Sweet Venom Arc

On the outskirts of Universal Council Territory

"Captain, you need to see this." The recruit passed a dark green paper folder to her superior, her furrowed brow just visible through the darkened visor of her helm.

A dozen recruits were currently searching the manifest office, all clad in the same generously thick, black and blue heavy flak armour. Each had an oversized shoulder pad on their one side with the task-force emblem, a golden diamond, sown neatly onto its reinforced pauldron along with the name in bold writing: Auspex

The recruit waited anxiously as her captain flicked the file open and scanned over the notes. Compared to his companions, the captain's gear was in a different league entirely; fully sealed, bright silver power armour with sapphire blue highlights, he looked almost knightly, with a sharp-looking T-shaped helm crowning his heavy attire. However his regal image was secondary to his role; he carried a large, armoured backpack that held a host of important equipment, along with a cylindrical tank of white fluid, visible via a slither of glass. His robotic assistant, a quadruped unit known as a MEK-9, was completing its patrol along the west wall of the warehouse. It had found precisely one anomaly that conflicted with the local records; a single fire door on the west side was not up to code, and could currently only be opened from the outside.

The squad was deep into the shipping complex, surrounded by multi-coloured corrugated metal shipping containers, stacked far higher than regulation would allow. Within the ferric forest was this humble office, a single story tall with thin glass rectangular windows spaced evenly on the walls of the otherwise unwelcoming box. Grey metal filing cabinets and computer-covered desks made up the majority of the furniture within, along with the odd well-used office chair, made of scratchy fabric and barely held together with rusted screws.

The office carried an uncomfortable tension as the recruits searched through the documents within, tapping away on sticky keyboards for anything relating to their investigation. They kept glancing towards the captain, their hands sometimes feeling over their weapons just to ensure they were still present. They all felt the same thing, ever since stepping foot into the gargantuan grey warehouse; the unsettling, creeping sensation of being watched. And yet, the warehouse had been almost fully vacated since they arrived, as per their request. Only the manager, currently standing with his arms folded near the door with an annoyed frown, was accompanying the taskforce. Everyone else had been relegated to the break room for the duration of the investigation, with full pay of course, courtesy of the UC.

The captain briefly paused as his helm updated with new information. He rattled slightly in his armour as he finished reviewing the data presented, the slight lift of his helmet towards the site manager saying far more to his team than perhaps he intended. He leaned towards the recruit in front of him and whispered to her. "She passed through here. They had her in cold storage. Don't let him leave. Arrest him when I give the word."

The captain then turned the underside of his wrist towards him, exposing a holo-pad on his armour and tapped on the buttons a few times, his armour responding quickly as a metal aerial extended from his shoulder, stretching to an arms length above his helm.

M-I-A agent presence confirmed - Lead was accurate - Likely moved on but trail has been located.

He waited quietly for a second, taking a deep breath in as he awaited confirmation. He glanced over towards the manager, who met the captain's gaze directly even through his helm. But the manager seemed oddly confident, even smirking underneath the fluorescent lights.

A flash of red illuminated the captain's helm.

Message failed to send.

He pressed his fingers to the side of his helm, still staring at the manager as he felt his heart begin to thump louder in his chest. The manager's smirk intensified, and he shook his head.

"HQ, this is Ego-Knight Veria-5-5, requesting signal check."

He waited for a moment, anxiety swelling within his chest as the line remained quiet.

"HQ? Come in?"

The signal only whined in response. His skin bristled in anticipation; he knew exactly what this meant.

"We're being jammed."

The captain suddenly thrust an accusatory finger at the manager. "Arrest that man on suspicion of aiding ORG activities, including unlawful people trafficking within UC space!" He ordered. The recruit in front of him nodded and turned around, reaching towards a pair of silver handcuffs strapped at her waist.

"You have the right to remain silent when questioned, but you do -"

Shattered glass filled the air with a second flash of red.

The recruit collapsed to the floor instantly with a loud thump, slamming against a table as a bullet punctured straight through her helm and sent a splash of blood over the concrete floor.

"GET DOWN - WE HAVE INCOMING!" The captain shouted, standing up straight and bringing his forearm in front of him as a dark blue, full-height energy shield flickered on before him. He drew his rifle, and pointed the barrel out of the window.

Marching down the rusted, steel-lined corridors were rows of dark silver and orange enforcers, the most forward ones with metal tower shields of their own. The ones behind clutched stubby sub -machine guns, all pointed towards the office.

Chaos erupted as bullets peppered and pinged against the thin walls. The Auspex recruits brought their own rifles and shotguns to bear, taking cover against the rapidly perforating metal and sending lead straight back. The manager slid out the door and disappeared into the warehouse.

Bullets bounced off the recruits armour with muffled thumps, clattering against the filing cabinets and popping the remaining windows as the captain spotted more enforcers arriving already, flanking the office from two sides.

A recruit on the far side of the room took a deep breath and popped out from his cover, shotgun primed and ready when suddenly his helmet crooked awkwardly, and he dropped to the floor with another red splatter over the wall behind him.

"WE CAN'T STAY HERE, FALL BACK TO THE EXIT!" The captain ordered, strafing across the room with his shield and rifle. He popped a couple of shots back, one of his rounds pinging off a container door, another slamming straight through the eye visor of an approaching enforcer, dropping him to the ground with a heavy thud.

He rounded up the recruits as another distant pop rang out and a third officer dropped to the ground, his ample armour providing a cosy rest for his corpse. Quickly, he glanced up to see where the shots could be coming from and spotted a looming yellow crane at the back of the warehouse, the gentle glint of a scope could just about be seen through his helm's optics, heavily blended by the glass of the control cabin. His rifle rattled against his shoulder as he popped several rounds towards the crane, and received a single shot to the shield as retaliation. The energy visibly wavered as the round shattered on impact, and he could just about see the sniper reload in the distance, readying their rifle for another shot.

Enforcers were closing the distance, covered by their numerous comrades and were preparing to push into the office. A crackle of electricity filled the captain's ears, even above the rattle and sting of the bullets peppering the office. His team's flak armour might protect them from the small-calibre rounds of the enforcers, but they would be defenseless versus the amp-rifles...

But just as a squad of enforcers were bracing themselves under a window, the red and blue flashes of an approaching siren caught their attention, along with the mechanically drumming of rubberized feet...

The MEK-9 rocketed out from another corridor within the cargo maze, its chassis caught somewhere between german shepard, police cruiser and armoured roll cage. Its body was made of sleek black metal, with only head, feet and tail having sharper contours. From its shoulders protruded a flat surface, almost like a car spoiler, where its sirens were mounted and currently flashing wildly. A thin line on the shoulders suddenly lit up and flashed the enforcers with a bleaching white light, stinging their eyes as they went to shoot the mech down. It leapt closer, its sleek head opening up to reveal a focused sonic cannon from its jaws and it 'barked' at the enforcers with a deep, vibrating boom. A visible shockwave rippled through the air, sending shards of broken glass and the enforcers back towards their allies.

A back-up squad of enforcers immediately hammered the MEK-9's chassis with a hail of bullets, shattering one of the sirens. The tone of the siren immediately shifted down as it galloped towards the surviving officers, all of whom were pulling out of the office as fast as they could. Mantling over the broken windows, they sprinted back towards the warehouse entrance with the captain at the rear, using his shield as cover as another sniper round slammed into it, along with a battering of bullets like rain.

But the sniper changed targets upon seeing the energy shield persevere, splitting the ribcage of an officer further ahead and sending them tumbling to the ground.

They were down half the squad already. The entrance was a straight-shot, two hundred meters ahead of them, but they'd never make it under the gaze of the sniper.

"Use the crates as cover!" The captain barked.

They immediately swerved to their left and legged it into the maze of shipping containers, providing a brief respite from the penetrating fire. But their reprieve was short lived, as they were immediately hit from the side immediately by another volley of bullets. Enforcers were closing in on them on every side.

But the team returned fire, standing tall with their Auspex shoulder pads facing towards the flank attack and sending shells, slugs and bullets straight back towards the enforcer squad. The pursuing enforcers had forgoed their tower shields in favour of greater speed, but as a result, Auspex weapons found their mark. Several enforcers dropped to the floor as pellets shredded through their less armoured legs and slugs punched into their chestplates. The surviving enforcers quickly scattered around corners, their panicked radio chatter vaguely audible even over the approaching forces.

The recruits had stopped to return fire, as their captain caught up. Over the roar of bullets, one of the recruits shouted, "Orders, Sir? How do we get out of here?!"

The captain quickly tapped on his wrist controller and the MEK-9 took off into the maze.

"We follow the drone and cover each-other. On me!"

The captain leapt forward, leading the way this time as the sound of marching boots filled their ears, along with the threatening crackle of amp weapons.

Enforcers were closing in.

As the bot charged through the maze, another distant shot rang out and the MEK-9 shuddered violently, its siren heavily distorting and playing an almost demonic chorus as the bot briefly staggered, but carried on despite the damage.

The captain divided his attention between his own surroundings and the feed within his helm of the MEK-9's sensors, using both to build a better image of their lead-ridden path through the warehouse. However it was no easy feat, as the MEK-9 ran down corridor after identical corridor, and bullets pinged all around the captain in the present.

The MEK-9 turned corner after corner, sprinting past faded paint and graffiti-covered boxes when suddenly... the feed went black and the drumming of its feet ceased abruptly.

What..? There had been no gun-shots, and it was only a hundred or so meters ahead of them...

His team followed closely, pushing themselves as fast as they could, following the trail of dripping oil until they finally arrived where the signal was lost.

The MEK-9 was twitching on the floor, its head completely severed from its body as sparks danced from its cut wires.

The captain felt ice drip down his back.

A bright arc of electricity cut into the captain's armour from behind, an enforcer with an amp-rifle let loose on him, leaving red and black scorch marks over his silver frame. More of them were spilling out behind the first already. But the captain reached behind him and pulled on a hose-like weapon attached to his backpack, short and stubby. His fist clamped around the trigger and the nozzle spat a pressurized bright white foam. He whipped it back and forth, covering the entire squad in a line of it. On contact, the foam instantly expanded and began to crackle with its own lightning, sending the enforcers spasming to the floor, their amp-rifles fading as the power flickered and died. With just a single flick of the hose, the entire enemy squad was neutralised, the lights above them flickering on and off. With the enforcers incapacitated, he returned the hose and quickly pulled his pistol out, tapping each shaking enforcer in the head, one by one.

The captain pulled away from the last enforcer and stood back to reload his pistol, then froze as a black shadow swiped past him and his squad, gone in the blink of an eye. He almost would have thought he was seeing things, a trick of the dark, had it not been for the dark pair of red eyes, only visible for a brief moment but uncomfortably real...

Their steel flourish was far more pronounced than their visage. Two more officers collapsed to the floor, their spines severed from behind.

The remaining officers began to panic as they watched their teammates fall from seemingly nowhere, blood seeping over the floor. One of them turned back, desperate to see who cut his colleagues down. But the instant he stepped into the cross-section, a bullet punched straight through his helmet from above, leaving only two recruits left. They both looked at the captain, wide eyed fear visibly shaking through their bodies. But the captain hurried them on, pushing them forward onto the next series of corridors.

"I'll hold them back, keep moving! HQ needs to know what we found! Don't stop running!"

The recruits steeled themselves, glancing at one-another before nodding and charging around the next corner. Bullets pinged off their backs the second they stepped out, but their flak armour held. The captain quickly followed, hopping over the executed enforcers and deploying his energy shield once more. He fired back at the approaching aggressors when a metallic slice stung his ears, he glanced back only to see the final two recruits falling to the floor, their heads severed cleanly from their bodies as the red eyed ghost swiped through them both and disappeared behind another corner.

He dropped his energy shield, and reached for the hose once more, charging after the assailant as bullets pinged against his armour loudly. But as the captain approached the corner, they lunged straight back at him, diving under his arm and slicing through the hose cleanly.

The captain spun around, dropping the disconnected hose and firing a couple of pistol rounds at the assailant which bounced off their black body armour. The assassin whipped their blade forward and went to charge him, the steel fang pointed straight for the captain's throat.

I might not be able to win this, but I can avenge those who gave their lives today... He thought to himself, reaching out towards the blade with his armoured hand. The inner pads on his fingers surged with electricity, glowing blue as he went to snatch the blade, feeling some small sense of victory.

But the assailant did not pause, shake or fall as electricity jumped between the captain's hands and the blade.

They had already let go of the weapon...

A second smaller blade with an orange glow to its edge was clasped tightly in their off-hand, and it was driven straight into the captain's brow through his helmet. The blade punctured the metal and pushed straight between his eyes, cutting into his flesh. He jerked violently, his hands frozen in front of him, his body still catching up, unable to comprehend. The assailant slammed their free hand against the hilt of the blade and hammered it deeper into his head in three distinct claps. And with that, the blade slithered its way into brain, and he collapsed to the floor with a heavy thump.

The assassin growled under her breath. The battle was over, for now at least. But the UC would be sure to follow up on the missing team. Likely with suppression striders, night skunks and a horde of MEK-9s. They would need to relocate immediately to avoid the boot of Auspex. But she barely had a moment to breathe before a light beep from her comms device caught their attention.

"Enforcers are to regroup and prepare for asset preparation. Bow 6-1 is to remain on overwatch. Dagger 3-8 is to be recalled immediately for urgent reallocation." A deep voice barked through the speaker.

She pressed her hands against her communicator to respond.

"Reallocation?" She asked, her voice barely more than a gravelly whisper.

"High table priority, Dagger 3-8. You are needed elsewhere."

*

Forty-eight hours after first contact with the ORG

*

Clasped loosely in Leech's palm was a small glass vial of clear fluid, corked tightly at the top. A small silver chain was pinned into the cork and currently wrapped around the vial with small paper label:

Decryptor Vial, Ver. I - Leech

She sighed softly, staring at the fluid intently. Her hastily packed-up lab from Barru X was still in the process of being unboxed and rebuilt within the dreadnought; it was a borderline miracle that they'd been able to pack it all up so quickly. Leech had been rather vocal about the process, as moving labs not once, but twice in the space of a year was beyond irritating, even though the ORG had brought in specialised fluid pumps and haulers to help shift the gallons of samples. And yet, despite the interruptions, she had managed to produce the contents of this small vial, rolling around in the palm of her hand - which might quite possibly be the most valuable thing she'd ever produced.

If it worked.

An annoyed growl from the corner of the room broke her trail of thought, as Ink unpacked another box and pulled more equipment out.

"Oh look, another set of cock pumps. What a surprise." She moaned, shoving the box over into another pile. "Just how many of these did you have? And where did you get them all from? Surely we didn't loot this many."

"I made some, repurposed others. I'd honestly like to retire the tubes though, they're so rigid when it comes to size. I had to hand-build all of yours, Bubblegum's and mine."

Ink was looking better, all considered, although her once-severed tentacles were still undersized compared to the others. She was currently dressed in an undersized t-shirt and shorts, just something to cover herself with. Leech on the other hand was clad in her fanciest sweeping lab coat, along with a shirt and trousers underneath.

"I wish you hadn't bothered sometimes. Your hands feel better than the tubes ever will."

"Thats exactly my point, babes. I can do better than those. I have a plan to make the milking more interactive too, seeing as we have so much space..."

Ink turned to face Leech, raising an eyebrow. It was all the invitation Leech was going to get and she knew it.

"What do you think of this, self-service milking machines that run on tokens. Nodes can turn up and sort themselves out, the machines do the rest. They wipe down once they're done and they can have more time if they get more tokens! Good Nodes get more time in the hotseat! Controllers too!" Leech babbled excitedly, sliding the vial into one of her many pockets. "I want to get a whole deck of them set up to auto-feed into the corruptant tanks! I'll still have my personal area of course, for when I want to get handsy with people. But I think it would be a nice addition to the ship."