A Heist of Epic Proportions

BattleCruiserCommander

Dokkisse Sirens sound in the Redford Vessel, as the unintended docking of these ships tripped an automatic alarm. However, the docking of these ships prevents the main armament of the ships from firing. Safe to say, it must be a slightly terrifying sight to see over 20-30 guns pointed at the direct area of the pilots. Multiple groups of onboard security have been alerted, but the major concern for the hijackers are the interior defense turrets. While they don’t hold a candle to the exterior ships’ guns, they can still punch through body armor.

As of where they are located on the ship, they are ,more or less, located within the 10th interior deck of the ship. To enter the engine rooms (through any kind of maintenance tunnels at least), they must go down to the 17th interior deck. The closest entrance points to the next deck (or floor) is near the rear-facing main gun.

Dokkisse

BattleCruiserCommander

The blaring of alarms sounds as the doors open onboard the ADL boarding ships, and the mercs get to work.

A commander shouts, "GET ON THE FLOOR WITH YOUR HANDS ABOVE YOUR HEAD. WE AREN'T AFTER YOU." As soon as he says this, all guns are pointed out at the crew, the Alsinan mercenaries pouring out of the multiple corvettes docked. All guns, especially the heavy weapons, are brandished and flaunted, giving the impression that these mercs are better armed than your standard pirate raids.

A flurry of responses are heard from the Redford crew, sending out controlled waves of shooting. The newer recruits, not used to this level of intensity, comply or attempt escape. The more seasoned troops, accustomed to the regular pirate raid which occur, hold firm, drawing whatever barricades of cover they can before unholstering their weapons to make their stand. With each Alsinan merc that pours out of the ships a hail of gunfire is presented to them, forcing the mercs to scatter for whatever cover they can. A short, but brutal firefight begins, with the heavy weapons hitting several of the defending Redford crew. The newer recruits, especially those who chose to comply, are all over the room, trying to dodge the bullets raining from both sides. One heavy gunner lobs a flashbang which blinds the main point of the Redfordian defenses, allowing some especially bold Alsinan mercs to rush in and put barrels to heads, closing out the firefight with light losses on both sides. The surrendering Redfordian crew are restrained and kept captive by three Alsinan mercenaries, one of whom has the precious heavy weapons to make sure no one tries anything.

As the rest of the mercs make their way down a deck, a yellow strobing bulb is activated in the hangar bay and hallways which the Alsinans are making their ways through. This bulb activates the emergency turret defenses, causing a rain of fire to begin on both positions, with cover being taken by the Alsinan troops. Light casualties are suffered as some of the more unfortunate souls are hit before they can make it to cover. The three overseers of the hostages are also hit, but the heavy gunner amongst them manages to shoot out a turret which allows his two comrades to get to cover. The Redfordians, seeing their opportunity, gun it, standing up and rushing the three overseers. Panicking and out of options, the Alsinan mercs open fire, killing few but wounding many as one of theirs is killed. The other two survivors including the heavy gunner neutralize the rest of the turrets one by one, slowly and methodically, whereas in the occupied corridors it's nothing but chaos as anti-boarding patrols in the battleship have finally caught up to the Alsinans, pinning them down in addition to the turrets, causing a second firefight to ensue.

Unlike the first, the second firefight is between two enemies of equal numbers and equipment, and there's no rookies which can throw off the rhythm of battle. Fire is traded between both as losses are high, with the cramped interior of the ship starts to suffocate the battle, the volume of fire so high that both Alsinan and Redfordian casualties are extremely heavy. Unfortunately for the Redfordians, the heavy gunners of the Alsinans finally bring their big guns to bear and mow down the unprepared defenders, with only a few wounded survivors left. The Alsinans lost a large portion of their boarding force, however, so taking over the ship will prove to be much more difficult in future.

The rest of the mercenary fleet approach only a little closer, receiving word that reinforcements are needed as soon as possible. Losses are heavy, especially on the battles within the cramped hallways, as the Alsinan forces stand firm and hold their ground, waiting for the numbers they need in order to advance further. They are located on the 12th interior deck.

BattleCruiserCommander

Dokkisse Thanks to the overrall chaos (and quick nature) of the fights, most of the internal sensory equipment have been unable to track the intruders thanks to crew not turning them from “Passive” to “Active”. As such, most of the internal turrets systems have only been activated thanks to the intruders directly encountering them instead of the turrets preparing beforehand. The intruders have reached an intersection on the 12th deck, to where they have the capability to head down 4 decks. They can either enter a maintenance shaft, an elevator, continue on the current corridor, or enter a corridor to one of the “Wing” Struts with exterior defense guns. This maintenance shaft however is, to a degree, a tedious one. Instead of being something like an elevator shaft, it’s a staircase. Multitudes of small arrangements of pipes cover the roof and walls, while a large coolant pipe sits directly underneath the main walkway. Multiple armor slabs sit either directly behind or in front of these pipes, with armored doors popping up here or there along it. This stuffy maintenance shaft seems to be a more direct route to the reactors, but it may have defenders or defenses in these tunnels.

Meanwhile

Most of the external defenses (mainly all of the effective ones that use gunnery crews aswell as automation), are still relatively blind. However, the flak batteries start tracking enemy targets (though instead of a “target”, it’s more of a unknown disturbance, as the stealthy approach of the boarding party and the new sensory equipment being hard to deal with by the crew have made it hard for some of the aiming systems to properly track incoming targets. Soon, the flak cannons open up, albeit to the bewilderment of the crew who think the guns are having an targeting error.

Dokkisse

BattleCruiserCommander

The Alsinan mercs were stationed in their hallways near the back of the ship, waiting for reinforcements as the hard port turn nearly knocks them off their feet, though being eight-legged really helps in maintaining stability. At the aft hangars, the reinforcements finally arrive and a couple of Alsinans are left at the hostage area, to back up and support the other two troops still there. In the 12th deck, the reinforcements finally get down there with great haste as the offensive is pressed forward fast, hard, and brutally, as the Alsinan Army has trained them to do. Breaking through the locked doors is quite easy with bullets, They push down to the 10th engine deck, before any response can come as the Redford ship took heavy losses to its anti-boarding squads from the Alsinan mercs. Unbeknownst to the Alsinans, however, a blast door had shut around the engine bay, which, with the light armament the Alsinans have, is NOT going to be cracked.

"Sir, we're blocked from the engine bay by a blast door!" a mercenary rings up to his superior.

"Are we now? I was unaware of this..." he replies, trying to formulate a new plan in his head. Things had gone bumpy thus far, but making the way to the engine deck was actually not the most difficult assignment he's faced. Cracking this blast door, however, wouldn't be done with easy firepower. No, they needed to get the door open by espionage or diplomacy, as it's possible that any access codes to the door are hidden away in some secret terminal on the ship, and only the Captain of the ship would know where that is. But, he doesn't have the men to clear out the entire 1.8 km long ship, and take everyone prisoner...

"In that case, we need to get into one of our demo's in here. Isn't he on the 12th deck?"

"Yes he is, sir."

"I'll give him a call, then."

The transmission cuts out suddenly as the merc leader calls for the demolitionist, who had been left on the 12th deck, wounded but plenty still alive.

"Hey, you." the transceiver in the demolitionist's ear rings as he struggles to stand.

"Yeah, sir?" he asks, standing on his feet, trying to get his bearings after being patched up by a Redford first-aid kit they had looted on the way down to the 10th deck.

"We need you down on the 10th deck ASAP, get your ass there PRONTO!"

"Yessir, I'll be there as soon as I can."

The call cuts out as the demo slowly makes his way down the decks, finally reaching the 10th deck before collapsing against the corridor wall...these wounds might be too much for him, only time will tell.

ZendikaroftheWest

Captain Wolfram Berger is worried. The transports were supposed to arrive an hour earlier, but they are still fifteen minutes out. Still, it could be worse, the plan could be a disaster, and they and they could all be dead. Finally they have arrived. The plan can go into action now. A bold move, something audacious, even stupid. An outrageous plan, one to capture a redford super battleship. Even so, they were going to attempt it.

One attack carrier, three light cruisers, six destroyers, seven corvettes, and two troop transports exit warp near the battleship. Immediately, the plan goes into action. The troop transports steak toward the battleship clamping on as they begin to bore through the hull. The rest of the fleet begins to retreat, leaving only the attack carrier and corvettes in the area. Quickly, before it is spotted, the carrier moves behind the ships, hiding just behind the engine plume. The corvettes do similarly, but form a screen behind the carrier.

BattleCruiserCommander

ZendikaroftheWest When the first soldiers bore into the corridor, they get immediately shot into by the interior defense turrets, only for the depressurization to kick in and the holes covered by a thin metal plate.

ZendikaroftheWest

BattleCruiserCommander
After the first few soldiers fall, the rest fall back, and open fire, concentrating toward the turret's position. After it is taken out, the begin to fight toward the bridge, taking out any turrets on the way.
kola2134
BattleCruiserCommander
Making sure to remain in the thrust plume of the battleship, the ships begin opening fire, positron beams streaking out toward the enemy cruiser. Seeing the missiles, the carrier opens up, small positron beams streaking out to destroy most of the enemy missiles. However, a few get through, impacting on the carrier's shields, and lightly damaging two corvettes. On the bridge of the Hellfire's Redemption, Berger smiles.
Suddenly, his first officer speaks up
"Should we call in the rest of the fleet, Sir?"
"No need. Just keep us behind their drive engines and we've won."
As he says this, the carrier begins launching, flinging a total of twenty-four DWG-262's into space.

kola2134

BattleCruiserCommander
Like the sounds of rusted metal. Old swings giving off the rusted haunting squeaks from lack of oil. The same noise a number of chains made within the vessel as it traveled through ftl. Imperial light cruiser "Casla" heavily modified from the look of a Frontline warship to that more of simple mercenarys. It broadcasted a simple message as it appeared to the battle.

"Red Battleship, Red Battleship, The Jankes mercenary offer help to destroy the enemy."
The voice was young, and one of confidence.

It was not a transmission but a message, a statement to all. As the barrels of the guns began to aim downward. The vessel had exited to the side of the @ZendikaroftheWest force. Hatches flew open as a large number of missiles were unleashed targeted at the retreating vessels. The main lances beaming to life with pulsating blue up the side to a gold as the beams fired forward into the Corvette screen. A number of other bsttlecannons and guns begining to rum le to.life as they fired at the force.

BattleCruiserCommander

kola2134 Frantic crewmen scrambled in the command tower of the Battleship as to what to respond with. The modifications to the ship made it look more like a mercenary group rather then an actual helpful group.

@Dokkisse @ZendikaroftheWest
The Redford Battleship begins throttling the engines, and begins a hard turn to port to obtain a visual weapon lock with either the missile systems or main armament.

BattleCruiserCommander

@Dokkisse @ZendikaroftheWest @kola2134 The Redford Battleship soon starts to tightly turn the rudder to the Starboard side, with the engines ever increasing throttle. This Violent change in direction has cause the ship to ever so slightly lean to the left.

@Dokkisse
The heavy machinery in the engine bay can be heard whirring from behind the door. There’s reason to believe any major damage cause to the machinery may just knock out one the main sets of engines, effectively leaving it dead in the water (with only maneuvering thrusters left to move the ship). While blasting the door is still the best bet, it may be in the group’s best interest to not majorly damage a component of these engine systems.

@ZendikaroftheWest
While the main force trying to encroach on the ship is not easily hittable, the launched space craft ARE. Multitudes of flak batteries, dual purpose guns, anti-munition guns, and even the main guns begin firing upon the craft. It’s literally almost entire waves of plasma and shells. (These rounds may affect @kola2134 ’s group)

@kola2134
The waves of rounds shooting at the incoming enemy fighters start to go near the group’s ships, albeit unintentionally.

ZendikaroftheWest

BattleCruiserCommander
Seeing the heavy flak, they move closer, streaking along the battleships surface to avoid most of the fire. However, they lose five of them before they get there, falling to the heavy flak.

Dokkisse

BattleCruiserCommander

Alsinan forces brace against the left wall, using their legs to stay stable. One of the many perks of being eight legged.

The demo, slumped against a wall, is picked up by a couple of his comrades and essentially dragged to the blast door. Now that he's in position, it's time for him to do his work. With much efficiency and training, the demolitionist plants a charge powerful enough to rend a tank's armor on the blast door, ordering his comrades to fall back. A couple of his personal friends dragged him to safety as well, propping him up against the reinforced corridor side. Only a short time later, a resounding explosion rocks the corridors, the door left in smolders as the Alsinan forces storm into the engine room, firing first and asking questions later. The Redfordian engine crew, more than prepared for an assault by now, have their weapons hot as they unleash the first volley into Alsinan shells and body armor, their smaller caliber guns still managing to hurt a lot of the mercenaries. In volleys of return fire, the heavy weapons operators manage to kill several of the engine crew, enticing the newer engine crew to surrender. The remaining, more experienced men, fight to the last man, protecting their station as the final shot is fired.

Now that the engine room is acquired, though with much more bloodshed than was initially planned, the final step of the operation begins. The lighter-armed Alsinans take up positions in the engine room and begin to shut down the engines.

BattleCruiserCommander

ZendikaroftheWest (so your fighters move closer to the anti-aircraft guns?)

BattleCruiserCommander

Dokkisse Shutting down the engines is proving more tedious and difficult then planned. First off, it seems as since the engines have been going on full throttle, turning off the engines abruptly may cause the engines (and possibly the overhead FTL drive) to flood with coolant. This, combined with the extreme heat/pressure the engines are under, may cause the coolant to either burn rapidly (which can produce overheating issues), or the coolant to outright detonate (similar to this

However, just slowly turning down the throttle can’t be done either, as that is done from the internal command center (different from the Command Tower) or the Command Tower.

Dokkisse

BattleCruiserCommander

"Sir! We can't risk the thrusters and FTL drive detonating. We need to get to the bridge!" one of the lighter armed Alsinans shouts, the characteristic clicking noise of the Alsinan speech ringing throughout the engine deck as many of the mercs shout over one another trying to all get control of their own little sections and trying to control the thrusters, swinging the ship wildly off course and unintentionally throwing off the fire control solutions of the Redford gunners of the main turrets still remaining.

"Aw, you gotta be screwing with me. SHUT THE DAMN ENGINES DOWN!" the commander shouts over all the others.

"SIR! By all means, this could detonate the ship's engines and FTL drive! We can't risk it!"

"Ah, hell, now we gotta make our way to the bridge. ALRIGHT! MEN! I need the guys with the biggest guns. We're heading up to the bridge, and I want as few casualties as POSSIBLE." The commander yells, grabbing as many heavy weapons carriers as possible to go with him with some lighter armed Alsinans to take hostages in the many rooms throughout the ship, giving them the greatest bargaining chip as possible should they be forced to negotiate.

The Alsinans head out, making their way to the bridge as best they can.

BattleCruiserCommander

Dokkisse While coming out of the maintenance tunnel, they start to hear the exterior flak guns opening up onto the enemy spacecraft. They can see defenders Rush past their little maintenance tunnel. Out of the hallway, they can enter the elevator to see where it can go.

Dokkisse

BattleCruiserCommander

The Alsinan mercs, rushing past any unneeded rooms to the operation, board the elevator in groups of five, ferrying their way up the ship slowly. Too slowly. Reinforcements are not available as they're nearly too deep into the ship. All they have at the moment is all they'll have for the rest of the mission. The remaining Alsinan ships begin to speed up and catch the ship, trying to dodge the hail of flak, the comms between the ships and their boarding parties being briefly interrupted every time a ship is hit. Opening fire on the Redford battleship is not an option, as that would potentially destroy the vessel.

Alsinan mercs threaten and hold up many Redfordian men. Some submit, some resist and are quickly dealt with. The number of hostages is surprisingly small, as many of the side rooms are ignored as the Alsinans only take positions of import, such as fire control stations as they rush up to the bridge. It's a confusing maze as they work through the ship, a squad actually getting lost in the hallways until they come across a section of the ship on fire and they immediately turn tail and scram from that position after putting it out.

BattleCruiserCommander

Dokkisse When they near the control tower’s main bridge, they hear the frantic younger crew clash with the older, more experienced officers. While the crew are fighting over what to do about the intruders, the multiple groups of ships that are either coming from some area nearby or the ship that just made contact, the mercs get to see what’s going on in the room in terms of tech.

Obviously most of the basic systems are here, such as controlling the ship’s course, plan of action, etc., but it seems the amount of, well, data is rather lacking for a ship this size? Things like specific armaments, the damage control systems, etc, are controlled somewhere else? It’s like this area selects the targets and someone or something else chooses what to use, it’s rather odd…

Dokkisse

BattleCruiserCommander

A rough battle occuring throughout the ship has many mini-engagements of two or three as the Alsinan mercenaries are stretched much too thinned out across the ship to take the bridge. The 17th deck of this Redford labyrinth is a hellish gauntlet, many anti-boarding personnel occupying the twisting corridors leading up to the main bridge. While it was almost certain that the Alsinan heavies could break the thin line of Redford defense, that would come at much too steep a cost. Not to mention the other defense systems which were almost certainly present.

Finally, after staying out of direct engagement for the entire fight, the mercenary ships begin to trudge ever closer, dodging their way out of the scattered fire from the Redford battleship. They don't open fire, as that would invalidate their contract, but the hope is that the ship's presence would be able to intimidate the Redford ship into being more...agreeable.

"Dammit, I TOLD those dumbasses to stay OUT OF RANGE!" the on-the-ground Alsinan commander shouts, picking up his transmitter to those mercenary ships.

//ENCRYPTED TRANSMISSION BEGIN - ALSINAN MERCENARY FLEET//

What in Kria's name are you bastards doing?! I explicitly ordered you to STAY OUT OF FIRING RANGE! We can't risk losing this bounty or provoking any of the other assholes who are here. If ANYONE opens fire, the bounty is GONE. Get the hell back to range, And that's an order.

//ENCRYPTED TRANSMISSION END//

Those Alsinan ships, quickly receiving and decoding their commander's orders, curse out his name and respond with as much rage and urgency.

//ENCRYPTED TRANSMISSION BEGIN - COMMANDER KELE//

Sir, we got closer to try and exert some form of silent pressure on the Redford ship. Who knows if they can actually see us, though. But, we MUST stay at this range, otherwise they could launch an all-out assault on you and your men. We're certain you value your life and the money more than nothingness.

//ENCRYPTED TRANSMISSION END//

"Kria-dammit, you insubordinate...no time for that." Kele says, nearly frothing at the mouth in rage at how defiantly insubordinate those fool-hardy commanders in those ships must be. Soon after, an order is handed out to all available Alsinans through safe channels.

"Men, we need to storm the bridge and cut the head off this beast. Sooner we remove the brains, sooner we can get the money and get the hell out of here. I'll make sure that you all get a cut of the money from the scrapyard if this ship gets there."

Soon after, only 20 Alsinans who were mostly just stalling around in previously cleared rooms meet up with Commander Kele, comprised of 4 heavy troops and the rest being normally equipped men. They make sure to strap up with body armor, which is only armor in name, with some scrap metal they could rip up from any bullet-ridden piece of hardware which the techies wouldn't miss too badly. This extensive preparation loses the Alsinans precious time, however...

BattleCruiserCommander

Dokkisse
Exterior

The ships moving closer is a dangerous gamble, as the multitude of automated guns firing seems to increase. While most of the guns are currently set on @ZendikaroftheWest 's fighter squadrons, the closer automated guns fire at the mercenary ships ever still.

Interior

The group could either take the elevator down to the 16th or 17th deck, but it also matters in terms of the conditions of these decks. Judging by the Command Tower's diagram, the 16th deck seems to house the Command Center, and the 17th seems to house the computerized systems (and some supercomputers). Obviously, the Command Center is more heavily defended, but Computerized systems to the degree shown might be a different kind of defense. It could be easier to deal with the Command Center itself than to try and shut off the computers while dealing with any defenders (and potentially mess up a line of code or something similar). The heat from the supercomputers and computerized systems (or if they are using cooling systems unbearably cold), so dealing with the temperature differences and the defenses may be greater losses than the more conventionally defended command center.

@kola2134 @ZendikaroftheWest (IF you are going to make your move to capture the ship, do it now. @Dokkisse 's group is close to capturing it.)

kola2134

BattleCruiserCommander
"Bring us hard starboard and prepare for boarding."
A transmission was sent to the large warship.
"Commencing liberation. We will liberate the vessel."
The hanger dropped open as a number of armoured boarders launched out. Quick to impact into the side of the large warship as they began an assualt. Four large projectiles fired out into the side of the ship, boarding craft as they burrowed I to the armor and penetrated into the halls. Heavy armoured shields, carried in one arm. Large rifles in the other. A large 5 man team in a bulking armor, but they moved fast as they moved for the first position the mercenarys took. A contingent of standard infantry following after covering the rear of the 5 large warriors.

ZendikaroftheWest

BattleCruiserCommander kola2134
After the initial faltering, the boarding force begins the assault. Half of the force pushes toward the bridge, and half of it heads for the engine room. At the fore of the bridge force stands a proud man, with eye patch and tricorn hat, as well as a cutlass at his belt. Meanwhile, out in space, the cvarkes streak along the battleships surface, not firing, but observing. The battleship's defenses are pinpointed and sent to the carrier, and by the time the last cvarke is dead, the carrier is ready. With the launch of catapults, twelve FWG-97 torpedo bombers and twelve DWG-109 Debakes are launched. The debakes peel off, streaking far above the cruiser, waiting for... something. The Dorshias on the other hand, turn to the battleships sides and launch their torpedoes, targeting the point defense modules.