FLANK LEFT!

Posted on Tue Oct 10th, 2023 @ 1:48pm by Lieutenant Betaras K'ner

Mission: The Return
Location: Federation Outpost 382
Timeline: Current

[Outpost ground station, Sector 2-7]

K'ner waved her squad-mate to the right, and two more to the left. It was eerily quiet as they cleared section by section. A "highly intelligent" opponent would have made plans for the eventual counter-attack, either from the residents, or any rescue effort. They hadn't been rebuffed in space, but they should be meeting some resistance by now, which meant an ambush...

At least the personnel they'd come across so far, while not very helpful in their panicked observations, followed directions as they scanned for the foreign DNA, or rather the highly complicated DNA of the Undine. While they maintained the ruse of checking for injuries, of which there were plenty but mostly minor, they didn't want to send up any of the infiltrators the Undine were known for.

"Peke, watch that alley!" She cautioned as they methodically worked. She motioned them to hold in place at the next intersection as she reviewed the scans from their little eye in the sky. Furtive motions caught her eye and she fed the coordinates to her crew, receiving the acknowledgement pings promptly and directed each half of her squad that way from each flank.

The warehouse looked very quiet, almost devoid of any evidence of the attack they'd seen thus far. Perfect conditions to suggest survivors were holed up inside and in need of rescue. From what they'd researched, and physical evidence thus far, the Undine must have a varied preference between their weapons and the hand-to-hand damage their bio-engineered enhancements made possible.

Her squad was ready for that, having all had experience with even larger, heavier opponents. K'ner was appreciative of the fact that she had no newbie 'lambs' to shepherd at the moment as she led Bravo element in on the right flank to trigger the ambush, or clear the warehouse...

Very quiet... too quiet... The Undine seemed to be a little too efficient, she thought, as they looked around and scanned. The ground around the warehouse was actually clean. In their haste to remove any evidence of their presence, the creatures had cleaned up too much and it was all too clear if one was looking. She signaled her mates to the two doors on this side and waited for the left flank squadees to signal they were in place.

With a nod, K'ner waited to the side of the door for Nebr to pull it open, stepping clear as he did so. She swung through the door, sweeping straight and left as Biloso came thru, practically on her hip, sweeping right. She almost smiled behind her mask as she viewed the supposed victims, kneeling on the floor as if they were bound, but her visor clearly outlined each with a nimbus glow indicating they were Undine shifters. It seemed easier to detect shortly after they changed... good to know...

She swept back and forth, knowing the rest of the team did too, looking for more active opponents since the fake outposters were acting all mollified and stuff but crying for help. Another casual observation obvious to K'ner was the complete lack of damage, blood, not even a disheveled shirt amongst them.

Content they had placed all their eggs in one basket, the crew swung their aim suddenly on the gathered few on the warehouse floor who had been playing their part. Small colored dots appeared on each in her visor, delineating the aim point for each of her team.

The 'highly intelligent' part of their description certainly came out now as they realized the jig is up. Their disadvantage was they'd kneeled on the floor with their hands bound. Their advantage, she already knew, was their enhanced abilities... they would be fast, and deadly. The combat team managed to get one round of blasts as the Undine leaped from their positions.

While taking severe damage, only one dropped to the floor, unmoving, while the rest moved into HtH range. Fortunately the squad had already prepared for that by slinging their weapons after firing and adopting handheld weapons immediately to meet the Undine charge. More than one looked surprised at their reactions, no less vicious but it inserted a fraction of hesitation in some that spelled their doom.

As she slashed left and blocked right, K'ner could hear the other half of her squad had engaged Undine that had thought they were going to be sneaky and hide outside to support the warehouse so they wouldn't be detected inside. They hadn't expected K'ner to split her squad in half and have them flank left for just such an opportunity. Sounded like that was going well with both surprise and a good interval between them to get in multiple weapons in a crossfire in the open.

K'ner jumped left, sticking her boot and leaning well beyond what she could naturally reach without falling over. The clawed hand swished in the space she just vacated, twisting her wrist and slicing it away, following with spike to the lower abdomen where their vital organs were. The energy that discharged inside the creature was more than enough to disrupt the tissues and the Undine crumpled as she released her boot's seal on the floor, rolling up behind another one that about to stab Marccus as it held his hands blocked off to the side.

The last one went down as she reached out to give Marccus a hand up

"Took you long enough," he said. She could practically hear the smile behind his visor.

"You need to quit baiting the enemy, dipshit. I might not decide to pull your fat outta the fire next time..." K'ner knew she would, but she'd rather Marccus didn't take so many risks. Damn adrenaline junkies...

Her display showed her the vid-view outside as the outside team cleaned up the downed Undine. She had hoped to take one or two prisoner but they didn't seem to be inclined to cooperate, injuring one of the team in the process and cinching the decision not to take any more chances at this juncture. They'd have more opportunities later, she guessed.

Total injuries, all minor except Snix. They'd immobilized him and beamed him back to the ship while they swept for any intell and secured a perimeter. The inside Undine didn't have anything unusual but the outside group had weapons and communications that were being analyzed. If they could monitor their comms, that could prove to be enlightening...

Sending all that up the chain, K'ner called out, "Let's move out!" There were still more personnel to account for...


Lt-Jg Betaras
Hazard Team / Combat Medic
Asst Med Off

 

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