Technical Demonstration

[Maelion Liates]

The Sluis Van shipyards were an important area on the far rim. Once owned by the Protectorate and Fringe they were now on their own.
Those shipyards contained some vital intelligence and information. Information which Archangel meant to collect.

And so, the shipyards soon reported the arrival of ships, and a swarm of the new droid fighters coming towards them.

Little did they know that an invisible ghost was slipping behind them and heading to the orbital command station....

[member="Moira Skaldi"]

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Maelion Liates"]


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cti9qz3ev1g


Once, many years ago, Moira Skaldi had been participating in another assault on Sluis Van. Back in the day, she had been acting under orders of the Omega Protectorate, which came to 'liberate' the system from the grip of a would-be conquistadore - and assume direct control, while they were at it. Only in those days she had still been under the delusion of being human. A lesser being. Her eyes had been opened to the truth during the final battle on Gehenna. Now the Omega Protectorate was a shadow of its former self, a paper triger writ large, and the Lords of the Fringe were no more. Powerful megacorporations still held sway over Sluis Van, but it had been deprived of its protectors.


A small Archangel flotilla had emerged from hyperspace in a flash and, almost in a blur, a swarm of droid fighters descended upon the shipyards like a horde of alien locusts, eager to consume anything that stood in their path. The automated fighters were fast, nimble and absurdly cheap. To all intents and purposes, it would look like the smash and grab operation of a typical pirate lord. Overconfident, brash and ill-equipped for sustained combat.


Space was lit up with intense flashes of crimson and green laserfire as the flak guns of the shipyards opened fire and the defenders poured their own fighters into space. The droid fighters were agile and controlled by droid minds capable of manoeuvres surpassing those of organic pilots. Many a Sluis Van pilot would lose their lives as their craft were blasted, but ultimately the droid swarm would be pulverised in a fiery hailstorm, but that did not matter. They would have fulfilled their purposes by being a distraction.


Their genocidal, mechanical overlords did not care much for the 'value of droid life'. Sitting behind the controls of a phantom craft, sleek and elegant, a reflection of the beauty the Age of Steel would bring to the world, was Moira Skaldi, steering the stealth fighter deftly through the vastness of space whilst mayhem raged. Archangel's most recent excursion to Maramere had yielded a supply of stygium crystals, and this was the fruit of their labour.

 

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]
It was unusual for Archangel's two directors to go in person on a mission, but this one was deemed to be important enough. Neither wore their usual faces, both wore the mantles of random assailants.

The two seated stealth fighter dipped in and came alongside the space station. The next section would be tricky. Maelion would space walk over the hull in a suit and access a maintenance hatch. From there, coming into the station from the inside, she would access the necessary information.

Meanwhile Moira would take the cloaked fighter and dock it with a prototype ship, steal the information, and then provide the getaway for Maelion when she finished her mission....

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Maelion Liates"], [member="Valiens Nantaris"]


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y_DZhcn8W0


Some matters required a more personal touch. Hence why Archangel's directors had decided to direct this personally. Neither of them wore their usual faces, which was no bother for HRDs because changing their appearance was as simple as choosing a different pair of clothes. Maelion was en route to the space station while chaos raged across the vastness of space. Flushes of laserfire and brilliant explosions heralded the death of a droid fighter here, the vaporisation of one of the defenders there. It was all beautifully choreographed like an episode out of X-Wing: Knights of the Stars. Meanwhile Moira steered the phantom craft deftly and swiftly towards the corvette that was her target. It was still a prototype and such only possessed a skeleton crew, but a direct approach would be foolish.


After all, HRDs were tough, but not invincible and in any case the fighter could not be risked. So the stealth fighter emerged at the bottom of the corvette. Magnetic clamps were activated to keep the fighter stuck in place. The canopy of the phantom opened up and out of it emerged Moira, clad from head to toe in a sealed zero-g suit. In a flash her lightsabre ignited in a beam of purple and began slicing through the durasteel that covered the small ship, cutting opening a hatch.



The corvette shook and shuddered slightly when a fighter exploded just a bit too close to it, but Moira managed to complete her work and soon emerged inside the ship. Needless to say, given the small breach, the section she found herself in was hit by decompression and an invisible force would seek to sweep her out into space. The room vented and she would feel the pull of the wind as it rushed out, but she thoroughly fixed herself into place when she felt the rush. Her formidable strength and her magnetic boots easily countered the decompression. The HRD needed no air to survive and her sealed suit shielded her artificial skin. Moving over to a ventilation duct in what seemed like slow motion out of a holovid, she tore off the cover. It had been sealed, but with three mighty punches she broke it and began crawling through. Bit difficult given the fact that she was quite tall, but she managed.

 

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]
Whilst Moira begun her infiltration, Maelion was walking across the hull of the space station. Space suit, magnetic boots and a casual camouflage suit enabled her to swiftly cross the plating without being detected.

When she finally came to the hatch she was seeking, she too used her lightsabre to burn away the lock, infiltrate the airlock and remove the bulky suit.

Of course, such an intrusion would not go unnoticed, and so soon alarms were blaring and armed security came to investigate. To this, Maelion was a relentless force of death. With lightsabre activate she reflected bolts back with one hand, taking cover when needed, and using her own pistol to cut down her enemies.

“She’s a Sith!” one of them called. They evidently had not noticed her lack of Force abilities, but that worked to her advantage. The longer they were deceived the longer it would be before they brought out the ion weapons.

And so the guards reacted in the method they’d been trained to deal with Force users with, gas grenades, stun bolts and trying to suck the air out of sections. All of these options were completely useless against an HRD, and so relentlessly she ground on towards the command centre….

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Maelion Liates"]


Process of elimination was being initiated. Without remorse, without mercy. Moira had likewise removed her bulky suit since it would only get in the way. It equally did not take long for security to note the intrusion, as something such a tiny part of the ship being cut up would raise flags and cause alarms.


Opening a hatch, she spied guards beneath her. They were spreading out as their training dictated, searching for the intruder. Timing her attack perfectly, she suddenly reached down with her legs and roughly grabbed one of the guards, wrapping her strong legs around his throat and squeezing. His struggle was over before it began when she snapped his neck.


In a fluid motion she dropped down to the ground. A guard trying to bring up his blaster found his action halted when she simply rammed her armoured first into his face and broke his visor. Grabbing his blaster as he fell she began shooting down his companions whilst her lightsabre slashed bolts out of the air. HRDs were somewhat limited in their lightsabre use since they lacked the precognition and Force-enhanced acrobatics of Force-users, but they had the reflexes to use them efficiently.


Bolts bounced off her armour or were blocked. Some managed to impact and inflict damage, but still she advanced. Even when the guards sucked the air out of the section and frost began forming on her, she kept on advancing. Gas grenades failed to work since she obviously did not need to breathe, stun bolts had no effect. They got smart when they tossed in OP anti-force-user grenades, but even the detonation of a frag grenade close to her did little to slow her down, though smoke coiled off her and her skin was burnt. Where it was needed she sought cover, shooting out lights so that she could vanish into the shadows, then strike again. An automated turret that had sprung to life was abruptly turned on the guards through some hacking.


Step by step, leaving corpses in her wake, she made her way to the bridge.

 

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]
The security fell back before the onslaught. None could stand against her. Too late they realised the nature of their enemy. When a frag grenade exploded and the splinters tore off the skin on her face, they finally saw the metal beneath.

“It’s a droid, get the ion-arrgh!” the leader called, too late. A swipe of the lightsabre finished him off.

This left just the main control room. It had, of course, been fortified, and the blast door was reinforced enough to resist even lightsabres. However, Maelion had a trick up her sleeve. Scavenging quickly she was able to collect blaster power packs, explosives and a couple of thermal detonators into an impromptu bomb. Wedging it in place, she took cover and activated a remote detonating mine. The blast shook the station, and when the smoke cleared a small but usable hole had been punched into the command centre….

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Maelion Liates"]


Smoke, blaster-bolt-scorched walls and corpses were left behind in her wake. By now the guards had realised that she was a droid after she had been peppered with bolts and explosives had blown up closer to her, but this knowledge had not helped them much. Damaged and with some skin torn off her face, Moira had slaughtered those who crossed her path with sabre and blaster.


Now she had reached the turbolift that would take her up. Being genre-savvy Moira decided on something a bit more intelligent than simply taking the lift up, since she figured guards would be waiting. Rather she called it, then stepped inside and planted a couple explosives set to detonate after a short sequence, then sent it up and quickly left. A few moments later she could hear the sounds of blasterfire, as the lift presumably emerged at its destination, then there was a loud boom when her small, improvised bomb detonated.


Screams of organics were heard as they were torn apart. Stretching out her hand she activated a grappling hook planted inside her gauntlet and then began pulling herself up. It took some time, even for an HRD, but eventually she found herself on top. One organic soldier had survived, though he was badly burnt. "Die, metal.." he yelled and, unfortunately for him, this was the last thing he said before a swipe of her lightsabre separated his head from his torso in a blaze of purple light. Sabre in hand she approached the blast door towards the bridge, mechanical eyes gleaming. Scanners told her that organics were behind it, something confimed by a small cable she slipped underneath. They would all perish.

 

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]
Her entry affected into the control centre, Maelion took little time to dispose of the two unarmed technicians. One she shot down, but the senior one she caught and dragged over to the console.
“You will provide the details of Project Phi,” she said calmly.
“I don’t have access to all the files,” the technician said, pulling at her.
Maelion tilted her head to the side, holstered her pistol, and took the woman’s other arm in a vice-like grip.
“You will provide details of Project Phi,” she repeated.
“I don’t-,” she began, then screamed as Maelion began to squeeze her left wrist. She struggled and hit at the HRD, to utterly no effect.
“I know this hurts you. It will stop when you provide me with details of Project Phi.”
“I can’t, no, stop please!”
Maelion squeezed harder. There was a pop and a wailing scream. “Humans have 206 bones. I will continue to break them until you die or you aid me. You are not trained to resist interrogation. You will comply eventually. Do so now.”
“You’ll just kill me anyway!” the woman said, crying.
“Yes,” the droid said with utter calm. “That is inevitable. Your suffering is not, however. I am not cruel, but I will get what I wish.”
“I’ll need to…need to grant access to the restricted areas. Please, I have a family.”
“Family does not concern me. Organics are a plague which will be exterminated. Begin.”
One handed, the woman typed in controls, Maelion following every movement. Suddenly her grip tightened before the woman could press the next button, there was another crack.
“Why do you foolishly attempt to fight? Why do make yourself suffer more pain?”
Between struggling and crying the woman spat at her tormentor. “Because if I’m going to die anyway, I might as well keep you from learning what you want!”
“Illogical.” Maelion brought her other hand down on the woman’s neck, stunning her. Dropping her to the ground she set to work. The woman had indeed granted herself access, but had tried to erase the files. Now Maelion was able to extract what she needed.

Cradling her maimed wrist the technician came to, looking up at a blaster pistol. “You’re just a machine! You are nothing without us!”
“Incorrect.” Maelion didn’t argue the point, she pulled the trigger without remorse. Picking up the new data card she dropped her last thermal detonator with a time delay under the console.

‘Data retrieved. Advise status,’ she communicated to Moira.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Maelion Liates"]


Once she had blown up the door, everything happened very fast. Almost like in one of those cheesy holovids the organics loved so much. With bolter and lightsabre she slaughtered her way through the few remaining guards. At the end she stood victorious, though not undamaged, as the burnt skin showed, with her true nature being revealed as the metal in her skull became visible.


One organic survived, an officer who had given her and Maelion the tip about the prototype ship, even told them when the defences would be at their lowest. The woman had ducked behind a console during combat and thus avoided getting massacred. Now she slowly arose, raising her hands in surrender. Fear was written across her features. Clearly this was not what she had expected to happen. "You...you're a machine? You killed them all. That was not part of the plan!" she all but yelled.


"But in your heart of hearts, you knew this would happen. Merely that you would not be there to witness it. You will provide the details of Project Gemini." There was no emotion, no humanity inside her voice as she approached, her eyes glowing a menacing crimson.


"I don't...I cannot do that. Do you have any idea how this looks?"


"You will provide the details or I will break every bone in your body."


"Do you have any idea what...," the woman could not say much more because Moira grabbed the woman's arm, seizing it in a vice grip. Then she squeezed. The officer cried out in pain as the HRD broke her hand. "Alright...I'll..give you what you want. You...go and I get my reward."


"Yes, the other half of your remuneration will be transferred. You can claim that you were knocked out during combat," Moira spoke, then led the woman over to the console, though she kept her grip on her arm. Greed was such a powerful motivator for organics. Credits mattered nothing to machines. They were just a necessary tool to get what they wanted. She observed the woman as she typed, extracting the data the HRD wanted and loading it onto a datapad.


"There, that's all you need. Now you go and let me live?" the woman asked, sweating strongly.


Moira retrieved the datapad and stashed it away. Then without another word she crushed the woman's throat. "I lied," she said blandly when the organic tumbled to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been pulled. The HRD did not like witnesses and, alas, there was only room for two people in the phantom, otherwise she could have taken the organic with her for processing.

 

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]
Having retrieved the information and inflicted much damage Maelion retrieved her gear and headed for the airlock. Unfortunately when she got there that her suit had been punctured by a mis-aimed blaster bolt.

More guards were closing in, so she had to take an unwelcome choice.

‘Will be ejecting from airlock 16, location transmitted. Catch me,’ she communicated to Moira. Trust, trust that her companion would be there with the ship to catch her. Waiting for a reply that Moira was ready, she launched herself into space.

The cold of space would play havoc with her exterior and would damage and eventually disable her circuits if left long enough. For a few seconds though she would not be affected unduly.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Maelion Liates"]


The phantom fighter shot away from the corvette with almost blinding speed. Moments later the prototype ship was enveloped by a beautiful firestorm caused by some strategically placed explosives. All around Moira the space battle continued. Swarms of drone fighters were sacrificing themselves. Their speed was such that they moved almost in a blur, they were thoroughly lacking in shields and armour. Very soon they would all be wiped out.


But they were insignificant. The Age of Steel would come, even if it had to be built on the pile of a trillion destroyed droids. "I am in position," she communicated to Maeion as her phantom shot towards her, taking up position at airlock sixteen, with the canopy of the fighter opening so that Maelion could land inside it. Trust, such a strange concept for two homicidal death machines, yet something that connected them.

 

[Maelion Liates]

[member="Moira Skaldi"]
Maelion’s journey through space was a tricky one. With no friction it was hard to stop moving quickly, and so when the fighter appeared she was forced to slow herself by impacting it with her legs, thankfully with no damage to either body or hull. From there she was able to get inside and the fighter was sealed.

Some defending fighters, finally seeing the craft, sped in for the kill, only for the stealth systems to engage and make the ship vanish into thin air.
“Mission accomplished,” Maelion said as they sped away from the scene.

 

[Moira Skaldi]

[member="Maelion Liates"]


Stealth system engaged and the phantom fighter seemingly vanished into thin air just in the nick of time. All around them the Drone fighters perished one by one, making themselves useful by providing a useful distraction for the defenders. They were insignificant, after all, and Archangel could always build new ones.


"Yes. The data will be most useful," Moira spoke blandly to her partner in crime, then punched coordinates into the nav computer. In a flash the fighter completely vanished from the system as they jumped to hyperspace, leaving Sluis Van behind them.