War on Var

[Boltgun]

Boltgun grabs the stim thrown at him and attach it to his belt, ready for use.

"We're almost there!" he shouts, pointing at an elevated door leading to the command deck "Right up the stairs".

The door opens revealing two guards shooting at them with their FAMAM. Instinctively, Boltgun takes aim releases a burst trying to take them both. Both guards falls down wounded.

Unfortunately, turning around to shoot gave time for more guards to charge him. A mace hit him on the helmet, not a strong enough knock to stun him but he can feel an headache coming.

Boltgun hit the man behind him with his elbow, staggering him, and run to Alex. "We switch position, cover me while we move to the command deck."

[Alexanderw]

Alex nods to bolt, the fire in his eyes burring through his shades.

The guards the run up the hall to meet him face to face and on seeing him show some fear.
Most of these man have never seen a Opiflex before and Alex thinks that with his fists on fire and he look of his pointed ears and skin color, that he must look like some kind of demon. Well Alex decides to use it to his advantage. He moves forward disarming the first guard breaking his arm in the process,kicks a leg out and pins the other against the wall. with his foot planted on the mans chest he spins into the air and lands the second foot on top of the third breaking his neck.

Oh man this is way too easy, Alex thinks to himself.

Alex pushes off the man pinned against the wall collapsing his lungs with the force and starts to run after Bolt.

[Boltgun]

Boltgun runs up the stairs and kick the door open.

"Shoot him !"

As the crew shoots at him, Boltgun execute a total mirror shield and bullets bounces everywhere. One of the crew members falls over clenching his knee. Suddenly an explosion coming for the ship's armory shakes the scene. The commander look through the windows to see the ships cannons moving away from the city.

"Stop shooting ! You... have won."

The captain tries to maintain his posture as his crew mens drop their weapons. His uniform, medal and beret contrasting with his sweaty, nervous attitude.

"Don't tell me that you knew what you where doing there." say Boltgun to the captain.

"We were to blockade escape attempts while the ground forces eliminate these bloody rebels and the traitors who helped them." his eyes widen at Boltgun point his assault rifle at him "I was doing my duty... p... please, I was just following orders!"

"Following orders ?" Boltgun barks at him, "Of all the excuses I could hear that's the lamest! I'm sure that the dead will be thrilled by your lack of responsibility!"

"Please, I got a f.." a bullet pierce trough the captain's head who falls lifeless. The remaining crew ducks at the gunshot.

Boltgun turn around to look at Massillia's port, tourism ships started leaving. He wonders how much made it to safety.

[Alexanderw]

Alex comes to the bridge at the very point the bullet flies, the captain falls.

"Oh Bolt I swear some things never change"

Bolt looks back at Alex his face impassive.

"hum yeah, well any way", says Alex ,"lets regroup with the rest of the team and finish things up looks like we won this one"

Boltgun nods and looks back towards Massillia

[Boltgun]

The boat moved away from the battleship as fast as possible. Soon the tourism ship will be in range and Boltgun suspects that if a citizen from Massillia brought a rocket launcher, the responsibles are going to get it.

The squad lost a man, the other soldiers brought back the body for a proper burial. Boltgun didn't knew his name. Like in the good old days, he never seems to remember anyone's name.

That man was wearing a Varan class, green metaplast armor. Unfortunately he didn't close his helmet, mimicking Boltgun. But he didn't have nanobots under the skin acting as an armor. A white cloth on his face is barely hiding the wound.

Vincent ponders about the turn of events. He expected people to die like in any skirmish but the planet is going down a worse path then planned.

His train of toughts is interrupted by explosions in the distance, coming from the battleship. It seems that citizens indeed brought what they needed for a revenge.

[Alexanderw]

Alex looks over the scene of battle, the look over Bolt's face, the dead man laying on the bottom of the boat; it all started to sink in. This is not Rubi-Ka, this is not the pit fights from when he was a teenager, we could die here.

Alex was always raised in privilege and money, and he heard rumors that Bolt was as well before the rebellion broke out. Alex never seen war beyond a few educational holovids, the battles on RK did not compare, his father always made sure that he always had a secure reclaim account there, there was never a risk for death.

Alex looks over to his comrade and pats him on the shoulder. "Let's win this fight old friend, lets try and clean this place up"

[Boltgun]

The camp of Carseus is quite busy. Engineers are infusing implants and wielding weapons to the stolen phasefronts and yalmahas, doctors are taking care of the wounded, rumors says that something big will happen soon.

Boltgun is using a large tent as an office, he installed a laser fence as a cell for the investigator Bergondi. As usual he turns back ignoring the office around him.

"You dick !"

Duval's hologram fills with parasites as Boltgun flips a bullet through. The news have been showing pictures of victims of Massillia all the day. They have conveniently avoided showing rebels symbols or writings, the goal is to show victims. Mechs have taken down almost all the city and shot civilians and rebels alike. The thought of such an artificial way to increase a kill count greatly offense him.

"You huge dick !"

Duval explains how the rebels killed so many in the city. How Boltgun's actions caused the death of 5000 beings. How he's going to pacify the planet for a safer future.

"You outdicked me !"

Among the rebels the blame is on Bergondi, but outside it is getting harder to have any support. If it wasn't for the pirates SHE sent him, he would be blind.

"You Emperor Dick of Dickonia !"

In his cell Bergondi feign indifference as always, he refused to give Boltgun company since he was captured and doesn't move as he hears crashes of broken furniture. But a sound catch his attention, a sob.

As Bergondi turns around he's in front of a surprising spectacle : Boltgun is on the sitting ground. Bullets are scattered everywhere, and he hold his head in his hands.
"I screwed up, Bergondi. My years on Rubi Ka made me forget that I was only a lieutenant to him. J, j'ai échoué..."

"You didn't fail, you successfuly brought chaos. That's what you wanted." says Bergondi "You're a nuisance, you actions are killing people. People with lives. You don't even know their name, but for them you took everything.
Mr Delage, I work for Sol Banking and Sol Banking alone. Mr Duval has shown himself but the corporation isn't moving to establish order. I can help, I can push the needed strings."

Boltgun stands up and tap his datapad, powering off the laser fence.

"Good choice Mr Delage, if you drop me off in Bastiaccio I'll take care of it by myself. Give me... 2 days and do as you have planned. Lutece will be ready."

[Alexanderw]

"hum so that's the plan?"

Alex looks across the room at Bolt ," That is the plan"

Alex looks back down at the details layed out before them. Reminds him of a old style seige of the castle. We have the numbers and the skill and advatage to do it so that is not the problem. The problem willl be that they will be expecting us this time and will be prepared for our strength.

"you know this will not be easy?", again Bolt says nothing and nods.

"Your 'friend' better keep his end of the deal",

Bolt nods

"We may all get killed if he doesn't"

Again, Bolt nods

Alex nods and walks out

[Boltgun]

Someone left a weapon container inside the tent during the night. Boltgun tried to hack the lock open but an hours of tries with his hacker tools didn't help.

A note on it was scribbled on it : "You will like it. ELLE"

ELLE, SHE, whatever the pirate captain wants to be called, sent him a gift and won't let him open it. He still asked for the container to be loaded on the shuttle he and Alexander will take for Lutece in a few hours.

Boltgun looks at his equipment one last time. A small backpack containing notum kits, medical stims, spare ammo.

With all the needed maps loaded in his ncu. He reviews the plan again.
He and Alex will both drop outside of the city at a waste management site. There he'll take an old tunnel leading inside the city. With the main battle around the city gates, and hopefully the city evacuated, he'll only have to fight a minor part of the defense until the HQ. The course through the city is planned to bypass anti grav tanks and reinforce assault squads at some points.

Once inside the HQ, it will get rough. He and Alex both will have to create enough panic to get the Duval and his associates to surrender. If they don't, just win enough time for the rebels to take on.

What he didn't tell Alex, is that this plan have no escape route. If they survive this day, Boltgun doesn't know how to leave the planet without having Sol Banking, rebels, pirates or whatever after him.

[Alexanderw]

Alex takes one last look over his gear

Stims, a series of bracers that can be swapped in a pinch incise his higher Damage nanos failed him, and rings.

Alex is starting to feel a bit weak after the past few days, the cargo ship he came in had a simulated atmosphere like Rubi-Ka so he was just now starting to feel the effects of the planet on him. He is not to sure what nanos will work so he prepared a back up program in case some failed.

Alex looks over the plans once more before heading out to the shuttle... it looks solid on paper but something about does not seem right.

Alex shrugs it off, Bolt was always the better player with it came to war strategy and he and Alex have been in worse together.

So heading out trusting his friend Alex sets out to end a war.

[Boltgun]

The shuttle raises a large cloud of dust as it takes off. The inside have been stripped out to lose weight and there is only boxes full of supplies for the incoming battle, secured by a few belts, and crudes benches welded with belts for Boltgun and the other passenger.

Each one is checking his equipment, the other rebels are using mismatched sets of FAMAVs assault rifles, SOL shotguns, pistols and clubs. Alexander, not carrying any weapon, almost blend in this patchwork squad.

Soon after the take off, Boltgun notice that the box SHE sent to him have unlocked. Taking off his safety belt, he steps forward to open it. He was stunned by its content.

Vincent recognizes his old weapon but it is made of bio material used in the OFAB forges. It's a high caliber rifle, or a small caliber canon, combining a classic propelled shell with a magnetic railgun launcher. It's a boltgun like the one he used back in the days when he fought Sol Banking. But this time using the abilities of the OFAB technology.

He couldn't help but shed a tear as he takes the weapon in his hands, it's way more lightweight and balanced like any OFAB technology, the stock folds itself to absorb recoil, and targeting systems connected to his ncu for more precision. This is... way overpowered.

"Heh Alex, can you hear 'Nerf soldiers!' in the distance ?"

Boltgun pull the box's bottom revealing another layer...

[Alexanderw]

Alex comes over and looks at the Gun/Cannon.

"well that looks like you're making up for something"

Alex looks into the box and sees two simple items, a pair of gloves and boots. The boots appear to be Ofab but with a focus in Evades and run-speed, the gloves, also ofab, are buzzing with nano tech. A simple hud report tells him that the gloves are designed to increase damage out put and also uses his NUC to give more lethal strikes.

"well I hope these things make it to Rubi-Ka soon, would not mind mowing down a few rafters with these"

It now seems the job at hand has become a bit more easier.

[Boltgun]

"I know I got a small yalm."

"Hey buckle up ! We're reaching the drop spot !" shouts the pilot as the shuttle begins its approach.

The shuttle lands in a mountainous area. As the other passengers prepare themselves, Boltgun take a good breath of the evening fresh air. The sun cast its orange glow in the mountains, reflecting into the sea and the old salt marsh in the distance. The parasol pine trees bob gently under the breeze.

Boltgun's daydreaming is interrupted as the other soldiers call him. The group walk down an old road to a disaffected wasted processing plant. Vegetation have taken its rights and is already breaking down the old buildings. It doesn't take long for to find the entrance to the maintenance tunnels in the ruins.

"I worked in the map department in Sol Energy.", says one of the rebels while unfolding an old paper map, "This tunnel isn't on any recent maps, it have been closed down long ago but if we follow it, it will lead to water drain, and to Lutece sewers."

With only the light of floating torches, the group walk down silently in the old tunnel until they meet a dead end, a brick wall closing the tunnel. Two rebels takes an heavy ram and start hitting the wall. After several minutes of heavy beating, the bricks fall apart. The new opening leads to a larger sewer tunnel.

"That's the water drain, it's straight ahead to the city!"

The group begins their long walk to the city, the main force is going to initiate the attack soon and they have to move quickly.

[Alexanderw]

the subway

this is what this place reminds Alex of, just less fiends.

Alex pulls out his old light-bar and makes sure he has a pair of nightvison goggles in case he needs to go with out light.

Bolt seems to be in his element now, he is one of the few people that Alex knows that can look comfortable in a war zone.

Alex chuckles to him self, wait I'm one of those people too, he thinks, man this is a rush.

Alex plods onward into the sewer

[Boltgun]

For several hours the group walks down the sewers, the large water drain leading to tunnels, tunnels leading to sewers. Eventually names of streets are written on the walls, indicating the they have entered the city.

Boltgun get nervous upon hearing detonations far in the distance. The first assaults are obviously violent and that thought, in addition to the last quiet hours, only make him more eager to find enemies.

"We can't get closer." says a rebel as he point to a massive steel door, leading under the HQ. Unfortunately this door is under security lock down and can't be opened from the outside.

With relief, Boltgun climbs a ladder to the street. Quickly he runs to take cover behind a trash container and look around. Sirens are echoing in the distance and the streets are deserted, informations panels are broadcasting direction to shelters, it seems Bergondi did his work and the ICC is evacuating the city.

An alarm gets Boltgun's attention, a surveillance drone has spotted the other rebels as they climb out of the sewer. He shouldn't attract attention, that will give everyone more chances to survive, but he can't help but feel joy.

Vincent flips at the drone before shooting it. He notice the synchronized sound of footsteps coming from the corner of the street.

"Droids !"

Good old combat droids, no larger then janitor bots, only with more armor, one plasma emitter for a right arm. These robots are escorted by several wardroids, Duval must be falling on hard time to sent such robots by themselves.

Boltgun open fire on one of the droids, the burst blows up its head. As expected, the weapon have little recoil of its caliber. With a grin on his face, he fires at full auto in at the droids, dismembering them like toys.

Leaving the smoking remains, behind the robots charge them weapon and being their assault.

[Alexanderw]

Alex comes out of the man whole to see Bolt firing way at the droids. They seem to be simple build like the ones he cut his teeth on when first coming to Rubi-Ka.

"hey Bolt how much control do you have over that cannon?"

Bolt takes the head of a droid close to Alex's left.

"OK, that's good enough for me"

Alex runs into the fray, grabs he weapon arm of one droid using it as leverage to wrap his legs around the head of a second. With speed and strength unknown on this planet he takes the head of the droid and kicks it like a football into the head of an other down the line stunning it's targeting system.

Alex uses the body of the droid to start a back flip over the first droid taking off it's arm and using it as a bat to take off it's head on the way down. Alex sees a explosion off to the side as Bolt lets off an other full auto. Quickly thinking Alex uploads a Mark of Peril into Bolts NCU, I really don't want him hitting me with that, thinks Alex.

Alex head starts to hum as a droid hits him with the butt of its gun. Alex quickly shakes it off and dodges the 2ed hit and uploads a reduce Inertia into his own NCU.

Need to remember to be careful, thinks Alex to himself, you can die here, Alex spits out a tooth and plows back into the battle.

[Boltgun]

Boltgun tackles the droid behind Alexander before lodging a shell in its head.

"Be careful, you're not getting your teeth back that easily."

Alexander quickly point toward a warmachine who have triangulated their position. Instinctively Boltgun takes aim, locking into the robot's arm and head.

"Enter attack mo..."

The warmachine falls down, its gatling arm barely attached by the ammo feed.

Boltgun pauses a moment , activating an empowered shield. Such pulsating nanoprograms are made to be run in the Shadowlands and the lack of ambient notum and novictum cause his nano energy to drain each time the pulsating aura refresh itself. But that will block enough shots for everyone.

Other soldiers, surprised by the shields, are taking cover behind various urban furnitures. They open fire, causing droids to lose their attention and break formation. As Alexander grabs and twist another droid's head around, Boltgun is getting a clear view of the two other warmachines.

He picks one and fire at full auto, reducing it to scrap metal, this gave enough time for the second one to fire. Fortunately the bullets doesn't have enough penetration power to penetrate his ofab chest piece or helmet, especially after doing trough a deflection shield and most hits, as impressive as it is, are barely impacts. Ignoring the pain he releases a burst, the damage done to the last warmachine causes it to spray fire all around in confusing before finally tripping over.

Looking around he sees that everyone is still okay, as the last droids are taken down he readies a notum kit, ordering everyone to move on as fast as possible.

[Alexanderw]

Alex knuckles crack as he takes out his last opponent and the place gets a little less noisy.

looking over the field he notices how more in sync he and Bolt are compared to the rest of this group, he really hopes this does not lead them to being babysitters in all of this.

Alex shoots a first aid stim and feels his tooth start to grow back and his knuckles heal, good to know those nano bots are still working in there.

With his head clear and body feeling refreshed Alex moves on to the next battle.

[Boltgun]

Outrunning squads of droids is easy. Going through an housing block leaving obstacles over the place will slow them down long enough.

Trying not to be in open areas the group skips through buildings until they reach the main avenue. This avenue lead directly into the HQ district, when Boltgun have last seen this place, it was full of lights, and luxury items were displayed in shops. Now, it's empty, most of these shops are closed down, and the power is out giving this place a feeling of death.

Boltgun takes a moment to evaluate the situation. Down the street there is a mechanized patrol. An hovertank and a squad of soldiers walking down. They are moving to the opposite direction and it would be easy to move away, as the hovertank need to stabilize before shooting, making it quite a slow vehicle. No wonder its design never made to Rubi Ka.

Listening to his communicator he catches feeds from battles. It seems that the defense company haven't taken many losses but had to fall back several times. Rebels have entered the city and the air defense is partly disabled. Which means there will be more urban fights soon.

There is new global messages in several channels indicating that there is more than just rebels fighting outside. There is unidentified skirmishes scattered trough the city, and even the safe zones defended by ICC peacekeepers are unclear. Whatever it is, he'll find out soon.

With a gesture, Boltgun order a movement towards HQ with haste. But soon after the group began to move he hear another rebel shouting behind him. He barely had the time notice blood in front of him as pain paralyzed his legs. Before he could understand an explosion send him to the ground.

Boltgun's vision clears to the sight of Alexander's face. Alexander grabs him by his shoulders and tries to pull him into a porch for cover, but that only intensify his pain from his broken legs.

Out of breath, Boltgun twists around to see the bodies around him, and the hovertank who have crossed half the distance between it and the rebel group. How could an antigrav, unstable tank, fire at such speed without pushing itself off course ?

Suddenly it became clear, research have done its work on this planet too. Vehicle have been enhanced, better ammunition and armors have been produced. That was the secondary activity of this planet. Obviously antigrav vehicle have been upgrade and stabilized for their job. This is crucial data, and Boltgun neglected it. To misjudge your enemy firepower is a huge mistake in times of war, and he's going to pay for this.

Gathering his strength, Alexander manage to drag Boltgun to a building entrance. Around him, the few valid rebels are treating their wounds the best they can, shaking. One even lost his weapon.

Unable to think about a winning option, Boltgun shakes his toes. That his spine is not broken is a positive thought in such situation.

[Alexanderw]

Crap

Crap crap crap.

this keeps going over in his mind as he looks over Boltgun's wounds.

Think you spoiled brat, remember your education.Lets see, Aelx pulls out a treatment lab and applies it to the leg the bleeding stops but the break is still there... damn not enough nortum in his blood stream. Alex pulls up a floor board and rips some cloth from a sheet near by. Alex hands Bolt a bit of rope. "Bite down on this" Bolt does so and Alex grabs his leg and pushes the bone back in place.

Bolt screams through clenched teeth and looks about ready to pass out, Alex saws though the floor board and wraps the two peices around the brake with the sheet.

"there that should give you some ability to walk, I suggest leaning either on me or one off the rebels if you need to fire off your wepon again"

Alex sighs and thanks his father for forcing him to take the survial classes when he was a teen.

Taking time to look around Alex sees that the rest of the group is not in any better shape, looks like we might get held down here for a bit. Alex looks over his supplies and sees that he may have enough stims to heal some of the minor wounds with the lower grade nano bots in these men's systems.

Well I can do more good healing right now than fighting so I should get to work.