The Grand Hammer is a multilayer, hi tech ship that bases in a random location out at sea. Using high level dectection software and cloaking it stays hidden, a ghost few ever truly see. It serves as a base for Task Force Tungsten. It has multiple cannons and artillery aboard it, hidden away to keep up the facade of a cruise liner. Inside it is a foretress, mobile and easily dependable. It can transition to a sort of tank on land, though it is three stories high and wouldn't really be inconspicuous. It is fully armed, has weapon and armor parts lying around, a navigation room, a war table, and everything else needed to plan a perfect assault mission.
Posted: Wed Jun 03, 2015 12:26 am
There is a tale among the brass of the Nocturnian Military, and the followers of the Vaetians of a motley crew of sorts that operated under the radar, spies, assassins, demolitionists and thieves that handled... less than "legal" operations. They were a black squad, assembled to deal with threats that would otherwise prove to be troublesome or costly. Instead, the Task Force would be deployed to inspire insurrection, or take down a powerful official. Sometimes they went in silently, leaving no trace that they were there. Others, whole towns were razed by the time they were done. Nothing was too dangerous, no one was safe from them. Not the followers of Vaet Nocturnum, not a General in Fraxon. Not a janitor in the coast guard of Aramil. They found quite a lot of success, in fact, though not many knew of them. And then the day to tie up loose ends came. IT was decided that when Yuran was destroyed that the Task Force would be deployed among the rank and file. In the sieging, quite a number was done on Yuran by them alone, coordinated to appear as the others, ghosts in the machine. However... Zachariah had little use of them beyond that mission, and in order to get rid of a potential problem, he decided they would meet an end that would erase them from existence. It would have worked if one intrepid girl hadn't intercepted an encoded message hidden beneath normal orders. She was too late to save her whole team, but she DID escape with a few others. That girl was Aurelia, and she now has more reason than any to want the God King dead. Now that he has proven himself a tyrant worthy of destruction by even Daniel, who deployed the Thorns of God against him... it was time to start raising hell.
She awoke slowly, rolling out of her cot and stretching out her joints and limbs. She bent and touched her toes, aligning her back by slowly raising to a full stand. She cleared her throat and opened the heavy wooden doors that led to her bathroom. She stepped over the trigger assembly of a rifle as she wiped a salty tear from her eye, yawning as she did so. On the sink, beside a few .305 rounds a spinbrush awaited her call. She took it,depositing her toothpaste and beginning to clean out her mouth. When she was done, she turned to the shower, an empty magazine in a bra hanging over the railing. She ran a hand through her now blonde hair, pouting as she waited for the water to get warm. Once it did, she stripped down, dropping a knife beside her foot, just missing her pinky toe. After cleaning herself and donning fresh underwear, a still groggy Diabolos, carrying the empty mag, walked back into her room and looked for something to wear. Black jeans? No she wore those yesterday... or was that the leggings beside them. She snorted, like she gave a s**t, and grabbed the leggings. A spray of febreeze, and she was in business. She didn't much need a shirt, no one on the ship hadn't seen her naked already in some way or another but the new comers, few as they were. She walked down the hallway outside her door with a heavy looking hunk of parts in a basket, carrying it effortlessly.
She wasn't affected by the light rocking of the s**t, or the dim lighting of the living quarters. She was always feeling the very earth below her feet shifting, moving, plates rubbing together, the moon's gravitational pull. She had a direct line to it. She stepped down some stairs, hung a few deft turns andf ound herself in her favorite room: the armory. A few others were already present, hard at work building, fixing or breaking something. Everyone was expected to upkeep their own weapons and the ship was fit to accomdate all. The damn thing was huge, to be honest. It was almost a cruise liner before they retrofit it. Before Aurelia stole it and hey retrofit it. She stepped on a screwdriver and let out a grunt that got the attention of a mechanist, who was hard at work on what looked like a tank in the corner. "Ah! Ray ray, could you pass me that please?" he asked as she looked at what she had just felt poke into her heel. "Please keep your s**t off the floor, Ziggy." she said kicking it right into his open palm. The Human from Aramil only smirked as he unscrewed something and sat it beside him, revealing some circuitry he hadn't noticed before. "Well, maybe you should wear shoes and a shirt in an armory you dumbass." Aurelia laughed as she sat down the basket on a table near the far wall. The pieces seemed to lift out by her will, her eyes inspecting each one individually to make sure it was clean and not in disrepair. The human had joined after the incident. She recruited him to outfit the ship with a more efficeint power system and weapons, and boy did he deliver. His aptitude damn near made her doubt he wasn't heaven sent, but she knew the gods and demons would never send someone so annoying and crazy to anyone they intended to bless. He wiped some sweat away from his forehead, talking to himself seemingly, arguing about something or other. Perhaps he had imaginary friends? Aurelia never knew for sure if he were super crazy or super sane. Either way she was glad he came aboard and fit in on missions so well. What he lacked in brute strength and speed he made up for by being a genius, able to out think even Aurelia, on a scale of efficiency. He also had high marksmen scores and a personal cloaking system to rival Dawn elf invisibility.
A stole dragged over to Aurelia who sat atop it as she got to work building a new weapon. The Destroyer was powerful sure, but she had ideas for supplemental armor and weapons that would, hopefully, increase her survivablity in combat. As she worked on the chasis, her natural ability to manipulate metal a godsend, someone sped over to her, sliding to a stop ahead of her and looking at the armor set, a pair of black goggles hiding the bright green eyes of a friendly, tricky ghost car. Tricks had been on the original team, the getaway driver in fact. He was a skilled infiltrator, a wise cracker, a gifted demolition expert, and a damn fast car considering he morphs into a jeep. A second after he arrived, his twin brother Jokes arrived, another alumni member who was similar in every way to his identical twin except that his eyes were yellow. "Hey boss lady," Tricks said. "Working on some new toys?" Jokes asked sitting on an empty space on the table and cleaning a silver slider for a pistol. Aurelia nodded, wary of the trickster duo. "Why the look? We aren't up to anything yet..." Jokes said. "Yet indeed," Tricks said sharpening a pair of daggers. What do you want, Hans and Franz? she asked skeptically, smiling at them. "Nothing, were ferrying a message from the deck. Four hours till we land at Gloria." With that, the pair were gone in a blur, back across the armory. She had plenty of time to finish some work on the armor and then make sure her gear for the mission was on point.
About an hour later she was hard at work assembling her sniper, basic .50 cal Baretta, when another welcome distraction presented itself. A woman, clad in comfortable looking clothing with cat ears and sharp teeth slinked across the table. Aurelia was midly distracted by her long, tan legs and loose shorts for just a second, but furrowed her brow as she looked at her face and realized she had just woke up. Tweak. You know we have an op in less than three hours... the Kiranu roled over, close to the rifle, and stretched out, her tone belly exposed, her sports bra the same one she had been wearing yesterday. Something they had in common. "You're one to talk. I can still smell how fresh your shower gel is on your skin, Lavender Love." Aurelia turned red. Stay the hell out of my bathroom! Aurelia growled. And besides, I only have to build some guns and explosives. "I only need a few knives, some daggers maybe. I know my part in this play." She moved into a sitting position as Aurelia got back to work dismissively. Elena "Tweak" Sanders was a stray pickup more than anything. Aurelia had been on a hit, looking to take out the director of operations in charge of the Nocturne Fleet, and Tweak had been on a similar job. Thankfully, Aurelia managed to take him down and get Tweak out of there safely. She was gracious, and Aurelia offered her a job. She was a thief and assassin of no equal, and also a grand actress. Aurelia woulda killed for her in the early days when she was signed onto the Task Force. The Kiranu was content sitting under Aurelia all day, almost like a male lion. Aurelia found her to be good company, as one of the few girls on the ship. Her dirty blonde dreadlocks cascaded down her back, tied down by yarn. Aurelia didn't speak to her much, focused on building the sniper in that hour.
By the two hour call, Aurelia had begun work on some specific explosives. Breaching charges, some actual demolition bombs, a few proximity traps. Tweak had gone off, up to get some things ready of her own. Aurelia gathered her explosives together on the table, and decided to take a break. She hurried up to the mess, looking for a drink in the fridge. She reached for a bottle of water, raising an eyebrow as she sensed someone behind the open fridge door. She closed it, looking up at a rather tall Fairhair named Valkenhayn. "Hey little buddy!" he said holding a large, rather intimidating hand. Aurelia high fived him, reaching up to do so even though his hand was at head level. The large berserker was already in full gear, ready and raring to go. He was a new comer as well, joined on with the sole intention of getting back at Zachariah for subjugating his pack and turning him from an Alpha to an Omega in the blink of an eye. What's up Blue? You ready muscles? Aurelia asked commenting on his tone, built physique. It looked as though his skin was going to tear below his bulky muscles. His black eyes and hair helped add to his somewhat scary a** view, though he was pretty nice actually. "I'm always ready!" Aurelia scoffed. "Just like the job in Gettera." He shrugged. The job you dropped the ball on? "I also fixed it!" Aurelia rolled her eyes and went back down to the Armory. She walked into the area where she usually got changed, and very quickly changed into her ready outfit. She had on an all black outfit, a vest with a grenade belt across the torso. She holstered a... healthy amount of pistols among herself, around six total. Two of those happened to be revolvers, on her hip western style. She loaded plenty of mags, all over her person. Blue had on heavier armor, but he had to risk getting shot at more. He'd probably be stripping at some point anyway. Under the vest she was wearing a suit designed by Ziggy to help her stay cloaked, which he and Tweak would be wearing as well. Aurelia yawned,s till somewhat tired but ready nonetheless. She just had one last thing to put on, a black duster, a mask for her lower face and a hood. Loading the parts for her sniper into a long suitcase, Aurelia headed up for debriefing.
The war room was the most high tech area of the ship. Multiple screens were everywhere in the room so everyone could see from anywhere in the room. She was the fourth there, three others already present. "Welcome Aurelia." a shade said to her, dressed like a dragoon. Shadow, the dark dragoon. He was mostly on the team for lack of anywhere else to go. He was wanted in Nocturne, Kranilla, old Pronta, and Aramil for terrorism though he always felt justified when he caused any kind of panic. He and his dragon schmidt were more muscle for the team. Beside him, a dawn and dark elf were discussing, in elven, last minute details of the mission. Hey Shadow, what are Jack and Jill discussing? They looked to her, the dark elf mage Jack and the Dawn elf Ranger Jill. "Last minute changes to the plan, we will discuss it with the group when everyone arrives. Nothing too big right? Aurelia asked. Jack shook his head. "Nah, Ziggy just updated us on some info his "friend" dug up." Aurelia rolled her eyes and sat down the suitcase. Within the next few minutes, the team, all dressed in black, arrived.
"Alright team, the promised day is here," Jack began, an elvan accent clear but not a problem for anyone. "Today we begin our campaign against the Military that ******** us over and cost us some friends so long ago." Jack and Jill had been there, barely escaping with Aurelia. "Today we start our resistance movement. We will be taking down Deputy Director Aren Niles. He's a hard b*****d, a highly dangerous Dreadnought, with a team of bodyguards that actually may be difficult to deal with. He is coming to give some kind of speech to the troops to rally them for a coming offensive operation. Immediately afterwards, he's going to the round table, witht he Director who burned us, to discuss the actual plan. Security will be tight, no admission to civillians, roadblocks up to 20 blocks around the base. Countersnipers, actual snipers, fairhair guards to sniff out illicit substances, shades to make people disappear quietly... I mean airtight." Aurelia smirked. Child's Play. she said arrogantly, to a chorus of agreement. "Sure, until you factor in that Stock will be there, leading their defense team. AEverone fell silent. Stoock was their old CO, who had betrayed them along with Niles and the Director. He was the toughest of them all, a Diabolos like Aurelia but far stronger. "There is no way a single sniper round will be enough. We can't roll in the Hammer, they have artillery and air support. Our Machines will be useless in the zone... EMP jammers can be flipped on any time." Aurelia squinted. Not childs play. This op may be a little over even our head... Aurelia admitted.
"Well it would be... but we know where they are staying. Yorkie and I found something, well Yorkie found something. I uploaded himremotely into their network. He found their plan for movement. He's staying at a hotel in Lumiria," Ziggs said, referencing the mysterious friend that always got our A1 intelligence. "Oh, well if that's the case then we just need to get there and send me in to end his a**," Tweak cut in looking at his face on the screen. A blueprint of the hotel appeared on the screens. Jack shook his head. "Not so easy, otherwise I wouldn't have readied everyone. First of all Stock will be at his side at all times. We need to separate them. But that won't matter if we can't get into the Hotel, which has been reienforced to handle a siege from Kranillan forces. First thing first, I had Ziggs get us all access to the city through existing underground forces that aren't loyal to Zachariah. Once we make contact, we'll be infiltrating the city quietly, at different points. Aurelia, Ziggs, myself, Jill and Tricks are going to be going through the sewers to the rendezvous. Tweak, Blue and Jokes, you three are going to be trying to sneak in and join the security detail. More will be given to you by the Resistance's leader Makarov. Shadow, be on standby, keep a low profile. If things start to go south..." "Flex support, got it. What about when were in and set up? How long will we have to deal with him?" Jokes asked. Aurelia looked between Jack and Jill. "Two days." Murmurs started up. That isn't a lot of time. "Don't worry, about that, something tells me cutting it close will be a good idea here. The closer to the escort date we get, the less securtiy will be near him. Aurelia, there is a separate hotel about half a mile across a river you will be setting up in. Ziggs will be in a building opposite that one. You'll be spotting for us, looking for anything we don't see. Things go well, Aurelia will take the shot. Tweak, be ready to get in, take him or Stock down, and then get out. High danger, just like you like it. The explosives I had Aurelia get ready will be on Tweak and Jokes to put down in case we need to go loud and get things going. We'll have the resistance get them to you. Other than that, Ziggs will be sending you plan B just in case. For now, this is the only chance we have. Let's not mess this up. Once this op is complete, we'll Rendevouz in the underground, and work with the resistance more from there." Wait... how can we be sure we can trust this Makarov? Seems a little iffy that the god-king doesn't know of him. Aurelia was right to be a skeptic after what happened to them before. "Makarov was Jessica's father." Another deathly Silence. Jessica was the newest member after Aurelia to join the Task Force. It was sad, of course, but no one took as hard as her father Rubio Vlastoyovich, second in command of Task Force Tungsten. Unfortunately he dropped off the face of the Earth when they were in the clear. That he came back meant he believed in this plan, and if she remembered right he was as hard as Stock, and just as skilled. The team filed out, heading for the hangar. A few miles out, they could see the Kingdom of Nocturne, the first time some of them had seen it in years. For others, it was the first time they had seen it ever, especially outside of the eternal night. Within the hour, they would star the longest campaign they had ever undertook, and perhaps the most important.
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