Infiltrating the Hive

Posted on Tue Jan 22nd, 2019 @ 11:47am by Lieutenant Commander Shaille Levine & Staff Sergeant Andromeda Dreik & Major Hailey Weston & Staff Sergeant Nyx'e'Trixe Valentine & Gunnery Sergeant Ami Rori

Mission: https://wellington.pegasusfleet.site/index.php/sim/missions/id/5
Location: Shalti Hive

Sabrina glanced around the inside of the hive as their transport completed. It was dark and musty, just as she remembered, but the humidity felt even more oppressive than she had previously experienced, though it was entirely possible that that was more to do with the weight of this mission dragging so heavily on her shoulders. She held her hand up as a sign to stop as she got her bearings on their location. The speed with which they had to complete their transport had meant that their targetting had been slightly off, while not terribly so, it just left them slightly further from the central hive than Sabrina was happy with, the extra distance was unfortunately more time that they had to remain undetected.

Screwing up her face, Andi grimaced and resisted the urge to gag at the dankness of their surroundings. Instinctively, she kept one hand resting lightly on her weapon, her holster unsecured for easy access as she looked around. She took two steps toward Hailey and Sabrina before crouching down, touching the ground with her fingertips and grimacing. "The ground is sticky, probably to give them added traction. Nothing major but it might slow us down a bit." She turned back to Chavez, making sure that first he had his backpack. "We'll need to rethink detonation, make sure charges are all properly upright. We'll do the micros as aerials, it'll create a bigger dispersion field for the damage anyway. We'll just have to run a bit faster."

"You got it, Sarge." Chavez agreed with her.

"Set some of them to leave a single passage, I'm going to want-" Hailey cut herself off as she remembered that for the first operation in several years, she WASN'T the one in command of the mission, "Sorry Colonel, I'd recommend we set up demo at cross corridors, command detonated which should leave us an exit path for each team that has few or no enemies when we fall back. Yes, could be a failure point if one or more don't go off properly, but we're on a long-shot op anyways, right, ma'am?"

Sabrina shook it off. "Don't apologize, it's fine. These are your people on the line, I would be surprised if you didn't want to be involved, and to be honest I welcome the contributions. I agree though, it's a good idea."

"In that case..." Hailey took the two steps to the nearest entry, then pointed at one point, then two meters in, "Andi, what do you think about a double tap? Collapse several feet in, make them work for it if they want to cut us off?"

Andi nodded slightly. "Could work," she said, contemplating as she spoke. "We'd have to work quick, maybe do a double whammy for the increased payload. The wetter surface makes it a little harder to detonate, but going the double header would definitely make it more bang for our buck."

Sabrina nodded her acquiescence. "Who ever is with me, prepare to fall out, we need to move. The longer we stay still the more likely we are to draw attention to ourselves. Listen to your comms and don't go upsetting the natives until we know we have to."

Nyx test-lifted her swords from over her back out of the scabbard by about an inch each to make sure they weren't stuck, then arranged her rifle in a combat position and settled behind the point man in line.

With a squeeze of Nyx's shoulder, Hailey gathered her own team as well as the sergeant McClellan that Sabrina had gifted to her, then let the Colonel's team move out before settling with her own, "Andi, I want to mine these things as we go, then we're going to break out down a cross corridor to hers. Travel order, Rori, Carmichael, Dreik, McClellan, Me, Chavez, Rozhev and Seltegaard, you have tail end charlie. We're going to move fast and silent, if we run into something, we back off for the time being and set a mine on the path. If we are forced to engage, hit 'em hard."

Andi nodded slightly. "You got it," she said softly, holding back at Hailey gave the motion to start falling out. As the rest of the crew started to move, she grabbed Hailey's arm, pulling her back momentarily. "We're gonna get out of this... yeah?" she said, not entirely making it clear if she was questioning or commanding.

With the operation already having halfway fallen apart from the original plan, and that even BEFORE they'd set foot in the hive, Hailey knew the odds weren't good. They hadn't been good from the get-go, and they'd fallen even further. And her eyes told the story to Andi, even as the words came out of her mouth, "Yeah, we're gonna get out of this." She said, hoping fervently that it wasn't the lie she was afraid it would turn out to be.


=/\=

It was as they were walking away that Sabrina finally allowed anything resembling expression to form on her face. "Alright, Nyx?" she asked questioningly. "Sorry, I didn't catch your rank, so forgive my informality. Just... stay to the sides and stay safe? okay?" she said softly. "I think Hailey would kill me if anything happened to you."

"My Lady, Lady Weston would more likely kill ME if I let anything happen to you." Nyx grinned with what could only have been manic glee, "I'm a war priestess of Tial, safety has never been one of my primary concerns, it only gets in the way of the true fun, My Lady." Nyx shrugged slightly, "But at least the Federation has given me some rather fun new toys from what I was used to."

Sabrina smiled vaguely, a sense of relief washing over her suddenly that things may just be okay. "Let's go," she said quietly.

The next fifteen minutes was at best an excursion into chaos. Though the shalti drones around them seemed to be oblivious to their presence as the small team moved through what could best be described as an intricate maze leading them toward the central hive. Approaching the final corridor, Sabrina paused. "The hive is just ahead, it's going to be chaos. The Shalti inside the central hive aren't drones, they're more like soldiers. They have better vision and more acute senses that what you've seen so far. They WILL see us, and they WILL react to our presence, and it will NOT be pretty. Nyx, we'll need you to buy us a minute, try not to actually hurt them until we upload the virus. Once the virus is uploaded, feel free to have at them." There was a small part of her that actually wanted to see this woman in action.

"Major, we're about to enter the hive. Make sure your team is prepared. Things are gonna get crazy." Sabrina used her comm to send the quiet message to Hailey before switching out and notifying Brayden of the same.

"Copy." Hailey's one-word response was typical of her in this situation and she waved her team to covering positions at the next set of corridors, "Primary booms on my signal." She whispered to Andi.

Back with Sabrina, Nyx let her rifle rest from the friction sling that attached it to herself, sidled forward and withdrew one of her daggers and slid the polished point out and nodded, then plucked a flashbang grenade from her uniform and disengaged the safety, "Just let me know when I can kick off the 'party', My Lady. The real one, not the distraction?" She waited for a slight nod, then smiled, "And for Bey'a'Dande's sake, My Lady, don't shoot me? That might make Lady Weston slightly ornery."

"Enter in three," Sabrina ordered in a hushed tone. "Distract them as long as you can, only use violence if necessary! One... two... three!"

No sooner had the words escaped her lips then Sabrina sidled silently through the entrace to the central hive and made her way straight to what essentially looked like it was a central core of some kind. Moving with deft silence, she whipped the data PADD from inside a pocket and used a cable to establish a direct link between the data PADD and the hive. "Uploading..." she muttered softly. "Hang on Nyx, just a few more seconds..."

Nyx was through the door and she switched the grenade to her other hand, ready to activate it when she had the need for it, but snagged another grenade, this one of the smoke variety, thumbed the switch and activation and slid it towards the center. She set the activation of the flashbang for thirty seconds and slid it into the mist, then set another for twenty second to make it simultaneous and slid it to the other side. "Fifteen seconds to diversion." Her voice was cool, calm and anticipatory.

Watching the data sequence transfer was possibly the single slowest moment of her life. Though she knew it was only seconds, it felt like the time had dragged into hours. She could hear, and was vaguely aware, of the noises happening around her. She could hear Nyx saying something, but was trying to focus. She could hear the rest of the small team around her calling back to each other, but her attention was wholly and solely on the PADD in her hand, watching the transfer, watching with the slightest glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe, this was going to be the turning point for all of them.

Finally the transfer was complete. Almost as quickly as she had started, Sabrina pulled the cable and stowed the data PADD again and pulling her weapon, simultaneously tapping her commbadge. "NOW!" she ordered to all and sundry.

And suddenly all hell broke loose. The movements of the Shalti, which had reacted to the presence of the marines with only passive interest, clearly not willing to attack while they were in this particular area, became instantly aggressive. And several were stunned when the precisely timed flashbangs went off in their proximity. Nyx's shots were aimed just as perfectly as if it were on a target range, punching through some of the very few weak spots that had been identified, but the number of soldier drones began to multiply and shots from a plasma weapon began to fly through the air, catching one of the marines and mercifully incinerating him quickly. As the number of shots and accuracy began to increase, Nyx recognized that there were two ways anyone was going to escape this room and that required...

She'd unhooked the rifle while still providing aimed fire and in a motion that sent it skidding towards -the other marines and pulled one pistol out with her right hand and reached over her shoulder with the left to grab her first sword even as she moved in towards the gathering Shalti. Emptying the magazine of the pistol into two targets, she began, quite simply, to glow. Her hair, her eyes even dimly so, began to shine a rich purple color as she tossed the pistol to the side and drew her other sword and came into reach. The Tialan metal was particularly effective, especially when she slid it into the exoskeletal joints with the speed of a striking cobra. The first Shalti just... Came apart, unprepared for the suddenly close-combat assault. Then it was Nyx in the middle of a group of about ten Shalti.

It wasn't fair.

Nyx heard voices behind her, then in front, to the side as she spun seemingly like a dervish, but paid absolutely no attention to those voices. She was in her own small world, not for her the 'glory' of combat, the smile on her face was for the enjoyment of the BEING of the fight, the ability to protect those who would help protect her friend and comrades. A good portion of her movements were blocks and deflections of the Shalti who seemed to not be as coordinated as she had been led to believe, but the sheer number could overwhelm her, she knew, as she ducked, dodged, blocked, deflected, then plunged one blade deep into one abdomen and ripped up sharply, opening a jagged slash as she spun and withdrew it, blocking nother slash. A plasma weapon lined up with her, but even as the Shalti triggered it, she pushed the weapon with the tip of her blade and the wash of plasma annihilated one of it's compatriots, the follow-up lunge by the Tialan skewering it along the weapon's line. She felt the Shalti looming behind her and nearly abandoned her blade to spin on it, but felt the flurry of rounds that threw it back away from her. She jerked the sword free and used that momentum to spin and bring her paired blades in a downwards flash that cut deeply into another insect.

By this time, Nyx was fully aglow, the purple casting shadows of it's own, runes along the blade shining brightly silvery. She took what she realized was too much time scissoring the head off another Shalti and felt what could only be a stinger entering her shoulder and she dropped the shoulder and turned, burying both blades to the hilt in the offending enemy. Instinct and training forced her to focus hard and a burst of intensity in her glow actually slowed the bleeding from where the stinger had inserted. Then she violently ripped the blades out of her enemy and took two steps back, ready to face the rest, which weren't there. Her shoulder felt odd, but she stood there, swords raised in instant preparedness for combat, wisps of hair floating about her face, a warrior-goddess.

Sabrina was already headed for the door when Nyx went into full fight mode. Momentarily stunned by the warrior who, for some inexplicable reason had started to glow purple, she hesitated in her tracks, her weapon in her hand, activated but hanging loosely at her side. Almost a moment too late she became aware of the Shalti that had almost suddenly appeared right in front of her, fractions of a second too late to do anything about the stinger that glanced her side, tearing her uniform and piercing her skin.

Firing on the creature, Sabrina made sure it was disposed of promptly before glancing back at the chaos that had suddenly broken out around them. "Fall out" she called, heading for the exit. "Rendezvous!"

=/\= Somewhere on the other side of the hive =/\=

Andi didn't need to be in the comms link, she heard the command come from Sabrina over Hailey's comm and glanced at Hailey. "C'mon Chavez, lets play," she said with a wicked grin. Haylz, RUN!" she said with a near maniacal grin as she started to pull small devices from her backpack, setting the detonator on each one and tossing it back behind them with a carefully calculated throw. Each time, devices from both Andi and Chavez exploding almost simultaneously, each time collapsing large parts of the corridor behind them. "Get to the Rendezvous point, we're right behind you!"

Carmichael was on point as the team raced back along the way they came, successive blasts of explosives coming from behind them when he rounded one corner and was immolated by a blast of plasma from one of the cross corridors. Hailey skidded to a stop before the corner, but Seltegaard didn't have the ability, but he'd seen what happened to Carmichael and at least had the wherewithal to open fire even before he'd stumbled around, the first rounds bouncing off the corridor wall before the crump of his shots hitting a target and he fell to the ground before another flurry of plasma made him into a charcoal briquette as well.

"SHIT!" Hailey screamed in frustration as she pulled out a pair of grenades, armed them and sent them skidding around the corner where they wenet off, "Andi, blow the corridor!"

Andi nodded at Chavez, both marines simultaneously retrieving the pre-set devices, activating them and stopping for just half a second to set the devices, one on each side of the corridor. "Go! Go! Go!" Andi shouted as they started running, this time the sense of urgency a little more elevated.

The explosion behind them made the entire section of the hive they were in reverberate, almost knocking Andi off her feet. It was only Chavez grabbing her elbow that kept her on her feet and moving freely.

"This way," McLellan called back to Hailey and her team. "It's just up here a bit and we should be good."

=/\=

Sabrina held her weapon out, ignoring the burning pain in her side as they ran through the ship. She was leading what was left of their team back to the rendezvous point, already mentally calculating the time. Reaching up, she tapped her commbadge. "Brayden, get us the hell out of here!"

"Standing by for transport," came the crackly response.

Somewhere from the other direction she could hear the other marine team on their return, the sound of shouts barely audible over the sound of utter chaos behind them.

As the two teams merged, Sabrina cast a quick glance around, taking in the visibly reduced numbers of Hailey's team and nodded, her expression darkening as she tapped her commbadge again. "Initiate transport."

Sabrina's commbadge crackled as the hive seemed to lurch beneath their feet. "Come again Brayden, you're breaking up."

Again, there was nothing but a crackle, maybe a fraction of a spoken word. A feeling of dread started to knot up in the pit of Sabrina's stomach. "Something's wrong," she said quietly, taping her commbadge again. "Brayden, respond."

"I'm on it Colonel," came the reply suddenly. "Technical difficulties, but I think we're good now. Initiating transport..." the all too familiar sound of the transporter sounded over the rest of the noise around them, familiar blue beams encompassing McLellan and Rikko, and Sabrina released the breath she hadn't been aware she was holding.

"Transporter has overloaded cloaking device," Brayden's static filled voice broke over the comm again. "I've been detected, they're firing on... trans..."

There was a gods awful sound and then silence. Despite the chaos in the hive around them, there was silence. Moving her hand slowly, Sabrina tapped her commbadge again. "Brayden, respond." There was no connection, no click, no voice that came back, but still she tried again. "Brayden, respond... McLellan respond..."

She drew in a shuddery breath. "Move out," she ordered quietly. "Stay to the exterior and move away from the chaos."


=/\=


Sabrina Hunter
Filler Inner of Places
USS Icarus

Major Hailey Weston
Marine CO
USS Wellington

Staff Sergeant Andromeda Dreik
Marine
USS Wellington

Gunnery Sergeant Ami Rori
Marine
USS Wellington

Staff Sergeant Nyx'e'Trixe Valentine
Marine
USS Wellington