Operation Torrent

[Ove]

Major Livingstone led the way through a narrow corridor, up to a heavy, segmented airlock that seemed like it could hold a charging Durand at bay. Briefly standing in front of it with her hands behind her back, her black trenchcoat ruffled with every movement she made. Tipping her hat up towards a small camera in the corner of the hallway, the airlock set out a loud BEEEEP. and slowly slid open. She cast a brief glance back at her team members, and stepped forwards. The Briefing Room was very large-- Steps led up to a raised flooring in the middle of the room, which held a rather large, rectangular table with dimmed lights giving it life.

All around that, were moniters, holo-consoles, maps, spider-web conspiracy-theory inspired charts, and multiple other features that were hopelessly lost in the complexity of it all. Major Livingstone strode forwards through the empty room, which was strange, considering how it looked like it was supposed to hold over sixty people working at moniters at a time.

She strode up the short steps, and slowly turned around, browsing her six team members. "As all of you know, I am Major Livingstone. And as of right now, all of you are mine. Anyone disobeying the chain of command, attempting to incite a rebellion, or otherwise looking to sabotage the mission, will be dealt with me. Personally." She stared at all of them, the upraised floor only serving to accentuate her massive height. She then continued on. "I'm sure all of you are familiar with Clover Navigations. The very same company that attacked us, and stole what was rightfully ours. A chip. Leading to one of the most promising Bluespace Crystal sites in existance. We've taken to calling it the Crystal Sanctuary. Getting right down to it, Clover has our chip in one of their compounds in a neighboring system." Gesturing to come up the steps, she rounds over to the head of the table in the upraised flooring.

She swipes her hand along the edge of the table, and like magic, it lights up and thrums softly as it projects holograms of a rather large compound embedded in the side of a massive asteroid. "This is their base. It's known as Indigo One. We aren't sure of where they're holding the chip; We only know it's here. Your mission will be to infiltrate the compound, using as much stealth and efficiency as you can muster, locate the chip, neutralize any threats, and extract with the chip." She stared at everyone in turn, keeping everything silent for a few tense seconds.

"You'll be entering through a disposals duct in the side of the asteroid. While dangerous, it leads straight inside the compound." She looks to Ron. "Alfred, this is where you come in. You'll interface with the maintenance terminal just outside the duct, and de-activate the machinery inside. Failure to do so will more than likely spell death or mission failure, as this is a trash chute. There are also two cameras outside the duct, monitering everything. Those will have to be dealt with as well, and that's where you come in, Oaken. Loop the camera feed as long as you can for Alfred, and get everyone inside. Your plan of extraction is back through the Disposals chute, assuming everything goes according to plan. After this, all of you will be on your own."

Livingstone holds her hands behind her back, the holo-table dimming to its previous luminosity. "I'm not going to lie. This mission would almost be considered suicide. You're going up against an entire facility of our worst enemy, and you're planning on doing the unthinkable. Some of you may die. But that's the cold, hard truth. Everything is on the line right now. If we fuck up, Ocitox is done for, and we've given way to a new militarized superpower that may even overthrow Nanotrasen themselves, and establish their authority over Sol Gov, giving them dictatorship over the system...now that that's been said..." She stares at everyone, looking at them with an expectant, determined expression. "Any questions?"

[coolbc2000]

Richard Stands up, he is sorting out all his gear on his belt and putting some gloves on

He ask's Livingstone this, "I recommend using a stealth Generator, it is experimental so it might fail on us, It has only passed one test"

He place's a device, activating it, suddenly Richard vanish's, you here a slight chuckle as he stand's behind Livingstone with a large grin. "It will work, Trust me"

[Hunnewle]

Newton Oaken raises a eyebrow as he removes a PDA, tapping away on it. You can faintly hear him mumbling about looping the cameras.

[Shutko]

Alfred was on his way to the meeting room, examining the scenery around him. It all seemed very formal and almost unusual for him, but his mission wasnt to judge the designer that worked on this place. Nearing the heavy airlock he forgot how to open it, taking out a paper from his pocket and reading it. After a couple of seconds he looked up at the camera in the corner as the airlock opened. He walked into the room with the terminals and other technology and took a seat near the exit. To pass the time he took out a pen and paper and started drawing random things.

As Livingstone entered the room, Ron disposed of the paper in his pocket and put the pen away, listening carefully to the Major. This wasnt a thing he could miss unlike most of his school. Alfred struggled to stay awake, being in a rush due to waking up late. He shook his head and continued listening and watching the hologram until everything went silent.

Alfred looked up at Livingstone from his chair, rubbing his eyes and trying to look serious. As she said what he needed to do, Alfred nodded and put his arms on his lap. As the Major finished her speech, Ron shook his head and sighed quietly at the thought of dying. But hey, life is harsh and money is too.

[MagnificentMelkior]

Martin Richter was still dressed in his labcoat when the meeting started. Ocitox's genetics equipment was primitive compared to NT's, and he had spent the better part of the day so far just getting it operational. The plan sounded, frankly, horrible to him but he took comfort in knowing that Ocitox would not abandon him if he had chip. He listened to the Major eagerly, leaning into the table, one elbow on the desk. When the major finished her speech, he politely paused before speaking up. "Is there a risk that Clover cracked the chip already? Their computer systems might already have the data, right?"

He didn't finish his question before he regretted asking. If they have to wipe out the computer system that's not going to make the job any easier.

[Sarpinari]

Redd’Ena Corr’Sair was the first to arrive at the meeting, the tall, lithe Tajaran female slipping into the darkened briefing room before any of the others had arrived, flashing her clearance to the door guards, who gave her odd looks as she passed. She was used to that by now, and had learned to ignore it; her kind were still rare outside of Ahdomai and Nanotrasen.

While she waited, she wandered the charts and boards, the displays and monitors, gleaning all she could about their mission from the information on display, her piercing blue eyes absorbing any information she could see, her tail slowly flicking behind her in a subtle gesture of anticipation.

As the others began to arrive, the Tajaran faded back, standing in the darkened spaces around the raised platform, between the charts and the glowing monitors; the dim light caught her ash-grey fur, making her seem somewhat like a ghost haunting the briefing room. It came as little surprise to her once the other five team members had arrived that she was the only non-human among them.

When, finally, the finally piece of the equation arrived in the form of Major Livingstone, Redd stepped back into the light fully, closing around the briefing table to be informed of the mission, her ears perked up attentively and her hands resting on the table in front of her, blue eyes fixed solely on the major unless directed elsewhere.

It sounded fairly straightforward, and just like the kind of thing that she’d been warned that she could expect when Ocitox had signed her contract. “Hmm…” The Tajaran hummed, the sound coming off like a low growl in her throat. “Certain chance of death…” She mumbled. “Small chance of success…” Her blue eyes shifted once more over to the major.

“Redd has but two questions, Major.” She said, forming the words easily, though she had never lost the heavy accent of Ahdomai, and still spoke in that ordered, third-person cant. “Where can Redd find equipment, and when do we begin?”

[Sarpinari]

(( So, like, is this done already, or... what's happening here? ))

[Gollee]

Cefrey Torne double-checks her rucksack. "Suicide mission... Any chance of overwatch? Distractions? Fire support?"

[Ove]

Livingstone first looks at Richard, watching him silently as he disappears. Not bothering to turn around and face him, she speaks without pause. "As long as it works, I don't care how you get the chip. Unfortunately, that generator is only good for one person, and we can't spare the manpower to create five more. You'll have to make due with the one."

She glances over Oaken's form, who wouldn't be doing anything except mumbling lowly to himself. She then casts her gaze over at Alfred, seeing how he had no questions either. Richter was the next point of interest, and Livingstone watched him with a cocked eyebrow. "No. Their facility is only a FOB. They don't have the technology required to crack the chip; Hence why it's on its way to their home base in less than three hours. At which point, if they succeed, the mission will be a failure."

The Major actually lets a faint grin work its way on her features towards Redd's questions, nodding to her. "As soon as this briefing is over, you'll all be directed to the Equipment room. That's where you'll be officially suiting up."

Finally, she looks at Torne, and shakes her head. "Barring my surveillance of outside the facility and your own cameras, no, there won't be any support. I'll be there to offer mission guidance, and so will my other personnel. Past that, like I've said, you're on your own."

She casts her hands behind her back, and looks to everyone expectantly. "Any other questions? Or are you all ready to kick Clover's ass?"

[Gollee]

Cefrey looked around at the team arrayed around the table, "I've been less ready, I suppose."

[Hunnewle]

Newton glances up from his PDA, a surprised face lit by the device's glow. "I'm ready. I think. Mostly. Kind of... Definitely." they finally say. They glance around the room at the group, eyes wide.

[coolbc2000]

Richard frowns.

"Alright then i am ready, just give me a knife and a gun and i can take all the guards out and let the team in, unless... We could make this loud and go through the side of the building by blowing it up... I wonder... Could we use telescience to get into there? It is not impossible...Just... Really fucking dangerous... Nah scratch that, stick to the plan."

[Shutko]

Alfred stood up from the chair as Livingstone said if the crew was ready to kick ass, to which Alfred, with a lot of optimism and little intellegence, said: "Yeah!". Just as he thought he was bad, he looked over at Richard's mad mumbling and shook his head. He responded to Livingstone once again: "...I'm ready."

[Gollee]

Cefrey glances over at Richard, "Have you been listening to anything? It's an asteroid, that means a vacuum; it's a heavily fortified compound, not a random office building. It has been classified as close to a suicide mission by the Major. So how about you wind in that ego of yours before you get everyone killed, and fail the mission, or is that not badass enough for you? Badass gets people killed, so chuck that "rule of cool" shit out of the window, before we all end up in bags."

[MagnificentMelkior]

Dr. Richter looks at Richard, trying to see if he's just being a braggadocios fool or not. After a few seconds he fakes a polite smile. "Well, let's just hope the money is worth it."

[coolbc2000]

Richard frowns.

"I will just stick to killing guards and leading the team then"

He starts messing with his stealth generator. "This entire operation could lie on this machine, perhaps so a little more respect, and we can get through this alive."

He gets up and looks at the Holographic image of the Asteroid. He smiles, "The Vent it is then"

[Ove]

The Major frowns and watches everyone speaking for a moment, before she shakes her head and quite forcibly raises her voice. "Enough! Now, follow me. It's time all of you got equipped." Stepping down from the table, the Major strides through the briefing room to another airlock. Briefly staring up at the camera located in the top-right corner, the airlock shudders open with a deep beeping sound. Stepping through, the room lights up, and what could best be described as an armory is before them.

The Major turns around and opens her arms to them. "If you have requisitioned gear, look for a locker with your name on it. If not, pick up anything you'd like. As long as it benefits the mission, I don't care what you take. Just remember that if you raise the alarm and you're unprepared, you're likely to be killed. That means, stay, quiet." She stares at everyone seriously, before dropping her arms and clasping her hands behind her back.

In the armory, stands around thirty lockers, a few of which have your names on them, no doubt holding your gear inside. Besides that, there are numerous tables holding all sorts of weapons, gear, and armor. Energy rifles, carbines, ballistic shotguns and machineguns, silenced firearms, ablative vests, leg pieces, helmets, differing goggles of varying use, it's all here. However, once everyone's finished, the Major steps up to a rectangular metal box attached to the wall. She waves her hand over it, and it slowly opens with a hiss. Creating a table out of lowering parts, it deposits six full-head white helmets that take on an intimidating visage, the eyes a special tint as to not betray the identity of the wearer. Each of them has a blank white strip along the left side of the head, and for every role, a strip starting at the forehead tails back to the neck like a racing car. For the team leader, the strip is blue. Medic, green. Genetics specialist, silver. Weapons expert, red. Infiltrator, black. Engineer, yellow.

"These helmets are very special. If you'd like, you can put your names, or a code name, on the blank white strip located on the left side. Nothing as brash as writing on it; Put the helmet on and wait for it to sync with your brain waves. After that, everything will speak for itself." When it comes to Cefrey and her medical suit, the helmet seamlessly integrates with it, providing the same use for the head as well as the body. Major Livingstone waits near another airlock at the end of the armory, next to a console. Presumably, the one that'll transport everyone on their mission.

[Gollee]

Cefrey checks the lockers over, spotting her name on one near the center. Opening it, she begins the arduous process of donning and activating the lightly armoured suit. Once this is done, she inspects the arrayed equipment, slotting various medical supplies into her bag, along with a ballistic pistol. Shouldering the bag, she holsters an energy rifle on her hip, and engages her helmet, the word "Dawn" writes itself across the strip.

"Is there anything else that I may need to take, Team Leader? I'm well off for medical supplies, as well as a weapon, and backup sidearm."

[coolbc2000]

Richard was too busy trying to find his gear, that he fell on the floor. After frowning he found his gear and started to put it on.

He wrote on his helmet "MadMan". He put on his Foce gloves and attached his energy pistol to the suit. He also grabbed extra a silenced pistol with 9mm ammo. And engages his helmet. He looks at the shiny blue Leader outfit with pride. "Who knew i would become a leader" He says quitely.

"Since i am the Team leader, i recommend everyone grabbing a pistol like this" He holds up the pistol he picked up earlier. "It is easy to use and Deadly as hell, with a added bonus of being quite." He looks at everyone ready to say something. "If you expect a Speech from me you are looking at the wrong guy, i am only here because i am nearing my end and i want to do something...Interesting. But i will say this, if you die, be sure to do it so in style or by helping someone else out."

He takes his helmet and puts it on. "This our time to put us in the history books, lets do this" He walks to the Airlock

[MagnificentMelkior]

Dr. Richter avoided the lockers at first. He had his syringes on him, since he finished them just before the meeting began. He donned an ablative vest, and the rest of an armored suit. turned to the Major. "Excuse me, is this going to be spaceworthy enough?" Nevertheless, he continued cobbling together his gear. A sturdy belt with pouches, in which he put an energy carbine, his syringes, his HyroDylo pills, glasses, and Combat Axe (kept in a "frog") from his locker, and probably a few other things. He took a silenced pistol and holstered it to his shoulder, and skipped on the spare ammo, instead taking an energy pistol, copying Richard.

Martin took a moment to appreciate the quality of the special helmets that the Major provided, and then put his on. He hadn't come up with an alias before hand, so it took him a minute, but the name "Moreau" - a name given to him by a horrified protohuman's rights advocate once - appeared on the helmet. "If all goes well, I hope there never IS a history book."

[Shutko]

Alfred followed the major into the armory, looking around the place. Listening carefully, he walked over to his locker and slowly opened it, putting all of the gear on himself. He took a taser, a flash and a knife. Alfred detached his regular prosthesis with human skin and put on the metal one with the hacking equipment. As Alfred was about to head out, he remembered he didnt take the medkit and the lockpick kit. He picked both of those up and closed the locker, moving to another.

Just incase the taser and the knife werent enough Alfred decided to take a silenced pistol with a couple of magazines with him, putting them in his belt. The pistol went in a side holster as expected. Ron finally walked up to the helmet, picking it up and inspecting it. Alfred took out a nifty looking pen with multiple ink cartriges inside, mixing all of them into a rainbow of colors. He wrote "Fixer" on the blank strip in rainbow colors, smiling and putting on the helmet. As the helmet synced with him, Alfred mumbled to himself: "Coool." Before heading out Alfred took a light kevlar vest and slipped it on, checking everything he needs is on him. After running some tests Alfred walked up to the major and gave the thumbs up.

[Sarpinari]

(( You guys realize that he said you don't actually WRITE on the helmet? ))

[Sarpinari]

Redd felt her lip slowly curling in disgust at Richard’s grandiose and showboating boastfulness. This was the man that she was expected to follow, even unto the jaws of death if needs be? He reminded her, she realized, of the very worst security heads that Nanotrasen had expected her to afford her loyalty and obedience – over-inflated opinions of themselves mixed with an apparent lack of knowledge in what they were actually doing and what their job entailed.

She hoped she was wrong, but she could foresee issues in the future with this ‘team leader’. One thing that had often gotten her into trouble in her Nanotrasen days had been her inability to hold her tongue to keep from speaking out against her immediate superiors when they displayed callous brashness or simply an apparent lack of intelligence. Most of the time she had been right, which was why she had never ended up on charges. She didn’t know, yet, if Ocitox would be as lenient. For now, however, she held her tongue, though made no attempt to conceal the disgust in her expression as they made their way to the equipment room.

Redd stood in the doorway of the equipment room and gave herself a moment to calm down as she looked up and down the rows of lockers and the tables full of gear. There was so much to choose from, and much that she thought could be useful. She knew what she wanted, though, and she made her way to the center of the room, finding a locker with “Corr’Sair’ stenciled on the front.

Popping it open, she saw inside all of the equipment she had written on the requisition form prior to the briefing; an armored void-capable suit, adapted to be worn by Tajara; a standard laser rifle, like the kind found in most common armories; an energy pistol with stun and lethal settings. She buckled a webbing vest around the torso of her suit, giving her numerous pockets and pouches and places to attach her gear. A flash, a few flashbangs, and extra power cells for her equipment – all of it went into the webbing pouches.

The final piece in the locker, Redd removed with a slight grin of satisfaction – a standard stun baton of the variety used by security forces the galaxy over. She pressed the activation stud on the grip, and the prod on the end crackled to life with the stun field. A moment later, she switched it off and hooked it to her belt. The final piece of equipment she took, and the only thing she hadn’t requisitioned herself, was one of the silenced ballistic pistols, nestled into its holster and hooked onto the back of her belt, resting against her lower back, along with a few spare clips in her webbing pouches.

Armored in her suit and fully equipped with an array of weaponry, Redd made her way to the back of the chamber, and found the helmet that was destined for her, a modified version of the helmet being used by the others to accommodate for her non-human head. She turned it over in her hands, examining it, and then slid it over her head, feeling and hearing a click and a slight, pressurizing hiss as the helmet instantly integrated with her suit. This was… new, and exciting, too. The helmet may have been among the most high-tech pieces of equipment she had ever used. She flipped through some of the controls on the HUD, familiarizing herself with the basics.

A few seconds later, once the helmet interfaced with her suit and with her, the word “RED” appeared on the blank strip – in bright red lettering, of course.

“History books are NOT the point.” Redd said aloud as she checked over her equipment one final time, making sure she had everything, that it all seemed to be in working order, and that it was all tightly secured. The words flitered through her helmet’s external speaker, adding a slight crackle to her voice that made her heavy Tajaran accent seem somehow sinister. “If everything goes well, no one should ever know our names, or that we were there at all.” She had a feeling, a nagging and insistent one, that Richard’s desire for glory and his urge to ‘do something cool before he died’ was going to lead to more deaths than just his own.

Ready at last, Redd’Ena made her way over to the airlock and stopped in front of Livingstone. “Redd is armed and ready, major.” She declared, giving a little half-salute – saluting was difficult in an armored void-suit loaded down with equipment!

[coolbc2000]

Richard looks confused by all the faces frowning.

"If anyone is going to die today it will be me, i will not have it know a member of my team died, just dont get yourself killed is my point" As he says this he is sharpening a combat knife, he grabs a marker and writes on the blade "Too late, you are dead" He grins slightly. He puts it in a bootstrap.

Richard starts to mess with his suit, hacking wires, suddenly you hear "Cloak system engaged" He vanishes. "Well that works, very good" He reappears where he stood before. He hides the wires and closes the panel on his Suit.

"Like i said, just let take care of the guards and this will be easy as pie"

[Hunnewle]

--Newton quietly goes about his business, finding his locker, opening it, and collect the various tools and gadgets. They click a button on a small device, only to dissapeare replaced by another locker. With a 'pop' the locker vanishes and Newton returns. They strap on a belt filled with the devices. They then sling a dufflebag over their shoulder, within it contains everything that couldn't simply fit on a belt. They close the locker and begin to walk to the airlock. as they pass the table they grab a Energy Carbine and a silenced pistol, as the 'leader' suggested. He strapped both to a leg. As they near the airlock they don the helmet given to them.

--CO2 fades into the strip, marking the wearer as Carbon Dioxide. They look back from the airlock to the rest in the locker room, waiting.