Abduction - Action Plan
02 Aug 2024Kasumi Goto
Previous : Abduction - Discovery
"So, after finding out Azimuth was behind that friend's disappearance, I decided to go searching there. And I didn't do it quietly."
Near LHS 1163
I had everything set up. My Corvette - or the one which I originally purchased and set up for a variety of combat tasks, as opposed to another primarily dedicated to hunting down pirates - was ready, not so much for shooting down ships as just the powerful shielding which it offered. Something that would very definitely come in handy, if I had to call it back under fire... which, at some point in this, I probably would have to. And my Phantom's defenses were simply not cut out for that job.
I was just about to take off and jump into the Azimuth-controlled system when I received a transmission from the Anti-Club Accord network, a direct response to my request for help less than an hour earlier, telling me that assistance was on the way, ETA roughly fifteen minutes, with a request for specific targeting information.
Before I answered, I quickly checked who I was dealing with. 'John Redhand' - total stranger to me, name aside, given his presence in the ACA network. Told him I didn't have any information on any specific sites to target, and planned to start with one of two industrial sites owned by Azimuth. Or, at least, my probably out-of-date data on the system claimed they owned two, alongside a few military outposts. I also informed him that I was in a nearby system, and that it was good he'd responded then, given my intention to head out on my own just before that message reached me.
The answer I received was that he owed a debt to 'her' for something she'd helped him out with in the past - I assumed he meant Jana, but I didn't have a clue what the background between the two of them was... apparently, it was obvious to the man who I meant with the abducted friend, and didn't want to question it too much. He appeared more than willing to help, and nothing on the background checks suggested I'd have to be dubious about the motives here. Would have to ask Jana about that after I'd gotten her out of Azimuth's dirty paws, though, because I couldn't remember her mentioning that to me before.
I saw it fit to warn my - probably, temporary - associate that it would be better to not expect too much, yet, because I was simply looking for any kind of data, intel or otherwise, on Jana's whereabouts... and maybe why, though I had my guesses about her being intended as a bait to lure me in. Or commit something stupid, such as coming to wherever Azimuth would have wanted me to, without the intention to just kill them and take her back. After briefly consulting the remote system map, again, I pointed toward Chang Industrial Works on body A 4 H. I did a few final checks and preparations, to make sure my armor sat right and all weapons worked perfectly, to pass the time, then jumped into the nearby LHS when told my backup had arrived. I could have set up alternate IDs to conceal myself from Azimuth, but... when they were this brazen about kidnapping what was possibly the closest person to me in many years, why would I have?
Of course, the man seemed doubtful that we'd find anything at such an industrial site, and I agreed that it was unlikely, expecting hints toward a military facility at best, but that you never knew with Azimuth. I dropped in around the outpost first, landing about a few hundred meters away, and reminded him of my chosen targeting rules - to target security forces primarily, but I wouldn't care too much for the civilian casualties if they got in the way.
Nor did I care for going loud right away. I was rather pissed about the kidnapping, first and foremost, and this was as much searching for her as it was teaching Azimuth a lesson. Or perhaps just a reminder about what I did to people that tried to take or harm my friends, as I'd apparently similarly done in the past, but under very different circumstances... which I couldn't really remember. Only other people's accounts and personal logs about it. This first outpost was in broad daylight, but given the plan for total lack of discretion, that didn't matter in the slightest.
The security force was according to its small size - an industrial production building, a power center and connected habitation quarters for something like four workers. I'd told myself I'd leave the civilians alone unless I had to deal with them, but turned out to find myself rather indiscriminate in my targeting, particularly since said 'civilian' workers were just as eager to start firing as their guards, not that it did them any good. Not a care in the world for the bounties 'awarded' for illegally killing those people, on my end, either.
While John was getting right up in their faces, I stayed at range, picking targets off with my assault rifle... I was better at that, anyhow, given that my body made close-quarters fighting a lot less practical, or desirable. Heard open calls for reinforcements, with my HUD displaying two separate of the settlement's inhabitants sending a transmission, but nothing showed up. Maybe I'd killed them quickly enough to prevent it.
Fighting ended as quickly as it started, at least outside, where less than a dozen personnel were present. I copied a level 1 access profile from a dead guard, but the only place that would get me into was the corridor to the power center, and the attached hab structure. I headed toward it, stopping abruptly when I saw a skimmer patrolling near the landing area - how this thing hadn't noticed us, I had no idea. I pulled out my railgun and aimed up, somehow fluffing the first shot. I cursed under my breath and charged up another shot, as the drone turned 'angry' and toward the shooter. This second shot went true to its target, striking the drone right in the 'eye', downing it in a single hit. Then I moved along to the building, to the right.
One 'civilian' was in there and... promptly received a few bullets to the body. Level 2 profile - good enough to get into industrial, but as I came back out of hab, the power center had already been broken open, and its occupants killed. So that was level 3 access - probably, good enough to get into the central computer here. But it wasn't in the power center, so, that left only industrial production. A few more workers were left in there, too, but their fates had been sealed the moment we landed.
The fact no reinforcements had shown up was odd, to say the least, but I wasn't going to look the gift horse in the mouth... yet. I searched a larger room on the right of the building entrance we'd used first, but other than the lone point defense turret's controls, and some production status displays, nothing was in there. I found a sort of improvised control room on the opposite side of the building, where I disabled alarms and the authorization scanners, grabbed some data on building plans, operating instructions for some kind of classified prototype and production reports from a less well-secured port... because who knew what Azimuth were working on here, under the hood.
Then I accessed the central computer system, housed just underneath my feet. Nothing useful, except for some vague references toward "Deshpande's Installation", most of the information redacted, but time frame matched when I suspected the abduction to have taken place... it was another industrial site, on moon A 1 A. Whoever had come up with the names for these outposts really needed a good knock on the head.
I told John of my findings, and that he could grab anything he wanted, then began hopping out of the five-hundred meter zone in which my suit computer refused to recall the ship - dismissed shortly after landing for safety reasons - because it was a 'hostile zone'... as if there were any ship defenses here. He replied by telling me he intended to shut down the site, which I didn't take issue with. Didn't care - neither Azimuth nor anybody who still worked for them now deserved any mercy or respect.
Once back in my ship and at the helm, I waited a few kilometers above the surface for my helper to finish up and get back into his Krait Phantom, keeping a close eye on the other ships marked as hostile. None of them were security or military, but civilians that... didn't really seem to have much of a clue what to do but float around. I ignored them, and went into supercruise when I saw the status display on my ship HUD indicating my 'wingmate' had returned to his vessel. He seemed to insist the better target would be a military site, and to come up with a plan for it, due to there being only two of us, and not having an idea how well Azimuth security there - or in this system - would be armed. And to be mindful of them possibly using something experimental.
I countered by saying my expectations were low, considering that the forces at the industrial site were only equipped with the sorry Pioneer weapons, and that my concern was more for the ships which circled above a military facility. That, and I preferred to check the mentioned industrial site in case it held a specific reference to one of the military outposts. He agreed, and we headed over to A 1 A without a further word. A security ship seemed intent to head in my direction as I was coming in for final approach, a few light seconds from the moon, for a routine scan, I presumed... but the Anaconda was coming from deep within the gas giant's gravity well - probably chased down some pirates to it - and evidently didn't use a supercruise overcharge drive, because I was already on the way down to the surface before it even had a chance to begin an interdiction.
Of course, the settlement was placed right within some fairly rough terrain... and I didn't feel like landing too close to the settlement, in case they were alert or suspicious already - it would only be a matter of time before Azimuth realized what was going on. No security circling, luckily, so I was able to land on a flat, elevated spot about a kilometer from the target without issue. As before, I dismissed my ship just after exiting, seeing my backup land closer, a few hundred meters from the site, roughly at a ninety degree angle to the right, from my position. Nobody knew or realized it was him thanks to the lack of security ships in the area to perform scans... and, apparently, he saw no need to dismiss his ship.
A small mound in the terrain, a few meters high, provided some adequate cover to approach one side of the outpost, relatively unseen, and I saw the bulky figure hopping over there to meet up with me near it, in a relatively unspoken way. Though my own figure was fairly bulky and recognizable as well, just... in some rather specific parts. He hadn't commented on it, which I did not mind - it was my problem to deal with and work around - but he would have seen me coming even without the beacon marker. I peeked around the mound to get a look at our target. Definitely bigger than the previous settlement, with more and bigger structures, plus a signature dish on one of them. Everything neatly arranged in two 'lanes' of sorts, plus maybe one or two unimportant structures on the other side of a bridge... and being near the day/night border provided some long shadows to hide in.
"Well, they have a command center here. That's more promising.", I told John, pointing at it with a finger, keeping an eye on the guard patrolling directly ahead... but in the opposite direction.
Clearly, a man of few words, because he just went right off, no further recon, and shot the guard with a plasma shotgun. That would be immediately fatal... I followed up as quickly as I could, preferring to go on the rooftop of the production building, while the madman just seemed to be going completely berserk down there, ripping through the security force and civilians alike as if they were merely a minor obstacle in the path of a bulldozer. I provided some supporting fire from a distance, finding my assault rifle to be more useful in this hectic style of fighting than trying to pick off enemies precisely and one by one with my railgun, no thanks to them otherwise being down before I'd even charged up a shot.
Though I could have simply done nothing, I was here to send a sign, alongside finding clues to Jana's whereabouts, and it would have felt wrong to just sit aside and let the crazy bastard handle everything on his own. But I was a bit slow in getting going or, rather, following along, so I only got a few opportunistic shots in on some of the guards, and an oddly aggressive 'civilian' who, you would have thought, would have stayed away from the fighting instead.
I 'borrowed' the profile from the technician, which provided level 2 access, and entered the industrial production complex, intending to fully clear out the place - or, at least, as much as I could - before heading into the command center. There weren't really any guards left inside the production building, mostly just the workers, and their behavior did not strike me as particularly civilian, either. Then again, this was Azimuth we were dealing with and they probably didn't hire anyone who objected to their past or work ethos too much. Not to mention our entrance had been about as quiet as a bull running into a china shop, so they knew we were coming. Not that it did them any good. Being here, I followed the impulse to poke around a bit, see what Azimuth were getting up to here. And this spot was almost like a treasure trove.
Patents for things Azimuth were looking to develop as their own, more production reports, inventories of stored chemical substances, a register listing each and every formula, ways of enhancing compounds hazardous to Thargoids to work at larger scale than traditional ship-based weapons... as well as generally improving their efficiency. Thankfully, I found no traces of any data on the Helix compound being here - with my memory in a, at least, generally functional state, now, I still remembered that one quite well.
Not really having space to carry any samples with me, or at most one, I just left the stuff be... after gracing it with a few projectiles, from a safe distance, to avoid getting splashed. Nothing like contaminating the compounds by exposing them to air that was far from sterile, and then having them mix on the floor as well. I grabbed a level 3 clearance from here, as well, and left for the command center after that, while the mad man - mad in a good way - remained outside, going on to clear out the remainder of the installation.
Of course, some guards were in there, but their weaponry was far from anything military-grade here, too, and the two near the entry hall barely scratched my shield before they were treated to a few bullets perforating important parts of their body, be that head or somewhere further below. Then I was joined by John again, no communication between us seeming necessary, but there wasn't really anybody left in the building already - the only guard left most of the defending forces had to have been outside, alerted by the fighting, and if there were any civilians currently inside the command center, they weren't in the security control room. Despite this outpost being bigger, its security detail really didn't appear to be any larger to compensate, either.
I disabled settlement alarms first, then checked the data port and consoles there, finding nothing of interest there. The lockers did hold some encrypted data storage chips, which I let come with me - those could have some 'interesting' material on them, too, even if it ended up being unrelated to my search for Jana. But I'd investigate those later, or maybe hand them over to somebody that had a good use for them.
Going up to the command center - more like a command room, in size - next, it was... also empty, so I began searching through the central computer system. Perhaps John had 'found' the workers in another section, as I had received an alert for a 'team member' being under attack... and he followed up on that by announcing he'd "found the last two people" and that it was "clear", joining me up here again shortly after. By that time, I had turned off the site's defenses, and found what I needed - clear references to a Black Flight ship passing through the system. The same message as the one in the first industrial base, but without any of the redacted bits, which also told me exactly where in the system said ship had stopped. This computer had to have a higher clearance level in Azimuth's database.
"Found something?", he inquired, face hidden behind the helmet just as much as mine was.
"Yes.", I answered. "I have what I need from here. Data says a ship with a Black Flight designation passed through a military outpost on A 2 B, a few days ago. Bet that's where we're going to find something." I paused briefly, thinking about whether I wanted anything else from here, but I didn't. "Feel free to shut this place down."
"Understood. Fast looting, and shutting down this damned site."
"Also grabbed some data chips from this command center, and other data on what they were doing here. See if it has anything useful for us.", I added, imagining that the Anti-Club Accord would very much find the stuff I got my hands on interesting. They took as much offense with Azimuth as they did with their main target, and namesake.
John said nothing and just moved on to picking up whatever he could. I set up a little 'surprise' first while sending out a signal disguised as a harmless automated comms request to the military outpost, asking for any shipments it required, then headed back outside and found that I could just recall my ship right here, which I remarked on in mildly amused manner. He found it interesting, while also warning me that it could be a trap, but I doubted so considering that I'd turned off the defenses, which I told him, and definitely wouldn't connect to the systems with my ship's own.
As I watched my Corvette descend on the large ship landing area, I contemplated that, again, no reinforcements had been sent to back up the attacked settlement, just like the first. Or I'd simply missed it, but I didn't really believe that. He would certainly have warned me if that were the case... or so I assumed, at the very least. Once the ship was down, I got its access lift lowered - thankfully, despite the ship's spartan design, easily capable of fitting my wide form - and returned to its cockpit, having barely used enough ammo to really bother or need to get a few fresh mags. Instead, I checked the system map, referencing for the info I'd been provided with. There was only one candidate on that moon - Baibuza Military Armory, only fifty light seconds away, as the parent gas giant orbited in a binary pair with the first planet of the system... itself also a gas giant.
I sent the target info to the Krait Phantom that was still sitting there, parked nearby, then muted outgoing comms momentarily.
"EDI, are you in?", I asked, expecting she knew what I was talking about.
"Yes. I have successfully infiltrated the computer system. Once you give the signal, I will cause a diversion.", she replied.
"Good."
A figure hopped across the midsection of my ship, clearly in view of the bridge, making me pull a funny face at the definitely intentional act.
'Silly idiot', I thought to myself, and made sure to wait that he was off the hull to take off. This time, the civilian ships were... not so interested in staying around, it seemed, instead waking out after seeing the site on alert.
After a few minutes of waiting, John's ship was still grounded, even though my HUD clearly showed he was onboard. I unmuted the comms link and inquired about it.
"You done down there soon? I'm planning to be getting out of here before those bastards bring down hell on our heads, or even realize we're in the system." I paused for a moment, not enough for him to respond. "Not that we've been quiet. Though they haven't bothered sending reinforcements either. I've also taken the liberty of sending the nav target for the facility to your ship."
By now, they probably knew somebody was raiding their ground facilities, with a particular lack of tact, but actually tracking said activity to our ships would take a bit longer. I intended to be long gone before that happened.
"Give me five minutes. I need to fill the magazines for my weapons.", he informed me, then.
I did wait a few minutes, pondering which weapons he meant, before I just distanced myself from the settlement and entered supercruise, leaving the throttle at zero. He could probably handle himself if any armed Azimuth ship showed up, so I wasn't too worried. And the other weapon he had, probably a plasma pistol, as I did recall seeing him wield one.
"Just waiting in orbit.", I told John, checking the time as I levelled the ship out to keep the distance to the surface relatively steady - below the orbital cruise line, but moving to obtain line of sight to the target, and kick off the supercruise overcharge. As soon as he appeared on my radar, I began crossing the distance to the other moon.
"Ready.", he called out, and began laying out his plan. "Now, we need to be careful. We land at a distance of two kilometers."
"I'm aware. Don't, want to get scanned, before landing.", I responded, having some memory that there were always military ships circling above these facilities.
"Well, fast plan - I will attack, and you should be stealthy, until I take a position, ok? Don't fire before I take up a defensive position in one of the buildings."
"I guess. As stealthy as I can be."
With my body, it was... definitely much easier said than done. Putting aside that the whole quick movements thing wasn't really one of my strengths any more, mostly thanks to the absurdly sized lower section, it was... also difficult to miss me, due to the disproportionate nature of that figure. I'd still, at least, try to go along with the plan.
"Great. This will allow you to hit them in the back.", John stated, and I remained quiet from there.
As I got close to the moon which held the facility, it became obvious that it was on the dark side... but that'd only help us by making it harder to see around there. For anyone that didn't have a night vision module, anyway... I did. I saw his ship overshoot the moon, which would result in us approaching from different angles, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I got there earlier, approaching in a way that'd leave me about ten kilometers away from the facility, just in case. The ships would stick to a certain distance to the outpost in which they could break off from their patrol pattern, allowing me to get a look at what we were dealing with. If possible, I preferred a quiet insertion, over fighting those ships to get a window in which to land and get out of my ship safely.
First, there were only two ships, a Vulture and, for some reason, an Asp Scout, which I called out. As I did the other Asp which arrived shortly thereafter... John told me to keep looking I expected Azimuth hadn't broken the encryption codes used for these transmissions, otherwise I would not have been so open about the observations relayed. I shut up after remarking that these wouldn't be able to put much of a dent into my shields as a fourth ship - a Python - showed up.
"They have military networking and can call in more reinforcements. Better to be safe.", he called out, not that it was anything surprising to me.
Eventually, there was a total of seven, though it could as well have been five or six, looking at the Eagle and Viper in that mosh pit of military vessels. Of course, we'd just missed the window of a shift rotation late in the day. They had to be aware I was out here, too, but seemed they wouldn't do anything as long as I just sat there at a 'safe' distance.
No matter. I approached to within four kilometers as the wingmate signal approached... and as soon as he entered the airspace of the facility, the angry swarm of military ships went straight for his ship, like a frenzied nest of hornets.
'Not exactly to plan ...', I thought to myself, but that meant eyes were all on the other side while I had a - relatively - clear window to approach, landing in a sort of valley that was wide and flat enough to land the Corvette without issue. Which was just as well, because in this mountainous terrain, it looked like the only landing spot that was safe and within reasonable walking distance, about 1.6 kilometers. Meanwhile, in the sky, a Krait Phantom was giving the Azimuth ships - and facility defenses - a show. Shield was still taking enough of a battering that it wouldn't last long on his, but it was quick enough to disengage without a problem. I transferred power to shields, the rest to engines, then got up and out with my weapons, dismissing it as soon as outside.
"Well, I'm out here now.", I called out. "Thanks for playing bait, I guess."
He could have asked me to do it instead, since I was in the ship with the shield to take that kind of punishment and just shrug it off. Yet it was not to be, apparently. After looping around, I watched his Phantom land right near me, a few dozen meters away at most - still getting shot at, of course, which prompted me to raise my shield, not that it would do much good if I was hit by anything directly. But I wasn't... and I saw him dart out of the ship and it take off, but didn't follow it with my eyes. Of course, the absolute idiots flying the Azimuth ships kept shooting it instead of paying attention to the surface. I disabled my shield again to preserve power, rewarding the man with a look.
"My ship is destroyed, so I will need your help after we have finished.", he brought up.
I merely shrugged - the Corvette had several additional crew seats - and tapped on the side of my helmet twice, then began hopping toward the facility. Normally I preferred walking, but .08G was not particularly conducive to regular movement, even if that was still simpler than moon hopping with my excessive 'size'. It meant he was faster than me, but neither of us got very far and had barely started climbing the hill, when the sky was lit up by explosions and gunfire again, as the defending ships were returning to their assigned stations... under fire by their own defensive installations.
"Oh dear. It looks like Azimuth's defenses suffered from a malfunction. I wonder who did that ....", I remarked, in a silly, mocking tone, stopping for a moment to admire. This would definitely give them something else to worry about than if anyone was approaching on foot.
"Who are they firing on? Do you see?", John inquired.
"At their own ships.", I responded, quite amused.
"Of course. We seem to be lucky that they made some mistakes with their defense system." He paused briefly. "This is beautiful."
Clearly, it wasn't just me who admired the chaotic carnage. I saw one of the Asps go down in flames, fuelled by air leaking from breaches after eating a whole volley of airburst explosives. Bound for a crash landing a couple kilometers from here, probably - not that there'd be much left of the ship in this terrain, once it hit. A Vulture bit the dust next, lighting up the night sky with a bigger explosion. Then, as we were reaching the hill, the Eagle I'd spotted earlier suffered a rapid unscheduled disassembly in another swarm of explosives, going right above our heads, close enough that I could feel a light vibration from the explosion through the extremely thin atmosphere of the icy world, when I was just about to reach the top of the hill. Maybe a little too close for comfort, that one. The debris would likely land somewhere else, though, and not be my concern.
The 'malfunctioning' defenses targeted the Python next, and I had to imagine how whoever was in charge of the outpost was yelling at their subordinates to get the situation under control, while they scrambled to get the unruly turrets in line, and the pilots of the ship above had to be extremely confused about why they were getting fired upon by their own defenses, which were either focusing a specific ship, or haphazardly targeting anything in the vicinity. John didn't seem to have caught on that I was responsible for this 'diversion', though, so I rolled along with it as I caught up with him at the outer wall, spotting an alert guard with their shield up through an opening... but they hadn't seen me.
"That - " I pointed up at the sky. " - also works against us, because they're alert. How should we handle this?"
"Okay. This could go on forever, but it is time, and time to do business.", John said, firmly holding his plasma shotgun already, in a combat-ready stance.
I was more just ducking behind cover, looking at the Goliath skimmer, from which, I now realized, the explosives munitions were coming. The act of ducking was probably unnecessary, given that the wall was at least twice as high as me, but it kept my muscles tensed up and ready to strike, while he continued about his idea for the engagement.
"We are acting as planned. Look at my actions closely. I may not have time to give you a signal to attack."
"Okay." I pointed at the big drone. "Keep an eye on that Goliath."
I wasn't sure where I knew the name of that big thing from, it was kind of just 'there'. I pulled out my assault rifle as John began to move forward, around the corner, slipping through one of the openings in the wall. He shot down a guard, who was facing the other way, and then darted toward what looked like two large habitation buildings. But I didn't really get much of an opportunity to follow, because I was moving up more cautiously, and had just about gone through the opening when I saw more guards, alerted by the shooting, coming to that same spot, weapons drawn. And I was not exactly sneaky or nimble enough to still slip away, and join him on the other side. They hadn't yet seen me... until one of them turned right in my direction, right as I was about to start shooting.
'Okay, change of plan.', I thought, and raised my shield, opening fire, while I was fairly certain John did the same thing on the other side, briefly overhearing him saying "I went"... but I was more focused on the targets directly in front of me.
The first guard seemed almost hesitant, as if trying to determine whether what he was looking at was a mirage, and it cost him his life. I moved into cover behind the big shipping containers just ahead to my right, using them to stop my movement and get back down to the ground. Another two or three guards were accompanying that first one, and now definitely buzzed. I picked off the two with the ranged weapons first, quickly changed mags, and found myself hand to hand with somebody armed with a shotgun. But they managed to fluff their shot, missing most of it, and I didn't give them another chance. I knocked the stock of my rifle into their helmet to stagger them, with enough force to outright break the shield, then put a few bullets into their chest. The corpse slowly slumped to the ground, lifeless, and I poked my head around the corner again.
More laser fire came my way, but poorly aimed. I ducked back in, let the shield regenerate fully, and came around, facing what looked like a rather nervous technician who'd gotten too aggressive for his own good, and wasn't quite so confident without his backup. I shot him all the same, because I still didn't care in the slightest, nevermind that none of the civilians I had encountered behaved much like one, so far. Definitely made it easier to pull the trigger...
I reached the metallic panelling placed as pathways around the settlement, happily taking the ability to walk with a semblance of normality, thanks to magnetic contact on the boots. I went over in the direction of the command center, where I saw two more guards, and another technician, who fell to my weaponry just as quickly. For a so-called "military" outpost, these security forces were definitely not using any military-grade gear, because my rifle was ripping through their protective equipment like it was wet tissue paper. That cleared the immediate vicinity, but I saw some more guards coming from the opposite end of the wall... to be met with more bullets. And then John, who caught up with me, as I copied the security profile of the dead civilian. Also had to recharge the battery already, so I plugged an energy cell into the suit.
"Okay, that wasn't exactly what I meant, but it worked.", he told me.
"Patrols got in my way. They got distracted by you, so I engaged.", I answered, shrugging lightly.
He went off again, toward the hab buildings, while I entered the command center. But with security clearance of level 2, I was unable to get into any of the actually important sections - security and the control room - only the connecting rooms and corridors. Which was... a little annoying. I checked the power center, but couldn't see the workers in there to sneak in a scan of their clearance. So I went back outside, see if any of the dead guards there had a level 3 profile.
It turned out, I didn't need to go looking, because I 'heard' the door opening behind me again, and quickly turned around, finding myself face to face with two more guards. One with the assault rifle opened up first, but did little more than scratch the shield's paintjob, because the Pioneer weaponry was just that poor. Then I killed the guard with the Intimidator shotgun, which at least did a little more damage, but still not enough to drop it to more than half. A third guard suddenly followed them, pulling a snapshot with the travesty of a sniper that was the Executioner, actually managing to drop the weakened shield, without hitting the armor underneath. But that was as much as he got to do, because I pulled my pistol out and fired three shots before he could pull the trigger again. The first two broke the shield, and the third pierced right through the helmet's glass face plate, killing him on the spot. And there was my level 3 security clearance - these guys had to have come from the control room, searching for who'd walked around inside and not responded, presumably.
"Over here. Guards have the highest security profile.", I called out to John, who I saw coming back over from his 'excursion' to the hab buildings. A cleanup crew would probably be having a bad day in those.
I returned to inside the command center, now able to head into the important places. I went into the command center first, finding it devoid of security, only a lone, terrified worker who shot at me, and missed by a good margin with her pistol, despite pulling the trigger nearly at point blank range. Then I had closed the distance, disarmed the woman and pinned her to the wall, by the neck.
"Try anything, and you're dead.", I warned her, leaving no doubt about it in my tone.
Another worker shot me, an equally poorly aimed shot that could have killed his co-worker instead. I 'returned' the favor by ending his misery.
"Please! Stop!"
The pleading just got on my nerves more than anything else.
"You are not in a position to make demands. Give me access to the computer system. Now."
"But, why - "
I put more pressure on her neck. "No questions. Do it, or you'll wish you had."
"I don't - why are you so - who, who even are you?" The woman's voice strained already.
"Your employers took something very important from me, and you cannot tell me you don't fucking know about it. The only reason you're not dead is because you know how to get me everything I need out of that system."
"What are you talk - " I increased the pressure even more, causing her to gargle before adjusting. "- ing, about? I- don't- know- anything. They, just - make us keep track - of weapons, and ammo."
It just felt like excuses, pissing me off even more. "Stop trying to bullshit me. A ship will have passed through here. Midnight black paint, no identifier on a basic scan. I need to know where it went after that."
"I- didn't- see... they, wanted us, to close ev-ery-thing, not... look..." Her face was starting to turn blue "... please... have... a... family..."
I rolled my eyes underneath the helmet and gave her some breathing room.
"Your pathetic begging doesn't make me want to let you live. Either you give me answers, or I'll just find them myself."
"Why - why are you, so, angry?"
Apparently, the message hadn't been clear enough. I lifted her off the ground and raised my voice. "I already told you. And you don't work for this fucking company without knowing what they are responsible for. I don't know what kind of bullshit Torben is selling you, but those stories about their experimenting on people, they are not invented, and he was involved in it. Maybe you'd like to ask Seo herself."
"I don't - why are you telling me this?"
"Because you're a fucking idiot!" I threw her into the primary command console, out of patience, and walked over there while she was reeling, picked her up and pressed her into it. "Enter. The. Codes. Now. No tricks."
"Okay... okay." She worked while whispering. "I don't want to die ..."
"You won't, if you do what I tell you to."
I had my pistol pointed at the woman, just as an additional 'encouragement'. After about half a minute, there was a text prompt that read 'Access granted'.
"Can I go now?", she asked, turning toward me.
"No.", I replied, firmly.
"But... why? I did what you told me to."
"Because you are going to stay right here. Let them know I am coming. And next time, you should look at who your employers are, before you sign on to work for them."
I grabbed the woman by the neck again before she had a chance to react, and sent her flying into a nearby wall, after which she slumped to the ground lifelessly. Hopefully, just unconscious. For now, I had data to check... first and foremost, ship flight logs. The worker made it sound like they hadn't or weren't allowed to catch sight of the Black Flight ship, let alone a clue about Jana's abduction. Anyone that had seen it was probably "reassigned" to somewhere else. And then met an execution squad or some other fate leading to death.
Sure enough, there it was. An SVI identifier, with attached numbers 098... plus a lot of other encrypted data that required a specific key, transporting the "asset". I figured that was her, and not some other trail leading to other disturbing Azimuth shit. I switched the comms channel to my ship.
"EDI, I'll be sending you over some data, but most of it is encrypted. Can you start working on it once it's downloaded?"
"Of course, Kira. Is everything alright down there?"
"Mostly." I hadn't paid much attention to them, but there was a recurring 'teammate under attack' warning popping up on my helmet HUD. "Think I have everything I need from here."
I plugged in a device to transmit the data over to my ship, then, once it was done, turned off defenses - which had stopped firing shortly after our direct assault began - and left a little goodbye present in the form of a data corrupting worm in the system... I also checked on the idiot who I'd knocked out. Still appeared to be breathing, no bleeding on the back of the head, but would probably wake up with a really bad headache. Going outside to check the reason behind the alerts I kept getting, I noticed some fighting off to the left - so he was getting up to trouble. And there was a dropship I 'heard' coming down, though the noise was mostly simulated than transmitted through whatever air there was.
Warning John about that reinforcement wave - with no response - I took up a defensive posture, waiting. Saw three soldiers come out, only to quickly get a quick match with fate. A few additional flashlights indicated that there were more, but they... weren't moving. So I went to investigate the fighting off to the left of the command complex proper.
It didn't surprise me to find that crazy bastard fighting the Goliath on his own, with a few extra dead bodies on the way. And it was already pretty damaged, so he appeared to be doing it successfully. I began to assist him in taking it down, finding it difficult to keep it in my sights because it really zipped around while returning fire.
"Hold still, you damn thing!"
Eventually, the plasma projectiles stopped coming, and the big bastard turned its attention to me. There wasn't a lot I could do to avoid its fire besides sidestep or jump to throw off its aim, because those repeater guns ripped through whatever I could find as cover nearby, except for the big wall once I reached it. I noticed some missiles flying around as well, but they didn't appear to be aimed anywhere near me or the skimmer.
I just kept putting holes into the giant machine, chasing it into open ground, until I managed to either do enough damage to its internals, or struck some kind of vital component that caused it to explode. It was only then that I noticed the source of the rockets, one of the reinforcement units who hadn't moved to back up the rest of the squad, wielding a launcher weapon. Apparently, really poorly. I had no compunction about returning fire there, either. I killed the other remaining soldiers there, then went into the command building and investigated the security section. Found a settlement assault plan, because of course Azimuth wouldn't bother actually going down the polite route of taking control, and some propaganda material. Nothing else that was interesting here, so I just turned off the alarms and went back outside, where John warned me about another eleven contacts.
"New wave of reinforcements, maybe.", I suggested. "I turned the alarms off now."
And, I... just left him to deal with it. I hadn't gone into the power center yet, and I knew I would want to. Of course, the two workers were still in it, and they met as quick an end as the forces outside, who had completely failed to defend this outpost. I was joined by my helper shortly afterward, looking in his direction when I noticed his presence, after checking the contacts list.
"Got two more contacts. Where are they?", I asked him, because maybe he knew. "I've got what I wanted, anyway. There was a Black Flight ship here... but the rest of the data's encrypted. I'm going to need some time to get it into a readable format."
"I will look for them.", he answered, already walking out. "We have to do the most amount of damage to Azimuth possible."
Couldn't say that I disagreed there...
"Well, I was going to pull the plug on this place anyway.", I said, switching back to comms. "And also downloaded some assault plans for another settlement, plus some propaganda material." I paused momentarily. "Unless you want to kill those last two idiots first. I knocked one of the researchers out after... 'asking' for access to the central computer system."
"I may leave one alive. To tell the others how useless their entire defense was."
"That's what I did. She might just wake up with a bad headache." I hit the button to shut down the reactor and disengage the power regulator. "Anyway, I started the shutdown."
"Understood."
I went outside as well, because I didn't feel like just sitting around waiting for the reactor to go offline. And found one of the two remaining contacts there, one lone soldier with a shotgun. He pulled off a snapshot, but as before, it didn't even break through my shield, and his life ended a second later, rather unceremoniously, with half a dozen bullets lining his chest. And... that seemed to be it. My suit's sensors were certainly not picking up anything else, so I returned to the power center and waited for the shutdown to complete. I snatched the regulator and made some space on my belt to attach it.
"That's that. Just need to get out of here once it's done.", I told John, who was right here, too. "The prismatic shield should hold until we're both onboard.
"Better to go about one or two kilometers on foot.", he suggested. "Tell me if you need batteries."
I checked the readout. Had no recharge cells left - I assumed he meant that by batteries - but plenty of spare charge. "Suit still has over eighty percent power, it should be fine."
"Just say if you would need one."
If I did end up being in need of one, I would say as much. For now, I just went out of the structure with him, hoping the circling military ships wouldn't mind us down here, especially since the losses had been replaced by another Python, at least, plus an Anaconda. Not great.But...... apparently, they didn't think of bombing us, even once we were clear of the confines of the complex. Whatever was at play here, I was not going to question it, but the same lenience probably wouldn't apply once I called in my ship. We left through the same 'valley' which we'd originally landed in. Two kilometers out, John said we could wait for the ship there, but I wanted somewhere flatter, reminding him it needed a bit of space to land. Which was a few hundred meters further... he got there faster than me, expectedly.
"This looks like a good spot, don't you think?", I remarked, judging the current spot of smooth ground to be good. "Assuming the nav computer behaves ..."
I recalled the ship, and... unsurprisingly, it decided to land on the ridge we'd just descended from.
"... which of course it doesn't.", I let out with a little exasperation in my tone, dismissing the ship again, because I was not going to have it sit there under fire for a few minutes, as we crossed the four or five-hundred meters back there. And back to hopping away we went, during which time I switched the radio channel back to my ship. "EDI, can you maybe not have the ship land a few hundred meters from us while there's a swarm of angry Azimuth ships shooting it?"
"I will manually control the landing procedure, then, yes.", she responded.
John had said eight kilometers would probably be a safe distance for landing and not getting shot at by the buzzers, but I was really not bothered to go that far. This experience just reminded me of how much I hated low G moon hopping across long distances, certainly with my rather impractical shape. There was a good-looking spot about five kilometers out, by which point I still had about half power remaining in the battery.
"Let's try again ..."
"Good.", John remarked.
To try helping in the nav guidance, because I clearly couldn't rely on that awful automated system alone, I pointed at a specific spot after hitting the recall function., then turned to John.
"Don't waste time getting in, but I'm going first. You'll have to follow through the elevator once I'm inside."
As expected, the upset flock of Azimuth vessels quickly reacted to the Corvette coming down for landing. With the power to spare, I triggered my shield as precaution, because some of the missed shots were going to land uncomfortably close, even attempting to use my approaching ship as cover. Would be good once inside its shield bubble... I only waited for the landing gear to make contact with the ground to begin hopping over, having the front access elevator lowered ahead of time.
"Alright, go!"
I was not at all a fan of letting my ship be a sitting duck under fire from seven military ships, but once I was close enough to get a status display of the shield on my HUD... it made most of my worries go away. It hadn't even dropped by ten percent yet. Still, I didn't waste time propelling myself through the corridors as best as possible in the low G environment, rather than attempting to walk the distance - it would have been slower - and getting to the bridge, while the shield was getting pounded. My unplanned passenger was not far behind, getting a good view of the throne built specifically for my oversized hips and backside.
This would probably cover for my monthly allowance of adrenaline. I quickly attached my primary weapons to a wall holder, pistol to the seat, woke the thrusters from their standby mode, retracted the landing gear and turned toward the angry buzzers, accelerating and boosting directly through their formation, feeling tempted to shout "See ya, suckers!", over open comms, but instead I just contented myself with an idiotic grin under the helmet as I continued boosting away and engaged supercruise. The shield hadn't even dropped by a third of its strength in that time.
"Bunch of idiots. Jumping out to my carrier." I gazed at the man in one of the co-pilot seats, while the FSD charged up for a hyperspace jump. "I can drop you off at another station, though."
"Can you drop me off at CEC Legion?", he requested, as the Corvette zipped into hyperspace.
"Sure. Need to know where it is, though." I zeroed the throttle once the brown dwarf came into view.
"The fleet carrier is in this system."
This system had to be LHS 1163, not the nameless unpopulated one I had parked my own in. "Sure, I'll get you there. As long as I don't get shot at by your ship if Azimuth security scans me, that is. The shield can take a beating, as you've seen, but not by a carrier."
"Emmmm... I am not sure that my systems will open fire on you. Anyway, if that happens and it would be dangerous, just land me at any other port. I will get there anyway."
My joke had apparently gone over his head a little. "They shouldn't. As long as I have access permissions I can get you there." I set up the jump back into the system, finding the carrier's parking spot right around the main star... now that was lucky. "Thanks for the help, anyway."
"Let me know if you need more help. I owe this person."
I replied once the ship had engaged its jump back into the Azimuth system. They'd soon realize who'd wrought some carnage at those ground bases of theirs, but I'd be taking my carrier somewhere else and - relatively - far away from the system's immediate sphere of influence once I'd dropped John off at his.
"I'll think about it once I know more from the data I recovered. Am also going to upload that propaganda material from Azimuth I found, and whatever that settlement assault plan is, to the network. I'm sure you guys will find it useful."
The primary orange star came into view, with the carrier locked in as the destination already. I circled around the star and set the ship on a straight course once within line of sight to the marker. I kept a close eye on the Azimuth ships circling the carrier. One of them attempted a scan, but didn't do anything else, maybe realizing that pissing off a nearby capital ship while in a Viper was not desirable. Once docked, I hit the prompt to go into the hangar.
"And we're there.", I announced. "You're welcome for the ride."
"Thank you for it.", John politely answered. "Feels like home, the fuckers from Azimuth have not yet come here."
"I wouldn't let them onboard if they asked nicely. Not sure why they'd bother guarding the carrier of somebody who's hostile to them, but what do I know."
"I suspect they were not guarding, but simply creating a cordon, in the hope that they could intercept vessels heading to the fleet carrier."
"Yeah, well, I have a feeling they were not too tempted to try between the carrier and the Corvette I'm using. For this, at least."
He didn't say anything else and simply walked out after that. There probably was nothing else to be said, anyway - our mission had been a success, despite the loss of his ship, and I hopefully had a better lead to go on after to find my missing friend. I wasn't yet sure if I could or wanted to trust, or, rather, put someone that was a stranger to me at that kind of risk. He had proven useful, and perhaps trustworthy, through his actions, here, but I wouldn't ask more of him unless I couldn't find anybody else for the next step.
I waited until systems showed the all-clear for takeoff, indicating that he had left it, or at least reached the passageway to the elevators, and hit the launch prompt, course set back to my own carrier. Arrived at it without any problems, and immediately set a jump away from that forsaken Azimuth stronghold as soon as I docked.
"EDI, how long do you think this data will take to unlock?", I asked, curious.
"It may take several hours, or perhaps even to a day. The encryption used is unusually complex.", she informed me.
I sighed, both in relief at the stressful part of the data retrieval being over, but also at knowing I was not close to done yet. "Yeah, that figures. They don't want anybody finding out about their dirty shit." I waited a little before continuing. "Just let me know when it's done. I need to get out of this gear. And take a shower."
I really did. After that 'little' jaunt, which had taken about an hour and a half in total, I was sweating in my suit. At least, my mind was beginning to wind down from it already. I left my weapons where I'd attached them, getting the feeling that I would, sooner rather than later, end up needing them again. But I did just have to take off this armor, and the Dominator suit beneath it. And my clothes, because they probably smelled as badly as I did from that, especially the moon walking part.
Then, maybe, once I was all clean and in fresh attire, I'd pay a place that I hadn't been to in about two months a visit, again. The last time, it'd led me down another rabbit hole of Azimuth secrets and weapons... I couldn't say I was pleased it was them leading me back there again. But it was a good spot to start seeing if I could find anybody.