Durgama Takeover

"How the hell did it get this bad, this quickly" thought Lieutenant Okiro, crouching on the stairs he and Jazz were descending. Alarms had gone off, loud and high pitched, and the emergency lights of the whole communications module had started flashing red.
It was supposed to be a quiet and simple mission: get into the bow section of the station with a small infiltration squad, reach the database of the communication system through the maintenance corridors, get the data and get out. Now they were kinda stuck on that last part.

- Command wants us to recover the communications logs of the station - Had said Reverend Mother Asuncion during the briefing - so that, when all this Durgama invasion nonsense is over, we can hopefully extrapolate from them some proof of the attacks we Nomads suffered at the hands of the other human powers. The Oberhaus will be forced to listen to us, if we bring data from one of THEIR quantronic systems. -
- And so Pan-Clown-ceania and Hairy-adna will be royally fucked, while we get to delete our "dirty laundry" before anyone sees it. - Had concluded Benito, a Moran Hunter sent from the Jurisdictional Command of Corregidor to help with the mission, together with a mean-looking Diablo named Lucio.
He had been sitting with his combat boots perched on the desk, and fiddled with the repeater backpack he had placed in his lap as he spoke.
- Yes, thank you. I leave the rest to you, Edward. - Had concluded Commander Asuncion, with only the slightest hint of annoyance showing in her voice.
The two men sent from the CJC were hardened veterans, face riddled with scars and cold, piercing eyes. They had wanted to set off immediately, so Okiro had quickly thrown together a team of his most trusted soldiers, and got moving. They had also wanted Akram, the Black Hand Operative, to come with his bodyguard, Fabulous Bill, to help dealing with any security measure Not-the-Real-Jazz couldn't hack trough.

Everything had gone well up until that point: their Evader, Widget, had mapped a safe path through the maintenance corridors, and the most interesting part of the trek had been brief and straightforward walk on the outside of the hull to reach one of the bow section airlocks.
They had arrived in the middle of the artificial night of the station, and even Ottie, the Jaguar, had stayed incredibly quiet, so that they managed to get to the cluttered data storage area without any mishaps. Jazz had started the process of uploading the communication data on Arachne through one of the Black Hand's hidden nodes, and suddenly...

- Status report! Anyone knows what the hell is going on? - Shouted Okiro over the sound of the alarms.
- Datasphere's still green, we haven't been detected from this side! - Answered Jazz, that was frantically typing in her holographic interface.
- Bill! What are you... - Akram's voice rang in the squad's secure channel, closely followed by shots from his stun pistol - FUCK! That ariadnan piece of trash sold us out! He triggered the security system! -
- Sorry boss! - Bill's voice was barely audible from somewhere on their left - Nothing personal, the Hexahedron just pays a lot more! I'll see you around! -
- The upload process has stopped, one of the quantronic locks has engaged - Continued Jazz nervously - system's rejecting all my inputs, can't do anything from here. We'll have to disable it manually. -
- Whatever you have to do, do it fast sugar. - Came the Moran's voice from a building ahead of them - There's movement, we might have hostiles inbound. -
- Hold on... Affirmative, got their IDs from the network. PanOceanian patrol... Damn it, it's those lunatic knights in black. -

- I need to get to one of the main system consoles. - Said Jazz, highlighting the terminals on the map of the area she sent to the team's comlogs - Maybe from there I can localize what exactly is holding us up. Once I know in which of these server it is, we can neutralize it. -
- Roger that. - Acknowledged Okiro - You heard her people, let's move! Form a defensive perimeter around the data storage units, they must remain intact until the upload is completed. Jazz, Widget, with me, we'll get you to that console. -

The group quickly split up: their Transductor unit scuttled rapidly towards the furthest storage server, letting out an affirmative "beep" when it reached cover; Ana, the Daktari, and Lucio moved behind a large screen on the right flank, with Ottie peeking out with her panzerfaust.
Widget reached Jazz and Okiro, that were taking cover on a staircase, moving behind some containers and crates of spare parts marked with the OnyX corporation logo.

On the other side of the room, defensive quantronic static was masking the PanOceanian communications, and the Nomads could just see on proximity sensors a small group of knights take point behind a monitoring office, while remote units guarded their left flank.

- Strike team, you are clear to advance, I'll secure a forward position. - Stated the Moran, that was beginning to cross past the console, when, at the last second, a strange movement on the building to his right caught his attention. A shotgun blast erupted from the stairway, and he reflexively dodged behind the wall, bleeding from numerous small wounds caused by the glancing hit.
- Contact on the roof! I need backup! - He shouted, arming his homing explosive device and tossing it towards the first steps. Spotting a hazy silhouette, Widget immediately started shooting, but the figure avoided both the explosive Koala and the bullets with a somersault.
Trusting that his adversary would have to keep his head down, Benito rushed forward, activating the network node in his backpack.

Jazz, already running forward now that the attacker was taking cover, noticed the sudden increase in her quantronic reach: a Teuton's personal network resulted now accessible, together with a great amount of outgoing transmissions. She hurried to disrupt the signal, suspecting the knight to be the leader of the enemy forces, and quickly rendered him completely unable to access any connection.
Reaching the terminal, she closed that interface and connected to the main system, inspecting the flux of data. It took her only a couple of seconds:
- The central server, right in front of us! The security lock is there! - She stated, moving towards a safer position.

- Good work! Widget, try to get a visual. - Answered Okiro, that was making his way to the side of the building, towards the other system terminal. The EVAder climbed up the stairs, coming face to face with a Teuton who was guarding the storage unit staying in cover at the corner of the building in front of him. Both spitfires started firing in unison, but, while the PanOceanian bullets opened a trail of holes in the parapet of the roof, one of Widget's armour piercing rounds got through and wounded the knight, that recoiled slightly before moving back to his post and resuming his barrage.
- This one's a though nut to crack! - Yelled Widget above the roar of the weapons.
- On it! - The Brigada had just moved past the last obstruction, and was now in sight of the enemy. He levelled his Multi-Rifle and fired a precise burst; the Teuton didn't react in time, and one of the bullets got to him past the armoured plates of his right thigh, making him collapse to the ground.

Seeing there weren't any more visible threats, Jazz moved forward and fired two repeaters from her pitcher, but the fast targeting matrix of the Bulleteer acquired them and shot them down before they had the chance to land and activate. Annoyed, Jazz started heading back to cover, when the camouflaged figure of the Trinitarian, still hidden on the roof, suddenly got up, aiming shots at her and the Moran. While the long range shotgun fire didn't seem to phase the Masai warrior, the blast got a full hit onto Jazz, whose l-host splintered and fizzled to the ground in a pool of refrigerating fluid and blood from the damaged organic parts.
The attacker had just a moment to rejoice, before a second explosive koala, who had spotted his movement, dove onto him with a leap followed by a lethal concussive blast.

Meanwhile, the crozier had crawled to the injured Teuton, and, after sealing the wound and administering a combat stim, got his brother back to his feet. The Bulleteer sprang out of his hiding spot to cover them, raining bullets towards Widget, that had to quickly throw himself to the ground, bleeding heavily from a gaping hole in his left shoulder. The life support systems of his suit immediately kicked in, quickly reducing the blood loss and disinfecting the wound. The remote then marched forward, acquiring Okiro as its new target. He too was immediately forced to duck for cover, even though his heavier armour wasn't severely damaged by the connecting bullets.
Out of immediate danger, he opened the comms channel:
- Ana, Jazz is down, we need you here as soon as you can! -
He ran to the hacker, who had managed to drag herself to the corner of the wall, but had left behind a trail of blood and mechanical components. She was on the brink of losing consciousness, and breathed in hollow, irregular gulps of air.
- Widget, you all right? -
- Yes boss, they got me, but I can still shoot. - Answered the EVAder, displaying a "Thumbs Up" sign over his vitals in the squad monitoring overlay.

- Looks like I'm the next in line for the lead prescription. - Snarled the Moran, hearing steps approaching his hiding spot. He started firing even before he saw the attacker, who, turning the corner, got immediately hit and stumbled backwards. For a moment he saw the blue uniform of a Raveneye officer, but had no time to worry about it: to his right, the Teuton commander was rushing his position, firing with his shotgun. He hunkered down, feeling the brunt of the shot passing over his head, and shifted backwards.

The knight advanced menacingly, and was about to fire another round into him when something caught his attention: he reached for his panzerfaust, but didn’t manage to draw it in time. There was a high pitched hiss, followed by a loud, thundering explosion, that threw the knight against the wall behind him and left a black scorch mark on the Station’s pavement. His warped, blackened frame had a last twitch on the ground before finally going still.
The Moran turned, seeing in the distance Ottie slinging the unloaded RPG over her shoulder and moving with Ana and Lucio towards the others.

After a few seconds, the Daktari reached the wall where Okiro and Jazz had taken shelter.The girl had suffered a serious injury, her internal organs were damaged, and most of her implants were offline. Ana started applying nanites to the most important cybernetics, trying to get them back up and running, and stopped the bleeding from the organic parts with medical gel, delicately trying to replace the insulating layer that separated them from the rest of the l-host systems.
Jazz’s body quivered slightly when her main components came back to life, starting to engage emergency life support systems and self repair protocols. Ana then bandaged her ravaged chest to prevent further contamination, and administered a mix of regenerating drugs and combat stimulants through the fast injection ports in her neck.

Jazz’s eyes jolted open, and she pulled herself up, coughing out a purple, gelatinous substance that her implants had deployed to protect her lungs. Then, she took a deep breath.
- Thank you, Ana. That was far too close for comfort. -
- Don’t mention it, dear. - Smiled the dak, cleaning her instruments and putting them back in her bag - Do try to avoid getting shot in the near future though. Your condition is pretty precarious. -
- Don’t worry, I’ll be careful - She answered, getting back up on her feet and opening her interface - Let’s see, what did I miss? Oh… Benito, did you just shoot down an O-12 officer, by any chance? -
- Yeah, I might have, what about it? - Came the answer through the comms
Okiro’s face went pale under his helmet - What’s his condition? We don’t want this to become a diplomatic incident. One thing’s shooting PanOceanians dead, another is killing those who should be coordinating the station’s defense.-
- Got it sir, I’ll go save his ass. - Answered the Moran with a sigh.
- What? No! Hold your position! -
But he was already rushing forward along the straight, narrow corridor between containers, reaching the officer, slumped against the wall in a pool of blood. He crouched next to him, opening his first aid kit. The blue uniform had a dark red stain on his right side, where the bullet had pierced just below the ribcage. He gave him a dose of serum, an emergency nanomachine-based treatment, and sealed the wound with medical foam to stop the bleeding. He checked his vitals: they were already starting to regularise a bit, he would probably pull through.
- See, that wasn’t so bad after a… Oh, shit. - He managed to say in comms, while he turned around to see the last Teuton and the Bulleteer remote appearing at the other end of the corridor and aiming at him.
The following sound of gunfire left no doubts on his fate.

- ¡Benito! ¡Hijos de puta feos, los mataré a todos! - Lucio’s scream caught them completely off guard, given that he hadn’t spoken a single word since they first saw him. Before any of them could stop him, the Diablo, who had accompanied Ana and Ottie behind the building, had run out, and was rushing towards the enemies, shooting blindly.
Okiro sweared, and leaned out to cover him. The bulleteer was still out of position, and he fired a volley towards it; the remote quickly turned his main body to face the new threat, but couldn’t acquire the target in time: one of the shots caught him in a weak point, making two of the leg joints suddenly fail. The machine fell violently, smashing its delicate optics and disruption field projectors to the ground. The two functioning legs started convulsing desperately trying to set it upright, but their efforts gradually waned, as a wisp of smoke started coming from inside its main compartment.

Seeing the closest threat getting neutralised on his tactical screen, Widget got up too, and started shooting the revived Teuton, still in his sights at the entrance of the corridor. The knight returned fire, but the wound had slowed his reflexes, and numerous bullets punched through his armour plate. He fell to his knees, then collapsed on the ground.

Lucio, blind to all that was going on around him, continued his charge, rolling to the side when a mine released a concentrated electromagnetic pulse towards him and getting back up without even losing momentum. He didn’t listen to Jazz’s warnings nor to Okiro’s orders, but there was a thing they couldn’t cover him from: his augmented exoskeleton suddenly froze up, making him topple to the ground in a rigid pose. Error messages and intrusion alerts were showing all across his comlog’s holo-screen, and he was still trying to reboot his systems when the Crozier inched forward and emptied his magazine onto him.

On the other side of the containers, Jazz was cautiously moving forward, trying to get her hacking device in range of the security server. There were just a few PanOceanians left, but that wouldn’t remain true for long. They had to hurry.
Then, the quantronic lock system finally popped up on her interface.
The security geists put up a valiant effort to slow her down, but she had direct access to the system, and ultimately there was nothing they could do: she rapidly tore the program to pieces, scrambling his data and wiping the server’s memory banks. She also shut down the cooling systems, and pushed all computing power to maximum capacity in a useless data mining calculation, just to be sure. Soon the machine gave out with a faint whistle, and she had gained one tenth of a millionth of Tunguskan crypto-doubloon, which wasn’t much, but hey, it was free.
She gave thumbs up to Okiro, and, while the upload successfully completed, they all made their way towards the airlock.

Okiro closed the congratulations message from High Command with a heavy sigh. Two more dead soldiers under his command. They hadn’t followed orders, but it was still partly his fault.
He worked well with his men, the people he knew and cherished, but when it came to strangers, he struggled to find the right strategy, the best approach.
Hesitation. That was why they didn’t follow him.
He still had a long way to go as a Commanding Officer; thankfully, Reverend Mother Asuncion was there to guide him and the whole 404.