Brotherhood of the Machine (IC Thread) [PG/14] {02}

[Ryudo Lee]

The radio in the vans came to life, and Jackson's voice came over the comm.
"Good job team, we felt that one all the way over there, and you can bet the Brotherhood felt it too.  That should show them that we mean business.  There's one more thing that I would like for you guys to take care of before coming back to base.  Not too far west of your position is a Brotherhood prison convoy heading for the Brotherhood's main lockup in Central City.  Rumor has it that they've got a couple of our boys in that caravan.  Free them and whoever else they've got locked up in there, and you'll earn a fat bonus." He says.

[Lisky]

Vaguely registering a background noise that sounded like a voice, darkshine awoke from his nap after some unknown period feeling a lot better... he stretched his arms, and let out a massive yawn as his thoughts shifted into the spectrum of coherent... he thought he caught the radio sputtering something about a convoy of some sort, his mind clicked at the last sentence that it wasn't just background noise or a radio station that one of the soldiers had on... 
his thoughts raced at the thought of another raid on the brotherhood and felt an urge to do something to help...

He looked to exo and said "hey, any chance you can get me in touch with morgan? preferably tight beam communication... i think i might be able to put my skills, and vehicle to use for you guys already.  If you don't trust me with comm gear, i'll suggest you record this, and relay the message... actually, just record and relay, that way i can start working some other things out in the meantime..."
he paused and gave the war bot a chance to react... once he felt that a sufficient time had passed he continued with his thinking out loud
"alright, i need you to tell him first to tell the ranger program, voice override command code 223/11764, that'll grant him temporary access to all systems with the cooperation of the on board AI. then have ranger run a sweep program over the brotherhood net, keywords convoy, prisoners, and status report.  Once that's done, tell him to triangulate the position surrounding the query, and that should get you a location, from there, we can set up ahead of them a do a rather standard style ambush, barricade in front, preferably explosives in the rear, either that or something strong enough to take out a lightly armored vehicle... once the middle of the convoy is trapped, it'll be a turkey shoot, as the soldiers in ambush will have cover and concealment... if we've got the time, i'd suggest even setting out zones of responsibility to minimize the risk of friendly fire, and maximize what ammunition everyone has left... "

He finished his suggestions as his thoughts continued working out the mechanics of the whole thing... "actually, while your sending a message to morgan have him try and have ranger also identify what we're up against... chances are the records are on some open net... it's just a matter of sifting through all the garbage to find what you actually need"

[techmaster-glitch]

   Jexx was sitting in the back of one of the vans, still zoned out. Howver, at the mention of "Brotherhood Convoy", Jexx suddenly jumped up towards the front of the van. "Brotherhood? More Brotherhood? Can we kill them? C'mon, let's go get 'em! Let's go go go!"

[Ryudo Lee]

It wouldn't be long until they caught sight of the convoy: a slow moving, large armored vehicle, surrounded by several zealots and a couple of elites, all on foot.

[Tapewolf]

Oh great, Dorcan thought, mission creep.

"What are we doing in terms of command structure?"  He asked over the comm.  "I presume Exo is in overall command?"

[Arcalane]

[One would assume so.] Exo says casually as it throws the armoured van through a surprisingly tight turn for such a large vehicle and pushes the engine up to full, the tires screeching in protest as it accelerates out. [I can cut them off at an intersection up ahead and it's otherwise an empty street, so they'll have no cover but their own vehicle. The rest of you move in and prepare to hit them from every other direction you can. Try not to hit each other in the crossfire though, got it?]

[Lisky]

Darkshine wasn't prepared for the maneuver and was thrown around during the turn.  When he felt he wasn't going to get thrown again he asked the bot  "do you have anything you want me to do? or just sit tight for now?"

[Arcalane]

"Sit tight. Heinrich, check for any spare weapons in the lockers. Can't hurt to have an extra gun at the gunports."

Heinrich affirms and pops open the footlocker under his seat. After quick rummaging, he pulls out a strange looking heavy submachinegun that's almost an assault rifle and several spare magazines with different markings. "Careful, she kicks like a mule and weighs a ton, but the rounds are big, deadly, and she's pretty accurate." He grins. "Twenty five to a magazine, somewhere in the region of nine or ten mill' rounds if I remember the specs. She was meant for CQC, not many were made. Red banded mags are armour-piercing, dual-banded blue mags are hollow-point. You'll want the former I imagine." He offers them to the merc, still grinning as he kicks the footlocker closed.

[Lisky]

Gently taking the weapon, darkshine let out a rather wolfish grin, and replied to the soldier "i prefer forty-five myself, well, that and seven six two by fifty-one millimeter but, this will have to do i guess" he examined the weapon for a few seconds, got a feel for the basic layout, then loaded a magazine of armor piercing... checking to make sure the safety was on, he moved to a port and cocked a round into the chamber With a satisfying click.  Darkshine eased the weapon into the port, and switched it over to burst... he thought to himself damn i wish i had my rapier... though this is probably a lot more controllable in full auto, i'd wager it has maybe a quarter of the stopping power per round... and a rather shallow mag too...

[Tapewolf]

"Sir," Dorcan said - slightly irritably- "With respect I must remind you that I equipped for a stealth role.  I have a sonic stunner, a crossbow and no firearms training.  Given that those aren't going to do squat from a distance against armour, what would you have me do?"

[Azlan]

Negative ghostrider, the pattern is full... I am afraid I will be declining your strategy for one of my own.  This Banshee is really a very poor vehicle for combat, but it has two very important things going for it, speed and mass.  It has an excellent top speed and it masses around 30 tons.  I will be using this thing to run down as many of the Brotherhood hostiles, hopefully an elite too, as I can in one pass which will end in a hard brake and half turn.  After which we... er, I... will deploy right on top of them.  This will draw a lot of fire, but this thing's armor should be able to shrug off small arms, grenades and light rockets for long enough.  Exo can still cut off the caravan first, but when I make the run and draw fire, a majority of everyone else should move in and catch them from behind.  The rest should move up from my side and catch them in a crossfire.  That transport of the Brotherhood can absorb small arms fire fairly well.

Morgan busied himself in preparation he released the AI from isolation and immediately issued an override, "Voice override command code 223/11764.  Ranger integrate with CTC for tactical operation.  Scan all active transmission traffic using encrypt pki <insert string of data> search for patterns matching recorded data, also scan for known Brotherhood virtual and logical channel identifiers.  Access and play voice traffic.  Maximum possible speed based on this course, reduce ground effect to lowest clearance."

Morgan retrieved the best rifle in the weapons locker, it chambered 7.62x51mm rounds, weak compared to his normal 15.2x207mm FSDS.  The weapon had the advantage in weight, rate of fire and magazine capacity.  If it were not so unwieldy, he would use two of them at once.  To him, the recoil was negligible.

Scanning... link identified, status... disabled.

Morgan followed the schematics overlay that had taken over a small portion of his visual area and opened the access port on the side of the weapon.  With a few adjustments and tiny electrical welds, thanks to electrokinesis, the smart-weapon link was brought online. 

Link online.  Connect? Y/N

Morgan immediately linked it wirelessly to his CTC and downloaded a firmware update for the weapon.  The assault weapon was now an extension of his own self, as natural as his own arm.

Grinning like a boy who just received the super, most coolest toy in the universe, Morgan turned to Marcus and Langley, "alright lads, prepare yourselves as best as you can.  I want you to provide supporting firepower from the ports."

 

[Tapewolf]

Dorcan sank back into his seat and the laser rifle promptly dug into his back.  He'd got so used to carrying it around - unused - that he'd forgotten he'd even been issued the thing.

"My bad," he said over the comms, "I am armed."  He unstrapped the weapon and began a brief check.

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

Staying still was becoming more and more difficult by the moment. For one thing, Fetrethar was hungry, and there was no sign of their captors, or of any food outside of the remaining prisoners. Eating a Mongoose clan member would likely make him sick, and he had nothing to cook with.

By now, everyone had woken up, and joined one of the two gangs arranged on the sides of the compartment. Fetrethar had heard noises, voices from the other end of the wall, implying that there were other compartments than just this one. Fetrethar wondered if they had other groups of prisoners they were trying to keep separated, or if the compartment had their captors, or some other explanation. The walls were thin enough to permit some sound to go through, but not enough to make out the voices. He had made a few knocks on the wall, but had received no response.

Fetrethar wasn't sure if it was accident or design, but both clans had ten adult men and four children present. Nobody was really taking charge in his own group, but the Mongoose clan members were clustered around and seemed to be deferring to one fiftyish man with a paunch. They were talking in low voices, and getting close enough to hear would likely invite an attack.  Neither faction seemed to want to risk a confrontation.

With little to do, Fetrethar checked his stinger, still ready, still envenomed, and tried to figure out where he was. That there was a grille in the "back" of the compartment letting in light seemed to imply that he was in the rear of whatever vehicle this was. It would probably have to be fairly wide to allow for another compartment beside this one. Perhaps there were even multiple lateral compartments, as there might be a similar construction on the Mongoose clan side of the box. It was hard to tell speed with no frame of reference, but they seemed to be moving fairly slowly. The grille was perhaps eight or nine feet high, too high to see through, and Fetrethar wasn't comfortable making either himself or another vulnerable by having someone stand on another's shoulders to get a look outside.

It was getting very hard not to pace around, simply for something to occupy himself with. There was simply too little information to make accurate assessments of the situation, and there was even less he could do about anything. There wasn't even an obvious entry or exit from the compartment, implying some sort of sliding wall arrangement, and he wasn't sure where the ventilation system was. He was reasonably sure though, that whenever they were to be transported out, they'd be gassed again, and although knowing the effort was futile, glanced around the bare metal floor and walls looking for something that could serve as a makeshift gas mask.

[Lisky]

Darkshine started feeling his cold, calculating, combat senses taking over... he started turning more formal, dropping his usual casual and somewhat easygoing personality for cold professionalism... keeping his weapon down range he looked over his shoulder to Exo and said in a crisp, level voice asked "what are the rules of engagement, sir? Also, what would you have me do when we need to actually move and possibly leave the vehicle?"
He paused... knowing he had a little while before actually getting into combat and added "actually, uh, sir, can i ask what my part in the overall battleplan is going to be, as well as what everyone else is doing? i'd rather have too much information, and be overly cautious, than be misinformed and frag a friendly..."

[Arcalane]

Exo revs the engine a little more and glances at the van's map display, seeing the red icons of the convoy, the green van and friendly blues of other rebel vehicles. Just a little further...

"Take down anything that isn't ours. We hit them hard and fast - get them on the back foot and keep them there. Pick off anyone with a heavy weapon and high-ranking personnel like the elites. Now, hold onto your lunch and prepare to lay down some suppressing fire. Use the fire ports to stay in cover." The bot glances at the map again. "If you see anything that looks like a turret that's remote controlled, try and shoot out the camera. Ready?"

The four troopers acknowledge and there is a small chorus of assorted clicks and thumps as they make sure they're stable and their weapons are loaded. Then the van turns hard again as it reaches the end of the sidestreet a few meters ahead of the convoy, tires making another squeal of protest. The armoured van shoots out from behind a building and grinds to a halt in the middle of the crossing. With almost practiced efficiency, the four troopers open the firing ports and begin firing on the convoy whilst Exo grabs the plasma repeater from the passenger seat and proceeds to lay down suppressive fire out of the window as well, aiming at the convoy vehicle's cab.

[Lisky]

Letting the other's burn through ammo at what was seeming like a prodigious rate, especially for the overall effect it was having.  Darkshine snapped the sights of his weapon onto the upper chest of a zealot, and let loose a short burst, from the SMG.  The zealot was still collapsing while darkshine was moving onto his next target.  To Darkshine, this felt more like a shooting gallery than an actual combat situation... When he saw another target,he'd snap the sights onto them, press the trigger, then search for another victim.  All the while, conserving what ammunition he had.

The soldiers around him didn't seem to have the same concern for ammo, and he wasn't sure if they were green, or just used to fighting in a totally different style than himself.  Either way, he kept his fire in short, clean bursts.

[Ryudo Lee]

As soon as the shooting started, the zealots and elites turned towards the vans and opened up on them.  The convoy came to a halt and some zealots took cover behind it and started shooting from around the corners of the vehicle.

[Tapewolf]

Flattening himself as best he could, Dorcan crept under the chassis of his van and remained still.  From there, he watched, taking note of the Zealot positions.  With a sad sigh, he lined his laser weapon against the edge of the vehicle, waited for his target's head to appear and squeezed the trigger.

[Azlan]

As the Banshee approached the point of engagement, Morgan outwardly appeared to be daydreaming.  This was not the case however.  In a digital construct, the metallic fox stood facing a swirling mass of binary, I have your willing cooperation in this?

Affirmative, I will act as I have promised, you have full command authority at this time.  The swirling mass appeared to bow, if such a thing was possible.

Right then, carry on.  Morgan blinked once and signaled to Marcus and Langley to be ready. 

The AI brought the vehicle in low and fast, on the side opposite from where the Rebellion vans had pulled in.  Popping out of the hatch and hoping they were moving too fast for anyone to draw a good bead on him, Morgan primed a couple of grenades.  He tossed them as the vehicle powered through its intended path, pretty nearly sideswiping the transport.  Morgan tossed the fragmentation grenades amid the Brotherhood confusion.

[techmaster-glitch]

   When everyone's weapons started firing, Jexx was in a highly exited state. His markings were glowing, he was rocking back and forth, and he repeating something over and over under his breath with a smile on his face. By the time the van screeched to a halt, Jexx had already exited out the back van door, taking advantage of the momentary confusion to scramble straight for the Brotherhood transport after Mogan made his pass. Jexx covered himself by firing a few plasma balls at any Brotherhood footmen who tried to poke their heads around the corners of the vehicle they were trying to take cover behind.

[Lisky]

As the banshee came screaming into the brotherhood formation Darkshine felt a twinge of hope that maybe he could do something more than be an extra gun.  He shouted at exo over the chatter of the automatic weapons fire.  "looks like my ride is here, any chance i can get some gear i'm a little more familiar with?!" He finished off the magazine in his SMG on full auto, unloading into a staggering zealot as if to punctuate the question.  He reloaded another mag with the red band, cocked the action and got searching for another victim while waiting for the bot's reply.

[Corgatha Taldorthar]

The inside of the compartment was bedlam. The vehicle, whatever it was, had stopped, and shouting and explosions were clearly audible from the outside. The walls, once the impromptu bases of the two opposing clans, were quickly abandoned as the men scurried towards the center and what relative safety it offered. The temptation to bite and kill was strong in Fetrethar, but surprise would only work once, and the two largest members of the Mongoose clan weren't going to let Fetrethar within range.

The more rational side of his brain was wondering what exactly this vehicle was made out of, and if their attackers had any chance of breaching the "skin". It was certainly impervious bare hands, but that didn't count for much. The more pessimistic side of him was hoping that the attack would be victorious, and quickly, because if it seemed like they were losing, the assailants would probably gas and kill all the prisoners.

[Azlan]

Morgan jumped out of the vehicle once it had come to a stop and unloaded a full clip from his borrowed rifle one handed.  His other hand was busy readying the second clip.  His fire, to the untrained, appeared reckless and wasteful.  However, his aim was to pin down the Brotherhood aggressors long enough for the two others to take up cover positions, as the vehicle's ports were impractical and restrictive at close ranges.

Marcus and Langley exited and took up position using the Banshee as cover, within a moment, Morgan joined them.  The two grunts had swept the area around the Banshee to insure those around them were indeed dead.

Morgan reloaded, brought his weapon out and began a more controlled assault.  The other two Rebellion soldiers did the same with their SMGs.

A few zealots fell to their concentrated fire.

[Arcalane]

The four troopers in the back of the van paused to reload whilst Exo moves out of the cab, the 'bot hefting the plasma repeater and scanning for any zealots hiding in the blind spot under the firing ports. Any found are quickly disposed of, the cab door shutting again with a slam. Several more plasma blasts force a few more to duck back into what little cover they have, and the bot advances on the cab of the convoy vehicle, trying to determine how to best go about opening it.

[Lisky]

Without anyone  to answer his question, darkshine figured now is a better time than any to go get properly equipped.  stuffing a few extra mags into the pockets of his pants, he checked the current mag, and with that, noted the distance to the banshee and what cover he could use to get to it.

He took all of 3 seconds to build up the confidence, then swinging the door open on the van, bolted towards the banshee.  He held the SMG one handed, and watched for any signs of movement in the area around the brotherhood truck.  When he got 15 or so feet from the banshee, he did a one knee slide, keeping himself as mobile, and small a target as possible.  First announcing his presence to the rebel troops with a "hey, i'll be out in one second" While reaching the protected side hatch.  He knocked twice, placed his hand on the scanner, then said in surprisingly normal voice "ranger, open this effing door right now"  The hatch opened, and Darkshine proceeding carefully inside.  walking to the rear area, he opened a locker, dropped his clothing and donned a suit of his armor.  then, checking the weapons rack, he noticed the carbine he'd been planning to take was missing.
Darkshine grabbed the full rifle from the next locker, then a couple of spare magazines.  He moved down, and holstered a pair of pistols in the boots.  Finally, after a quick inspection of all his gear, he went back to the armor locker, and donned a new headset, mask, and IR monocle. He stuffed the SMG and mags into an open locker. Coming back out the hatch he came in, he waved to one of the soldiers and asked "whats the frequency, channel, and jumping code Exo is using for comms?"

[Tapewolf]

About thirty years ago, not long after his rebirth, Dorcan's 'creator' had offered to upgrade him with combat programming, improved internal armour and enhanced reflexes.  A sniper rifle and top-of-the-line sports bike had been part of the deal as well - the catch was that he would become Jakob's personal executioner.
Dorcan had been horrified at the suggestion and refused in no uncertain terms.  Fortunately it had just been a test of his resolve and moral standards, and quite possibly the strangest form of psychometric testing the Doberman had ever encountered.

So it was with deep regret that Dorcan found himself crouched in concealment, shooting other people in the head with a sniper rifle, murmuring the prayer that his grandfather had taught him as the bodies fell.
This is different, he told himself, This isn't murder, it's war.  But he wasn't wholly convinced.

[Ryudo Lee]

One of the elites produced a strange looking box with a button on it.  Placing it on the ground, he hit the button and an energy shield shot up from the box.  Using it as cover, he returned fire and tossed a few frag grenades.  One of the zealots came around to take cover with elite.

Jexx's plasma shots were keeping the zealots hiding behind the vehicle at bay, since they couldn't come around without being shot down.  The other elite got the idea to come around the other end of the vehicle and opened up fire.

[Azlan]

Morgan noticed the elite and swore openly, "bloody hell, not who I want to be waltzing with at close quarters."

Morgan did not reply to Darkshine, instead he pointed to the elite.  Tapping Marcus and Langley he spoke quickly, "you two keep the Zealots pinned down."

While the two Rebel soldiers laid down suppressing fire, Morgan popped up and tossed another grenade at the elite.  This left him with only one more.

Morgan risked pressing the attack and fired a full burst at the Elite.

[Lisky]

Seeing the elite Morgan had pointed out, Darkshine took aim.  With a practiced ease, he switched the rifle to 3 round burst, then fired into the elite's face.  Then fired several more bursts into the chest and shoulder.  Darkshine saw the elite shrug off everything, not even showing signs that the heavy impacts had hurt him.  Switching the rifle to full auto, emptying  the rest of the mag into the elite.  Once empty, He pulled the mag from the rifle, opened the thigh plate on his left leg, and grabbed a new mag, replacing it with the empty.  The new one had a blue band of tape around the middle.  Darkshine thought armor piercing, that ought to help a bit taking this guy down.

Once ready, he ran at a diagonal to the way Morgan had moved, hoping to catch the elite on 2 sides, and forcing him to expose the weaker side armor

[techmaster-glitch]

   As Jexx was using his cannons to hold down the footmen while he dashed for the transport, one of them circled around to the other end and opened fire. Jexx immediately swung one cannon over to get that footman back behind the transport, but a little late. A few bullets ricocheted off Jexx's metal arm, but a few grazed him.
   After another moment of plasma balls being slung both ways, Jexx was finally close enough to the transport that the angle put him out of the line of sight. He then jumped up as high as he could, morphing away his handcannons to get his hands back, and slammed up against the side of the Brotherhood transport. As he did, he plunged his tips of his metal fingers (which were pointed), into the armor of the transport, just barely getting a purchase in the metal. Quickly, he pulled one hand out and clawed higher, then repeated with the other.
   He also felt something warm and wet trickling down his neck, but he ignored that for the moment. Had to.
   In the about five seconds it would take for him to scale the transport and get over the top, Jexx would be relying virtually entirely on everyone else's supressing fire and activity to keep him safe and the footmen occupied.