward through the darkness of space, racing to meet their attackers head on as strike groups formed. Teams of five to six fighters soon met their foes head on, opening fire as the two sides collided in combat. Bursts of bright laser fire filled the darkness as the ships fought, interceptors entering the fray as the Dark Eagle class dogfighters of the corporation tangled with the enemy crafts.
Chase’s Phoenix raced forward, Krystal forming up along his left wing as another interceptor met his right. The three shot forward, their afterburners blazing as Chase twisted his ship around incoming fire, unleashing a Firefly homing missile into the cockpit of one of the Sev`fel strike group leaders. As the three shot past the strike group, Krystal looped back, opening fire with her pulse lasers. The energy beams tore through the light shielding of the targeted ship. As it exploded, the remaining four fighters split off, narrowly avoiding incoming fire from a Dark Eagle strike team that had joined the fray after wiping out another Sev`fel squad. Chase ordered Krystal to stay in formation, the three racing into another strike group to further the confusion among the Sev`fel fighters, eliminating what ships they could before breaking away with other interceptors to continue the attack. Through the openings the interceptors were creating by harassing the enemy strike teams, teams of Caliber heavy bombers continued their assault on the shipyard. Switching from EMP to heavier ordinance, the bombers released their payloads once more, destroying turrets as well as weakening the hull of the shipyard.
* * *
As the corporation forces attacked and harassed the Shipyard’s defenses, Dagger was slowly moving into position. Watching the progress of the battle through monitors and readouts, Captain Raye ordered Dagger’s anti-capital class weapons system to power up. She knew it would not be long before the primary target’s appearance was made. For now, plasma weaponry had been keeping the Sev`fel forces that had made their way through the combat outside to attack the hull of the carrier. The carrier’s defensive turret array keeping the ships at bay as their shield systems absorbed the energy rounds. Without much more firepower, the Sev`fel’s attacking ships were nothing more than a minor annoyance to Dagger.
So far, their intel had been correct about the shipyard’s defenses. Without anti-capital ship weaponry, the shipyard was at Dagger’s mercy. Hiding within the asteroids had been it’s greatest defense, having not expected a capital class carrier to be able to navigate the treacherous space as well as avoiding the mine fields that had been laid. Now, the Sev`fel’s only option would be to release the stolen, modified carrier to engage in ship-to-ship combat or escape further into the asteroid field before initiating a jump. Once that happened, the bomber’s mission was to attack the hard points on the enemy carrier before Dagger could begin to attack using it’s ion weaponry.
Unlike the carriers, the shipyard itself had no way to move aside from position modification thrusters used to make minute adjustments to the shipyard’s location in conjunction with the asteroid belt around it to avoid major collisions. The Sev`fel’s current base of operations was entirely at the mercy of Dagger unless their stolen carrier could defeat the corporation carrier in combat. With that outcome’s occurrence becoming more and more unlikely as the battle outside raged, the option of escape was becoming the enemy’s only hope of survival.
“Begin powering up our offensive ion weaponry systems.” Raye ordered, “Let’s show those lizards our toys. Fire one shot across their bow, then a second through their stabilization systems.”
With a collective nod, the crew went to work. Raye watched a read out on her console of the energy building for Dagger’s ion cannons. Once the bar was filled, the cat commanded the first shot to be fired after ordering the bombers to fall back to a safer distance before returning to their attack. Once charged, the carrier’s side lit up as a large energy array was revealed, pulsing beams of weaponized ion energy reaching a central point before unleashing a beam of white energy into the fighting, blazing past the ships in combat before grazing the shipyard’s hull, burning away the shield that had been protecting it as it overloaded it and melting away the portion of hull it had struck.
While the first shot had only grazed it, the damage was far worse than it looked. Air rapidly escaped into the vacuum of space before the breech to the hull could be sealed. The sheer force of the energy strike rocked the shipyard, knocking it back a few inches before the shipyard’s systems could stabilize it’s position once more.
No sooner had the ion energy weapon’s attack vanished then the Caliber bombers returned to their attacks. Energy bombs pounded the shipyard’s hull, destroying the remaining defense turrets to leave the shipyard completely defenseless. Now realizing that the battle was lost well before it had even begun, the Sev`fel had begun evacuation procedures. The remaining hangar bay doors opened as the top of the shipyard split open slowly, a large, gray vessel slowly rose from within it as smaller frigate class vessels began to flee into the asteroid field. Bombers went after them, escort Dark Eagles in tow before Raye ordered them to fall back and continue the assault on the shipyard. While taking out a few of the frigates would have been a nice touch, they could not afford to chase stragglers now. The main target had made its appearance.
Having been repainted to Sev`fel colors, the opposing carrier’s engines fired, the vessel slowly turning as it’s own weapons systems powered up. Turret fire once again filled the void as bombers went to work, a large force of Caliber’s breaking off from the shipyard assault to focus on crippling the enemy capital ship. As the enemy vessel appeared, Raye smiled to herself. As far as she was concerned, the real challenge had just appeared; a worthy adversary to Dagger’s firepower and crew.
Suddenly, one of the deck’s crew looked up, “Incoming message ma’am. High priority.”
Raye looked at him, the cat mentally growling as she felt her focus slip a bit, “On screen.”
The crewman nodded before following her order, a silhouetted figure appearing before Raye alongside her view of the fighting. From this alone, Raye knew that this message was from one of the higher ups, someone well above her pay grade and influence. Anyone above the commanding officers was always blacked out to maintain identity security, which came in handy much later on for denying any involvement with potential mercenary affairs.
“Captain, your orders have changed.” The figure stated, their voice modified by a program to assist in identity concealment, “This vessel is no longer a search and destroy target.”
“That vessel is the whole reason we’re here sir.” Raye replied, trying to keep her voice calm, “We’ve already lost several strike groups to this fight, let alone the colonies that carrier has wiped out while under Sev`fel command. With all due respect, not destroying it would not only jeopardize this mission but the potential safety of colonies across the Lylat system.”
The figure shook it’s head, “While the order to destroy the carrier has changed, the fact remains that we cannot allow it to continue service under the command of the Sev`fel.”
Raye blinked, the cat realizing what she was being ordered to do, “Sir, are you ordering us to board and take over that carrier?”
“The potential information aboard that carrier outweighs its threat.” The figure confirmed, “Your orders are now to board and take full control of both the carrier and it’s crew. Prevent as much data from being erased as possible before returning with it to corporation space. The council feels that this information may not only allow our forces to locate and retaliate against Sev`fel strongholds throughout the Lylat system, but also convince Lylat Command on Corneria to share our thoughts on the threat of a Sev`fel returning to full power and join a union with our forces to halt their advances before another war breaks out. This potential business from their forces is a venture we must undertake not only for the good of monetary business, but in order to further our protection over not only our own colonies but the entire Lylat system.”
Raye nodded, though the last thing she wanted was to allow the enemy carrier to be able to attack Dagger without fear of retaliation, “Yes sir. I’ll have an assault team prepped for boarding and capture.”
The figure’s image disappeared as Raye shouted to the deck crew to open a channel to a few of the strike teams and set up an anti-jump field around the carrier. With this measure active, the enemy carrier’s warp core systems were constantly fed just enough junk information that it would be unable to activate. While this prevented the enemy carrier from being able to initiate a jump to escape, it was still able to return fire and move freely. All Raye could do now was destroy the shipyard entirely and wait for the signal that the carrier had been over taken.
* * *
After four teams had returned to Dagger for rearming and new weapons, Chase glanced over the ones who had been chosen for the boarding mission. Outside Dagger’s hangar, the battle still raged as bombers attacked the enemy carrier’s defenses, wiping out the shield that protected it as it returned fire. The Sev`fel’s strike teams were slowly being wiped out as Dark Eagles and Phoenixes continued to harass them. But now, a new mission had been given to the eight who now stood checking their weapons and armor, prepping to board the hostile carrier and wipe out anyone who stood in their way.
Krystal looked down, the vixen’s stomach in knots as she held her rifle. Loaded with thirty rounds of armor piercing 5.56 rounds per magazine, the weapon was ready to go, but the vixen’s mind was still troubled. She looked up when she felt a hand on her shoulder, looking up to find Chase at her side. Without words, Krystal felt better, knowing her partner would be there for her.
Chase smiled before nodding and looking to the other three teams. Besides them, Delta and Dark of team Perseus were also there, as well as two others Chase did not know as well. Though if they had been chosen as well, Chase knew better than to doubt the skill of the two raccoons of one team and the mouse and hawk of the other.
One of the deck crew cleared his throat, getting the eight mercenaries attention, “You eight have been chosen to attack the enemy carrier from inside. The mission is simple in theory, but as you all know it will not be as easy in execution. Board the carrier by drop ship through the hangar bay. Once inside split into two teams and making your way to the bridge and computer core. Once there capture the bridge crew, prevent as much data from being erased or transferred as possible and assume control of the carrier before sending out the code of completion. Once we have control of the carrier, we will be jumping back to corporate space. Any questions?”
The hawk nodded, “Yeah, just one. Are we getting bonus pay for bringing back the scaly techs alive?”
The deck hand shook his head, “Sorry, no bonus points for that. We need them alive to decrypt the data. Though I doubt the techs will complain if they’re injured from resisting.”
The teams nodded before getting into a drop ship. As the pilots ran a systems check, gunners took their positions, sealing off the weaponry systems from the rest of the drop ship in case of a hull breech. Once it was ready, the drop ship lifted off the deck, turning to face the battle before the thrusters lit up, propelling it forward and out into space.

Description
Krystal and Chase: Storm Front

Part 2: Changing Plans

As the strike teams approached the shipyard, they began to break up from the large groupings they had been travelling in into smaller teams, each one given a specific target to hit on the shipyard itself. As his own strike team prepared for the attack, Chase opened communications between his own craft and other members of the strike team he and Krystal were now part of.
“Locking in first target, the shielding capacitors.” The bomber leader stated, a waypoint appearing on Chase’s HUD, “Switching to EMP bombing systems.”
“Roger that.” Chase replied, “We’ve got you covered.”
“Do you think they know we’re here?” one of the bomber pilots asked.
As the teams moved into attack formations, the shipyard came to life. Turrets of various makes rose from various points on the shipyard, the defensive network targeting the strike teams before beginning to open fire! Pulse lasers filled the void as fighter teams evaded the anti-air cannons, returning fire with their own weaponry.
“They do now! Evasive maneuvers, keep those cannons off our bombers!” Chase ordered.
Chase rolled left as a burst of laser fire passed his wing, the fox retaliating with a burst of pulse laser fire that was absorbed by a shimmering shield covering the turrets. He cursed silently, remembering that the shields around the shipyard were still completely intact. As laser fire from the shipyard continued to force their forces to evade, Chase pushed forward with a small team of bombers following his lead. Rolling through bursts of turret fire, Chase’s mind focused as his AI continued to feed information onto the Phoenix’s HUD.
The bombers around the Phoenix surged forward, their afterburners blazing as the distance between them and the shipyard shortened. Chase watched as the bombers skillfully dodged around the defensive turret shots, the fox piloting as he followed behind them, trailing their movements as the other interceptors continued to created a chaotic pattern of flight to keep the turrets off guard. Once the bombers were within range, they unleashed their payloads. Glowing dots glistened in the darkness as the bombers spun away from the shipyard, retreating from the turret fire as their smart bombs locked onto the turrets, their engines flaring before each bomb’s computer guided it’s course. Within seconds, the bombs struck the turrets; their shields failing as the EMPs detonated against them, a shimmering wave of energy pulsing through as the shipyard’s shields overloaded and failed.
But victory was short lived, as a second row of turrets arose from the shipyard’s upper decks. As they rose, the guns swiveled, targeting the corporate ships before opening fire. As turret fire filled the void once more, Chase’s team evaded the fire, returning fire to keep the automated turret’s attention off the bombers.
“So far so good.” Chase thought to himself as he deployed a firefly homing missile, the orange glow firing out from under his wing, “Now if we could take out most of these turrets they’ll be forced to launch fighters. Then things will really get exciting.”
Off the fox’s left wing, Krystal rolled around a burst of turret fire. The vixen gritted her teeth as she felt the shields absorb two rounds of pulse lasers she couldn’t evade. She glanced over her HUD before switching to homing missiles as well, the vixen continuing her evasive maneuvers as she attempted to get a single lock. Her HUD lit up with targets across the Sev`fel shipyard, lock on signals beeping rapidly at her as Krystal selected an experimental missile, the F-9 Hurricane weapon system. She smiled as five turrets lit up with lock-on signals before her thumb moved over the secondary fire trigger, flipping up the cover before pressing the button down.
The missile bay under her Phoenix opened as a cylindrical, blue missile with four, black fins fired. The blazing engines propelled the missile forward, the fins directing it around the laser fire before the body detonated. Five smaller missiles erupted from the body, smaller engines propelling them towards their targets as the onboard computers used Krystal’s lock-on data to pick a target. The computers guided the smaller warheads to their destinations, detonating on impact with the turrets. Five turrets exploded along the shipyard, blossoming into red-orange fire.
As if on cue, streaks of missiles appeared from the strike groups, turrets exploding as the missiles struck them after the teams split off to avoid the incoming turret fire. With its defenses weakening, the shipyard went into full alert, red lights flashing across its surface as the heavy plated bay doors. From the shipyard a small fleet of sleek, forward swept wing design fighters emerged. These gray fighters, armed with four pulse cannons, two on each wing, and a fully loaded missile bay shot forward through the darkness of space, racing to meet their attackers head on as strike groups formed. Teams of five to six fighters soon met their foes head on, opening fire as the two sides collided in combat. Bursts of bright laser fire filled the darkness as the ships fought, interceptors entering the fray as the Dark Eagle class dogfighters of the corporation tangled with the enemy crafts.
Chase’s Phoenix raced forward, Krystal forming up along his left wing as another interceptor met his right. The three shot forward, their afterburners blazing as Chase twisted his ship around incoming fire, unleashing a Firefly homing missile into the cockpit of one of the Sev`fel strike group leaders. As the three shot past the strike group, Krystal looped back, opening fire with her pulse lasers. The energy beams tore through the light shielding of the targeted ship. As it exploded, the remaining four fighters split off, narrowly avoiding incoming fire from a Dark Eagle strike team that had joined the fray after wiping out another Sev`fel squad. Chase ordered Krystal to stay in formation, the three racing into another strike group to further the confusion among the Sev`fel fighters, eliminating what ships they could before breaking away with other interceptors to continue the attack. Through the openings the interceptors were creating by harassing the enemy strike teams, teams of Caliber heavy bombers continued their assault on the shipyard. Switching from EMP to heavier ordinance, the bombers released their payloads once more, destroying turrets as well as weakening the hull of the shipyard.
* * *
As the corporation forces attacked and harassed the Shipyard’s defenses, Dagger was slowly moving into position. Watching the progress of the battle through monitors and readouts, Captain Raye ordered Dagger’s anti-capital class weapons system to power up. She knew it would not be long before the primary target’s appearance was made. For now, plasma weaponry had been keeping the Sev`fel forces that had made their way through the combat outside to attack the hull of the carrier. The carrier’s defensive turret array keeping the ships at bay as their shield systems absorbed the energy rounds. Without much more firepower, the Sev`fel’s attacking ships were nothing more than a minor annoyance to Dagger.
So far, their intel had been correct about the shipyard’s defenses. Without anti-capital ship weaponry, the shipyard was at Dagger’s mercy. Hiding within the asteroids had been it’s greatest defense, having not expected a capital class carrier to be able to navigate the treacherous space as well as avoiding the mine fields that had been laid. Now, the Sev`fel’s only option would be to release the stolen, modified carrier to engage in ship-to-ship combat or escape further into the asteroid field before initiating a jump. Once that happened, the bomber’s mission was to attack the hard points on the enemy carrier before Dagger could begin to attack using it’s ion weaponry.
Unlike the carriers, the shipyard itself had no way to move aside from position modification thrusters used to make minute adjustments to the shipyard’s location in conjunction with the asteroid belt around it to avoid major collisions. The Sev`fel’s current base of operations was entirely at the mercy of Dagger unless their stolen carrier could defeat the corporation carrier in combat. With that outcome’s occurrence becoming more and more unlikely as the battle outside raged, the option of escape was becoming the enemy’s only hope of survival.
“Begin powering up our offensive ion weaponry systems.” Raye ordered, “Let’s show those lizards our toys. Fire one shot across their bow, then a second through their stabilization systems.”
With a collective nod, the crew went to work. Raye watched a read out on her console of the energy building for Dagger’s ion cannons. Once the bar was filled, the cat commanded the first shot to be fired after ordering the bombers to fall back to a safer distance before returning to their attack. Once charged, the carrier’s side lit up as a large energy array was revealed, pulsing beams of weaponized ion energy reaching a central point before unleashing a beam of white energy into the fighting, blazing past the ships in combat before grazing the shipyard’s hull, burning away the shield that had been protecting it as it overloaded it and melting away the portion of hull it had struck.
While the first shot had only grazed it, the damage was far worse than it looked. Air rapidly escaped into the vacuum of space before the breech to the hull could be sealed. The sheer force of the energy strike rocked the shipyard, knocking it back a few inches before the shipyard’s systems could stabilize it’s position once more.
No sooner had the ion energy weapon’s attack vanished then the Caliber bombers returned to their attacks. Energy bombs pounded the shipyard’s hull, destroying the remaining defense turrets to leave the shipyard completely defenseless. Now realizing that the battle was lost well before it had even begun, the Sev`fel had begun evacuation procedures. The remaining hangar bay doors opened as the top of the shipyard split open slowly, a large, gray vessel slowly rose from within it as smaller frigate class vessels began to flee into the asteroid field. Bombers went after them, escort Dark Eagles in tow before Raye ordered them to fall back and continue the assault on the shipyard. While taking out a few of the frigates would have been a nice touch, they could not afford to chase stragglers now. The main target had made its appearance.
Having been repainted to Sev`fel colors, the opposing carrier’s engines fired, the vessel slowly turning as it’s own weapons systems powered up. Turret fire once again filled the void as bombers went to work, a large force of Caliber’s breaking off from the shipyard assault to focus on crippling the enemy capital ship. As the enemy vessel appeared, Raye smiled to herself. As far as she was concerned, the real challenge had just appeared; a worthy adversary to Dagger’s firepower and crew.
Suddenly, one of the deck’s crew looked up, “Incoming message ma’am. High priority.”
Raye looked at him, the cat mentally growling as she felt her focus slip a bit, “On screen.”
The crewman nodded before following her order, a silhouetted figure appearing before Raye alongside her view of the fighting. From this alone, Raye knew that this message was from one of the higher ups, someone well above her pay grade and influence. Anyone above the commanding officers was always blacked out to maintain identity security, which came in handy much later on for denying any involvement with potential mercenary affairs.
“Captain, your orders have changed.” The figure stated, their voice modified by a program to assist in identity concealment, “This vessel is no longer a search and destroy target.”
“That vessel is the whole reason we’re here sir.” Raye replied, trying to keep her voice calm, “We’ve already lost several strike groups to this fight, let alone the colonies that carrier has wiped out while under Sev`fel command. With all due respect, not destroying it would not only jeopardize this mission but the potential safety of colonies across the Lylat system.”
The figure shook it’s head, “While the order to destroy the carrier has changed, the fact remains that we cannot allow it to continue service under the command of the Sev`fel.”
Raye blinked, the cat realizing what she was being ordered to do, “Sir, are you ordering us to board and take over that carrier?”
“The potential information aboard that carrier outweighs its threat.” The figure confirmed, “Your orders are now to board and take full control of both the carrier and it’s crew. Prevent as much data from being erased as possible before returning with it to corporation space. The council feels that this information may not only allow our forces to locate and retaliate against Sev`fel strongholds throughout the Lylat system, but also convince Lylat Command on Corneria to share our thoughts on the threat of a Sev`fel returning to full power and join a union with our forces to halt their advances before another war breaks out. This potential business from their forces is a venture we must undertake not only for the good of monetary business, but in order to further our protection over not only our own colonies but the entire Lylat system.”
Raye nodded, though the last thing she wanted was to allow the enemy carrier to be able to attack Dagger without fear of retaliation, “Yes sir. I’ll have an assault team prepped for boarding and capture.”
The figure’s image disappeared as Raye shouted to the deck crew to open a channel to a few of the strike teams and set up an anti-jump field around the carrier. With this measure active, the enemy carrier’s warp core systems were constantly fed just enough junk information that it would be unable to activate. While this prevented the enemy carrier from being able to initiate a jump to escape, it was still able to return fire and move freely. All Raye could do now was destroy the shipyard entirely and wait for the signal that the carrier had been over taken.
* * *
After four teams had returned to Dagger for rearming and new weapons, Chase glanced over the ones who had been chosen for the boarding mission. Outside Dagger’s hangar, the battle still raged as bombers attacked the enemy carrier’s defenses, wiping out the shield that protected it as it returned fire. The Sev`fel’s strike teams were slowly being wiped out as Dark Eagles and Phoenixes continued to harass them. But now, a new mission had been given to the eight who now stood checking their weapons and armor, prepping to board the hostile carrier and wipe out anyone who stood in their way.
Krystal looked down, the vixen’s stomach in knots as she held her rifle. Loaded with thirty rounds of armor piercing 5.56 rounds per magazine, the weapon was ready to go, but the vixen’s mind was still troubled. She looked up when she felt a hand on her shoulder, looking up to find Chase at her side. Without words, Krystal felt better, knowing her partner would be there for her.
Chase smiled before nodding and looking to the other three teams. Besides them, Delta and Dark of team Perseus were also there, as well as two others Chase did not know as well. Though if they had been chosen as well, Chase knew better than to doubt the skill of the two raccoons of one team and the mouse and hawk of the other.
One of the deck crew cleared his throat, getting the eight mercenaries attention, “You eight have been chosen to attack the enemy carrier from inside. The mission is simple in theory, but as you all know it will not be as easy in execution. Board the carrier by drop ship through the hangar bay. Once inside split into two teams and making your way to the bridge and computer core. Once there capture the bridge crew, prevent as much data from being erased or transferred as possible and assume control of the carrier before sending out the code of completion. Once we have control of the carrier, we will be jumping back to corporate space. Any questions?”
The hawk nodded, “Yeah, just one. Are we getting bonus pay for bringing back the scaly techs alive?”
The deck hand shook his head, “Sorry, no bonus points for that. We need them alive to decrypt the data. Though I doubt the techs will complain if they’re injured from resisting.”
The teams nodded before getting into a drop ship. As the pilots ran a systems check, gunners took their positions, sealing off the weaponry systems from the rest of the drop ship in case of a hull breech. Once it was ready, the drop ship lifted off the deck, turning to face the battle before the thrusters lit up, propelling it forward and out into space.