Phantasy Star: Fringes of Algo

[Xander]

Unidentified Pirate vessel, Mota class – Mission time: 1 minute


The breaching pod slammed into the hull with a loud thump, absorbed by the dampening systems and began to breach the hull. Flynn and his squad prepared to storm the ship.

“Ten seconds everyone. Get into formation.” Flynn preferred to lead from the front and so took such a position, counting down until the hull was breached.
“Three seconds and…”

*Thump*

Flynn kicked the hull section clear and into the passageway, following behind it along with his squad. They fanned out and scanned the area, seeing nobody in sight. Flynn realised they had landed right where they needed to. He turned to the rest of his squad.

“Rika is there an access point anywhere nearby? We need to get this done.” He saw her approaching the wall as she began looking.

“There should be an access point here somewhere. Usually small ones used for quick access to the system for simple tasks, that’s all I need to do this.” She was running her hands over an area of the wall as she spoke.
“Ah-ha! Here we are. Give me a sec.” She retracted her helmet visor for a better view and pulled off her gloves. Reaching into a pouch on her belt, she removed a tool and used it to pry the cover from the access port before taking out a handheld device and some wires and plugging it into the terminal.
“Ok, I’m ready to go. Just give me the word Sergeant.”

Flynn turned his attention to his soldiers. “Alright, we’ll set up a defensive position here. Get the automated weapons deployed to cover both sides.” He motioned to another solider. “You come here with me and help give Rika some cover. The rest of you take up standard defensive positions. Hold fire.” He took position by Rika and gave her the clear to start.

“Alright Sergeant, just a second.” She made a motion with her hands and Flynn noticed a barrier forming around them. “I’ve given us a Deban shield. It’s not much, but it should help keep the worst of the gunfire off of us. I’ll begin hacking now.” She turned to her devices and got to work.

Flynn activated his helmet radio. “Excellion. Sergeant Zedek. Hacking has begun. Standby for the go. Out.”

A few moments later one of the soldiers snapped their fingers to get Flynn’s attention. He turned and could see the solider was motioning down the corridor. He keyed his squad radio, keeping his voice low. “Alright we’ve got company folks. Get ready.” Not long after that his attention was drawn by movement coming from the other direction. “Ok, they’re coming from both sides. We need to keep them as far back from us for as long as we can. Weapons are free. If you have a shot take it.”
Just then the automatic platforms began firing and his soldiers began to engage.

“Rika, how are you doing?”

“I’m already inside. It should only be a couple of minutes before I have what we need.”

“Alright. We’re fine for now, but work as quickly as you can. We don’t have all day.”

The gunfire coming from the pirate defenders intensified and Flynn realised the false pod ruse must have been discovered by now.

“More of them are coming straight to us.”

Flynn got a few of them in his line of fire and opened on them with his rifle, hitting one in the torso and forcing the others back into cover. A few blind shots hammered into the Deban shield in return and Rika yelped in surprise. Thankfully the shield was holding.

Before long Rika spoke again. “I’m in Sergeant. Just give me a few moments so I can synchronize the shutdown processes. We need them to go all at once.”

“Alright.” He flipped on his radio again. “Excellion. Sergeant Zedek. Standyby for go. Out.” He turned to face Rika who was finishing her preparations. She looked at him and nodded in readiness. Flynn returned it and she entered the command to shut down the shields, teleporters and teleport inhibitors. After a few seconds she gave him the thumbs up. It was done.

“Excellion. Sergeant Zedek. You have the go for phase two. Repeat, go for Phase two. Please confirm arrival of units at target areas. Over.”
A few long moments passed as he waited anxiously for confirmation from Ashley and Matiel. If the plan hadn’t worked nobody would be getting on the ship and Flynn and his men would be trapped.

His radio came to life soon after. “This is Lieutentant Matiel. We’ve made it on safe and are currently securing engineering. Out.”

Captain Ashley here. Good work Sergeant Zedek. We’ve arrived just a few metres from the bridge and are meeting light resistance. We should be inside and secure in a few minutes. You’re to proceed as planned and make your way to the bridge and assist however needed. Over.

“Copy Captain. We’ll be there ASAP. Out.” Flynn turned to address his squad, who continued to exchange fire with the pirate crew. Thankfully no injuries had been sustained. “Alright everyone, we’re moving to the bridge now. There should be a maintenance passage nearby that’ll take us right to that deck. You know the drill, so let’s get going.” He motioned to Rika who had already begun packing away her equipment before drawing her pistol. Two of the soldiers deactivated the weapon platforms and slung them over their backs.

“Alright, the maintenance shaft should be this way.” He motioned down the corridor. “Let’s go.”

Not wasting any time, his soldiers took formation and made a move for the shaft entrance, covering both sides with gunfire to keep the defenders back. Flynn opened the door and motioned for the others to go inside. The bridge was 6 decks above them so it wouldn’t be a long climb up the ladder. As he entered and shut the door behind him his radio came alive again.

“This is Captain Ashley. We have secured the bridge and are preparing to take control. Status updates everyone.”

“This is Lieutenant Matiel. We have secured engineering and the explosives are in place. However, a large group of pirates are on our doorstep. We’ve managed to set up a defensive position and can hold indefinitely. A couple of our guys took hits but we’ll have them fixed up soon. If you need something done here just give the word. Over.”

Flynn reported next. “Sergeant Zedek here. Currently en-route to the bridge deck via maintenance shaft. We should arrive momentarily. No casualties sustained. Over.”

“Understood.” Came the Captain’s reply. “We’ll be bringing Sergeant Merrick in now. Standby for confirmation. Over.”