Nakamura Juni surveyed the battleground one last time, listening to everyone- except of course Geiger- reporting in. He seemed satisfied with the results. 30% casualty rate, with only one being a fatality. 80% of combat effectiveness was retained despite the damages. Damien would need to be kept at the back because he would be a liability in his condition, though he would certainly survive if he kept away from action.
"Leave Geiger's remains where they are. Do not worry about his rifle, Damien, I will need you to stay out of combat until we can have you evacuated. Signy Hei can assist you out of the tunnel. Simo-Hei, continue to assist Miyamoto-Hei. Everyone else, move out, and be ready for combat." With that, the Juni activated his thrusters boosting up to the rim of the enormous hole caused by the Render, into the desolation of the No man's land, to look upon the reinforced command post they were supposed to take.
It was a large structure, made of heavily reinforced concrete and covered in some sort of metal, possibly Yamataium, as the edges at damaged points seemed to have a more organic shape than the usual jagged edges that formed after explosions and penetrations. It was low, dug into the side of a hill, probably buried deeper into the hill than they could see. It had various windows and overlooks, which they could see machine gun nests and riflemen shooting from across the vast destruction. Before Kai could make to move any further, though, he received a message from the Taii, which routed itself automatically to the other armors in the squad.
"Well! I'm kind of surprised to see you guys again, after we watched that Render drop into the tunnel, we thought you'd either retreat or get cut to ribbons! I must say, you've done impressively" The small, Chibi-proportioned version of their platoon leader gave them a huge grin and a thumbs up in congratulations. "In any case, while you guys were fighting below, we broke through above! Thanks for distracting the render, that really helped us get through. Anyway! Squad Six should be arriving any moment now, so you guys can take it easy and just watch, if you wanna."
True to the Taii's word, within moments the other squad arrived, and with quite a show. First, Squad XIII was presented with something odd; a lone trooper nearby wearing body armor, instead of a Power armor. She tossed a small round object at the base of the structure, before ducking back into the rubble and disappearing. Moments later, a volley of missiles came screaming over their heads, impacting all over the structure, including the base where the object had landed, as well as slamming into the observation points and rifle and machinegun nests. Not all of the weapons were silenced however, but several loud cracks could be heard from the distance, and several power armors fell out of the windows, missing their heads. Next, a barrage of heavy Gauss fire preceded several Daisy armors approaching at high speed, Fusion thrusters pushing them along at a more than brisk pace perhaps a peter above the ground, LASR and ASGR rifles rattling off, Before suddenly flaring up near the structure, and punching into the windows with SLAG grenades before following the explosions in. One of the windows suddenly spouted a jet of plasma, and several soft-armored troops jumped out, trying to escape the flames, or perhaps just trying to die faster.
The sounds of Squad Six's weapons could be heard within the command point, though they began to sound more distant and sporadic as the soldiers advanced through the building. Three more Daisies advanced on the structure, their support no longer needed from the outside, and they, too, made their way into the structure. Squad XIII then saw the soft-armored soldier again, with he web gun from an AMES, which she shot at one of the windows, then reeled herself up into the structure, disappearing as well.
A Final Powered armor landed in front of them; a heavily modified Daisy II with oversized forearms that had short claws protruding from them, as well as emitters for plasma, and an ASGR slung over its back, which sported a Sylph wing pack. The Daisy II flipped up its armored visor, revealting the transparent one underneath, that showed a somewhat familiar face to them- That of the Taii.
"You did a good job today," she began, the chibi personification appearing in their HUD as well, "And I think you guys deserve a rest. In a few moments, we'll have a Yusou evacuate you guys back into the city a bit. We found a decent hotel there where you can relax and recover. A field hospital has been set up there so you can take care of Injuries, and replacements and parts for damaged Power armor will be available as well. Once your squad is at the Hotel, you'll have a 12 hour combat leave, so be sure to clean up, relax, and prepare for tomorrow. I hear it's going to be a doozy!"
