Operation Snake's Coil

[Nelle Kozera]

The 57th Infantry division was part of the second wave of the Invasion. The First wave, spear headed by the 23rd, 24th, and 89th division was met with extreme resistance but it was still moderately successful in their assaults on major the cities and industrial sectors New Drakensberg. As of this moment the primary location of the GSA Forces were centered in and around the Caledonia district of New Drakensberg meaning they had control of the second largest Starport on New Drakensberg . As of this moment three frigates stationed over the district providing Air support are allowing GSA forces to hold the district for now.

The 57th is now tasked with the neutralization of the Caledonian Metro system which is currently the primary method in which Dark Core Soldiers have been harassing the GSA forces all over the district.

New Drakensberg, June 7th, 3378

Karren looked out the small window of the Saber class drop ships as they she was descending to the surface below. Outside she could see the frigate Renegade Tide it was the home of her Battalion was stationed on prior to this mission. The Frigate was long and Black in color because of the Bio Armor plate on its hull.

Her attention was drawn away with the low whining of a familiar creature nearby. Next to her she could see the shivering form of an Alpha class bioweapon, for the moment it was docile though a bit frightened. As a safety measure for their troops the Bioweapons used in combat where naturally docile and gentle. It was when a handler was in control, or that they or their handler were directly harmed was when they became hyper aggressive death machines. She sent her Alpha a mental touch to keep her calm until they landed.

Once the Alpha was soothed she looked at those that had ridden with her in the saber. Aside from another handler the group it was an odd bunch for her to see. She had her rifle on her lap at the moment, “So how many of us feel that there is more to this than we can see.” The voice was female but obviously came from the Alpha.

As the weapon was speaking a message came over the radio of the soldiers inside. "ETA to drop zone five minutes."

[redtail]

People liked to call it the calm before the proverbial storm.
Phelan always felt it was more of a contemplative zen-state. He'd been around, there was no doubting it; but there was no such thing as routine combat.
The first casualty of any operation always was the plan.

He'd checked and re-checked the zero on his riflescope dozens of times over the last daylight cycle, centered the laser and the light on his pistol's LAM... It was all he could do to pray silently for a relatively uneventful operation.

Not that it ever happened, but he'd gotten used to the way things were.

It had been easier when he was the one taking orders instead of giving them.
The GSA wanted him to serve right where he was serving, but that didn't do much to allay his fears.

THe platoon had been formed for this particular mission. It didn't make sense to him; the best units were always cohesive wholes that moved as one, thought as one, acted as one. THey could predict eachother's thoughts and acted synchronously, almost psychically so, even over a distance.

And it worried him.
But he wasn't the one pulling the strings.

The enormous creature spoke. THe giants bothered Phelan, but all the same, there was something comforting about having them around.
"Something you've got to get used to. THe new form of 'Don't ask, don't tell'. Means, 'Don't ask, because we don't plan to tell you shit'. I'll thank you to forgive me if I sound calloused, but it's not our job to ask why we're doing it. It's our job to come back and say it's done. Aye?"

He knew he had as much of a responsibility to the fireteam as he did to his superiors, in the end. THat meant morale, too.
And experience said that second thoughts were the biggest morale-killer out there.

Maybe, he thought to himself, that's why I'm so scared...

[Crusadra]

Ve'houl whistles a marry tune to herself, as she checked her equipment putting the clips and mags in their proper places as well as checking the contents of her pack. She double checks her straps to her weapons, sliding her pistol into its holster, folding the butt of her SMG, putting it on her back, and then messes with her rifle, letting it hang by its strap.

She looks about at the others, mumbling to herself lowly, "Great... another bunch of to medicate. I hope they at least know how to shoot them toys they got."

Ve'houl looks to the creature curiously, "I always feel like that, biggun'. Never underestimate anything and make sure to watch your back. Those are some common things forgotten by common people..." She sighs, taking one more glance to the people before before fiddling with her rifle again.

[VisionOfInsanity]

Travis sighed. He had a seemingly perpetual bored expression on his face, but now his actual mood was matching it. His gaze wandered the room, or was it called a cabin? The black dragon didn't want to think about it. He seemed to be one of the biggest ones there, though with all the wings, it was hard to tell. The dragon was constantly fidgeting, and was constantly lightly tapping one of the needles strapped to his body. His bored expression and his constant movements usually gave people issues when they tried to determine what he was actually feeling.

He was a bit nervous, but it was understandable. This was his first combat situation, and wearing enough needles strapped across his body to completely dissociate the atomic bonds that held his body together, as well as anyone in a wide radius around him, well, that would make most people nervous. His gaze traversed across the Alpha class bioweapon and quickly moved away. He shifted slightly in his seat. That... thing made him more nervous than anything.

He listened to the handlers words. She seemed to be the physical antithesis of him. He was black, she was white. She had brilliant wings while all that was left of his were stubs. He was on the brawny side, while she was more lean. Even their specialties seemed to clash. The only thing really similar was their height. Travis whispered nearly silently to himself, "We're all going to die." That was his other defining quality, his pessimistic attitude, but he wasn't going to show that in front of people he didn't know, especially when all of them were of a higher rank.

He set his hand on his Mark III Epsilon Launcher. He liked calling it the Acupuncturer, after some practice involving sticking needles in one's body. The launcher was a bit too bulky to set in his lap. He listened to the gryphon's, whose name was Phelan as he recalled when they had all been briefly introduced. "I think it's simpler than that, sir. Life's purpose is to mess with people, and this is just one of its ways to do so. Sir." He would use more gruff language, but he wasn't sure how much he could get away with for now. Maybe he was showing a bit too much of his pessimism.

[Shade Leshyr]

Rashalt tapped his foot to a tune that had come to his head while thinking about what they were doing. It was a hard tune and the steady thumping of his foot echoed what he remembered of the tune nicely. As people started talking he brought himself around to listening, smiling as the comments were traded back and forth.

He leaned forward to get a good look at Phelan. Normally, he wouldn't have said anything, but he was agreeing with the handler on this one, plus he felt like being a smart ass for once, "With all due respect sir, that's a boring way to look at the situation."

He turned his attention to the Alpha, "And to answer your question ma'am, not only do I completely believe that, I'm hoping for it," he raised his gauntlet carefully and let his arc-blade spark to life, "it's only gonna be good if we land in the middle of the shit." He deactivated the arc-blade and sat back.

He took a breath before saying, "It was fishy to me the moment they said I wouldn't be dropping this mission. That's more than enough to qualify as queer in my book. An Angel that doesn't drop is an Angel in chains, so I hope whatever we're doing is worth it. It's just not as appealing when you can't drop out of the sky on unsuspecting prey."

[Brome Teks]

Don Sat quietly, his mind focused elsewhere. His squad of theta class bioweapons were in a nearby dropship, and he was maintaining a level of connection with them.

<Eat up before you land, otherwise your hunger bleeds over to me.> He sent as a telepathic massage to the thetas. The thetas were the only sentient bioweapons, but still could be dominated by a handler. That didn't prevent them from talking back when not dominated.

<Yes, wouldn't want to make you want to eat more and ruin that pretty form, eh boss?>

<Keep it up>, Don sent back, <And I'll give your scooby snack to that Alpha.>

<All right, all right, I'll eat. No need to drag the scooby snacks into this...>

Don smirks. As much of a handful the thetas could be when not dominated, he had a fairly powerful mind, so they never questioned him on the field of battle. That, and they were smart enough to remain semi-autonomous if he needed to shift his focus away from them to some other group.

On that note, he turned to the other handler, Karren. "How many reaver class weapons did they send again for this campaign? You're also qualified to handle them, right?"

[Buzzwolf]

Tetra gave the alpha an odd look, almost detatched as she continued to inspect her prized Verpine. she shifted the crytal round she held in her mouth like a cigar. The alpha wasn't what bothered her, no. she'd dealt with alphas before on her previous missions. in all aspects, as long you weren't on the killing end, she never found them to be all that unnerving. no, what she found unnerving was the voice. the handler speaking through the alpha. something about it just seemed so...unnatural. she shifted the crystal again and returned her full attention to the rifle that easily stood more than a foot taller than herself. just because it didn't happen to use gunpowder, didn't mean it didn't need to be taken care of. "How about we knock it off with the Philosophical battle nonsense, and agree that shit needs to be killed, eh?" she spoke around the crystal, giving her voice an odd accent like someone of the Mafia. her last mission, right after where she lost her eye, had been almost a complete failure because the soldiers started over thinking what -might- have really been going on and who was pulling what strings. it ended up leading them into a trap that a few members of her squad didn't walk out of, somethign she felt some guilt over since she couldn't lift a finger to help them from her sniping perch. "What say we make this interesting, hmm? last to say...fifty kills? or lowest kill count when this shit's over...buys the first round of drinks?" she grinned around the crystal.

[Nelle Kozera]

The Alpha spoke again, “Yes I’m trained to control Reaver class bioweapons. As for how many, there are about fifteen deployed on New Drakenberg. I was surprised most operations are lucky to get two, seeing as they cost as much as a Destroyer each.” Both Karren and the Alpha readjusted how they were sitting, though obviously different the movements seemed to be the same just adapted for different anatomies. “The group of thetas I keep hearing in the background, your charges?” Karren’s alpha asked Don. While the alpha had it attention on Don, Karren was eyeing the others in the group watching what they were doing the amount of chatter she thought was unusual for this type of mission.

This time Karren spoke, “I don’t think a kill count will be necessary, if we all get back in one piece I’ll buy whatever anyone wants to drink when we get back. I’m feeling Generous today.”

Three minutes later…

“Everyone brace themselves for incoming plasma fire!” It was the voice of the pilot, without even a three second delay the saber shook violently as several inches of the armor plating had been vaporized by incoming anti aircraft batteries. After the impact the Saber had gone into freefall, as it engines has been cut to avoid a second salvo from the batteries. Both Karren and the aplha grabbed onto hand holds inside the bay. Once thrust had been reengaged the craft was only fifty meters off the ground. The passengers could hear the engines screaming under the intense force being exerted just a meter away outside the hull on each side of them. “Alright, it going to take at least five minutes for the armor to heal, but that’s not the main issue. If you guys don’t want to walk and fight your way back to Headquarters. I would take it as a kindness that you destroy those anti aircraft batteries watching this section of the city.”

A second later an orbital image of the area was uploaded to all the members of the drop ship. The Image zoomed into until three Dark Core Anti aircraft plasma batteries where clear to see. “I’m not going to be able to fly you out of here unless these are destroyed.”

Once the pilots request was given, the two armored doors on each side of the Saber opened unto the Streets of the Caledonian Business district. Massive high rise buildings could be seenin the distance. Much closer to them just outside the saber much smaller 5-10 storied buildings could be seen. On the street where the Saber had landed their where some over turned electric cars, along with plastasteel road blocks. It was obvious that the city had undergone a hasty evacuation very recently. No enemy soldiers or armored vehicle insight for the moment. Nearby the Dropship carrying the thetas had also landed.

The large Alpha entire demeanor had changed; it was no longer freighted or talkative. It was now alert, ready, and it was looking for something first among those of the bay where they were sitting but then it turned around and walked out of the second door that was behind it, and Karen followed her alpha.

(I'm trying something new and I am going to work on a post cycle for this one. What this means if that I WILL post every 36 hours whether or not everyone has posted. Each time I post everyone is aloud to post once, once everyone has posted, or 36 hours has gone by. (Which ever is shorter) I will post, and the cycle starts again. Posts do NOT stack, if you missed one, its gone. If you miss 5 in one month, your character dies.)

[Brome Teks]

"Yes, they're mine," He says in response to Karren's question. He holds onto something as the ship descends, as do his thetas. As soon as they land, Don hops out of the drop-ship behind his thetas. Taking command of the thetas, Don urges them forward. They spread out, no longer talkative, and almost seeming to share that piercing gaze that Don had. Don appears to have lost that gaze, seeming to stare off into space, occasionally looking around back in his normal body.

"Here's hoping we all come back alive."

[Crusadra]

Ve'houl laughs a bit and grins, "I'll take you up on it!"

Once the craft was under fire, Ve'houl holds on as she mutters a quick prayer, before laughing a bit and muttering, "Once more unto the bridge." She takes a quick look around before saying, "Might as well say yer prayers, for we just may end up six-feet-under!"

After the craft came to a stop, she hops out, rifle shouldered, and looks about... she glances to Don, "Got them tanking or hunting? I'd rather not end up on the menu..." She tries to keep a safe distance from the Thetas, as well as her rifle pointed away from them.

[VisionOfInsanity]

Travis listened to the others chatting away. He quickly glanced at the one fiddling with her rifle before looking away. It was no more annoying than his fidgeting he guessed. He knew some people who would repeatedly look over their weapons like that, especially when they got nervous. Travis didn't have that problem. One thorough once over when they left and one when they had reached the planet was enough. It wasn't like it was going to change that drastically on the ship.

Travis clung to the hand hold and to his launcher with a death grip as the pilot announced incoming plasma fire. Simulations might do an excellent jog, but it was missing that moment of terror where you didn't know whether the ship was going to be torn in half or not. He kept the image of the image of the three anti-aircraft batteries, zooming in as far as he could to study their structure. Destroying them would probably be his job, after all, blowing shit to hell was his specialty.

He exited behind the Alpha and its handler. He shifted over to the side, loading a needle missile into the launcher. He tapped a small screen on the launcher to set the needle to a low setting. Didn't need the buildings collapsing on them. He could have done it from his headset, but he was more of a tactile person. He also tapped into the infrared sensor mounted on the tip of the needle. He shifted the image from this third eye to the corner of his HUD. He waited for orders.

[redtail]

THe gryphon's armored bulk hops down from the loading door of the dropship, his talons wrapped around the weapon's tubular fore-end and simple, gray-green plastic pistol grip.

It was a highly rehearsed movement. He'd done it literally hundreds of times, including dozens in the line of fire. Feet hit the ground, body coils like a spring to absorb the shock of impact. The suit helps.
Legs uncoil; body remains hunched-over low. It never made sense to make oneself a taller, easier target for enemy snipers.
Legs begin to moveas soon as the eyes can pick out potential cover.
Eyes continue to work, changing task to watch for potential ground hazards.
Everything was so programmed, almost mechanical. Fiendishly quick.
"Don't jes' stand there wif' thumbs up 'yer arses! The military 'ent trained you to make 'fer target practice for OPFOR!"

The suit collided with one of the steel-polymer traffic stoppers. If there were anti-air guns, there would absolutely be some sort of ground force around to service and to protect them.
THe suit's helmet tracked his eyes' focus, shifting to false-color thermal band as its default "reflexive" band.
Up came the gryphon's rifle. He nestled his helmet in behind the telescopic sight, scanning the faces of any building near enough to pose a potential threat.
Phelan had a healthy reverence for enemy snipers. The same wasn't always true for friendly snipers, but then, most people wouldn't agree that Phelan was the most amiable creature in the universe.
His finger rest on his trigger, ready to send a razor sharp tungsten-nickel dart wrapped in a fin-stabilized iron jacket through anything that moved downrange.

[Shade Leshyr]

Rashalt broke into a broad grin as the anti-air fire rocked the ship. The brief moments of free-fall made him feel alive and he shuddered in his own dark pleasure. The pilot's request flowed into his ears and his grin grew wider. Snatching his Hell Launcher from the compartment over his head, he bounded into the deserted street.

Securing the launcher to his back, Rashalt drew his pistol and looked around, getting a feel for his surroundings. The overturned cars were something of a blessing and a mystery to the Angel. While they provided a bit of cover, he couldn't help wondering why they were turned over. Was it something to do with his own troops or had the enemy brought something massive down the street.

He shrugged to himself. Either way, it didn't matter, the mission at hand should be his only concern. The enemy troops would no doubt be on their way to intercept the group and Rashalt was eager to get some ground covered before the shit hit the fan. The alpha and thetas were an asset, but if he wanted to rely on them he would have to keep the two handlers from becoming targets.

He looked up at the buildings around them thoughtfully. His thruster pack had a full load, he'd made sure of that, so if he got to the top he could provide some fire from above for the time his thrusters lasted, but he would also be a target for aircraft strafing and snipers. Most likely it would be best to remain with the group and save his thrusters for times he needed to move fast.

He looked at the group's unofficial sniper with her Verpine rifle calculatingly. She would need distance as well as cover, but if anyone got close enough she looked rather lethal with her gauntlet-mounted arc-blades. She would do well enough on her own for now. His calculations complete, Rashalt decided the best place for him to be was on the defensive to cover the two handlers.

He positioned himself equidistant between them. He didn't bother interrupting their concentration. He'd probably just be shooed away. Higher ranks always seemed to make the bearer try to look invincible to the lower ranks...

He awaited orders, tail twitching impatiently.

[Buzzwolf]

"Awwww...You handlers are never any fun, ya know that?" She mock 'huffed' as though actually disappointed there's be no competetion. she slid the Crystal she was chewing on into one of hte various holds she had on her armor for such a thing mere moments before the pilot called the Anti air barrage. She had a death grip on the overhead hand hold before he even finished his anouncement, and had her verpine pinned against herself, keeping it from harms way. Fuck she thought. this is exactly why she liked flying herself into the drop zones. at least then she had some control whether she got hit or not.

as soon as the door was even partly open, she was out. doing a hop-skip with her wings. as soon as her feet were solid on the ground though, her entire compsure changed...after a moment 'brushign herself off' and composing herself...she switched to calculating and evaluating as she scanned the landscape. the others piled out behind her, she noted the Alpha's demeanor, and made a mental note to stand well clear of that one...as well as the theatas.

She did one more pass of the buildings in visual range, using the extent of her suits extra sensors to make sure she had a safe path, "I've got the roof, cover me" and kicked off the ground with a heavy beat of her wings and launched for the roof of the nearest building, keeping a close eye on any points she'd deemed as potential threats as she made her way upward

[Nelle Kozera]

If anything, Handlers knew their charges anatomy inside and out, hell it was a requirement for being a handler. The Theta class was an older class and had a few weaknesses a good Marksman could exploit if they knew what they were aiming for. As the sniper bearing down on down the group was doing as he pulled the trigger on his "Basilisk" Particle rifle.

There was an indiscriminate blip of light to the left of Don, it took a second for Don to realized that The Theta farthest from him had a gaping hole where its brain used to be. Though the shot was Impossible to pull off from in front of a Theta do to the thick armor plates that covered the front of it skull, these plates did not extend to the back of skull of a theta leaving that area vulnerable. But that also meant that the sniper was behind the group.

Some of the windows it appeared where false images, or where shielded from scanning as two such windows that were empty a moment ago suddenly had antipersonnel plasma turrets in them. Plasma rained down of the group from automated turrets from the fourth floor of two buildings, the first thirty meters directly in front of the group, and the second forty meters to the left of the drop ship that they just existed.

---

Karren had ducked into a building almost as soon as the last person had exited the dropship. The reason for this was her method of using the bioweapons required a fair bit of concentration. She hadn’t been in the building longer than two seconds when all hell had broken lose outside. From her current position she couldn’t do much to help, but her alpha could.

Outside the alpha darted down a side road to avoid the fire on the strip of road that they had just landed on. Using the information hat Karren had gathered she directed her alpha, which for all intense and purposes was her. “Sergeant.” Karren’s voice came across the squad com channel though a little deeper than normal. “I’m going to see if I can have my alpha flank and destroy the turret straight ahead of you.”

[Shade Leshyr]

As the first of the Theta's was picked off, Rashalt moved. Breaking from his position, he ran to the building on the other side of the street from Karren and activated his thrusters, shooting up to the third story of the building. He used the butt of his pistol to break the glass and dove in, taking a quick breath to get his thoughts in order.

The sniper was going to be quite a contention, but for now he would have to rely on the riflemen of the group to play sniper war. He marked the two turrets positions and listened as the handler controlling the Alpha spoke. He was a little unnerved by her voice, but he shrugged it off, "Alpha's flanking maneuver understood, will move to take out the other turret on your mark ma'am."

He thought his next move out carefully. He had a one in seven or so chance of being the selected target, not a very comforting thought. To be on the safe side, he'd have to move quick between covers. His selected target was a few buildings away and would most likely turn its attention on him when he got in range... oh well. He pulled his Hell Launcher off his back with his free left hand and muttered his own personal slogan, "An Angel in hell learns to fight like a demon."

He ran to the wall nearest his intended direction and crouched under the window, smashing the glass with his pistol again. He took a quick peek, ducking his head back down just as fast to determine the best angle for this jump, then he rushed to the other side of the room. With a deep breath, he sprinted forward and launched himself through the open window.

He grazed his shoulder on the windowsill of his target, a window on the second floor of the building he'd been looking at. Glass scattered around his feet as he tucked and rolled, jumping back to his feet. It would have been easier to just thrust to the same level of this building, but Rashalt also wanted to keep as much fuel in his thrusters as possible.

Rolling his grazed shoulder to shake it off, he searched the conjoined rooms for stairs and sprinted up them, choosing this time to perform his next jump from the fourth floor. Hopefully that would put him at a decent level to take a shot at the turret...

Rashalt had to admit that he was rather surprised by the lack of troops in the surrounding buildings... or was he just not seeing them? That thought put him on edge and suddenly every little dust particle was becoming a potential enemy. Just let me get this one last jump in, he pleaded with whatever deity was listening, just let me get that turret before you call me home.

[Brome Teks]

Don winced as one of his thetas was killed. His training had included plenty of incidents where his charges were killed, but that didn't stop it from being extremely unpleasant. He had the remaining thetas form up so their armor covered each other's weak spots, while don ducked into the same building as Karren. Once inside, he resumed his control of the thetas. Speaking through them, and getting a nice reverb effect from having 3 mouths for his voice, Don said, "Moving to cover."

The thetas sped forwards and hid behind cover, out of the sniper's line of sight. He brought the thetas around and saw the angel doing his jump manuvers through their eyes. "I'll attempt to distract the turrets away from the angel."

He has the thetas rush forwards, going towards the building, their thick armor facing the turret. They go in from a different direction as the angel, attempting to draw the plasma turret's fire.

[Crusadra]

Ve'houl makes a quick move after the handlers, silent cursing to herself as she took cover in the building.

"Damn... leave it to me to over pack and over think things. I hope some of them know what they are doing."

As soon as she in and down, she tries to glance out the the door that she just went through to see what her team will do...

[VisionOfInsanity]

The phrase 'like a bat outta hell' would have been a very apt description of Travis at the moment the plasma fire started. He darted into the opening between two buildings and out of the plasma turrets line of fire. The dragon was pretty fast for someone of his size. He stopped to consider his next move.

The sniper someone else could take care of. It would be a waste of his explosives to take care of it. The other's ammo was more abundant than his, due to size and weight. It seemed like the others had plans to take out the turrets. It would be best for him to get into position to back either one of them out. He smashed a window of a building that would lead him a bit closer to the Handlers. He stored his launcher on his back, taking his pistol out before entering.

Of course, it got him thinking, just a sniper and two automated turrets? That seemed awfully sparse. Of course, they were trying to protect the entire planet, but you'd think they'd lay better traps. Or it could be a trap within a trap. The turrets and sniper would be perfect for getting all the enemies to duck inside the buildings for cover. The buildings could have troops inside meant to kill them while they were focusing on the turrets. Or, an even simpler method would be wiring the buildings to blow a certain time after the plasma turrets had been activated. Unlike in an area with skyscrapers, these smaller buildings would be easier to destroy without collateral damage. Travis began searching for support beams that bombs would likely be attached to, as well as troops as he headed toward the Handlers.

[Nelle Kozera]

An O.D.I.N (Orbital Division Intelligence Network) communications uplink had been established. A warm but stern female voice comes over the squad wide uplink channel. “Delta Squad, I have important information for you.” Everyone in the Squad knew who was speaking. It was Elspeth, the alpha level AI assigned to the 57th division, she was the AI responsible for saving the lives of hundreds of squads thanks to her intel for ground squads making her well respected by the entire Division. On the HUD of those not in direct combat a small map appeared in the corner of their vision. On the screen there were several highlighted dots there were five kilometers away and closing fast.

“I have a sight on two Black Guard squadrons closing on your position.” The Black Guard was the Dark Core’s name for their mechanized troop divisions. Each Unit normally was a viper class battleframe, they were normally depolyed into urban combat areas where they could use their maneuverability to their advantage in the close quarters combat that they took place in. “Current after action reports allow for a prediction of eighty five percent that they are armed with antipersonnel plasma weaponry. I highly recommend that you prepare for the incoming battleframes.” The uplink was still open it was apparent that Elspeth was going to help the group further if they needed the help.

Karren decided to ask a question. “Elspeth, is it possible to determine which class is of frames we are heading our way?”

“Scanning.”

A moment later a 500x magnification of the image confirmed they were Viper class battleframes, mark II variants. “Mark II, Jump frames it appears to be, engage with extreme caution. I recommend Ark Blade and Anti-vehicle weaponry. Theta and Alpha class bioweapons should be sufficient to engage at melee range. Good luck delta.” The Line was still open if anyone wanted to ask her questions.

[Crusadra]

Ve'houl curses to herself, "This is going to be trouble!" She heads to a door, looking to Karren.

"We got to options. One, run for another sect of cover. Two, see if we can take them out. Either way, its not going to be pretty to watch and its not going to be fun to do!"

After saying that, she peeks out the doors to scan the area before her.

[redtail]

Phelan's demeanor shifts very, very quickly.
"Angel, Sniper, advise. THe rest of the squad has bunkered safely for the moment and can probably break contact and get into the metro. They've got the engineer wiv'em so they can make progress on the anti-air installation. I'll thank one of you to cover 'me sorry arse so I can join you two in order to figure out what we are going to do. This damned plastic parking bumper isn't going to protect me for long."
It didn't take long for the gryphon to start to sound a little bit upset, especially with the mention of armored platforms being maneuvered into position.
"We need to break contact now! For the love of the Gods, would someone kindly lay some suppressing fire on that bloody sniper!? I'd rather not be quartered and fried for someone's damned dinner!"

He prepares himself to move the moment he gets a clear signal from either.

[Buzzwolf]

The sniper. the sniper was down moments after Phelan called it in. her big fennec ears had twitched the moment the round had hit the theta and her cybernetic eye running a trajectory match by the time she had turned to face the direction of the shot. an acknowledgement light went off in her scope for a comfirmed target and a 'snick' from the verpine, and the other sniper dropped from his perch, and she was on the roof, her full attention now on the report from the AI "You're clear Phelan, the sniper's down and I've got you covered"

the map appeared and she adjusted for where she was compared to them. she eased to the edge of the roof, folding her wings in such a way that the light plating that protected the back side covered her from what might be an skyline shot, she laid the sniper out and waited for the Mark II's to come into range, already marking potential weak points based on the intel, which ended up being mostly joints and moving points, and setting the scope to flag them as targets. "Waiting on visual..." she whispered into the comm, still sweeping the street for any potential targets to appear

[VisionOfInsanity]

Damn it, only one platoon would have been too much in the present situation. They were spread out, and their movement options were limited due to the sniper and the turrets. The sniper definitely needed to be taken out, and they could easily avoid getting into the turrets line of sight. Well, apparently the sniper was out, and that opened more options.

Travis moved toward a window that would give him a clear shot at the incoming frames, replacing his pistol and taking out his launcher again. They'd need to break away, but if the frames came in too fast. "Possible escape routes leading toward the anti-air batteries while avoiding the frames and turrets would be nice Elspeth." His voice was calm, almost neutral. Emotions only got in the way on the battlefield, or that's what they'd been taught. He was doing his best to lock them away for now. He'd panic when he was dead. Or alone if he somehow managed to survive this.

[Brome Teks]

Don has the thetas fall back towards his position. "Angel, if you can take out those turrets, the thetas can make short work of most armor units. "

He checks on the image. "Perhaps we can ambush them here or here," He says pointing to a couple points on the map. "Once your Alpha is done with the turrets, we can surprise attack them and take them out before they can start firing on the other troops. Sound like a plan?"

[Shade Leshyr]

Rashalt had just cleared the jump into the turret building when the sniper went down. He cussed jokingly over the comm, "You couldn't have shot him faster and saved me a couple bruises?" He chuckled and raced his way up the stairs, still on alert for hostiles. Reaching the turret floor, Rashalt began to suspect that nothing but the turret was here. Pretty shoddy work on the enemies' part.

Don's suggestion came in and Rashalt nodded to himself, "Rodger that, just about there. One turret-kabob coming up." he said as he put his other weapons away and activated his arc-blade. He positioned himself where he could see the turret through an open door, harassing the others. There was still the possibility of troops hiding in the corners, so he planned to sail in and carve the turret up before dealing with them if they were there.

He crouched and charged forward, jumping as he entered the door, blade raised above his head to cleave the turret in half. Instinct flared up the second his feet hit the floor...

[Nelle Kozera]

The moment that Rashalt stepped into the area with the Plasma turret was set up. A deep hissing was heard for half a second before the entire room went white. Thermobaric mines, four of them went off at the same time. The Entire top story of the building exploded in a massive fireball, advances in chemical engineering over the last 1300 years had allowed for the fuel used to in these weapons to burn hot enough to turn the air into a superheated plasma for a short period of time. The Heat wave was intense but the weapon had a second effect the vacuum created because the entire area caused the air to rush back with crushing force on who ever was still in the building.

Over the Squad com systems the Angel’s life signs disappeared. If they where to look at the body they would have seen a vaporized visor with a long charred half melted piece of metal impaled through the dragon’s brain. From what could discerned, death was instant.
Elspeth’s voice came over the O.D.I.N link. “High Command has diverted a squad in the area to assist, ETA two minutes and counting. It is recommend that wait backup or head for the metro. It’s your choice.”

Karren contacted what was left of the group, “I’m willing to do both, what do you want to do?” She asked. Karren’s alpha approached the building, having learned from Rashalits incident not thirty seconds ago she used the alphas massive musicals to tear out the foundations for the floors causing them to cave inwards. Similar to Rashalt’s turret there where mines that went off, though this time no one was harmed or killed in the explosion….

[Crusadra]

"Darm... he went quick." She sighs, leaning against the wall looking to Karren, "Mind giving a prayer for him or are you concentrating?"

At this point Ve'houl already looked tired, "Poor bastige... never saw it coming... at least... he died instantly." She sounds a bit saddened.

She sighs, before growling and hitting her head on the wall, "Nows not the time for morning! Its a time for getting and giving some!" She is doing a simple blood-boiling to say the least.

[redtail]

At the first mention of a clear path, the gryphon breaks into a dead sprint for the nearest building, slamming into the doorframe and glancing around the corner for traps or enemy soldiers before peeling in through the door for cover.
"Sniper, I owe you one. Possibly two. What's ETA on enemy armor--"
Before he could finish his sentence, the concussion wave from the nearby building detonating knocks him to the ground.
"Was that them!? What was that!? Check in!"
His suit's HUD displays a list of all networked operators' vital signs... All except the Angel, Rashalt.
"THey're... THey've mined the buildings... For the love of the Gods, please watch your step."
He shuffles himself into a corner of the room, isolated from windows but able to watch out the door, and sinks to the floor.
"Carry him to Valhalla..."

It was sobering. Not even an hour in, and he'd had his first unit casualty. He could only hope that the soldier died painlessly.

"Incoming positional data on the enemy armor. It doesn't look like we're getting out before these bastards roll through. Travis, 'ye have any ideas? Let's not play fair with these sods. I know you're greener than grass but the brass tells me you're good. Don't let us down now, mate. Spots! Keep 'yer head down if 'ye would. Don! Can 'ye give me the status on your Thetas?"

[VisionOfInsanity]

Travis registered the explosion in the back of his head, but thought nothing of it until he realized that there was one less life signs active in their group. He felt the blood slowly draining from his face. Crap, this wasn't supposed to happen yet. He knew that this mission was likely going to have a large probability that a person wouldn't make it out of it alive. He started shaking a little, not like his normal fidgeting, but purely fear driven movement. Then the gryphon's voice came in. He might be good, but the question was whether he was good enough.

"Uh, uhh." His brain locked for a second. Snap out of it, snap out of it, snap out of it. A series of timed explosions would likely keep the squadrons far enough away for them to pass them off onto the other squad so they could pursue their goal. However, the commanding officer seemed to be intent on fighting them. He started muttering to himself, not really realizing his com channel was still open. "Situation involving twenty to thirty enemy frames armed with antipersonnel weapons. Assets are a sniper, two handlers, a group of thetas and one alpha class bioweapons, two soldiers and combat engineer. Squad of reinforcements two minutes away. Tactics should involve stalling till reinforcements arrive, incapacitating enemies as possible, while separating them into easier to manage groups to eliminate." He paused at this point to think. He then smiled a bit. The gryphon would like this probably.

"I could drop a building on them. The frames will likely keep most of them from dying if not all, but the point is to keep them trapped till the other squad arrives. I recommend that they be directed along here or here." Travis highlighted two lanes between two buildings on his HUD so the other could see, one the buildings he was currently in. "Sniper could utilize the wide firing range the turrets exploited to pick off anyone too far forward from the collapse, and the resultant cloud would likely hinder their efforts to find her. Likewise, for the stragglers, the collapse will distract them, allowing the bioweapons to close the distance on them giving the enemy less chance to weed them out until they're in melee range. By then, the shallowly buried ones should start popping out and then things get fairly dicey. If I'm to get this done in time though, I'll need to start now and know which side to direct the building" While Travis was talking he had set his launcher down. He was getting the needles out, reviewing the data that he had from going through the building to determine the best way to do this.