Eternal Strife, Sci-fi made fun... and original!

[Geoff]

The pilot of the boarding vessel glances back at the crew with a wicked grin on his face, "You boys ready to run to the gauntlet? We can only hug this asteroid for so long before that Corvette figures out where we are!" His smile suddenly disappears as he hears something over the radio in his helmet, he nods once and replies, "This is Albatross 2, ready and waiting."

The pilot lifts his left arm, smiles again, and screams "Here we go!!!" before kicking the throttle and accelerating away from the asteroid toward the Collective Corvette. "This is Albatross 2. Requesting an entrance from Falcon 1."

Geoff hears the shuttle rumble as a railgun round soars past it, inches away from the vessel. The pilot cheers as the round strikes the Corvette, ripping a hole in the hull. "Looks like those dumb bastards forgot that we like ballistic weaponry again."

Within seconds the defensive turrets aboard the Corvette sight in on the shuttle, opening fire. The pilot breaks into a series of rolls and spins, avoiding the fire as he draws closer and closer to his target. Just before he collides with the Corvette, the pilot spins the shuttle 180 degrees and performs the battle-docking procedures.

SSG John Adelmeister stands up once the docking is complete, going over the procedure once again. "Fireteam B is to head directly to the fire control room while Fireteam A heads to the bridge. I will accompany Fireteam A to the bridge. Remember your training and we've got this ship under our thumb." He pauses for a second and looks at the pilot, "Has Albatross 1 landed yet?"

The pilot puts his right hand to the outside of his helmet, listens carefully for a moment and smiles, smacking his gum loudly, "Yes sir, they're already boarded. Looks like you guys are the reinforcements this time. A is going for their engine-room and B is going to their communications center."

SSG Adelmeister nods to the pilot before facing his soldiers again, "McCairn, your team's first." He puts his hand on the handle to open the hatch and waits until every soldier is standing and ready to charge off the ship. Geoff does a quick visual check on Dulcef, Dubhuir, and Jaeger before patting his helmet twice. SSG Adelmeister cheers as he opens the hatch and Fireteam B rushes out.

With no immediate resistance, Geoff's fireteam heads aft for a couple of corridors before heading to the center of the vessel. As Geoff rushes up to a doorframe, using it as cover, a plasma round strikes the floor near his feet. Geoff immediately tells the squad to hold back as he leans the scope of his rifle out past the doorframe, using his implant to see where the shot came from.

Seeing a flicker of movement, Geoff signals back to Kat that the shot came from the third door on the left, one man. After Kat nods, Geoff clenches his fist, holds it vertical, and pumps it once. On that signal, Geoff leans out and draws the hostile's fire while Kat draws a bead on him from the previous doorframe. The hostile steps out into the hallway and fires two rounds at Geoff before Kat's bullet strikes him in the chest, knocking him to his knees. Geoff signals to Magnus to move up to the other side of the doorframe before signalling for the squad to move together again.

Moving like this, corridor to corridor, cover to cover, Geoff's fireteam reaches the Fire Control room before Squad 1 or Fireteam A from Squad 2 reach their destinations. They kill 3 more soldiers before they reach the closed door of their destination.

After the team lines up, Geoff signals for Magnus to ready a flashbang before readying the small battering ram he brought with him. After two practice swings to build momentum, Geoff slams the ram into the door, tearing it off it's hinges, and quickly takes cover on the other side of the doorframe again. After Magnus' flashbang goes off, Geoff leads the team into the room. As they enter the room, it suddenly blacks out and weapons-fire rips through the room. After the burst of weaponsfire dies down, the lights come back on to reveal an entire squad of Collective soldiers behind overturned tables and filing cabinets. Geoff smirks as he takes cover behind one of the open doors. Before he can relish in the stupidity of the Collective soldiers, Geoff hears the two words he never wanted to hear. "Kat's hit!"

Growling in anger, Geoff fires a few rounds to suppress the the hostiles as Magnus pulls Kat through their entrance and begins emergency treatment. He and Keara make eye-contact and both open fire at the same time, smiling in satisfaction as the Collective soldiers scream in surprise, finding out that the wooden tables don't block bullets.

Two clips later, Geoff and Keara rush out their entrance to check on Kat. "Room's clear, Magnus. How serious is the wound?" He pales as he sees the blood pooling under Kat's head.

"Bullet just grazed her left eye, she'll live but she'll need a new eye."

Geoff holds Kat down as Magnus applies the spray-on bandage to her face, Keara providing cover.

Before he can help Kat to her feet, Geoff hears SSG Adelmeister over the cross-com, "Fireteam B, this is Eagle 1. Request a sitrep. Over."

Putting his hand against his right ear, Geoff says, "This is Fireteam B to Eagle 1. Objective complete, 1 casualty with no fatalities. Over." Geoff supports Kat's weight as Magnus packs the medic gear up and walks into the Fire Control room.

John's voice comes over the cross-com a bit more tense than usual, "This is Eagle 1, who is the casualty? Over."

"This is Fireteam B. The casualty was Dulcef, sir. The injury will hinder any further objectives, but is not life-threatening. Over and out."

"Geoff, found the asshole who shot her. Only guy with a ballistic weapon out of the bunch," comes out of the room. Geoff helps Kat over to the body and hands her his pistol. She smiles at him before aiming at the corpse and firing two rounds into the man's crotch and unloading the rest of the clip into his chest.

------------------------

Back aboard the Frigate Interloper, Kat walks out of the infirmary with a brand new cybernetic eye covered self-conciously by her hair. She smiles at Geoff before saluting SSG Adelmeister, "Reporting for duty, sir. I am fit for service again and apologize for being hit, sir."

John carries out the rest of the protocol without faltering, "Report to your fireteam, soldier." before smiling and saying, "Glad it wasn't more serious, Dulcef." John looks at both of them and says, "Report for debriefing in the hangar in an hour. Dismissed." He walks off whistling as Geoff and Kat walk back to their bunks together.

[vulqur]

On the planet designated X-2501-SV, the Collective's Sky Marshall codenamed MIMI has been captured and is currently being interrogated by the Sojourner's top interrogator Maj. Colonel Sanders.

On the distant planet of Baba Yaga, the farthest Terran-like planet in the Collective territory a black ops briefing takes place in a military barrack on a holographic display.
"This is General McDonald from the Collective flagship Ixtab."

Kenaz replies,"Yes sir, we read you loud and clear."

"I have a task for your team that is of the utmost importance," said General McDonald

With an apathetic nod, Hagalaz says,"What is it this time?"

With a heart clogging McGlare™ from McDonald,"Show some respect to your superior"
"Now back to business, I want you to travel to planet X-2501-SV and secure our Sky Marshall by any means." "You will be given all of the supplies you need, including McRations™.

With a wide grin, Kenaz replies,"Yay, good food"

Hagalaz shoots back,"Oh, I see 108 lbs coming soon."

McDonald screams, "Silence you two" "Now, go and get ready"

With a small beep the holographic device shuts down.

Hagalaz looks at Kenaz, and quietly says, "Well lets get to work"

[Geoff]

The whine of a rotary-cannon coming to life rips Geoff's awareness away from the infantry in the street. A Collective Exoskeleton sidesteps into the street, the cannon it's holding already up to speed. Without time to yell a warning, the cannon opens fire. Hundreds of rounds rip through the cover Geoff and the other Sojourners have taken, killing any not behind thick concrete. The weaker cover, and the soldiers hiding behind them, are ripped to shreds in moments.

Before the exoskeleton can bring the cannon to bear on any of the better protected soldiers, a loud pulse, quickly followed by a sonic boom, is heard. The exoskeleton, now just a pair of legs, collapses to the ground. Geoff smirks as he hears Dubhuir let out a whoop.

"Dulcef! 3 on 2nd, 3rd to left!" Jaeger screams, ducking behind cover to avoid fire.

Kat looks at the designated building through her rifle scope, checking each window. She squeezes off 3 rounds in short succession before returning her attention to the soldiers in the street. "3rd to left clear!" she replies.

A Collective exoskeleton armed with a 140mm cannon steps into the intersection with an APC in tow. The radio chatter says back-up is only 45 seconds away. "Take cover!" Geoff yells, ducking behind a concrete block. "Jaeger, 3 second suppressive! Now!"

Jaeger's machine gun gives Geoff time to empty his grenade launcher, 3 plasma and one HE grenade. The HE grenade strikes the exoskeleton in the chest, knocking it off its feet while the plasma grenades rip through the APC and destroy it.

As Geoff is reloading, Jaeger fires another burst of fire before hiding behind the wall again. "They keep coming! When're the reinforcements coming?!" he yells, reloading his own weapon. Moments after he says this, a Sojourner battle-tank appears down the street. Quickly taking aim, the tank fires into the exoskeleton's chest, destroying it. The tank is quickly followed by four APCs and two more battle-tanks.

Sojourner Marines pour out of the APCs as Geoff and his fire team fall back behind the armor column. SSG Adelmeister beckons them into the third APC. "New mission for us. The UCSP is on guard duty as of right now," he says, sealing the hatch as the APC rocks into motion.

*OOC*: WOOT! 100 posts >.>