The Line in the Stars (IC) [PG/14]

[Prof B Hunnydew]

"Furricken bastard Pirates" cries Nova "They don't trust anybody, and their security is just as good as ISS computers.... Who is going to Hack these guys out here in the middle of nowhere?  Why 15 character passwords with cyber links required.  Oh, Goddess, they distrust even their own men." remarks Nova in disgust and defeat for the moment. 

Maybe, I can get in with "unLophtcracker5" program with a hybrid password decoder, I have find out what operator system their using.   But upon hearing Ixiah, the catgirl turns to the main view when Mother put her landing site up for that brief moment, but she couldn't figure out how far mother's landing spot was from the crash site, before it blinks out.

"Loki, what is funny about the crash site?"asks Nova as she turns to Loki and Ixiah.  Nova couldn't see anything wrong on the scanners or on her screen.  

"Oooo OOo Can I help?" ask Mara.
PBH

[ShadesFox]

Command Center

Aaron's ears folded back.  It seems that he was stepping on all sorts of tails lately.
"I'm sorry, but your discovery was... ill timed.   Now, don't give me those eyes Ixiah!  It's too cruel!"

This will require something nicer then cookies to smooth over.  He sighs and recollects himself.
"Still, you have me curious.  What did you find out down there?  Or are you going to try and kill me with suspense?"

[Lisky]

Pirate Outpost

The sun faded from the sky, and Knight was getting himself ready for the operation.   He steadied his breathing as ben informed him "it's time"

The feline activated his camo, and began making a move for the fence.  He crouched low and stayed out of the light, first looking for any natural breaks in the areas bathed in darkness.  When none appeared, he had Rino and Nitro make a hole, silently slicing the thin mesh with some type of bladed tool they were carrying...

As the holes we're opened, he heard the announcement of the scout from Rom, Knight whispered into his own mic, "Delta 3 (RC) take alpha 2 (Harold) with you and secure that scout.  I don't want a peep out of these guys till we're ready.  Delta 2 (Jaice) and alpha 3 (Nitro) I want you to get ready to take out those towers, hit them on my signal... if you've got suppressors, use them.  The rest of you, form up, move in pairs and lets take out any rovers silently.  Ready, move."

Knight's movements were about as audible as the wind rustling through the grass.  He handed his rifle off to his partner as he spotted one of the sentries, at the same time one of the other pairs sent a click over the radio indicating they'd spotted the other hostile sentry.  Knight sent a double click back, acknowledging and sending them approval for whatever they chose to do.  He took a second to checked his gloves, and made sure his claws could extend to their 2.5 cm length, when they hit, they would be like razor sharp natural daggers.

The sentry never so much as heard a thing as the camouflaged paw reach around and sliced his unarmored throat open.  Knight fell back into the ground with his victim on top, hand moving up to cover the sentry's face until he stopped his death spasms.  Rolling out, he retrieved his rifle from Hacker, and the pair moved the body to some ground cover where it wouldn't be spotted easily.

Around the other entrance the special forces troops had made, the second sentry was taken out with equal, if not greater efficiency as a combat knife through the base of the skull proved instantly fatal.

With no other roving sentries to offer resistance, knight regrouped the rest of the team, not covering the towers, in the darkness outside the central buildings to prepare for the next phase of the mission.

[Azlan]

Sniper Position


Romulus takes the shot and hits the radio, taking off the top portion.  The scout drops the radio and dives behind a rock outcrop.  She briefly looks around before ducking back down.  It provides some cover, but there is still a fairly clean shot to her if needed.

Alex sights the female with his rifle and looks to Romulus for a go ahead with the shot, when none comes, he relaxes off the trigger, but remains ready.

A few minutes later, RC and Harold move on her position.  They are nearly on top of her before she notices, and quickly surrenders.

Mother's bots relieve both of them of the prisoner, taking her back to the staging area with the rest of them.  RC and Harold move back towards the compound, sweeping the area as they go for any stragglers.



Pirate Outpost


The area of the interior buildings is not as quiet as the rest of the base would seem to be.  A lot of noise, mostly general carousing, can be heard from the barracks structure they are near.

Ben peeks around the corner and towards the central square between the central buildings and the command center.  If is a minimum of 30 feet of open area between the closest outlying building and the command center.

The building they are currently in the shadow of, has one standard single person door opening inward on the side they are on.

Ben ducks back around and regards the rest of the team and then Knight, "that blood is going to mess up your camo lieutenant."

Just before Knight could reply, the door to the building opened and a slim, brown furred canine (some type of hound) stepped out.  He did not look around, but simply flipped up a cigarette from a pack he had and lit it up.  The hound took a drag off of it.



Command Center


Both Loki and Ixiah looked to one another and back towards Aaron and Nova as they answered in unison, "look at a real time picture..."

Loki brought up a view from orbit and focused in on the crash site.  It was rather noticeable, probably only from a geosynchronous orbit over the specific location, but a rather cozy landing spot right near Matron was well illuminated with a convenient "Welcome" spelled out with blue glowing probes.

"Also, it appears that Matron has run some type of line all the way to the Pirate outpost.  What it is for I do not yet know."

[Lushin]

Sniper position
Once Romulus was sure Mother's bots had the scout covered. He once again started tracking possible targets in the pirate camp. He also looked for his team to see if they needed coverage.

[ShadesFox]

Command Center

It was almost enough to make Aaron face palm.  Correction, it was enough to make Aaron face palm.  Two search teams maybe overkill now, it seems like the lost are now actively helping out in making themselves found instead.

"Throwing out the welcome mat and everything.  If we're lucky they will have dinner ready as well."  He almost wanted to say out loud that it seemed too welcoming.  Instead he would let others be paranoid in his place.  

[Lisky]

Pirate Base

Knight had his back pressed against one of the building, probably the barracks judging by the noises coming from the inside.  The team was hiding in it's shadow, which bathed the already camoflaged team in such darkness that they should be near invisible.  Knight himself had spattered his upper torso and right arm with the blood of the scout, and it was making his camo far less effective.  He knew someone else had killed a scout with equal silence, and silently wondered how they all seemed to keep themselves so clean...

Then again, he was trained in CQC with the remnants of his pilot rig, and the emergency gear kept under his seat... He had relied on that training when taking down the scout.  Perhaps there was a better technique for this armor than a slit throat that he would have to learn if he didn't get access to another stealth LAM sometime in the near future...

His train of thought was suddenly shattered as a door that swung inward opened, and a canine walked out.  His reckless demeanor would have drawn much scrutiny from any base commander in the ISF, but here it seemed almost commonplace.  Knight was considering his options when Nitro acted first, driving a fist into the hound's face before he had time to react.  The door had closed on it's own accord and the entire take-down seemed to go completely un-noticed by those inside, the supine form was dragged away from the entrance and bound with his arms tied around his back, his ankles tied together, and a gag tied around his mouth so that he couldn't say a word...

The act of keeping him alive was a mixed blessing, although it made him feel better, because more information could be gathered, it also meant someone else to cause trouble.  Rather than wasting more time though, he started giving out commands to the team to get ready to move, first Ben would move with his partner, next, Knight and Nitro, then the other pairs.  Before they moved, Knight called Rom and Alex along with RC and Harold over the Radio in a near whisper "Alpha 1 to Delta 1 and additional forces, I need you to get ready to take out those towers, we're moving into a low cover, high light area in the main compound, standard breach on the HQ building.  Respond when your ready with cover. We'll move out once you are"

[Lushin]

Sniper position
Romulus picked a target on the furthest tower.
In a very flat almost machine voice "Roger"
Once locked onto his target no movement could be seem from Romulus. It didn't look like he was breathing.

[techmaster-glitch]

   Nazareth was slightly leery at the order that they were to actually land next to the objective, but said nothing. Similarly, he was silent through all the rest of the commotion, as none of it concerned him. But when a realtime image of the target zone was brought up, that was the last straw.
   This was officially the most ass-backwards mission he had ever been on. These damn aliens were either going to kill him or drive him insane, and he didn't know which or even if it wasn't going to be both.
   "Little aliens..." Nazareth said, acknowledging Loki and Ixiah's existance for the first time, "get rid of that before we are compromised."

[Azlan]

Somewhere in a neighboring system


Four cruisers converged on a large container ship within corporate sector space.  The transport attempted to power its main drives, but a blast of energy lanced through the rear engine section cutting it cleanly in half.  The spinal laser of a pirate battleship was to blame.

With little choice left, the container ship surrendered.  A transport stood no chance against a pirate fleet, even one fielding outdated warships.

Arr, it's good to be a pirate.



Sniper Position


Alex reoriented his sights on second farthest tower and checked his spotter system on the HUD.  It fed him that data and calculations, which he quickly checked in his head.  The system was accurate, a little too accurate, and Alex adjusted.

"Roger 2."  Was the simple reply.



Pirate Base


RC and Harold stopped, checked their suppressors and took aim at the other towers from their position at the fence line.  Both were about to cross back into the base when they received the orders.  Each took a different tower and immediately linked in with the HUD's of the other snipers, showing designated targets.

"Ready here."


At Knight's position, Ben nodded and gave the hand signal to move.  Over the comm he spoke quietly, "do it."

The cover was instantaneous, quiet and deadly accurate.  RC and Harold, though not themselves snipers, took down their targets cleanly.  Alex was a true expert of his craft, neutralizing his targets in such a way that both still manned their positions quiet visibly though they ceased being a threat.

Ben and Cyndi moved quickly across the intervening space, Cyndi reaching the structure first.  She was breathing heavy and was certainly in an excited state, per the condition monitoring data on the team HUD.  Ben patted her on the back and gave her a thumbs up to which she nodded and took up a support position, weapon scanning for any hostiles as they waited for Knight and Nitro.



Command Center


Ixiah nodded vigorously to Aaron's comments both vocal and mental, "I am inclined to agree, that would seem far too eager.  Even I am cautious now..."

Near Nova, Mara bounds about, "yay I'm going home!  Sorry about the probes, Matron is getting carried away... she's a bit desperate for intelligent company.  Pirates are dull heads."

Both alien foxes turn to regard Nazareth like an owner might regard a loving pet.  Loki responded to Naz's demand, "sorry kid, no can do.  You see, those are not our probes, but Matrons.  As for giving us away, the probes are emitting extreme ultraviolet and soft X-rays.  Most of the scanners in use by the pirates could not detect them from the background emissions of space, let alone 'see' them."   
   

[Prof B Hunnydew]

"Can we at least try normal communications with Matron?  " asks Nova.  "I mean Can't we just yell
"Turn out those light!" ? or something "

"Mara Phone home MARA phone Home!" said Mara... BUT Nova pick the kitten up, and petting her which stopped the kitten from trying.  "ASK First" said Nova sternly.

"I'll try normal comms, and see if there is any traffic from Matron or anybody.  We could use a pointbeam commucations at Matron and she should be able to receive us.  Grandma left a reciever last time." says Nova.

  "Loki, Can I try that pointbeam?"  asks the catgirl.  She is not sure if she hears a Mayday from a nearby system as she scans all the comm frequency. 

PBH

[ShadesFox]

Aaron sighs, "I would not be surprised if the most expedient way of dealing with the lights would be to park Mother on top of them.  Caution is advised, but we can't freeze here in terror that something bad will happen if we land."

Aaron couldn't help but noticed that, perhaps those that were most concerned were the ones likely to be in the least danger.  There was already one expedition where the crew were largely ignored, save for one and that expedition went fairly smoothly.  But that last expedition also didn't features Acadians, including an Alpha without true form. 

[Lisky]

Pirate Outpost


At the same moment as Ben and Cyndi left the cover of darkness, the tower's guards ceased to live.  The first pair reached the command center without incident, and took up positions to cover the others movements.  Knight and Nitro were next, they eased up and bolted to the building, knight going prone to cover the blood on his armor while Nitro took up a position right by the door.

Knight issued a few simple orders by hand gesture, and the team stacked up for a breaching maneuver.

The assault team collected on the outside of the building, the outer soldiers kept watch for additional pirates while those closest to the entrance tried using an old trick that was brutally simple, a hair thin fiber-optic camera was slid under the door to see what was on the other side... While Hacker was busy with his camera, Nitro and Cyndi both had their hands resting on stun grenades, as soon as the signal was given, the pins would be pulled, and holy hell would rain in on the command center of the pirates.

[Azlan]

Command Center


Loki nods to Nova's request, "sure, sure.  Try a point to point, tight beam transmission."  

Despite the sophistication of Mother's scanners, no mayday was received from Corporate Sector Periphery space.


Mother, in her own way, was as eager as a school girl.  "We can attempt to communicate from the ground."  Without so much more as a word, Mother caused her own landing procedures to initialize.  The Acadian ship quickly descended, surprising Loki and even Mara.

The ship touched down in the clearing.  The small drones quickly parted and returned to the crash site.  It is very obvious that weathering and general material buildup has concealed the ship.  Alexis brings up a three dimensional holographic display of the area.  The ground becomes transparent, revealing the whole structure.

Mother looks sheepishly at Aaron and then to Naz, "sorry, I don't know what made me throw caution to the wind."




Pirate  Outpost


Hacker's camera showed the area immediately in front of the door to be clear, but further in this room were some beings on duty around systems monitoring stations.

The doors were not locked, they opened inward, and were easily thrown open.  Nitro and Cyndi pulled pins and tossed stun grenades, completely surprising the evening duty section.

After the grenades went off, Ben ordered the squads in the building immediately.  They entered professionally and quickly.

The command center is a large central room containing rows of computer stations and cordoned off many specialized systems booths.  There are two doors at the far right end of the structure, possibly offices.  There is also a ramp-like set of stairs leading up and into the air traffic control center.

The stun grenades were very effective, subduing all the personnel in the command center proper.  Anyone in the offices or in the air traffic control center would not be effected and would be very aware that something wrong just happened. 

Ben held up an IC chip, "at least their telecom system will be of little use without this.  Nice that the panel was on the side of the building."

[Lisky]

Pirate Outpost (command center)

Knight gave Ben a nod then tapped his comms and contacted the ship, "this is SF team, long range comms are down, repeat long range comms  are down for the outpost.  Send the fly boys ASAP, we're gonna secure the command center and bug out once we've got this site secured."  

Switching channels the feline sent a quick series of orders to the sniper team, "Rom, i'm gonna need you to watch the air field.  Nothing gets into the air.  I need you to do anything it takes to stop them, even if it's frying the fuel tanks while the plane is still on the ground."  

"RC, Harold, i need you two to watch the barracks, and if you've got a clean shot that won't give you away, keep them off our backs."

With the external situation seemingly taken care of he went and started issuing orders to the assembled team.  Saying mostly to Ben, "alright, i don't like spreading us thinner, but it looks like we're gonna have to go 4 and 4, unless you've got a better idea, I'll take Hacker, Nitro and Cyndi up and take the tower, you take Jaice," a slightly audible pause as Knight checked the team health monitors in his HUD, "Wall and Rino, and check out those doors down there... i'd prefer at least keeping in four man teams, but if you feel safe doing pairs, i won't second guess you for clearing out whatever is behind those doors."

Knight paused, and waited a bit for people to give their input or get setup if there wasn't any complaints.

[Lushin]

Sniper position
"Roger' Romulus switched his sights to rest on the air field. He scans for any type of movement.

[ShadesFox]

Aaron had his arms out, as if they would help him stabilize.  He had not been on enough landing ships to appreciate how smooth the whole affair was made by Mother's advanced inertial dampers. Aaron looks back at Mother, "A little impatient it seems.  No worries, we're safely on the ground, and just in time as well."

He looks over at Naz, "I leave all the fighter ops to you, launch at your discretion.  Hopefully this ends quickly and smoothly."

[Azlan]

Sniper position


It is difficult for Romulus to see, but apparently someone in one of the standby jets is climbing the ladder to the cockpit.



Pirate Base Command Center


OOC note: stun grenades are a bit bright, but make relatively no sound... they are a type of energy effect and visual strobe that overloads the senses.



Ben nodded his acknowledgment, "alright boys and girls, let's play mop up.  We're doing this two plus two... two to breach and two to cover.  Let's move."

Ben and his group moved off moving in a less direct and obvious route to the offices.

With Hacker operating the scanners, and Nitro packing the explosives, that leaves either Cyndi or Knight for point.  Cyndi takes the initiative and heads up the stairs first.

Half a flight up, the group surprises a bespectacled tigress with a cup of java in her left hand and the other on a light pistol in her belt holster.




Command Center

OOC: I be impatient myself...


Mother receives the request for air support and lifts the ship back into the air, sufficiently to launch the Zetas.  Once Nazareth clears his team to launch, the fighters are released, she settles again back into the clearing and awaits the crew's next moves.

She gives Aaron the first real snippet of a piece of her personality that is not the motherly normal as she smiles a bit shyly and even seems to blush a bit, "just anxious I guess."


The fighters streak towards the base, ETA 5 minutes.  

[Lushin]

Sniper position
Romulus took aim and fired at the person climbing the ladder.

[Lisky]

Pirate Outpost

Knight hoped that there wasn't any serious resistance left, as air support should be over the area shortly. He kept up with Cyndi, staying slightly behind and to her outside.  His rifle was trained on his field to cover while he moved,  A tigress wearing glasses drifted into his sight picture as he had moved in, she was only a few steps away, but her hand was resting on the butt of a pistol.  Knight eased his finger onto the trigger while watching her movements in his peripheral vision.

While the spotted feline was ready to shoot, Cyndi managed to keep her composure far better the Lieutenant behind her.  She hissed in a low voice, "not a fucking word if you want to live through this" while taking 2 quick, sprint-like steps before delivering a punch to the striped felines stomach, knocking the wind out of her before she even had a chance to reply to the special forces soldier's comment.  Knight would have liked to ask some questions, except it seemed the blow, combined with the short fall had knocked the pirate into a stunned state.  She was tied and gagged, and knight was grateful once again that this team was among the best he'd worked with.

With their charge left in the capable hands of Nitro and hacker, Knight and Cyndi made their way up the stairs and to door leading into the control tower.  Seeing that it opened inward, Knight placed his hand on one of the stun grenades clipped to his equipment harness while keeping the grip of his rifle in the other.   He looked over at Cyndi, who had assume a mirror of his own stance on the other side of the closed door, and whispered to her, "whenever you're ready, lets get it done."

[ShadesFox]

Command Center

Aaron similes at Mother, "Anxious to meet a new friend?  I am quite anxious myself to see what is there."

[Prof B Hunnydew]

(ooc  Sorry I am away from My computer until since last sunday and I can get onlne until this sunday.)


"AWAIT AWAIT no Mother  Let me off " cry Mara when Mother launches again to release the fighters.

"Come on Loki Lets see what Matron has for us to eat..." says Nova as she walk out of the command center...

PBH

[ShadesFox]

Aaron rubbed his forehead, "Lieutenant Nova, the combat operations have not been resolved.  We're all anxious to see what is there, but I don't want anyone wandering off until the situation is secure.  Matron will wait a little longer."

[Azlan]

Sniper Position


Only the most supreme luck in the entire universe seemed to be with this pilot as he slipped at the last possible second dropping a number of rungs.  Romulus's shot impacted the spot the pilot's head was just at and entered the engine air intake on this side of the craft.  It began to smoke from one of the rear thrust nozzles and the fan stopped spinning.

The pilot had rolled quickly under the fuselage and probably was running back towards the hanger, but he was given cover from both snipers by the aircraft.

Alex caught one of the mechanics as he came running towards the plane, but the pilot's yelling must have warned the others because they scrambled for cover.

Just then, the plane exploded...



Pirate Outpost


Cyndi nodded, "something doesn't feel right, I think they might be on to us in there.  We better play this safe."

Carefully she placed a light concussive breaching charges on the door in selected positions.  Contained in a channeling casing, it was designed to direct all force at the object it was placed on.  She flagged Knight to the safety of the stairs and triggered the charge.

The doors blew inward and completely off their hinges.  As she expected, automatic weapons fire poured out of the open door.

Somewhere below them, some more scattered fire could be heard.  Ben's voice was heard over the comms, "we found the base commander and some of his officers.  One of them put on an impressive display with the largest handgun I've ever seen.  He managed to miss me completely only a few feet from him.  Be careful, they hide in file cabinets."

It is then that an explosion is heard and alarms are raised.  It is just a bit too early for the air support.

Over the comms, another voice inquired, "General Activity Has Been Raised In The Barracks.  Shall We Proceed With Containment Actions?  Lethal or Nonlethal Force?"  It was Mother's security bots, and it was rather unsettling to hear their mechanical voices.



Command Center


Loki nodded as Aaron spoke to Nova and he grabbed her with surprising strength, bringing her back into the Command Center.  He was not rough, and perhaps a bit of psychic influence was used to encourage her body to go where he lead it.  She was placed in her seat at the console and Loki was sure to hold Mara carefully, as he would any normal kitten.

Mother spoke out loud and a little oddly, she had taken on a noticeably more English of an accent, "yes I can wait just a bit longer."

Mother held up a hand to reassure Aaron, "do not worry, I allowed her to communicate so.  She cannot project beyond the ship due to the low power states of her systems.  Her main reactors and drive systems are offline, I do not know why, as far as Rebecka can tell they are reasonably intact."

[Lushin]

Sniper Position
Romulus kept looking through his scope as the plane blew up. He spoke only to Alex and not over his radio.
"Didn't expect that to happen. Shoot anybody down there that isn't one of ours"
Romulus shifted his position slightly to start covering the barracks.

[Lisky]

Pirate Outpost

The young Lieutenant realized things were going to hell... and there wasn't much he could do about it.  The explosion went off, and although the pirate's comms were down, the air support was still a little ways off.  The cold, mechanical voice sounded in his earpiece, and after weighing his options for a little over a second, Knight replied, "Use non-lethal force unless a threat is imminent, if you are in danger of receiving damage or harm, fire back with whatever you deem necessary to neutralize the threat."

Knight paused for a moment, doing his breathing exercises to focus his mind.  When  he was ready he said a barely audible "hit it" to Cyndi.  She hit the button, and the door was flung off it's hinges as a pair of stun grenades chased the sudden de-hinged door inside.

The room was larger than Knight had expected as he moved in with Cyndi as soon as the grenades has done their thing.  It seemed the room was largely empty, set up around consoles with various sensor readouts, maps, weather displays, and a litany of other useful tidbits for the air-traffic controllers.  The pair set about tying those still down, quickly throwing weapons well outside of reach as they continued their patrol of the observation tower.

Knight rounded a corner rifle at the ready, and found what appeared to be an empty records area, filled with server cabinets.  He didn't notice the canine boy with the machine pistol, not until it was a fraction of a second too late.  The feline rotated and fired several laser pulses, severing the Canine's spine just below the neck along with putting several other holes through the pirate.  It would have been textbook, except the dog's finger had squeezed his trigger before Knight, the first round hit Knight's armor's breast plate as did the second and third.  The 8mm slugs slammed like mini-hammers against Knights body as he felt each impact through the armor.  there were 2 more hits as well, one that grazed the inside of his left bicep and the edge of his chest, and the last was a through and through, catching the shoulder just inside the collar bone... The bullet tore through skin, flesh, muscle, and blood vessels as it entered and left the feline's body, but in actuality wasn't all that serious a hit.

The feline hardly noticed the actual wounds at first.  He tried to continue moving, and found his left arm suddenly felt like it was burning.  Easing down when it became clear that the tower was clear, Knight reached over and touched his arm, and found a thick, sticky, red liquid running down his arm.  Tracing the small paths, he found it led to his should.  As the realization hit, so did the pain that his adrenaline had been suppressing.  He let out a hiss, quite audible to Cyndi, who was finishing her mop-up of the other side of the far end of the tower.

[ShadesFox]

Command Center

Aaron nods, "Very good.  I would love to chat with Matron more, but that can wait.  I wonder what made her shut down her main drive and power systems.  The typical reason is conserving scarce resources, but I'm not sure of the logistics of an Acadian ship that size so I have no idea."

He thinks a bit, "It shouldn't be too much longer.  The fighters should be able to end things quickly."

[Prof B Hunnydew]

In the Command Center

The catgirl lets herself be led back to her chair by Loki, but she holds Loki hand to her chest and them keep there.  "Loki, I ..I sorry I am not very good ..(pet) ah .Friend of late." whispers Nova.  Nova is scare and excited at at he same time. Alright, She was going to Matron again.... oh goddess she was going to Matron, and how much is Loki's fears were Master induced or how much were errand. thinks Nova

"I just want to know How much of my life is me, and how much is Gaea's "training"".  She hugs the small fox to her and says "I am about to walk into my childhood fantasy, and I am scare to see them with my adult eyes.  They may come true. *sigh* Thank you, Loki,for be here with me" she still whispers only to Loki.

PBH

[techmaster-glitch]

En Route to Pirate Base

   Burns Torson, Nazareth's second-in-command, had been given leadership fighter ops while Nazareth was playing around in the alien ship. Burns knew Nazareth wasn't...exactly pleased with his assignment, but someone had to do it, and Nazareth wasn't one to shirk from duty. Still, while Burns had lead missions and runs himself before, it hadn't been often. But he wasn't one to shirk from duty, either.
   "Zetas, check in."
   "Zeta three, check."
   "Zeta four, check."
   "Zeta five, check."
   "Zetas, form up; diamond formation, I'm on point."
   "Roger."
   "ETA to target zone; three minutes."
   Burns then keyed his communicator to connect with the ground team. "This is Warrant Officer Burns Torson, acting leader of Zeta squad, calling leader of ground forces. We are en route to your area now. What exactly are our targets?"

[Lisky]

Pirate Base

Knight relaxed after a few moments, his shoulder burned but his concentration wasn't broken as he refocused on the mission.  Just in time, considering he just heard the call over the radio... He flinched in pain as he tapped his comm set to the appropriate channel and replied, "2nd Lieutenant Whitehaven here, the barracks is going to be your target.  Building location should be updating to your targeting computer..." he paused while accessing the data-link, and uploaded the data to the squadron, and hoped it was enough. "now... if you need anything else, contact Romulous on the other command channel. he has a better observation point than myself, and i fully authorize him to direct fire-contol if need be... good luck and happy hunting boys."