Logbook entry

Vindicta Part 3

24 Feb 2021RedivivusCrowd
Dragen was behind a shelf near the airlock of the warehouse, trying to look busy without actually doing much work when he heard a dull clunk above his head, he paused for a moment before chuckling to himself and getting back to "work". "That idiot Werner must have flung a crate up onto the roof again, probably getting a bollocking right now."

He briefly thought back on the last trader their crew had raided, idiot tried to run and he talked back when they boarded his ship. Well, he'd talked back until Dragen had put a bullet in his head. Dragen thought back on the memory with malicious satisfaction until he heard a sizzling sound coming from above him, he looked up to see sparks and molten metal slowly coming down from above him.

He didn't get a chance to scream before a blast erupted from above, obliterating him and what little thoughts he had from existence.

Daminjo and the Rookie had turned away from the explosion, they turned back to the sight of a mangled corpse getting sucked out of the new sunroof their charge had made. The first pirate was followed shortly afterwards by four more screaming and flailing victims, hands grasping and reaching for helmets that were now well out of reach. The next one to get sucked out of the hole however had either already been wearing a helmet or had managed to get one on as the warehouse underwent an explosive decompression. He was reaching for a sidearm tucked into a holster on his thigh.

Daminjo had already trained his rifle at the hole and simply let out a burst from his weapon, a barrage of laser pulses punched clean through the man's visor and sent him tumbling off into the void like a rag doll. Daminjo barked orders into his comms as he bounded to the edge of the roof directly above the airlock, "Keep covering that hole Rookie." The leader peered over the edge of the roof and saw their targets diving for cover as they took fire from two different directions.

He saw 7 dead pirates already lying strewn about in the open, he saw one taking shots at the Osirans to the south from the hatch on the Adder while 7 others had dropped some of the larger crates they'd been carrying and were huddled behind them for cover. The rest were now making a run for the door, although they were making poor progress as they kept putting too much power into their strides, doing little hops through the air. One unlucky soul took combined fire from two different laser rifles and fell to the ground in a crumpled heap, Daminjo began adding his own firepower to dispatching them.

One of the pirates taking cover took notice of Daminjo up on the roof and levelled his own weapon at him, before Daminjo had a chance to react, a huge hole was blown through the man's torso and he fell to the ground.

Two Kilometres away Royce made haste as Ramirez cursed at him, "Hurry up, I see one getting into the pilot seat of that Adder!" Between the two of them was the crate they had brought down with them, six anchoring legs had emerged from the bottom of the box and drilled into the dirt and rock beneath them.

Poking out of the top of the crate was "The Prototype". A stripped down Class 2 Railgun. Under ordinary circumstances a weapon of this size could only be mounted on a ship with suitable hard points. With extensive engineering and modifications the techies at Muracing had managed to cut the weight down to a "measly" 0.36 tons, that along with the portable fusion generator necessary to power the weapon brought the weight up to 0.5 tons.

Royce grinned while loading the next round, marvelling at the genius of the designers. "Sure it weighs 0.5 tons on Earth." Royce turned to Ramirez and gave her a pat on the shoulder, "But here it only weighs 181 Kilograms. Perfectly doable for a two man team." Putting these thoughts aside he put his Binoculars up to his visor and zoomed in on the Adder's cockpit, seeing the pilot hastily starting up the ship's engines. "Weapon loaded, clear to fire."

"Wait a sec..." Ramirez was sat at the rear of the weapon aiming and firing the weapon through the use of a terminal at the back of the crate. Her voice casual as she concentrated. The Adder began slowly lifting off the ground and moving forward. "Ramirez, what in the hell are you doing?! take the sh..." The weapon fired, Royce flinched and turned his attention to the Adder, it continued forward for a moment and then started to slowly nose down towards the ground.

Daminjo was taking cover when he poked his head up and was greeted by the sight of the Adder nosing into the ground and grinding forward nose first for a few hundred metres until the nose sheared off and it came to a stop on it's back. Daminjo took some fire from a few figures who had decided to focus their attention on him, He began barking orders into his mic, "They're focusing fire on me, shields getting low too." Kaya's voice came through the comms, "Don't worry brother, we'll give them something to chew on."

The three Osirans to the West emerged from their cover and began slowly marching forward, levelling their weapons, large bulky machine guns that would be cumbersome and unwieldy in a normal gravity well but here the Osirans were able to aim and fire them with ease. As they advanced they began laying down a withering hailstorm of lead and death at the remaining enemies taking cover, their boots digging into the ground with the aid of small metal spikes, helping them to brace against the recoil of their weapons.

In spite of this they began taking hits, rounds began plinking off their shields and a laser rifle began targeting them. In response they each turned a crank on their thighs and their shields began pulsing as the shield cell banks kicked in, the heat vents on their armour glowed a bright orange and their suits began venting steam. The level of heat produced by a shield cell bank would be intolerable for a normal human but for the Osirans it was "manageable", so long as they didn't do it repeatedly in short succession.

Daminjo grimaced behind his visor as he watched this, knowing full well that it was still quite unpleasant even for an Osiran and yet they would offer no complaints, for that was their nature. The last few hostiles huddled behind cover threw their weapons in the air and stuck their hands in the air, waving them around frantically.  Daminjo activated his comms, "Cease fire, let's see what they do."

The rest of the team's fire came to a stop and there was a moment of calm before the remaining four pirates emerged from behind their cover and started walking into the open, coming to a stop below Daminjo. The Osiran slowly stood up straight to look down at them and set his comms to broadcast on all frequencies, tapping his finger against the side of his helmet and pointing at the figure at the front of the group.

There was a moment of silence before a woman's voice crackled to life in Daminjo's ear, her voice was frantic. "We surrender, ok?! Fuck!" There was a long silence, the pirates below fidgeting and looking around them, the rest of the team had moved up and and were now training their weapons on them. A few more moments passed before the woman spoke again, "Well? What are you waiting for?! Get it over with, arrest us!" Daminjo stared down at her silently, taking in the moment. Savouring it.

Daminjo switched to the team channel "Colt, take Abram and Weiss and go check out the warehouse, Rookie you're going in with them." A chorus of "Yes Sir" followed and the Corporate Troopers made their way to the wall of the building, a jump assisted by their suit's in built thrusters propelled them to the roof, they then descended through the hole the charge had made out of Daminjo's sight. He then turned back towards the pirates below him, switching back to broadcasting to them, "You don't seem to understand what's happening." Daminjo took a seat on the ledge of the roof, his legs dangling over the side, his rifle laid across his lap as he looked down upon them. "You need to think hard on what you have to offer to make you worth "arresting."

*To be continued*
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