Anton checked to make sure all the files he needed were in his new hologram bracelet given to him by Heydar, before rushing out towards the CIC. The loudspeakers cracked to life throughout the ship as an officer spoked into his microphone.
"All hands to battle stations! I repeat, all hands to battle stations!"
Anton kept moving through the CIC and into the bridge of the ship. The on-screen projections already showed incoming missiles.
"Speak of the devil."
Anton looked over to his right to see Heydar approaching him. He was carrying two assault rifles and a chest rig with spare ammo. Tossing one over, Anton caught it and gave a quick lookover.
A Didirnas DA-6 Assault Rifle, standard issue among Zeshani Forces. Cheap, reliable, and compatible with most attachments. The DA-6 is also painted white as to avoid building up heat in space. A single clip holds 20 7.88x41mm solid brass rounds.
He took the clip out to make sure the ammunition was properly loaded, then inserted it back into the receiver before pulling back the ejection port. Then he took the chest rig and put it over his armor, connecting the buckles and pulling the straps to secure it.
"You know how to use a DA-6?" Heydar asked.
"Trained with one back at the academy," Anton responded. "I take it the hosts of this party aren't just sending missiles our way."
"On point. So far, it looks like privateers. And with most privateers, when there's a salvo of missiles..."
"Boarding pods follow. Most likely, they'll attempt to use the fighter bays, and failing that, areas where there's least armor to allow for the best chances for breaching charges. Can you hold them off on the upper levels?"
"Keep that fighter bay tango free and I can make sure nothing else gets through."
Heydar moved over to a console and started directing weapon systems with the other operators. Point defense guns immediately began firing the moment the missiles came within range. Bursts of tracers were sent downrange, tearing the missiles one by one, before the sight was cut off by the closing of the blast doors over the windows. Displays activated showing the surrounding area with the Uruk in the middle, with triangles indicating missiles and rhombuses indicating the boarding pods just a nautical mile behind.
"Calculating impact point... they're headed for the fighter bays," Heydar announced.
"Already on it," Anton responded.
He rushed out and followed several other armed crew members down a stairway to the lower level, then taking a turn to reach the balcony of the starboard fighter bay, with five fighters stored and two others that powered to full afterburner and launched out before the blast doors closed. True to Heydar's word, he heard three impacts with the massive blast doors, before a series of detonations blew out three double door sized holes, revealing the dimly lit interiors of the pods.
Anton leveled his rifle and fired from the balcony, hitting the first soldier coming out in the throat. The next soldier stumbled in surprise, and Anton took the shot, the round penetrating through the weaker top part of the helmet. The third however, managed to back up, checking his surroundings.
'Smart guy,' Anton thought.
He fired his rifle, hitting the third soldier in the foot, causing him to fall over and expose his head, allowing Anton to kill him with a shot through the visor.
'But always make sure your feet aren't exposed.'
A door opened below and several Zeshani soldiers stepped into the fighter bay, checking all open areas and between the fighters. Suddenly, one of them grunted in pain, before a distortion in the air made way for an enemy swordsman in full armor covered with a copper colored metamaterial fiberglass.
"Contact!" One of the soldiers yelled.
Even as Anton fired, the swordsman quickly became invisible and dodged out of the way, leaving the remaining soldiers to fire at the air.
"Well, he's a cut above the rest," Anton said. "Okay, you guys, suppress those other pods while I handle the swordsman!"
Anton vaulted over the railing and dropped down 15 feet, landing with a small amount of effort thanks to his impact absorbent boots.
"Hey, you hearing me through this?" Heydar asked through one of the speakers in the fighter bay. "If you're fighting that swordsman, I left a little present for you in the leftmost pocket on your rig."
Anton immediately checked the pocket to find a hilt, before pressing a button that made a curved blade come out in segments. He immediately recognized it as a modern Zeshani Scimitar. Nothing like the classics, unfortunately.
He held the scimitar in his left hand while keeping the DA-6 leveled forward in his right hand. Nothing looked out of place, and the only sounds were gunfire from the soldiers behind him holding off the intruders.
'While being invisible has it's perks, that metamaterial is an older copper-fiberglass design,' Anton thought. He flipped the scimitar into a reverse grip and held it out in front of him.
'It can distort the light and bend it around the user, but has a flaw involving moving parts, such as armor segments. That being...'
Anton glanced down, before swinging the scimitar around and slightly upward, stabbing the swordsman through the neck and deactivating his invisibility. He yanked out the scimitar, and let the swordsman fall to the floor.
'... the segments can end up concentrating the bent light and project caustics onto the surroundings, noticeable to a keen eye.'
He looked over to see the Zeshani soldiers rounding up survivors, allowing him to look for clues on the swordsman's body. He looked over to the left shoulder that had a patch sticking out slightly underneath the metamaterial covered armor plate. Removing the patch from the Velcro, he slipped it out and took in the details.
A lion lay down center within a silver hexagon with a goat head sprouting from the back with an 'M' on it's head, with the tail coiling around the goat's neck and ending with a snake's head between the horns, with the letter 'C' imprinted on the snake's head, so a top-down order gave the initials 'CM'. On each side was an upwards pointing pistol and at the bottom was the ship's name whom the swordsman served on, the CMS Arioton, and the establishing date, 'Est. 5892 ADM'.
"Chimera, huh..." Anton thought. "And year 5892, After the Dark Millenia... let's see, it's the year 6058, so that's 166 years."
"You find anything?" A soldier asked.
"These guys have been in the business for a very long time. I take it they have quite a reputation and that whoever hired them didn't pay cheap."
Anton got up and took the patch with him, and made his way back to Heydar. There was no doubt in his mind that there would only be a few minutes rest before the next salvo of missiles and boarding pods came in.
For now, time to use this lead and find out just what organization was responsible for destroying the expedition.