• Nobles of Null is a forum based roleplay site where sci-fi and magic collide. Here, Earth remains fractured and divided despite humanity reaching out to the stars. Worse still, the trans-human slaves of one major power have escaped, only to establish their own Empire, seething with resentment at abuses of the past. Even the discovery of aliens, though medieval in development, has failed to rally these squabbling children of Earth together with its far darker implications. Worse still, is the discovery of the impossible - magic. Practiced by the alien locals, nearly depleted and therefore rare, its reality warping abilities remains abstract and distant to the general populace. All the while, unseen in the darkness of space, forces from without threaten to press in. For those with eyes opened by insight, it is clear that an era is about to end, and that a new age will dawn.

Chapter 3: Fire and Ice

Ray of Meep

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Early April, 2320

Yasny System, Kitezh, Chekhovsk: planetary capital, one day after landfall

It was hard to tell if it was morning, or noon, as snowfall shrouded the entire city in a bright white blanket. The core towers of the city loomed in the distance, tall and thing giants holding a thousand hands together.

Billhook gazed at one screen on the interior of his armored shuttle as it rolled forward, a false window that displayed the outside surroundings, buildings blanketed by this planet's frozen, powdery H20. He knew that the heat pipes snaking beneath the industrial rooftops were working nonstop, melting away the weight accumulating on top of them, the slight slants of the roofs guiding the melted water down into storage containers to be used for food, industry, and portable energy. It was primitive technology, developed two or three centuries ago, but like the human spirit, it was timeless, dependable, necessary for survival.

The armored shuttle too, took up an archaic design, resembling the first tanks developed during the "Great War to End All Wars" on the European continent of Earth. Boxy treads that flanked a metal box with angled armor plating, covered in sensors and communication equipment. Most of the time the shuttle was controlled electronically, its viewports shuttered, cameras providing all the visuals they needed, but when shit hit the fan, the eyeball Mark I was always given easy access to the outside world. They took pride in their analog methods.

The task force's leader checked his watch. Two minutes. He tapped his earpiece while he watched the rest of his team check their weapons and equipment. Magazines clacked into place on their SAk-47's, flashbangs, ropes slipped into pouches and belts in light, crumbly cloth noises. Froststorm already had himself covered head to toe while the others were strapping on their goggles and pulling their masks over their faces.

"Cobalt, do you read? Is your team in position?"

----------------------------------------------------

"Roger that, Billhook. Arrival in one minute. We'll have thirty seconds to announce our presence and thirty seconds for a reply." Eberhard replied, slipping and weaving through the underground tunnel system of Chekhovsk. The whole underground was made of a cynically pragmatic grey concrete lit by oppressive white LED lighting lining the ceilings, not even decorated by paintings like the tunnel systems of Silbern's large space stations. Then again, this was a planet, still a hundred times easier on the psyche than even the most luxurious space stations. Maybe it didn't need the color. Regardless, Eberhard felt at home here, in his IVAS in the claustrophobic environment. It could use a bit less gravity though.

What was weird though, was the lack of foot traffic, allowing the Lancers to move through the tunnels hastily, even without transportation. Either the population density in this area was non-existent or the local law enforcement kept the residents in their buildings, or both.

"Lancers, sound off." Eberhard stopped at a corner, looking past the wall at a set of double doors shut tight, the underground entrance to Omnigrow's headquarters, evident by the sign that hung above the entrance, in its green, stylized font. "Mari, we have access to their comms?"
 

Uso

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"I have 128 different audio channels available from the interior of the structure," Mari replied, making her set of compromised personal and IOT devices available for the Lancers should they care to listen in. She had already started streaming her collated information to the Lancers... and this would start with the images of the receptionist in the entryway along with the location of her personal terminal and the panic button under the desk. Servers off-site were busy crunching through all the data she was able to exfiltrate from the site, putting together a 3d image of the interior of the structure along with locations of people, what they were carrying, and highlighting any things of interest as they were come across.

Mari was bringing up the rear of the group, lagging behind the rest, her body covered in her usual visually jarring cloak that kept her well covered. "Cyber-domain assets are starting their attack now. It is likely they will discover the intrusion soon."

With that warning, Mari would switch from beachhead mode to full on attack. Malware that had been infiltrated into user's personal devices was activated, and her Stingray was enabled: disabling security on user's devices that were connected to the local wireless network to gain control of the hardware. From there, those devices would try to connect to anything nearby, applying a suite of Zero-day exploits that Mari had readied. She didn't hold back on this one, using previously unheard of exploits and tools that would likely be exposed and patched in a few weeks now that they were being shown to the world. Mari wasn't just going after unsecured personal devices now, she wanted work terminals, internal cameras, door controls, and everything else.
 

Uso

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Data would start coming in from the building's internal surveillance systems which Mari would summarize for the group.

"It appears we are too late for some. There are multiple fatalities within storage units inside of the facility. Three are guards inside of the reception area with soft body armor and small arms. They appear to be unaware of our approach."

Mari would try and pass data-packets to the Lancers to highlight the guards and their weapons in their battlefield management profile but this was the first time she tried something like that... instead she would fish out a soda-can sized projector from inside of her cloak and got ready for the start of the attack.
 

Piston1937

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"Castle here." Jamison's voice rumbled into the mic as the man walked with the assistance if his exosuit, allowing him to carry the large pack and weapon he carried around.

Jamison checked his gear one last time as he listened to the data being spooged by the tech person. Gun, loaded and stowed on the control arm , feeling the liwer section of his pack he felt the plastic exterior of the two other box mags clipped on and ready for use. Sidearm, loosely holstered and loaded. Grenades, pinned and ready to be thrown. Pack, full of gear. And his trusty barricade, dented a bit but sturdy and ready to be deployed.
 
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Caleb checked the magazines in his S-1911's, fully loaded, and checked the extra magazines in his bandolier. 1, 2, 3, 4. Yes. Make each bullet count, waste nothing.

He walked up beside Eberhard, his armor nearly silent despite its size. "Sidewinder, sounding off"
 

Acewing13

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“Bee, ready to go,” Beatrix said, double checking that her shield was firmly attached to her arm. Now with quick-detach, she thought, testing the lights on the shield by shining them down the tunnel they’d come from. Glad we’re not having to deal all the snow to get to the target though. I prefer snow behind glass with a cup of coffee or hot cocoa in my hands.

She shook her head, readying her machine pistol. Focus girl, focus. You can relax later.
 

DUCATISLO

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Žana ready” checking her gun and herself a bit. she was for the most part behind the team. she also had the intent do maybe knocking out some terrorists to capture them!
 

Ray of Meep

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"Roger that." Eberhard nodded to the group, "Cobalt sounding off, ready to go."

Billhook checked his watch again. One minute until arrival. "Begin operations." He announced to Eberhard. Within the minute, they'll know if they'll be busting through gates and firing off, or busting through gates and pulling men out.

"Affirmative." Eberhard then switched comms to one of the audio channels Mari pried open. The fact that there were dead bodies already didn't bode well for a peaceful resolution, but he ran through his 'diplomatic' script anyways. "Attention Omnigrow employees. You are under arrest by the authority of joint Soyuz & GDW law enforcement for refusal to attend court, barring warranted police searches, and breaking international trade policy. You have thirty seconds to open your doors and accept arrest, or else face the use of force." He made the team's presence known in mixed Commonwealth.

There was no reply. Mari could see the armed guards at the entrance look at each other uncertainly, until one of them murmured to the others, stowing his machine pistol behind him on his belt. The two others formed up on the sides of the door as the unarmed guard swung it open, walking out slowly and nervously, one hand behind his back. Under his ballistic vest, he looked to wear a dress shirt and pants. The man overall didn't look physically intimidating, but more a typical civilian, perhaps a researcher.

"Son, hands where we can see them." Eberhard eyed the man warily, aiming his smart rifle directly at him.

The man clenched his teeth, sweating bullets, as he cried out, "Eat shit, assholes!" He tried to draw his weapon and attempted to fire, while the two guards behind the door appeared and fired sprays of lead towards the Lancers as well.
 

Piston1937

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Leaving his heavy weapon stored Jamison grabbed Ebberhard by the backplate and pulled himself out from behind the corner while yanking their commander behind the safety of the arm mounted barricade the grunt used as a shield. The large piece of metal lacking a view port Jamison didn’t attempt to wildly fire back, leaving that to the line of his team behind him who could pear around his bulk from the protection the oversized human granted.
 

Poe

Member
It was the silence brewing before the storm, before it erupted in a thunderous crash of bullets and grenades. Instantly, Renee's survival mode kicked in, and she careened back around the corner. "Lancers have been engaged, I repeat, Lancers have been engaged," Renee spoke clearly down her communication device to Mari and the Soyuz troops, before flicking it off and grabbing one of three grenades she had fixed to her belt. She ripped the pin out, before throwing the grenade down the corridor. "LIVE GRENADE!" she yelled.
 
As soon as the grenade detonated, Caleb jumped across the opening to the opposite side, attempting to find targets for his pistols, and taking a shot at someone if they popped their head out of cover.
 

DUCATISLO

Member
As for Žana she quickly slithers behind the wall on her left to take full cover, she has her GRAU lancer gun ready to shoot at targets. she is still trying to capture a few terrorists.
 
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Ray of Meep

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The sleet of bullets flying at Eberhard and the Lancers plinked harmlessly off of Jamison's barricade wall and Beatrix's shield as she stepped forward to provide further cover for the team. The roar of gunfire was interrupted loud boom that traveled through the building's structure and the air, piercing through the Lancers' armor and helmet and into their ears. Hot shrapnel showered the two guards behind the doorway, who screamed in pain as accurate gunfire put them out of their misery.

The guard who stepped out was turned into a bloody mess, suffering multiple bullet wounds across his entire body, given his lack of cover. The twisting of metal and chain could be heard above ground, the boom of a breaching charge going off, travelling down into the basement, before gunfire could also be heard. "Lancers, we are engaging hostiles on the first floor." Billhook stated the obvious through the comms.

Eberhard stepped over the bodies as he entered the building. Confirming Marci's forewarning, they were all in basic ballistic vests, carrying contraband GDW and Soyuz machine pistols and assault rifles. The basement's layout was that of a rectangular donut, rooms lining the inside the outside walls. Per the specifications given beforehand, greenhouses, labs, small storage rooms and more importantly, the central server room, were all located on this floor. The server room was located on the opposite end of the donut to wear the Lancers entered. Stairs and elevators were located in between them and the server room.

"Castle, Copperhead, Noodles, form Team Alpha and clear the rooms counterclockwise. Secure the server room if we don't get there before you. Sidewinder, Bee, you're with me as Team Beta, move clockwise to check the storage rooms. Aim to rendezvous at the server room in five minutes. Watch your backs, check your corners people. Don't take the surveillance for granted. Execute." Eberhard ordered. Everyone's HUD lit up with the layout of the floor, along with red dots in a few rooms, indicating potential hostiles. It seems there were only a pair on each route, before three more in the server room.

The hallways were windowless, brightly lit in an oppressive white light, like the corridors outside of the building. However, here, the walls were generously decorated by paintings and faint floral patterns, the occasional glass case featuring plant and small animal models hugging the edges.
 

Uso

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"Try and leave some of them alive," Mari's synthesized voice encouraged as she considered what cyber-wizardry she could use to speed things along. Now that the Gunfight had started, she'd trigger a mass-call to all the devices in the building. Having the enemy's cell-phones ringing would help give away their positions.
 

Acewing13

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“Alright, let’s do this by the book,” Bee said, pointing her machine pistol down their assigned hallway. “Knockdown the door, clear out hostiles, make sure we don’t leave enemies behind us.” Looking to Caleb, she asked, “Do you have anything that can help speed up breaching doors? My shield is the heaviest thing I got.”
 

Ray of Meep

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Alpha team would find the restroom, its stalls empty. The lab and greenhouses would be devoid of humans as well. The lab's scientific equipment, too esoteric for a person without a biology or engineering degree to understand, lay dormant, while the greenhouse was still filled with hydroponic and false soil plants, growing under the lights that were mercifully kept on for them, still thriving in row after row on shelves.

Jamison, Renee, and Zana would end up getting a few seconds of warning, the surveillance cameras detecting movement in the janitorial room and droid bay. Dozens of droids all lit up, rushing out of the room and towards the three. Most of them were short mover bots, but some were just under human height, long and rectangular, designed to support scientific instruments. The Lancers' helmets lit up red as volatile chemicals were now detected emitting from some of the droids, as they swarmed into the three, threatening to unbalance their footing and potentially much worse. Meanwhile, a pair of armed guards were detected moving out of the greenhouse at the far end of the hallway.

Team Beta, meanwhile, cleared out personal offices, which innocently contained height adjustable desks, stationary data pads, and shelves that held up personal trinkets memorabilia. There were old fashioned, analog pictures of family, friends, and pets as well. The first storage room was quickly confirmed to be devoid of hostiles, but the bodies that laid on the ground were a gruesome sight. It seems the dozen employees were unarmed and cornered when they perished, short in the heads and torsos, piled up in a corner without much care. Eberhard was watching the door when Taskforce 52 came through the comms. "Shephard and Froststorm, coming down the west staircase. Watch your fire."

The Grau Lancers captain nodded in response, looking back at Beatrix and Caleb who were looking over the bodies. "Let's get a move on. We'll have to figure this out later."
 

DUCATISLO

Member
žana would throw herself onto the droids and tried to crush them under her weight or the muscles she had she would also try and shoot a few where maybe the CPU core would be at. she also knew two terrorists were gonna make their way down here.

"hey you two take overwatch down the hallway I see two targets on my screen"
 
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