The Stars Do Not Dream of You (Alvis & AlluringEnigma)

[Alvis Alendran]

"Captain's log, date is...hey Cain, what the fuck day is it?" The captain called.
"Check the fuck clock o'clock." Cain fired back. The captain, Kale, grinned. His crew were assholes. But they were good at what they did, and that was what counted. They were adrift in a small, but potent ship. With the main drives offline and most other systems shut down, they were chilling the hull and sinking their heat emissions, rendering them almost impossible to detect. But they got small pings from their buoys that had been strewn around. They were hunting.

"Contact sir." Came a calm voice from one station.
"About fucking time." Kale groused. They had been lingering in the system for weeks, only taking the time to vent emissions when the heat climbed too high. Tempers were running a little higher than normal. They were not a survey vessel, and they were not here to check traffic.

They were pirates.

"We've got...mid size ship, currently venting heat off the FTL system. Looks like it just started. Likely gives us an hour or so before it'll be ready to jump out again. Hang on, I've got the transponder...oh fuck me that's a Fed ship! F.S. Raven, transport and science ship!" The man making use of the sensor station, Barry, griped. Kale was quiet. The rest of the group groaned. Kale instead pressed a few buttons zooming in on the ship.
"Corvidae class vessel. Crew of...just under a hundred. Maybe 16 marines on board. A few other security drones to throw at us. And a Federal Supply cargo hold." Kale mused aloud. There was complete silence on the bridge.
"Wait...are we doing this? Are we seriously going after a Fed ship?"
"Yeah, I really think we are. Fire up the engines, deploy interdictor torpedoes, and suit up boys. We're going in hard." Orders were given, and people moved to follow through on them.

The Raven was a fine ship, newly made, barely out of shakedown. Gerald Gaines, the science officer on the bridge, was proud to serve. He'd been angling for a posting like this, something out on the edge of controlled space, exploring, topping up the outposts in the region. It was a fine way to start a good career in the Fleet. He'd been perfectly fine serving under his captain, part of which was because she was certainly easy on the eyes. He stole glances here and there, he knew it was distracting him from his job, but what did it matter? This patch of space was clear, he'd swept it three times. He spotted one of the ensigns approach the captain, talking to her. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but it distracted her, let him linger his gaze on her. He let himself smile a little, right before the ship lurched to one side.

Gerald spun back to his station.
"Captain! We're under attack! We've been hit multiple times, breaches across multiple decks! We've got a ship on approach, attack vector! Brace for impact they're firing again!" He called. The ship lurched hard this time. Gerald checked his screens. "We've been boarded! There are trops in the ship!" As he finished, the intercom screamed a moment, before settling into a voice.

"Attention all of you Federal drones! You've been taken over by the I.S. Hammer and it's crew! And we're here to kill everyone on board!" The voice announced it's intentions with casual, careless glee. "Except those lucky bitches on the bridge! You, we're coming for. But don't worry. We won't keep you long." The com went dead.

Kale smiled as he was unlinked from the com system. His team was in position, all of them armed, adn all of htem in fully sealed power suits. Now that they were on board, it was time to make good on their promise. He started to walk forward, and head for engineering. It was the best place to start this little massacre.

 

[AlluringEnigma]

Alexia Novan loved her work. It was hard. It was fulfilling. It was merciless. There was no room for error. Nova lived and died by all of that. She loved competition, she loved pressure, and she thrived in adverse conditions. She had risen through the Federation ranks with ease, and now she was one of the higher captains in their system.

Which is why she had been given the job she was currently on. A space pirate captain named Kale had been terrorizing Federation space for years, and he had worn out his welcome. That said, he was a smart little bastard, and made sure to avoid direct confrontations. He didn't parade through space inviting trouble like most of his idiot peers. Instead, he laid in ambush, picking off ships quietly. Which is why Alexia was now on board a Federation science vessel.

The ship itself was poorly equipped for space combat, but that wasn't what Kale would engage in anyway. He had to board his victims, lest he waste a good bit of valuable plunder. What Kale didn't know, however, was how well equipped the ship was internally. There were actually about 32 marines on board, and more than 10 well-equipped security drones for Kale to deal with. The pirate captain was in for a surprise.

Captain Alexia Novan smiled wickedly as his voice crackled over the intercoms. She had him right where she wanted him. She picked up her own speaker and began to retort. "Oh, but you see, Captain Kale, you've wandered right into the Federation's trap."

It was too late for him to disengage. The ships were locked together, and Alexia had made sure to equip the vessel with a mechanism that made forceful disengaging a time-consuming process. Kale would have to fight his way out to escape her.

"You see, this isn't a research vessel. This is a hunting vehicle, one with the sole purpose of killing you. I bet you walked in here expecting maybe a dozen marines and a bunch of helpless scientists. You poor man. I hope there's enough left of your body to show to my superiors" she mused, as she lay the intercom down.

Her men were positioned perfectly. About half of them were lined up in the hallway leading to the engineering room, in heavy cover no less, waiting expectantly for the Pirate Captain.

Alexia smiled as she heard gunfire break loose.

 

[Alvis Alendran]

Bait. The ship had been bait. And Kale had bitten on it without a second thought. He held up a hand, having his main group halt. There was a whooping coming from behind them as a unit of less skilled, more rough edged pirates flooded the ship. Kale let them rush past, entering the corridor to engineering. Gunfire erupted. Half the mob were cut down in that opening volley. Kale checked the video feed from his armour, getting a look at the enemy. They were in good placements, and going down that path was not going to end well for Kale and his team. While the now slain pirates were only clad in basic gear, and Kale and his team were covered in powered suits, making them a much more dangerous proposition, but even they had limits.

Kale tapped his com unit, contacting the ship.
"Hey, is Baldie awake?" He asked.
"Yeah, why?" Came the reply.
"Tell him to activate FIDO. Set the IFFs, and deploy them."
"You got it."

"So what, we just wait here?" Cain demanded.
"Fuck no. Dale. Let 'em know we're here." Kale ordered. Dale, the biggest among them shouldered his way forward. He raised an arm, a twin-barreled weapon with long tubes running from it to his back. The weapon made a chuffing sound, like compressed gas being discharged. A pair of balls the size of a fist flew out, hitting off the wall, and bouncing. Then again. And again. Each time they were aimed slightly differently, changing their overall destination. A few seconds later, the rubberized grenades went off.

Explosions ripped into the corridor, and Kale grinned. The unit charged forward. The grenades were a combination of flash bangs and heavy fragmentation charges. There were metal spikes two inches long embedded in the walls, and in several of the marines. Screaming was filling hte air. Kale levelled an arm at one man. The coming whine announced the charging of a laser, and the focusing lenses twisted, maximizing hte discharge. The marine fell, half his head burnt clean off. The more simple weapons they all carried were going off, the loud blasting of chemical porpellants sending slugs into the enemy. A pair of heavy impacts rang off of Kale's chest, but the armour held up. Cain had mounted one of the cover positions, and was raking the area with his wrist mounted shard gun, sending streams of glass needles into the marines there. The men fell,clutching their faces and necks, needles stained red with blood. Cain was well known to include a healthy dose of a coagulant on his shards. So much so the victim usually wound up dying because his blood had thickened so much that the heart couldn't pump it along any more.

A few more well placed shots brought down a few more marines, who took the opportunity to fall back through the door to engineering, rather than die where they stood. A sensible move.

The marines took up positions in engineering, the place still set up to let them hold their ground. While they'd certainly wanted to stop them at the first line, if was well understood that a pirate as successful as Kale wasn't likely to be stupid. The squad leader checked in.
"Ma'am, first line is breahed, we're set up on the second. Enemy has a power suit team, we're going to need support...wait a moment..." The door to engineering deformed under a massive impact. Then another. There was the sound of something like a snarl, and then the door caved in completely, borne to the floor by the creature that had breached it. And creature was the right term.

It had probably been a dog at some point. Probably a mastiff of some kind. But now, after continued gene therapy, steroidal treatments, and bionic augmentation, it resembled a dog the same way a tank might resemble a car. You knew that they had some common traits, but one was much more dangerous than the other. Five feet high, and more than four hundred pounds, the front of the hound had been grafted with metal plates, mechanical replacements for it's eyes gave it burning red gaze. Whatever was powering those eyes was clearly not well contained, because they leaked a red mist that dissipated a few inches above the eyes. The hound howled, an unnatural sounding thing that made every marine flinch back from it. Then it charged. As rounds plinked off the frontal armour, the marines began to panic as five more piled into the room after the first.

Blood was in the air, the marines discovering that the hounds had been augmented with reciprocating blades for teeth, letting them saw and shear through body armour. Kale simply strode in, his armour taking in the sight. He patched his visual feed into the ship, putting the scene of marines fighting desperately against the tide of meta and flesh that had been unleashed on nearly every screen in the ship, especially on the bridge. He kicked a severed limb away from himself, letting it slide into the room.
"Hope your getting all this captain. We're comin for you." Kale growled, loud enough to let the sound carry into the feed.

 

[AlluringEnigma]

Captain Alexia banged her fist against the console, frustrated as she watched her men get eaten alive by the mutated and modified dogs. "Fucking bastard. I'll personally tear you limb from limb when I get ahold of you. There will be no court date. Just a room with you tied to a chair and me with a pair of pliers." Alexia growled and cut her voice from the comm link, returning to the situation at hand.

They had breached engineering with the fiendish beasts. Her marines had managed to kill a few of the pack, but half of them still remained, as well as Kale and his escort. "Anyone still alive, fall back to the third line." She hadn't expected the hybrids or would have started her defenses at the third line. Instead, she now was down to about a dozen marines and a handful of automated defenses. That said, she still had a couple tricks up her sleeve. "Is everyone at the third line?"

"Yes Captain." came the reply over comms.

"Activate the gas" she ordered grimly. Suddenly, the whole of engineering was engulfed in toxic gases gathered from their voyages. It was a little trick the Federation had discovered when dealing with borders, and it would help even the odds for Alexia once more. She watched with a grin as the remaining mastiffs began choking for air, scurrying around the room like massive insects about to be crushed. The whole ship moved downwards when they finally collapsed.

Unfortunately, due to Kale's power armor, neither he nor his other men in power armor were affected. That said, she had certainly given her marines a much better chance of holding. The third line itself was much stronger than any of the other choke points of the ship. It wasn't her last resort, but it was her strongest. It was a long and narrow, fortified hallway that led to the bridge designed specifically to deal with boarders. Tow machine turrets flanked either side, and heavy fortification decorated the room. Kale would need one hell of a trick to bust through it, even if he was in powered armor.

She returned to the comm links. "What's taking so long? I was expecting you'd be here by now. Did your poor little hounds get all tuckered out? I'd tell you there's no shame in turning back, but I'd be lying if I said you'd leave this alive. Lay down your weapons now and I'll kill you quickly. Otherwise, I'll make you pay personally for each and every one of my men."

The fortified corridor lay silent as the comm went dead. It was Kale's move, so to speak.

 

[Alvis Alendran]

"Bitch has got a fucking mouth on her boss." James said with a smile.
"Yes, yes she does." Kale agreed. Tactics. It was all coming down to tactics. Feds had a certain way of thinking, and that was important to keep in mind. Still, the current operation had been well planned, his crew was just a little craftier than expected. They could still win this. And then he'd have the captain pay for her attempts to kill him, her taunts, that arrogant assumption that she was able to get the better of him.

"What's the play? Gotta think if we stick around too long patrol ships will show up and take us down." Dale point out.
"I know. Gotta play this smart though. James, check the consoles. What have they got us locked out of?" Kale asked. James stepped to a onsole, and checked it out.
"I've got access to internal sensors, but security is locked out. Bridge is isolated, so I can't touch it. Smart. I can pull the air out, but Marines have onboard air supply, so it won't get them." James amended. Kale smiled.
"So you've got life suport access?"
"Yeah, kind of. In engineering, and the corridor, but not much else."
"How about the artificial gravity?" James nodded, and set to work.

The corridor floor lit up a narrow path that snaked throught he pointof cover and marines. They cocked their heads in confusion for a moment beofre the light dimmed as the power draw in the corridor spiked up. Each marine collapsed to the floor with a cry, the gravity that they ahd been under suddenly ramping up to ten times the normal, crushing them to the floor.

"Go fast, the system will override me pretty quick!" James shouted. Dale led the charge, storming the corridor. The turrets, not caring about the gravity change, actually adjusting their aim to compensate for the change. Dale had his arm up, keeping the incoming fire off of his face, while angling his shoulder. There was a whine as power surged into the heavy laser emitter there, before a line of light lanced out. One turret exploded in a cloud of flame and molten metal. Dale fell bak out of the corridor, his arm smokoing from the rounds that had been deflected, but he'd not be able to do such a thing again. "Come on! Less than a minute!" James shouted over the com line. Kale blew out a breath, and dove into the corridor. The auto turret was tracing him, though it seemed to stutter a moment. Kale had brought his armour systems online, optical camouflage disrupting the targeting system for long enough that Kale could draw a bead on the turret. The gun barrels swept around, aiming at him directly. His wrist fired out the coruscating particle beam, shearing the turret in half.

The backblast from the beam washed over him, his armour keeping it off of him. Several of the marines weren't so fortunate. Intense heat and lethal radiation washed over them, the men screaming as they cooked in their body armour. Kale felt his temperature rise impressively, but his armour did an emergency coolant flush to keep him safe. The outer layer of ablative plating flaked off, dissipating the radiation, and Kale smiled. The increased gravity went offline, and Marines started to get up. The rest of the squad stormed ahead, weapons blazing.

The firefight went on a few more moments, and the marines were down.
"Report!" Kale ordered.
"Little banged up. Phil took a hit to his leg, went through the plate. Need to get that patched up on the ship." Cain answered. All of them had chips and pits out of their armour, evidence that the Marines hadn't gone down easily. Kale tapped his com.

"You hear me captain bitch? I'm here for you now. Best be ready for me." He snarled into the com. Dale sealed the door to the corridor they were in, cutting off any other reinforcements. Then the big man stepped to the door to the bridge. His armour gave a whine as he powered up the Ram system on his arm. He swung forward, a combination of hydraulics and a shaped charge on the hand delivering a blow that deformed the door, looking like it had been hit by a truck. A second blow deformed it farther, the sound of the impact ringing through the bridge. Teh third collapsed the door into the bridge proper. They were here.

 

[AlluringEnigma]

The bridge of the starship was alight with panic and distress. Red lights danced across the metallic exterior as the anteroom to the Bridge was breached and neutralized. The squad leader of her marines radioed over to describe the situation for the anxious captain. Alexia tapped her foot anxiously as she heard the news, the sound of gunfire and chaos pouring over the frequency.

"Captain! He's taken out the first turret! We're sitting ducks in zero gravity! The second turret is down! They're coming in! Captain! Oh f-!"

The transmission cut out suddenly and Alexia paced the bridge in a panic. This couldn't be happening. She had planned for him so carefully. She had neutralized his expensive mutants. She had nearly 50 well-trained and well-armed Federation marines. And yet a simple pirate had made his way to the Bridge in what felt like no time at all.

Alexia steeled herself. She sure as heck wasn't going down without kicking and screaming all the way to hell. She started barking orders around the Bridge. "Turn the tables over! Everyone with a firearm get behind them. Everyone else get the fuck out of the way. I want everyone here to hold their fire until you can see them fully. We're not going to lie down for these pirate bastards."

Alexia crouched beneath the table and waited with bated breath as the ringing sound of the door being rammed resonated throughout the ship.

DING

DING

DING

Then, the door caved in without warning and the remaining pirates flooded in. "OPEN FIRE!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, a barrage of small arms fire hailing down on the pirates. The first few into the bridge collapsed as their armor failed and their wounds became too many, but there were simply too many pirates and the Bridge Crew was not particularly well-armed. Alexia continued her assault as her friends were picked off one by one - until she remained alone.

The young star fleet captain did her best to fend off her attackers, but there were too many angles for one person to cover, and one managed to flank his way around and sneak up on her. Without warning, he punched her in the back of the head. Alexia went flying in one direction - her gun the other.

Her head swam for a few moments, until she slowly started to stand up, her dazed vision making her movements slow and predictable. Before she could stand, however, she felt the a boot dig into her back, pushing her stomach flat against the deck.

The battle was over. She had lost.