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RP: 5th Fleet [Chapter Five] Antagonists

Kai watched the exchange occurring, thinking over what may have happened based on what the newcomer had explained, and Sif's orders to get ready for combat. "It is our duty to find that squad if possible, so we must walk into this obvious trap." He sent to the mini-Neko, determined, before addressing the rest of the squad. "Greco-Hei, I will need you to take me to wherever you and your squad were separated." He looked over the roster of soldiers he had at his disposal, and picked a team for this operation. "Finchard-hei, Alken-Hei. Remain at the diner and secure an exit point for us in case we are forced to retreat. Everyone else, we're moving further into the city. Signy! Jackson! Take point, Maki, Zang, and Starks, remain with Greco and myself. Miyamoto and Amsel, please remain at the rear. Sif, You help those two out, and make sure you do not become far separated."

"Sir!" April responded, quickly exiting the building under camouflage and keeping close to the buildings, she moved forward toward the direction that Dmitri had emerged from. After passing that mysterious threshold, she noticed her sensors suddenly went dead, completely devoid of any contacts or even of the buildings that she could see. "Ah, Sir, there's some sorta deadzone up here, It looks like we'll be workin' with Mark one sensors." she tapped the visor of her helmet to indicate that she of course meant using their eyes and ears as their primary sensors. "Cameras still work, so we can still aim normal, but, tha' HUD don't show much anymore."

The Juni frowned behind his helmet, thinking for a moment, but deciding they had no other choice, given their orders. "Carry on, Just be extra vigilant. Keep your heads on swivels, and make sure you are ready at any moment," He ordered, signaling for the squad to continue forward deeper into the deadzone.
 
The Little Neko was not a Happy Neko when she got Kai's words. Not in the slightest.

She would have rather taken her time and wait for the enemy to come to her. As far as Sif was concerned, the other squad was most likely dead, or in the process of having their remnants hunted down. That was most likely, especially considering that this enemy had the entire area be a comms and sensor deadzone. Though they were stealthed, the were still going to bumble into an area where the enemy had the advantage. An area that was mostly unknown to them - Sif felt that the chances of saving the other squad were slim to none. Even then, however, orders were orders.

"Yes. Sir," the Mini-Neko's reply came, hard and cold.

The small, invisible form of the squad's sole Sylph took a step forward and simply fell out of the shattered window head first. Slowly. Her backup graviton system was activated just enough to make the fall seem like it occurred on a low gravity world, limiting the signature to a bare minimum. Even then however, she allowed herself a single flip to try and shake off her dour feelings before quietly landing on her feet. By descending carefully like this, it prevented any flaws in her volumetric cloak. Here on the ground, Sif's rubber soled feet noiselessly took her over to Aya and Fieke. Despite being assigned to them, she still kept her distance as she sought cover - perhaps a good half dozen meters.

Here, this close, they could all typically 'see' one another's faces. A little something that that suits' OS projected over their helmets to make it seamlessly look like the surface was transparent. But here, this close, Sif stayed faceless.
 
Dimitri turned to Brandon when he called out to him and received the magazines graciously, more than happy to have his primary weapon usable. "Thank you" He replied as he quickly loaded his magazine into the LASR and primed it.

He was more aware than anyone just how dangerous the territory they were about to head into was and he was not keen on heading back, but maybe this time knowing what to expect could give them the upper hand. Either way it was an order so he would head out, walking back towards the direction he just came from, thankful his stealth still worked as he stepped into the apparent black out zone. His eyes were scanning the area and on max sensitivity , he didn't want to miss any thing and be caught by surprise again.
 
"No problem." Replied the medic absentmindedly as he listened to Kai's instructions. Something didn't quite fit in all this matter, but he couldn't really put his finger on it right now.

A sensor deadzone was really bad news, or at least that's what it sounded like to the rookie Brandon, so he couldn't say he wasn't relieved to not be the vanguard. Following orders, he took a position near the center of their formation of sorts, quickly checking that his gun was prepared to open fire as soon as he removed the safety. One that was done, the area ahead had his full attention as he tried his best to spot any threats before they acted - which he expected could be pretty hard, and specially for a rookie like himself. He bit his lip for a moment before asking over the radio channel, half whispering due to the oppressive feeling.

"Sir, how often does a sensor blackout happen without outside interference?"
 
"Yes, sir!" exclaimed Aya enthusiastically. She felt much more comfortable seeking out the enemy rather than letting them come to her. However, her eagerness was tempered somewhat by the revelation that there was some sort of dead zone where the squad's sensors would fail to operate correctly. Was it just some quirk of their location, or were their sensors somehow being jammed? Regardless, they had a job to do.

She got up and tried to emulate Sif's descent to ground level - albeit without the flip and not quite as stealthily despite the blue Nekovalkyrja's best efforts. Aya didn't pay the fact that she couldn't 'see' Sif's face much heed; she was probably just being her normal enigmatic self. She joined up with Fieke and prepared to move off, her gaze sweeping the streets ahead. Even though she was looking for threats, she was also searching for potential cover if the squad was to come under fire. "I'm ready when you are."
 
"Yes sir" replied Damien with as much enthusiasm as he could muster. He had his orders but he didn't like them. They were walking into a very obvious ambush and that wasn't what he had planned to start his day with. If they enemy had already wiped out another squad they would certainly think they could do it again. Of course Squad 4 wasn't them and they had something they didn't, surprise. S4 probably stumbled into the ambush, while they were confidently walking towards it. "Time to ruin someone's day" Damien thought to himself as he walked forward behind the Juni.
 
"Hai Juni," said Rin, activating her volumetric cloak. She left her position behind the bus to advance with the main group towards the deadzone, wary of the effects it would have on her sensors. She held her GSR firmly, ready to raise it to her shoulder at a moment's notice. She glanced occasionally at the rooftops for snipers; maybe she was being paranoid, but the feeling the squad may be walking into an ambush was very present in her mind. She quickly banished the thought; Rin was inexperienced, and her superiors knew what they were doing. So instead she simply focused on the task at hand; watching for movement and searching for targets.
 
The squad advanced, slowly, into the center or the sector, Hopefully nearing whatever was causing the blackout. Perhaps it was incidental interference, but the fact that Dimitri's squad had been attacked made it fairly plain that the blackout was intentional. They creeped forward, noting the signs of past battle all over the place. Shattered windows, bullet-hole strewn facades, wreckages of various vehicles, mostly civilian, and even the occasional scrapped power armor were the norm. Each and every enemy vehicle, armor, or body they found was thoroughly checked, and despite the fact that nothing seemed openly hostile yet, there was a mysterious quality to the squad's surroundings. The din of distant battle was further off than it had been, and had mostly been replaced with the howling of the wind through the myriad of buildings which surrounded them. Each and every building had become a foreboding omen, pitted, scarred, and broken, but not yet fallen, they leered over the Unlucky Squad, their great shapes blocking out most of the sky and casting a dusky shadow about the place.

Occasionally, a noise was heard. Everyone was on edge. A few shots were fired by nervous fingers, quickly settled down by a command from wither Kai or Sif. On, this journey went, for what seemed like hours, though their HUD's betrayed the actual time passing as having been less than twenty minutes while they walked slowly and deliberately. And still, they remained sensor-blind. It was discomforting to most of them, especially the Neko whom had been designed to utilize a power armor to its fullest; they were now left without a sense which their bodies had been attuned to. Everyone else, however, remained uneasy as they knew they were probably being watched, but did not have the ability to see the watchers.

As they made their way forward, the group could see what appeared to be a small square up ahead, at the meeting of several roads; it was a rare pocket in the heavily urbanized city without a building on it. Instead, there was a large concrete meeting area, which had the remains of some sort of large public art sculpture on it, a defaced sign of a cultured society which had been conquered and oppressed for several years. When Squad XIII arrived at the edge of the square, The Juni signaled for them to stop, as he observed what lay ahead.

"Unluckies, Fan out and search the area, the device causing the interference is likely in this area, as this is the center of the sector," He ordered, standing as he was near the side of one of the buildings flanking the street that lead forward. Ahead of the squad, there was quite a bit to see. Nearly every building surrounding the square had a storefront, all of which had been smashed in and looted some time ago. Across the way was the remains of a NMX Prisoner Transport which had been hit by some form of anti-vehicle artillery and turned on its side. Most of the prisoner pods had been broken open, but a few were still intact.

Aside from that, the destroyed sculpture, and several piles of rubble which had been cleared to make way for vehicles, the square was clear, and eerily quiet.
 
To say that this was uncomfortable for Sif was incorrect.

It was outright frustrating, if even infuriating. Little teeth made a little grinding motion as little jaws worked back and forward as the Mini-Neko sat in her hemosynt filled cockpit. No, this was not normal in the slightest for her. In fact, it all felt surreal to her, and since it didn't make sense, it was something she hated. The hardened veteran couldn't understand what her superior officer was thinking - to her, he was possibly out of his mind. And yet, she obeyed. It was her loyalty and faith in him that kept her from even questioning Kai in the slightest. As a fellow veteran, and one of what was perhaps something even far worse, she did have respect for him - this was why she did her very best to avoid shaming him in front of the others. Even then though, like a little girl, she did grumble from time to time with annoyance.

"Hmph. Not even a bomb rigged body," she noted, a hint of annoyance creeping into her typically stoic, flat voice. Pointing a commanding finger around at nobody in particular, she snapped out an order. "One of you - get a drone out and have it take a closer look at that vehicle for traps or anything of interest."

The squad was blind, even more so than her old squad would have been, since there weren't even people assigned to be their screening units, and this frustrated her to no end. And so, her little teeth went and made a little 'gnash, gnash' noise where nobody could hear it.
 
Anxiousness; this was the feeling that welled up inside of Dimitri, he had already been through this dead zone in fact he had escaped but now he is returning back to it once more sensor blind. Every subtle movement drew his attention and every corner was a possible ambush. The minutes ticked on and the twitch trigger fingers did not make things go by any faster. When he felt like he could not possibly get any more tense than he already was, they stepped in front of a clearing and the young Hei found that of all things to exceed his expectations it was the nervousness this situation brought, there were no more buildings and must less cover, this would be like shooting fish in a barrel for a sniper.

His nervousness was broken by the voice of his acting CO. He did not know the man's history but if he had made it to a position of command then he knew what he was doing at least Dimitri hoped that was the case so he began to tread along the perimeter trying to stay near buildings to have a measure of cover from possible snipers. He soon heard Sif's voice as well and looked over to the transport, he had wanted to go look at it himself but his better judgement was telling him to avoid it. He took the orders though as a chance to get a good look at it and deployed a tactical drone and sent it over to investigate the massive land crawler.
 
Freyja was unnerved by the lack of sensory input and it meant she would have to manually fire her shoulder mounted weapon but more importantly it was like wearing an eye-patch for no reason. Being on point was tense as you would probably be the first to come under fire active camoflague buys a few precious seconds though and that can be everything. after so much nothing it was beginning to frustrate the neko "How long do we have to wait before they try to kill us already so we can beat the crap out of them" she asked no one in particular.
 
Rin carefully fanned out with the rest of her squadmates, her eyes and ears searching for possible threats. GSR at the ready she ducked into some of the nearby storefronts, giving them a cursory look for anything out of the ordinary but not lingering too long. She made sure she did not advance too far on her own, however, and she occasionally glanced to make sure she was in line with the rest of her squadmates.
 
Aya felt something of a sense of deja-vu. The eerie and oppressive silence reminded her of when the squad had to escort the tanks through a city. However, though she was getting the same vibes this felt much more unsettling. Just what happened here? she wondered. It was almost as though someone had snatched away both sides mid-fight, and left only the detritus of battle as a calling card. Without access to her suit's sensors, she felt like she had been blinded - no, like she had a sense amputated. Everything about this gave her the creeps, and hopefully they would find the source of the interference soon. Again she felt Anzu's absence dearly - the older Nekovalkyrja would have known exactly what to say to ease the tension.

However, there was a job to do, and the young Neko was only too happy to oblige the Juni. She moved over to the opposite end of the square to Rin and began to methodically work her way back, poised to give any would-be assailants a judicious burst of her ASGR. Perhaps if they were lucky one of them would stumble upon whatever was causing the sensor blackout and they could be out of here in a few minutes. The square felt far, far too exposed for her liking.
 
Damien moved forward with the rest of his squad. He had to admit that he was nervous. His former bravado was gone as they moved further into the sensor dead zone. The eerie silence bothered him and he saw things moving in every corner, every shadow. More than once, Damien thought about popping off a round into a building to clear it out from the imaginary threat, but barely, just barely he kept it in check. Looking around as they entered the square, Damien saw the prisoner transport broken from the shell that hit it. Whatever happened here wasn't good, hopefully the enemy had left, but he knew that was unlikely.

Knowing his current weapon wouldn't be suitable for a possible close encounter, he switched over to his plasma rifle and moved towards the closest storefront. Damien remembered what happened the last time he moved into a store front and raised his shield, remaining extra vigilant. While his sensors were of no use, he knew that he could still hear and see. Rather basic but it would have to do given the situation.
 
Broken gravel crunched under their feet. Hard cement echoed at the careless footstep.

As Dimitri deployed his drone, even the slightest sound seemed to deafen their ears. Each move they made was careful and precise, yet every slightest sound felt like a horrific mudslide of water, dirt and boulders. And off in the distance, as 'faeries' buzzed at the edge of their jammed sensors, it seemed there were still sounds yet as well. Or was it their imagination? Were some of them even making things up, hearing enemies were there was none? The lone, silent drone was about to find out. Its eye panned across the city scape as it moved up and about, some of it being quite pristine in one point, and an utter warzone just another foot away. But that wasn't the focal point at all - the lone vehicle was.

Drawing in close, it methodically looked over every inch of the prisoner transport for any possible threat. Booby traps or wounded and hiding Mishhuvurthyar were all possibilities, but the vehicle, its armor plate scorched by numerous energy blasts and pitted by the massive two inch guns that the Star Army favored, was quiet. Uninteresting. Lackluster. Though they themselves could only see one side of the vehicle, to the entirety of the squad, that's exactly what it looked like. Just another hunk of junk, the drone floating closer for a look after the initial scan. Breaking the silence, Sif spoke. "When they feel like it," she flatly, sourly to Freyja.

The entirety of the world went spinning for the drone as it was struck hard as a compartment door came bursting off of the vehicle's hull! Blocked from line of sight by the vehicle itself, the squad couldn't even see a flicker darting into the buildings as fast as its feet could carry it; instead, the drone barely came around in time to see a blur dart into the department store's darkness as its camera refocused. Like a cat on the verge of bursting into a ball of claws, Sif hissed at them all. "That would have been the most opportune time to attack, but they haven't. So we're going in. Pair off, I don't care with who, and start a sweep. Keep in range of each other. And don't let them give you the T."

She was dead, utterly serious to the last.
 
Aya was so filled with nervous energy that she almost jumped when something made its presence known in dramatic fashion. Unsure where to expect a threat from first, the blue skinned Neko glanced left and right, her weapon following her vision. Fantastic, thought Aya grimly. First our sensors get knocked out, and now we've got to tangle with an unknown threat blind.

However, it seemed that Sif was entirely unrattled by the event. Could anything get to her? Dutifully listening to Sif's orders, Aya motioned Dmitri over to her position. "C'mon, let's find this stupid thing already. Did you get a look at whatever it was?" She doubted her compatriot saw anything that she hadn't, but it would hopefully be a start.
 
Rin motioned Damien over to her position so that the two of them could pair up. She disliked not having her HUD, but it simply meant she had to be more alert. She moved on towards another store front, her GSR up against her shoulder as she began to sweep the front of the building.
 
Dimitri was a bit startled as he watched the door swing open right into his 'face' on the camera feed from the drone, barely managing to keep himself from jumping. He quickly composed himself afterwards however, he was in a war zone and didn't have time to be scared. Whatever it was though even with his eyes he only managed to get a glance at it after being distracted by the door. He did not like that situation himself either, Sif was right, that was a perfect chance to attack but the 'enemy' let it slip by.

He spotted Aya motioning to him and headed over, careful to keep himself in relative cover as he approached. He thought about returning his drone, but for now having an extra set of eyes might be good. "I missed it, but I won't next time." He responded to Aya with determination, the fact that something got passed his eyes.
 
Damien chuckled to himself as he saw Rin motion him over to her position. He felt like he was being picked for a team on sports back in school. Damien assessed the situation quickly and remembered Rin's choice of weapon. The GSR wasn't exactly cut for a close quarters fight that they would likely plunder into. Likewise Damien knew his primary weapon wouldn't be much use to the squad if the enemy engaged them at close range. Looking around while moving towards Rin, Damien figured they better find a spot to setup overwatch. If the squad didn't have HUD, it would at least help to have some eyes above to call out targets if they appeared. He hoped that Rin and his squad leader would agree with his assessment.

Damien clicked on his squad comms so that his squad leaders could hear his plan, just in case they had any objections, "Rin, don't you think we'd be better served finding an overwatch position to look at the square? If you want, I can take point to clear the building since your GSR is a bit bulky for room clearing. If you don't object let's find a multi-story building and setup shop there" suggested Damien with a solid confidence in his voice while he looked around for a building suitable for his plan and then started moving in that direction, Plasma Rifle at the ready.
 
As the squad began to respond to Sif's orders to pair up and fan out Fieke trotted up from the rear so that she could slot into the burgeoning sweep of the area. The OriSec Corporal stopped moving as she arrived at the fore and took stock of the two groups – Aya with Dmitri, and Rin with Damien – take the initiative.


The Abwehran frowned when she realised that all the remaining troopers she had first inserted with had already found a partner leaving her once more a complete outsider in the operation to come.


“Take the katze that made our venerable midget go all sour again.”


Fieke blinked as her AI finally stopped its constant state of complaints that it had been listing out as soon as the word that they would be going into a deadzone had come down the line. The Abwehran had mostly been able to tune out the buzzing voice of the computerized intelligence, but the mild levels of frustration it had been leaving her with had been evident in the fact that she had been gripping her rifle just a bit too tightly and letting her boots come down against the pavement harder than they needed to.


Now – after finally doing its job and giving a real piece of advice – the AI had apparently decided to quiet down.


“You just want a kompagnon to commiserate with.” Fieke responded back while her helmet-mate remained quiet.


Despite the Nightwalker's quip she began to move towards Freyja. Taking one hand off her ASGR and rapping two of her fingers against the shoulder of the Neko's power armour as she passed Fieke opened a com-channel directly to the other soldier.


“You with me Hei or you got ein anderer in mind for who you need to be closest to when 'they try to kill us' – I'll tell you now though better to keep our eyes open and let them be the ones to get schlachten.”
 
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