Over the command channel, they'd soon hear the voice of the commander of the K4s they were coming to support. Nothing major at first, simply reporting that as always they had found nothing of note since their last situation report, everything was fine as far as fuel and supplies went, and that was it. A milk run, just like they were all promised. It may have been disappointing for some, but for those who remembered just why it was that Nepleslia had turned Longwatch into a military outpost: it was a small relief even if it didn't ease the troubles of another long and boring day. But then things started to go badly.
One of the many Marines and Navy sailors responsible for Fort Bulwark's operations came over the radio,
"Overwatch to all units, be advised, we've detected an unidentified signatures of some kind moving in from orbit. Move to investigate. We're going to see if the flotilla knows anything about it."
"This is Rover 6, we read you loud and clear. We're picking it up on sensors. We'll go investigate and see what its all about, over." It was the commander of the unit of K4s they were supposed to be supporting,
"Crusaders, are you near the LZ yet? We could use your big guns out here."
Then Chief Parry came over the Command Channel,
"Negative, son. We're still a few minutes out. Head in without us. If there is any trouble, I doubt its anything you can't outrun before my kiddies bring their guns to bear on it."
And for a few minutes after that, everything was fine. At first. Then Rover 6 came back on the Command Channel. More perceptive listeners would be able to tell instantly that the tank commander sounded far more on edge than he had before, almost whispering as if it was necessary within the confines of his tank.
"This is Rover 6 to all units. I - oh shit, I have NMX. NMX sighted. They've dropped vehicles, it looks like. We're seeing at least a few Type 31s and a few Flayers. That unidentified was a dropship, Overwatch, and it just crapped out a whole lot of trouble for us."
"Understood Rover. Have they spotted you yet?"
"Negative, Overwatch. Rover 1-4 is going to crest the - oh fuck!"
Again the more observant listeners would hear it first. The muted thumping sound of an explosion, followed by gunfire, main guns of the K4s and the sound of NMX weaponry coming through the hull. Rover 6 was back on the radio in moments.
"Rover 1-4 is down! They just blew him straight to shit!" He was frantic, panicked,
"They just lit him up, Overwatch! They've engaged! Repeat, the enemy is engaged! I need support now, damn it!"
"Understood, Rover 6. Fall back and disengage, Crusader is almost there. We are scrambling gunships for support but they'll be at least twenty minutes out. Stay alive until then, Rover."
Finally the leader of the shuttles carrying Crusader came over the radio,
"All hands, we're coming in to the landing zone hot and fast. We're starting to catch some trace fire. I'd button up if I were you: things might start to get a bit bumpy." Many of the craft shook then, whether from enemy fire or turbulence wasn't clear.
--------
Dolphin Pak-Wun Wang, "Pasco's Prom Ride"
For the crew of "Pasco's Prom Ride", their approach would be virtually textbook. They might be able to hear the heavier enemy fire that deflected off the surface of their shuttle and caused it to shake violently but the young redhead who was their shuttle's crew chief didn't seem to let it bother him as he went about slashing at the tie-downs of their tank. A simple wave and signal to button up was given to the crew before he had made sure he was secure at the rear of the plane. Following that came the wind: a growing roar that pulled at anything loose in the cargo bay, forcing the crew chief to brace himself against the wall but leaving the crew mostly unaffected.
Until their chutes, sent out the craft behind their tank, were caught in that same roaring wind. There was the sound of grinding metal and a fleeting moment of sickening weightlessness where stomachs felt like they'd relocated into throats. Slamming against the snow and mud to make an impressive ploom, the only "casualty" to be had was P3c Cutter rocketing forward to face-plant against her optics in a way that left a sore red mark on her forehead.
However the three light tanks in front of them that had just turned away from the much lighter K4s were likely a bigger concern as soon as they were noticed.
--------
Ross Mitchell, "Vehicular Manslaughter"
The initial approach for Corporal Mitchell and his crew would be much the same. Everything executed by the books with a very sour-faced Mid Corporal who went about her work making sure everything went how it was supposed to.
Even the impact would have been very by-the-books - if it weren't for the wet mud and snow, particularly thick, that their tank slid into. Private Greengold would find her breaks were completely ineffective, not yet under control as they should have been by now. Because an indicator light clicked on to inform Corporal Mitchell that one of the three drogues hanging from the back of his tank had failed. It wasn't saying it was disconnected so it was likely that it was filled full of holes by enemy fire.
And speaking of the enemy, he was barreling down on a light tank. A
Type 31A if he had time to recognize the lower sitting turret or the extended armor over the tracks. The crew would even be able to see the horrified look of the top gunner as she watched nearly one hundred tons of Nepleslian death barreling down on them faster than the gunner could hope to turn his turret. Everybody would feel the impact as the Maximus slammed into the side of the tank, using them as breaks, but nobody would feel it more than the NMX crew as they were flipped onto their roof.
A benefit of the current situation was that, while the crew of "Vehicular Manslaughter" couldn't fire directly over it, they found they'd just been given a piece of frontal protection from most of the enemy forces.
--------
Aleksandra Simonova, "Misha"
The trip for "Misha" and "her" crew was a middle-ground between nearly picture-perfect performance of "Pasco's Prom Ride" and the oddly appropriate way of eliminating the enemy that "Vehicular Manslaughter" had just executed. Their drogues would catch wind long enough for them to come sailing out the back of the shuttle, slam into the ground - and hear the sickening sound of torsion bars crying under the force of impact as their tank tried to slide forward at an angle across slick mud. The entire crew would likely feel themselves shifting to one side, with the commander and gunner pressing against the hull of the tank until it finally came to a stop.
The best thing about their landing was that their gunner would find she was looking directly at the side of an enemy tank. The two worst things were simple: the first was that they would likely need to keep an eye on putting too much stress on their suspension again. The second was that the tank their gunner was looking at was a Flayer, not one of the light tanks running around tangling with what was left of the K4s. And it seemed to have noticed them.
--------
"Wespe" Tittenlieb, "The BONE"
With a force that would bounce its driver up out of the seat if he hadn't been strapped in, The BONE caught air, and came down thunderously against the ground. Everything would have been well except for the fact that anybody looking straight ahead, the driver included, would see they were barreling for the burned out husk of a destroyed K4. Even slamming on breaks wouldn't do, since they had yet to slow down enough, but with a bone-jarring impact they met the K4 head-on. The small hovertank, partially embeded in the ground now, provided enough resistance to bring them to a stop. Their impact rocked what was left of the turret from the frame and the crew found themselves suddenly having only their turret exposed at the moment should their shields fail under the guns of any enemy tank that saw fit to fire at them.
Another saving grace was that while the arrival of the Crusaders hadn't gone unnoticed, it seemed Wespe and her crew were among the members of her platoon that hadn't drawn the specific attention of the enemy just yet.
--------
John "Johnny" Battleaxe, "Crush N' Grind!"
Sailing through the air with all the grace one might expect from 100 tons of armor, ammo, and sound systems: "Crush N' Grind!" was right up there in the running with "Pasco's Prom Ride" for something that would belong in an Aethersperm music video. Mud, water, snow, and quiet possibly even animal feces was caught and thrown up in a wide rooster-tail as they left the shuttle. Accompanied by the thundering noise of their shuttle pealing away from a close overhead flight, it was safe to say that if there
was a competition going on for dramatic entries, that the unexpected shift to the right as if they were drifting meant that Crush N' Grind was making the crew of Pasco's Prom Ride work for their place. Though neither would likely be able to compete with Vehicular Manslaughter for 1st.
--------
Adam Foss, "El Corcel"
Sailing past the crew of the "Crush N' Grind", sombreros catching the wind, and with the doppler effect for all she passed of rattling maracas - and some might have sworn they could smell tequilla and black beans, "El Corcel" metaphorically led the charge for the Crusaders. Adam and his crew would find they were at the front of the entire formation as their tank finally came to a stop, enemy fire hitting their shields and causing them to flare, and an alarming number of guns slowly starting to point away from what was left of the K4s and in their direction. Reversing, or opening fire, would be a good course of action to pursue. Especially as one of the Flayers on the field among the light tanks turned to face them.
--------
Adamask Tyrosian, "Hazardous Materials"
Far to "El Corcel" right, one drogue chute flapping full of holes and burning in the wind, and with sleet under the tracks: "Hazardous Materials" was - being quite hazardous, honestly. A light tank that would have been in its way had barely heard the call of alarm from the victim of "Vehicular Manslaugheter". It didn't see the offending tank and hadn't wasted any time trying to fire. And thankfully the brain slave driving the tank had opted to move out of the way as quickly as possible. Not quickly enough, of course, as the two tanks met. "Hazardous Materials" caught the tail end of the NMX tank, tunring the Maximus, and causing the Type 31 to spin .Now while they had their side presented to the majority of the enemy, Adam and his crew found they were point-blank with their barrel to the back of an enemy tank's turret.
Visibly screaming down at the other gunner, the bubble-gunner of the NMX tank brought her smaller dual turrets around to start blasting against the tank's shields. For the moment it was making a rather spectacular light show but was mostly harmless. For the moment.
--------
Mihail Kostetski
In a literal blaze of glory that was sure to be a close tie for 1st with Vehicular Manslaughter for the music video that might some day be made (but probably not), Corporal Kostetski's monitors were screaming at him with alarms. His drogues were on fire, the indicator screen flashing red lights at him at a possibly nauseatingly, certainly annoying, rapid pace. The right-most of either formations, with his right flank exposed to - a rising mountainside, it was only be some miracle that the beacon screaming "Shoot me! I'm over here!" his chutes were making had yet to draw any particularly heavy fire from the enemy forces. When they would finally come to a stop, literally jumping a small hill before coming under control, they'd find themselves the furthest flanking member of the Crusaders to the right.
--------
As the tanks came to stops, able to control themselves again, they'd find themselves in twin wedges - though the uniformity of the formations was dubious. To the left in order was the crew of "Vehicular Manslaughter" behind the cover they'd made out of an enemy tank, at least a dozen meters ahead and more than thirty to their right was "Pasco's Prom Ride" leading the entirety of 1st Platoon's formation. To their right, over thirty meters behind "Pasco's Prom Ride" was Aleksandra and the crew of "Misha", and finally ten meters behind her and the furthest from the others was Wespe and her crew with their friend: the destroyed K4.
On the right, with over one hundred meters between either formation, was the Crush N' Grind!, attracting some of the heavier fire from the enemy and in good position on the crest of a small hill to return it should they choose. Under the cover of their guns if the two crews worked together, forty meters ahead of everybody else was the crew of the El Corcel and they wouldn't be mistaken to think they were quickly becoming a bullet magnet with the way the computer system was screaming at Adam because of the beating his shields were taking.
Thirty meters to his right and well behind was "Hazardous Materials" with the NMX light tank that had so rudely been in their way. And finally there was Mihail and his crew, virtually on their own fifty meters away from anybody else, and despite the flaming pile of drogue chutes behind their tank seemingly unnoticed by many of the NMX.
Strewn out in a massive field in front of them were over twelve Type 31 NMX light tanks, some of which looked to be 31As by the location of the missile launchers and the extended skirt armor. Among them, five snow-white Flayer tanks stood amid the formation. One of them seemed more intent on firing at a trio of K4s taking turns popping up over a hill across the mess of a battlefield from the Crusaders, but the other three had turned their attention to the newly arrived Nepleslian armor. Among the entire enemy force were the burnt and blasted remains of both NMX and Nepleslian light tanks: many still on fire or smoking.
Chief Parry, who was positioned between the two wedges of tanks, began barking out orders over the radio.
"I don't need to tell you lot what to do!" He bellowed,
"Engage! Turn these squid bastards into calamari!"
Also, I'm new to tonkfite in general so plz feel free to correct me on this or that, thanks! Mucho appreciated!!)
