Kim
スター軍の司書
2//188604// Saber equipment room// ETA 10-minutes to combat take off
"Alright, people we got a job to do, suit up and get your shit in gear! Prepare for a combat drop!" Jack shouted to the Saber team as he himself began to take off his clothes to put on his commander variant of the R1-SPA, or "Revenant" power armor.
Neera had slipped into the equipment room an hour earlier before and equipped her gear. Only a few people knew of her switch to the new body and she wanted to keep it that way for now. "Um, aye aye?" She said waiting off to the side.
Sarah had removed her shirt and pants before climbing into the base suite, closing it up before attaching the armor sections and putting on her helmet. "I guess briefing will be enroute, boss?" She asked, stocking rifle mags and mag clipping her custom rifle to her back.
"So, why am I going on this one? Other than tech support for the medic?" Thorn had been watching the room intently, picking up a flak jacket and helmet and hefting them a few times before dropping the vest over her EVA top. Shrugging a few times to settle it on her shoulders. She'd noticed a few suits of Revenant armor folded up, but was betting on the idea that one hadn't been made for her, despite the fact that, she knew offhand there had been at least one 3D scan of her taken. "I mean, I'm pretty useless in combat, unless you want orbital targeting support or a comm hookup. Even then, I can do that from the lab."
Sarah noticed the gear she was putting on, "Babe, what are you wearing? Put on your Revenant," she said picking up one of the suites and putting it in front of Thorn then collecting the armor pieces.
"But..." There was a bit of trepidation in her voice before she saw the power armor flopped over the bench next to her. Come to think of it, no matter how far Thorn tightened the straps, the flak jacket would still flop uncomfortably. "Alright."
A few buckles unclipped let the armor fall to the floor as Thorn unzipped her suit with practiced ease, shucking it from her shoulders before she could have time to feel self-conscious. With her pants sliding to the floor, she shoved the suit down her hips and stepped out of it, picking up the Revenant's shoulders questioningly, as though not quite sure how to put it on. "Should I pop out my rebreather pods? If I remember, the Revenants have an integrated life support system."
Figuring it out, Thorn slipped in and zipped up at least the lower half, pushing gently at one of the metal pods sticking out of her back to check that they were still locked in.
The cyborg would only strap into a set of propulsion devices custom fit to snap on and from his figure, functioning similarly to that of the R1-SPA. He would have to remove his T-shirt and lab coat first, however, leaving him with a pair of cargo pants to compensate for his lack of coat pockets. "Alll righty." He pressed a few buttons on his wrist-mounted interface. "According to my systems, Thorn's custom attachments to my armor integrate themselves perfectly to my system. If anything goes wrong, though, be ready to swoop in and catch me." He laughed to cap his statement off before turning to look to Jack. "On your mark, boss."
Jay entered the room, a little late but he didn't seem to care and offered no apology. "Good day gentlemen, ladies." He then turned to the commander. "Hello again, Jack. Good to see you're actively leading your team. I'm anxious to see how the team has progressed since training."
Jack was half way through pulling up his suit, the large downward pointing crimson sword with black wings tattoo of the back of his scarred torso facing the group, but covered as he finished pulling it on all the way. The faint lights of the segmented spine lighting up as the suit sealed. Jack then attached the armor pieces, including his large left pauldron, and his gauntlets with integrated heat blades. Jack turned around, "Good to have you back Jay, clear for boarding Beaumont, and good luck everyone. As stated before briefing enroute, and Jay I suggest you get acquainted with the new faces." his eyes now glowed red as his HUD was brought online with the Geist's activation. Jack picked up his helmet and put it on his HUD synching to add the data and telemetry from the R1-SPA suite.
Sarah helped Thorn get the suite on, not being able to but slip a feel in the process. She sealed the suite up and began placing armor pieces on.
Neera climbed aboard the waiting gumdrop APC docked to the U-1 that was black with red markings. "Waiting aboard sir." Neera said he hadn't noticed the voice and that the Jay person didn't ask too many questions.
Thorn gave a knowing smirk as Sarah slipped her feel, more than content to watch the taller woman walk away in the skin-tight body suit, if only to get more armor pieces. "As much as I enjoy you dressing me, can't we just skip to the part where you rip my clothes off?"
Beaumont clambered forward the moment Jack gave him the green to enter the ship. As far as he was concerned, he was only there to make sure that injuries were cared for and that Neera's body conversion was a successful one. It hasn't been long since the day they had conducted the procedure, so he'd need to keep a close eye on her. "How are you feeling, Neera?" He glanced towards her before pulling a cigarette from his pocket." It's about time he started getting into some action, anyways. Sitting around, spinning in his desk chair, drinking beer and wasting smokes on boredom had been brutally under stimulating.
Jack stepped aboard and waited at the end of the troop compartment of the APC on the driver's cab end, "Come on move it, move it! We got outlaw asses to kick." Jack yelled as he took ahold of a hand rung.
Sarah placed the last piece on and handed Thorn her helmet, "We can get to that later, but first let’s get our work done."
Neera stiffened a bit as Jack stood close, "Later Beaumont."
"Oh, must you break my heart?" While the pout was there in her voice, it was nowhere to be found on her face as Thorn hooked her helmet up to its lines and let it dangle on her chest. She grabbed a field engineer's tool harness and delighted in how strong the physical augmentation of the armor was, bouncing towards the APC before strapping herself together.
Beaumont tilted his head, looking confused at her sudden response. He wasn't trying anything, he just wanted to check up as per protocol. He shrugged while the cigarette was placed between his teeth and he strapped into the seat beneath him. She must be keeping it under the table for some reason or another. While he fished for his lighter from one of his pockets, he shook his head slightly. Sometimes you just don't get women.
Quickly slipping on the suit, Jay would begin attaching the armour pieces while casually observing the two squad members and their romantic shenanigans. "Yeah, because that always ends well..." he said as he attached the armour plates to his suit.
Jay quickly finished attaching the armour plates, then made his way to the transport. As he did so, he began configuring the suit's systems to interface properly with his implants. "I'd better get a custom one of these if this is what I'm gonna do from now on."
"After this mission, get with the boys in the lab and tell them what you need. And Jay, it doesn't hurt to get to know your comrades. You need to have your brother’s back if you want them to have yours. I know from experience." Jack said the glow of his eyes from his HUD even visible through the dimmed visor.
Sarah boarded the APC and patted the seat next to her for Thorn to sit, "I strongly agree with my brother, Jay, was it? We need to work together and watch out for each other."
Neera looked to the young man named Jay, "So you must be Jay Nagato, I was expecting someone taller."
"In power armor and still the shortest person on the team..." Thorn noted her hair too long for the helmet to seal correctly as she sat down next to Sarah. "Sweetie, can I borrow your knife? I need a hair cut."
"Well, sorry to disappoint. Regardless, I hope you all realize that I'm not here to impress." Jay grabbed a handle on the ceiling, placed roughly in the middle, slightly towards the front. "Anyone else care to comment or are we ready to go?"
"I'll admit I kept my expectations low in the first place. I mean..." Beaumont jammed a thumb at Jack. "He was willing to hire my sorry ass. I'm pretty sure nearly anyone with some sort of experience and an application will be accepted so long as the role needs to be filled." As sharp as the statement was, the cyborg would mean it all in good fun. His tone was jovial, with a hint of tinniness provided by his false vocal cords.
Beaumont pulled his cigarette from his mouth, tossing it out of the Gumdrop's door to keep from the chamber filling with smoke on the way over. His mask slid down to cover his jaw once more, clicking into place. "Let's get this show on the road."
Despite the clear lack of intended offense, Jay bristled at the comment. "I'll have you know that I myself flew several combat missions with Jack." He turned to Jack, a slight smirk on his face. "Hell, I even saved his ass a few times."
"Oh, you still have to impress them, Lieutenant, You have command of the fire team. I can't be around forever, especially with project trinity underway. Once that station is done, I'll have my duties as station Admin and Admiral of its defense fleet. That leaves you running the show for me on the ground while I attend to that. So, don't be an ass, last thing I need is my wife bugging me because you didn't care enough to watch your men's backs as well as mine," Jack said focusing his glowing eyes on Jay.
"Yeah here," Sarah said handing over her Sheska.
"Well, that was one hell of a bomb to drop boss, I don't think we would have been any more surprised if you dropped a nuke." Sarah said not holding back her smart mouth.
Jay finished configuring his suit for the implants, then turned to look at the group. "Well, I guess that's that people. Like he said, let's get moving."
A quick bundling back of her hair and Thorn had most of it a handful, Sarah's knife clamped in her teeth, before she drew the blade behind her head and sliced the lump off in a clean strike. "Okay, that's good and sharp. Nice." She handed the knife back before stuffing the removed hair in a waste bag and putting her helmet on and commenting, "I knew I needed to get out of the lab every once in a while!"
"Alright, here's the brief, we’re heading to a small settlement that has been occupied just outside our borders. It's just bandits, so Uso has asked us to take this job, and an armed force so close to the border will not be tolerated. We'll be ascending to high altitude to execute a low orbit drop. Everyone is equipped with Revenant armor making this maneuver possible. Even for you Beaumont. I have plotted the course now and will commence strafing runs as we ourselves descend. Hopefully, catching them off-guard and by complete surprise. Any questions?" Jack said scanning his vision over the team.
"That sounds like something I'm not entirely trained for." Thorn drew a ration bar out of one of the engineering kit's pockets. She quickly opened up her datapad's display in her helmet's visor, her hand idly pawing the air apparent to what she was seeing. In the air in front of her, and with the Revenant's communications array, she had linked up to and logged in to her ship, logging this suit as a new device. "What are the roles?"
A few icons were thrown towards the others to link their communications to a satellite uplink as Thorn’s ship’s powerful sensor and communications arrays started feeding data to the individual suits, based on where each one was and what it could pick up from its geostationary orbit above them. Granted, it could pick up an individual brick on the road from that position, but that was beside her concern at that point. "Also, Beaumont, I'm gonna need you to open your firewall. I've got the Eye feeding data."
Jay now spoke deliberately and precisely. "I'll handle this one. Although this mission isn't anything special, we still need to ensure minimal casualties and maximum shock value. As such, we will ideally be moving in from multiple directions simultaneously. Therefore, all of you will be expected to operate with a certain degree of independence. That being said you'll still need to cover each other effectively, so everyone pair up. Medics, find a heavy specialist. Everyone else, try to mix range and speed. Any questions?"
The cyborg paused and tapped his mask, looking around at each of the individuals in the transport. "Remember, I'm pretty much the only guy here whose primary goal is to focus on medical treatment while out there. As such, maintain communication at all times. I won't have any idea if you've been hit if you don't tell me, but in the event that you're killed, I've had your life support systems send signals to my internal computer, but it'll only alert me if shit REALLY hits the fan. So, let's hope it doesn't get to that point." He taps the radio on the left side of his head two times to cap off his sentence. "So! Who wants to team up with the medic and cover his tin can ass?"
Jack looked to the cyborg, "That will be me. Jay once we hit dirt you have full command, show me what you got."
Neera just sat there listening and trying to not draw Jack's attention too much.
Sarah took the machete back and sheathed it, "Any time. Though I'm gonna miss that long hair."
"Plenty left to grab later." Thorn smirked behind the mask, her arm slipping behind Sarah to run a thumb down her spine, just firmly enough for her to barely feel it through the suit.
"Alright then." Jay said, putting on his helmet. "I'll try not to disappoint."
A cheeky smirk formed under Beaumont’s mask. "Alright. Looks like I'mma get a chance to get an up close and personal look at how my boss fights. This'll be fun."
"Alright, fair warning, when we accelerate up there will be a severe tilt. like 90 degrees of it. So, buckle up, and those standing be advised to use mag boots." Jack said as the U-1 took off after the hangar doors opened and the catapult launched the variable mech. Within minutes they were at high altitude and nearing the drop point quickly as the U-1 tilted up even farther having passed the borders of the USO.
"One mike to drop, Thorn and Beaumont, I'll be synching to your suites to guide you for the drop given your lack of experience........30 seconds!" Jack shouted now technically staring down as they were above the target. The hatch at the back opened, the wind roaring in as the ground was in far view dead ahead.
"Alright, commence for drop, green light!" Jack said using his mag boot function to move to the side of Jay patting him on the shoulder as the light above the hatch shown green. Jack disengaged his mag boots falling free, the U-1 now far above him as he nosedived towards the ground.
Sarah shrugged before pushing off from her seat to drop out the bottom as well with "Wooooh!"
"Shit! And I thought this was a good idea?" Neera said before doing likewise.
Thorn looked over to the side, now suddenly realizing the very real possibility of something going horribly wrong, and she couldn't help going through disaster scenarios in her head. And then immediately unbuckling herself and kicking off the seat to fly free. Her uplink to the Eye started giving signal statuses to the rest of the team and she started miming a touchscreen as she fell. If her suit was synced, she could rely on Jack to make sure nothing happened, for the moment. And she could route command data functions, assign unit numbers with Jay as zero, and let the Eye blink its confirmation before changing its sensor angles slightly to follow them down. "Thorn Ironhart, suit's designated as unit five, I said it before, but I have a scanning ship in orbit feeding data now. It'll spot that brick before you trip on it."
Jay was next, quickly but carefully moving towards the door. "See you all on the surface." He said as he disengaged his mag boots and pushed off the edge.
The cyborg hesitated, looking out at the landscape far below the door with a deep swallow. He pulled himself to his feet, knees becoming metallic gelatin. He never feared heights - though the prospect of leaping from them only to rely on two little boxes strapped to his back never ran across his mind as a very appealing one - hell, it never even did before now. "Whelp!" He calls out. "Either i jump out or I look like a massive pussy, so..." He turns around, stretches his arms to his sides. "Down I go!"
Beaumont tumbled into the air, keeping his back stiff like someone had dropped a statue and remaining stuck to the bottom of the transport by his grav boots. His HUD flickered to reveal his altitude and his alignment to the ground, prompting him to turn to face the earth head-on. "Alright, Thorn. I swear on my secret bikini magazine collection this glorified back strap on better do its job!"
"Alright five mikes till land fall, sending my view to everyone, should give an idea what to expect on landing." Jack said over the comms as he sent the team his point of view through his own eyes. The ground was rushing up to meet him as the icons of the rest of the team filed out.
Sarah was doing poses as she fell, "We should do this more often."
Neera dolphin nosed towards the ground giving Sarah a miffed look as she flew by, aAnd she's going to be my aunt? god this is one weird family.
The U-1 Black Reaper it's roll and dive as it moved to strafe enemy forces before the team landed. The U-1 only a black blur as it sped past.
"You'll be fine, Beaumont, I built those myself." Thorn looked back to see the neat single file line of icons and felt suddenly very comfortable. Without the feeling or sound of air rushing past her as though she'd fallen without a suit like this, the experience was much like zero gravity. She tucked her knees in sharply to rotate and let them out, pulling herself into an angled stop as she figured it out.
"I like this!" Aligning herself into vertical, Thorn tried using her hands as control surfaces, but that was far less effective than her knees or lower legs. With a quick, relaxing breath, she switched her mind over into a far more professional mode, collecting and analyzing data for later use. She watched the camera feed in her HUD, a mimed movement switching that out of the way of the red interface. Compass down below, targeting reticle, and IFF icon, all in red, and that was just what wasn't coming with the Eye controls. She rolled her eyes ad opened another menu, switching the hud color to amber, easier to focus with. "Confirming, five minutes to landing. Moving back into formation, now. I have eyes on the landing zone, and it looks clear to the Eye's sensors. Jack, you see anything yet?"
Jay, meanwhile, angled his body towards the ground. Arms to his sides and legs together, he gained a bit of speed as he fired his thrusters to maintain direction. "Ok everyone, try to move towards your partners. Just don't get too close."
The rest of the team would hear a rampant stream of swears and vulgarities over the intercom from Beaumont, making attempt after attempt to sever the magnetic bonds between his boots and the hull of the transport to no avail. He raised his wrist to get a good view of his holowatch, the light forming a stream behind the rapidly moving vehicle. After a press of a few buttons, he managed to find the override in his systems allowing the boots to come loose - though even then he lacked any preparedness for it. He spun wildly, banging against the side of the Gumdrop before plunging towards the ground below like a curled shrimp tossed up from a stir fry wok. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck," he barked as he contorted his body in a desperate attempt to regain control of the situation.
With a lucky twist of his figure, Beaumont managed to position himself belly-down, facing the ever creeping crust of the planet beneath him and sending his stomach back in circles. A glance to the side, and he would see the amount of time it took him to deploy had sent him a little farther away from the bunch. "Well shit..."
Jack sighed as he watched the antics unfold, but that was a problem out of his hands. The ground filled his view as the settlement came into view, the U-1 having left a train of smoke as a few technicals were left in fiery wrecks and dots scattered about as they moved to return fire their attention focused on the disappearing plane.
"Alright, condition red, mounted guns detected. Prepare to engage!" Jack said over his comm before hitting his thrust on full burst as he brought his legs up to land in a crouch, his RKAR-1A being drawn and the armor plates for his visor quickly sliding into place with a "shink" as the enemy was grouped around the perimeter watching for the U-1 and any other aircraft that might show up.
Sarah did not wait to hit the ground before pulling her rifle, the barrel and scope flipping into position with a loud metal clank as she took aimed with the suppressed rifle and put a round through the head of a bandit behind the mounted gun of one of the few technicals left. Her feet now hitting the ground, she looked for a vantage point.
Neera followed Jack’s lead, but with less grace as she stumbled on landing, to come back up steadily and pull her own rifle, "Oh shit, let's not do that again."
Thorn's landing... Was far less graceful than even Neera's. A curling of her toes fired her thrusters as she curled her knees and flipped over, her arms spreading wide as she sought to use her mass and the braking thrusters to land in a ditch, not far away. However, she overcompensated, and her braking thrusters did their job, slowing her down enough to survive the impact when she landed on top of a plant of some sort and sent it splattering, coming down hard on her back with her helmet's armor plates sliding down to protect her face from oncoming fire. She quickly got up and sought cover, the optic sensors letting her see as though through sunglasses or a tinted window. Pulling a P-1 from its holster, she checked over her tool strapping, and, convinced she hadn't dropped anything, slipped quietly behind one of the flaming wrecks that were once trucks. "I'm down. Remind me to get some actual training with these things. That's gonna smart for a bit."
Jay landed heavily into a roll, activating his camouflage. He had intentionally landed on the side of an embankment facing away from the buildings. Pulling out his RKAR, he quickly identified four contacts near his position, on the other side of the embankment. "Four targets identified, about a quarter klik north of the compound. Alright Jack, confirm transfer of command to me."
A few shots whized by Beaumont's head at too close a proximity for his comfort, prompting him to spin with his heels face down. From a holster on his belt, he pulls out his RKP-10/45, propping it on his forearm to aim, taking several potshots at a few assailants down below. With his free hand, he punches a button on the strap of his harness, kicking the jets on his back to life and slowing his descent - but he had mistimed it, sending him careening towards a shack and crashing through its ceiling. Of course, it hurt like hell, and definitely jarred him, but wasn't enough to deal any severe damage. A few planks of wood fall around him, clanking harmlessly around the cyborg - one even knocking against his helmet. "Oooh boy this already sucks."
A few bandits had already clambered up the building, aiming their rifles at the cyborg while he emerges from the pile of scrap material that was once the ceiling of what appears to be their barracks by the beds and tables laying around. "Looks like I'm gonna need Thorn to install some HUD software into that thing cause that landing huuurt," he rubbed the back of his neck before turning to face the two cronies gawking at what looks like a human and the tin man had sex and this was the result.
Jack engaged ECS and stalked around the shacks and buildings as he searched for targets, finding the shack that held Beaumont, he approached.
[whistle], The bandits stopped and turned around to see no one just before the flash of a rifle appear from thin air as each received a round to the head in short order. "Beaumont, vacate the structure and regroup. Lt. Nagato, you have command effective immediately, I'll be observing closely as I work independently," Jack said as he became visible again.
Sarah sat on a roof with ECS engaged and her sight set on the fuel tank of the remaining technical, which was followed by a whisper then an explosion as the technical turned into a ball of fire. "Last enemy armor eliminated, moving to infantry, change in command confirmed. Nagato sir, I will be your acting XO," Sarah said as she began picking off targets turning them into burst of blood and gory wounds with no warning, or sound.
Neera was with the other Sabers and Jay as they grouped up, ready to move, "Orders, sir?"
A quick bit of ECS to make sure she wouldn't get spotted running, and Thorn decided to start bouncing around the field, picking up flashbang grenades from the corpses of the bandits and slipping behind cover to shuck her tools somewhere safe, grumbling about being a technical person who had never handled a real weapon before, let alone could she handle one, now. She had a sidearm and a bag bulging with ordnance, but no knife and no combat rifle. So, she borrowed the knife off one of Sarah's kills, a quick look up into her upper left to make sure the ECS was still engaged. "Alright, if you need something blown to Hell, I've been snagging grenades off these guys. I've got six flashbangs and four frags. Point me to something to make go away."
Naturally, Thorn managed to get close to one trooper and was busy trying to rip the pins to his grenades while he tried to spot where the shots killing his buddies were coming from, right up until his chest exploded, spattering her camouflaged suit in blood, and there, standing in the field, was a red covered hollow figure of about five foot and nil. "Dammit, Sarah, I had him!"
Jay began setting up the sight on his rifle. "Acknowledged, commander. All units report position and contacts being engaged." As he said this, he quickly popped up, dropped the two targets on the right, then dropped back down and moved towards the left.
"I'm surprised at how good you are at popping up in unexpected place, boss." Beaumont grunted as he dusted some splinters from his clothing. He plucked his handgun from the debris before nodding to Jack. "I'll trust ya with these mooks. Just don't make me need to patch you up too much. I've only got so many supplies out here."
With that, the cyborg turned on his heel, stepping to the side before clambering down the stairs. Lo and behold, a couple more bogeys had heard the commotion. One would watch as a scalpel flew into the forehead of his comrade before feeling a gunshot in his own neck - dropping down. "Goddammit I'm gonna need more of these suckers." Beaumont hummed, feeling around in his pocket for another surgical sharp. "Though I'm pretty sure Pine won't mind getting me more when this is over.
The servos in the cyborg’s legs whirred while he pushed them to their limit, his sights detecting the position of his comrades nearby. "I haven't heard any of you lot, so I'm guessing it'd be safe to assume that none of ya have gotten hurt yet. Good news for me. Less work when this is all over."
Jack nodded before re-engaging ECS and moving on to a higher vantage point, relatively close enough to see some of the bandits only a short distance away, but unseen himself with his active camo engaged.
Sarah continued picking off targets with increasing speed, causing spreading panic amongst the enemy, with only her mumbling kill count to herself.
Neera formed up near Jay with the rest of the team waiting for his lead, tripping as she drew near.
"Fine. Okay, then. Killing ain't for me. Never liked the thought anyway." Thorn walked away, having not figured out the communications system yet. She quickly made her way to the tree line as the enemy troopers scattered, finding a stream to wash off the gore spattered on her suit. A beeping filled her ear and she looked up to find her ECS indicator off, just before a burst of gunfire sounded off, way too close, and she bolted.
Thorn’s HUD told her where Jack and Beaumont were, and her thrusters fired to try and get her there faster as a much higher pitched beeping filled her ears and she looked up for a wound indicator on her leg. Another spray of bullets pocked off her back and one of the thrusters blew out with a sharp crack. Her balance was thrown and she hit the ground hard, crying out in surprise more than pain, before the burning hit and she couldn't help but note her left thigh armor plate missing. With little other option, she rolled under a burning truck to wait for things to calm down enough for her to not be risking fire with her suit damaged.
Jay noticed Thorn's icon change to indicate that she was taking fire. "What the - Thorn! Status report!"
The cyborg saw it too. Small blinking red dots where each bullet had met her body. He swore before punching the button on his chest that activated his harnessed thrusters. A kick to the ground would launch him up, where a few bandits would spray him with bullets, most of them ricocheting off his figure, leaving dents, or piercing the hollow portions of his body - by sheer luck. "Fucking hell, this is gonna go downhill fast." He twists around to aim his pistol. Each bandit would have a red crosshair positioned over them in the order that they were to be pockmarked with bullet holes. As he lands to the ground, he drops the magazine from his weapon, grabbing another from his pocket. Boy did he wish he didn't only bring a few magazines. "Thorn, sit tight. We'll provide you some cover while I patch you up. Then you'll be right as rain."
Jack instantly took notice of the alert as he pulled his sheska from the back of a bandit even as he gunned down two others with his pistol. He quickly left the body strewn area as he made haste to get to Thorn's position, "No this is not happening again!"
"I'm fine! All, I'm okay." Thorn called into the transmitter, the Revenant's systems dispensing pain medication and a gel based liquid bandage before sealing up. Naturally, one of the ingredients in that painkiller cocktail was a dose of stimulant to get her back on her feet. Judging by how her heart started to pound and she started getting a tight sensation in her chest, it was a rather potent one. Thinking fast, she slipped out from under the car and threw one of the grenades she stolen from Sarah's kills, forgetting to rip the pin in the process. Upon this realization, she reached for another one, to find her bag empty. A quick look under the burning vehicle told her what she needed to know as several fragmentation grenades went off under the heat.
"One person, go check on Thorn" Jay said. He then looked towards Neera to indicate he was talking to her. "You a good shot?"
"On it as we speak!" Beaumont grunted - only to feel a particularly large bandit wallop his mask, sending him tumbling against a nearby wall. He falls onto his rear, a small puff of dust around him. "Scratch that. It'll take a second." With that, he clambered to his feet and drew a scalpel from his pocket, flicking the blade to life. The bandit would chuckle at such a small weapon, cracking his knuckles only to feel the sting of a quickly drawn bullet from his pistol. "Forgot I had one of these, eh? Do you really think I'm going to take the time to melee you when I have a gun?" He kicked the hulking criminal's corpse a couple times before lunging away in Thorn's direction. "Don't do anything risky, Thorn. Do you copy?"
"Um, maybe?" Neera said confused and surprised by the sudden question.
Jack and ran and thrusted, in a rush to reach Thorn in time hopefully.
Sarah fast approached the site where Thorn's IFF indicated as her location, to only find a smoking vehicle with a rather large man armed with some sort of cobbled together squad support weapon surveying near the wreckage. He seemed to take notice of something and was about to call it out to his buddies when an explosive round detonated into his back armor. Sarah ran up to find Thorn, her armor slagged partially and punctured in several places, blood pouring to the sand.
"No no no no, Thorn!" Sarah screamed as she ran to slide into a crouch at her side.
When the grenades had gone off, Thorn's body had been flung across the gully, impacting the wall hard enough to knock her helmet off, and she watched as the blood seeped from the multiple holes in her armor. The tightness in her chest increased as the armor tried to save her life and only made the blood flow faster. Trying to say she was okay as Sarah rushed up, she pushed herself to her knees and coughed, wiping the blood from her lips before her footing failed and she toppled, her eyes locking with Sarah's as everything slipped into darkness.
Beaumont pressed a few buttons on his arm-mounted computer to isolate Thorn's reading from everybody's HUD. Best not let everybody see what's going on. He only had so much time if he wanted to save her... though odds were that everything he had on hand would be insufficient. He crouched down, scanning for a fading pulse. "No no no no..." He growled. "Not now. Come on Thorn, you can take more than this. Come on!" He pulled the girl down to lay flat on the ground, spreading her out to get a good view of each wound pockmarking her miniscule form. A small swear escaped him. It sounded like a growl, but felt like a squeak.
Beaumont drew a pair of defibrillation pads from his back. A special piece of gear built to run from his internal electrical systems in the event of cardiac arrest. He placed them to her chest. "One... two... three... CLEAR!" He yelped. There was a thumping sound as electricity poured into Thorn's body to force the heart to beat once more.
Suddenly realizing what the medic had done to the HUD, Jay now momentarily shifted his attention to the already hard-pressed medic. "Beaumont, you'd better have a good explanation for this. I'll hear it when we get back." He then returned his attention to Neera. "Good enough. I need you to move off to the right. Once you're around the edge, focus on the targets on my side. I'll mirror your movement. You catch all that?"
"Yeah." Neera stated flatly before moving as directed.
Jack stepped forward to find the scene before him, one he had seen before with different people, but the same scenario. He could hear the echo of distant voices as if on the other side of a great cavern, dulled and distorted, but still loud and non-ignorable. It was the shouts of dying men on a battlefield away from home, bleeding out on foreign land, deep down knowing that they would not return home.
"Beaumont, status report? What's her condition? Is she saveable?" Jack asked in a calm and even voice, even as his mind warred within. This may have seemed cold, or heartless to others, but he was numbing outwardly to the inevitabilities of war.
"Eat a dick and do your job before you request I explain mine." Beaumont snarled onto the radio. "Focus on cover fire." He began funneling electricity into the paddles once more. His breathing heavy while the paddles were pressed to the girl's chest again. "CLEAR!" There was another loud thud as another pulse went through. "She's in rough shape, Jack, but I’m not gonna let her die this easily! Come on, Thorn, open those god damn eyes and wake up!" Even he's beginning to lose it.
Another charge, another press to the chest. "CLEAR!" And yet another blast into her chest. The cyborg can see the sand turning a darker and darker red around her. "Fucking hell..." He lowered his head.
"When you do operations on mercs, you never know who the person is that you're trying the operation on." Beaumont heard himself say in the farthest recesses of his mind. It was from before Beaumont became the cyborg Section six had come to know. "It's great because you lack that emotional connection. They're essentially dissection subjects but you need to patch 'em up afterwards - and their merc buddies would never even know what went wrong."
Beaumont snapped out of his thoughts, roaring while he charged another shot into the paddles in his hands, pressing down on her chest once more. "CLEAR!" whump the defibrillator groaned.
"I mean sure. The mercs may have friends or families... but they never tell you about them. Hell, they probably never realize how many friends or families they've ruined..."
"CLEAR!"
whumpf
"Note, Thorn Ironhart. KIA. Time 1527 Zulu time. Cause: traumatic physical damage due to shrapnel and burns. Peace to the fallen. Retribution for the wicked. Let them find the eternal paradise across the infinite sea. While we those left living carry on the task now and ahead. Forever we will stand united in our purpose. To grab the victory of peace that these brave men and women shed their blood to reach. Let their memory carry us forward as we search for our own path across that sea, all the while using the strength they have taught us to achieve peace. For no angel of retribution ever falls, they only become legend, the standard to all. Carry the mantle forward forever more," Jack said at first in the same flat tone, but took on a reverent tone as he progressed. Jack placed an armored hand on Beaumont's shoulder at the last part.
As the prayer was recited, the cyborg had resorted to putting away the defibrillator and smacking his hands across the girl's face in sheer desperation. Since Louisiana... he felt unable to do anything. It was as though his mechanical heart had suddenly stopped for a few brief moments. Beneath him was not Thorn, but his sister once more. He gritted his teeth, hunched over... as the hand meet his shoulder, he wondered why he, of all people, felt this outrage... this weakness. It was then that he realized how much she reminded him of his only sibling. His hands dropped to become supports while his mask locked into place. He didn't move for a few seconds. He could not tremble to cry. His systems could not muster such a feat. His mask - nay, his face - had no tear ducts. "Shut the fuck up... she isn't dead. I won't let her. Sarah needs her. Section Six needs her!" He raised another fist... but he was unable to bring it down. No matter how much he yelled or slapped... nothing would happen.
"Beaumont, she's gone. You may think me a heartless bastard right now, but I've learned to be dead to this outwardly. Do not show the enemy the pain they have caused, as it will only give them strength. I lost almost my entire squad, the very same that used to say this very hymn when one of us fell. I never kept stock in it, as I'm not religious. But, I told myself it was my duty to carry it forward when they could not. Like you, I have medical training, not a medic, but still trained in the skill. I would patch when it was needed, but that is not always possible. I learned that the day they all, save one, died. We were crossing a field, with little knowledge of it being the strike zone of mortars, and we were pinned for hours hiding in craters. I was forced to sit there, as men I called brothers were blown to bits around me, and what I saw when I finally had the nerve to leave the crater. I miss every one of them, but no matter what I could have tried to do they weren't coming back. Now it's our job to make sure justice is brought to those responsible, and we turn that pain back tenfold." Jack said calmly, "Just like how I couldn't save my parents."
"I'm not gonna lie... A sob sorry was the last thing I needed right now," Beaumont hoisted himself up to his feet. "But... you still have a good point. Loss is a part of this kind of job." He shuffled through his pocket a little bit to draw out a scalpel. "And if someone takes something from us... better take something in return." The small laser blade of the scalpel flickered to life in a light blue glow illuminating from his metal hand. "You don't know this, but I had a sister just like her... who took a route far worse than hers. I won't go into detail... but I'm pretty sure she would have been like Thorn if she went into the sciences like us." He gritted his teeth.
Sarah, her moist cheeks hidden behind a polarized face plate was still knelt over Thorn's body, and now held it as she quietly sobbed.
"We can still revive her, not now, but when we get back. But we need to make sure these bastards pay," Jack said reading movement behind him. The man Sarah had shot in the back was trying to get up. He unsteadily stood and began to raise the heavy weapon, most likely the same that had caused the bullet holes still visible in her armor.
Jack whirled around to thrust shoulder first into the man sending him bouncing backwards. He attempted to raise the weapon again, but would have his arm broken as Jack ripped the weapon away from him, the arm having been caught in the weapon's crude bracing. Jack picked up the man and slammed him into the wall of a hut.
"Who is your leader? What was your goal here?" Jack said calmly, but with a undercurrent of anger.
"Fuck you! This place is ours, and we don't listen to that neko's bitches." the man growled back through gritted teeth.
Jack simply dropped him, letting his back scrape against the wall before removing his sheshka and burying it through the man's right knee and into the ground underneath as the blade hummed piercing armor, bone, and flesh alike.
"Let me tell you how this is going to go. You've killed one of my people. That means you owe us blood. You will die, but do you want it to be quick, or painful," Jack growled back twisting the blade slightly getting a pained whine from the bandit, "So either you answer the damn question and die quick and painless, or I start taking you apart limb by limb, piece by piece, until you will fit in a shoe box."
"If you don't mind, Jack... I'd be more than happy to do the honors." Beaumont stepped towards him, but kept an eye over his shoulder in case any backup is on its way. "Hell, if he asks, I can pull those bullets out of him... it's a shame though that I don't have an anesthetic. Unless you would rather I go and catch up with the others. It's your call."
The cyborg’s first mission as a field medic and he's left with one party member dead. What a medic I am. "Either way, he or his buddies are gonna have a chat with Mr. Angry Cyborg."
"You’re just a fucking tin can and some crazed guy in a fancy suite," the man said which was rewarded with a very sharp twist of the sheska again causing the man to scream, "Fuck you," he whimpered.
"Alright, have it your way." Jack said before pulling on the buried machete like weapon, causing the man's leg to be ripped away with the sickening sound of tearing flesh followed by the man's resulting sobs and screams. "Now answer the question, or it’s another limb," Jack said now switching to between pointing the point of the blade at various joints.
"I aint telling you shaaaa!" The man cried between clenched teeth.
Jack sighed and paused in thought for a moment in thought, before stabbing the blade through the man's right shoulder and tearing that away as well sending out fresh screams and sprays of blood from the bandit.
"What do you think, Beaumont, can you keep him alive long enough to pull answers from him? We need to know where these assholes are coming from, and it's sad to see such an enemy with a strong constitution," Jack said casually as he stared down at the man as he squirmed in agony.
"I dunno, Jack." Beaumont would chirp. "I don't think mister tough guy here really sees which tin can and guy in a suit he's talking shit to," He hunched next to the man and lifted one of his hands. "Besides... I do feel like you're not torturing him the right way. Loss of whole limbs will just cause him to bleed out. While we still have time, we should..." He put the scalpel to the tip of the man's index finger, digging it in right down the middle, ready to cut it in half. "...Cut parts away little by little til he squeaks. May take a little more time... but if it gives us results, it's a much more effective measure."
Something in the back of Beaumont’s mind had snapped. Was what he did cruel? Absolutely. Did he hate that he, did it? Most certainly. But in the heat of those moments, he knew nothing but the desire to make every last one of those wretched beasts pay whatever was then due.
Jay came back onto the comms, now coming from the heart of the settlement. "Commander Pine, we've taken their command center - if you can call it that. I've cracked the computer systems, and it appears we're in luck. Minimal damage to the system and they obviously had no protocols for such an assault as ours."
"Understood. Pull their location and affiliation." Jack replied.
"Already under way. Also, we need a medic over here. We've got a possible concussion here," Jay replied.
Neera spoke up in the background, "I'm fine damnit, get off me!"
Jack looked to Beaumont for a moment his helmet hiding a raised eyebrow, "Jay, who is that, I don't recognize the voice. Is it one of ours?"
"She's been with us since I showed up, I assumed she was one of yours..." Jay responded quizzically.
Beaumont knew, but he was currently bound to keep that knowledge a secret. He grunted "You're lucky it's just one finger." He pulled himself to his feet, turning his attention to Jack. "Regardless of her identity, if she's one of us, I'll hot foot it over there." He turned to face Jack with a nod. "I'll leave him in your care."
"They called us 'Angels of retribution' for a reason." Jack said before plunging the Sheska deep into the man's heart through his sternum as Beaumont headed off.
"Right then," Jay responded as he helped the rattled soldier into a sitting position against a wall. Removing his helmet to get a better look, he now addressed her directly. "I'm going to need to remove your helmet, so try not to move around too much."
"I said get off bub, I will bite! The helmet stays on." Neera struggled to keep Jay off her.
Jay sighed. "Look, I don't know if you're a real soldier or not. Frankly, I don't care. Even so, I hope you understand the meaning of an order, because I am ordering you to take off that helmet. And if you don't want to listen to me, I'd be more than happy to call Commander Pine over here."
"Fine damnit." Neera said before removing the helm with a hiss and click as the seal was disengaged before she removed it revealing her anthromorphic face. Her hair was several inches short of shoulder length and parted in the front into two long bangs, with one falling to either side of the face. Neera's fur and hair were snow white and her eyes crimson.
"There we go." Jay said as he shined a light in her eyes to check pupil dilation. "Any headaches? Nausea? Other things I should know about?"
"Just a growing irritation at a very persistent boy who doesn't know to back off when a lady says no." Neera said not bothering to bite back her remarks of smartass sassiness.
Beaumont’s approach was marked with the sounds of clicking while his mask proceeded to engage its scanner. It was a simple thing to check for her vital signs. "Hate to be rude, but what I'd suggest is best for her would be a little room to breathe." His mask clicked once more, but this time to disengage while he knelt down a little way from her, but remaining roughly at face level. "I don't see much of an issue."
"Right then." Jay said, now backing off. After quickly putting his helmet back on, he reactivated his comms. "Alright Commander, I got all the info we need. Anything else you want to take care of, or should I call our ride?"
"Did you pull the coordinates of their base?" Jack asked simply as he wiped off his Sheshka.
"Of course. I wouldn't be calling you otherwise." Jay replied matter-of-factly.
"Alright, have the rest regroup with you and I'll call in my U-1 for extract. What's the condition of the trooper you reported on?" Jack asked as he made his way to a very rusty looking dropship that had landed in the center of the settlement. As Jack did so he felt uneasy at the fact that they had not seen a single civilian the entire mission, and it begged the question of what became of them.
"Good." Jay replied, sighing. "Bordering on insubordination, but healthy."
"Give me their ID and I'll deal with them later." Jack said signaling the Black Reaper.
Jay checked her ID, only to be confused further. "Um... yeah, that's the thing - she seems to be... an animal. I mean, she's obviously humanoid, but the only records I can pull up are for a wolf..."
Jack had finally started to ascend the ramp as the last transmission came in, causing him to stop at the top, "Say what now?" he said looking directly at Jay, his utterly confused expression hidden behind his visor.
Neera had quickly replaced her helm as she saw Jack coming up the ramp, "Oh shit shit shit."
"She's a Neshaten recruit. You'd be surprised how close the readings for wolves you get from some of the individuals. Sometimes even throws off the scanners." The doctor lied, pulling his wrist-mounted display up to scan Neera once more solely to see if anything really was wrong. From the looks of it, nothing seemed too bad. Maybe a couple bumps and bruises, but nothing life-threatening. Perhaps a little headache later may come over her later, however. He steps forward to wrap an arm around her shoulders and hoist her up. "Come on, up and at 'em. That U-1 will be here any second."
Jay looked right back at Jack, his brow furrowed in confusion. "Records indicate she's a wolf," he said, looking back at Neera. "I can double-check if you like..."
"Yeah, run it again, need to make sure our equipment is working right. What's your name and rank trooper?" Jack said as he stepped in front of Beaumont.
Beaumont lifted her a little higher. Beneath his mask, he gritted his teeth. There was no real other way to keep this story under the wraps. He looked to Jack. As far as they were both concerned, only he knew what was on her medical scanner. "Boss, I'd really suggest we save the questioning 'til we get back to base." He tried to think up something quick. "At first glance, she seemed fine, but my scanner told me otherwise. Think that blast may have given her a concussion. I need to get her back to my office to check the intensity of the injury. If all goes well, I won't need to operate and relieve the pressure." His gaze flipped from Neera to Jack, to Jay, and then back to Jack. "I'll keep tabs on her. If she's a spy or something, dock the medical expenses from my pay, I'll put her down, and we'll call it a day."
After running two full scans, Jay reported back. "Looks like it was right the first time. Two full scans give the exact same result. But why would there be records for a wolf in our database?"
"Alright, people we got a job to do, suit up and get your shit in gear! Prepare for a combat drop!" Jack shouted to the Saber team as he himself began to take off his clothes to put on his commander variant of the R1-SPA, or "Revenant" power armor.
Neera had slipped into the equipment room an hour earlier before and equipped her gear. Only a few people knew of her switch to the new body and she wanted to keep it that way for now. "Um, aye aye?" She said waiting off to the side.
Sarah had removed her shirt and pants before climbing into the base suite, closing it up before attaching the armor sections and putting on her helmet. "I guess briefing will be enroute, boss?" She asked, stocking rifle mags and mag clipping her custom rifle to her back.
"So, why am I going on this one? Other than tech support for the medic?" Thorn had been watching the room intently, picking up a flak jacket and helmet and hefting them a few times before dropping the vest over her EVA top. Shrugging a few times to settle it on her shoulders. She'd noticed a few suits of Revenant armor folded up, but was betting on the idea that one hadn't been made for her, despite the fact that, she knew offhand there had been at least one 3D scan of her taken. "I mean, I'm pretty useless in combat, unless you want orbital targeting support or a comm hookup. Even then, I can do that from the lab."
Sarah noticed the gear she was putting on, "Babe, what are you wearing? Put on your Revenant," she said picking up one of the suites and putting it in front of Thorn then collecting the armor pieces.
"But..." There was a bit of trepidation in her voice before she saw the power armor flopped over the bench next to her. Come to think of it, no matter how far Thorn tightened the straps, the flak jacket would still flop uncomfortably. "Alright."
A few buckles unclipped let the armor fall to the floor as Thorn unzipped her suit with practiced ease, shucking it from her shoulders before she could have time to feel self-conscious. With her pants sliding to the floor, she shoved the suit down her hips and stepped out of it, picking up the Revenant's shoulders questioningly, as though not quite sure how to put it on. "Should I pop out my rebreather pods? If I remember, the Revenants have an integrated life support system."
Figuring it out, Thorn slipped in and zipped up at least the lower half, pushing gently at one of the metal pods sticking out of her back to check that they were still locked in.
The cyborg would only strap into a set of propulsion devices custom fit to snap on and from his figure, functioning similarly to that of the R1-SPA. He would have to remove his T-shirt and lab coat first, however, leaving him with a pair of cargo pants to compensate for his lack of coat pockets. "Alll righty." He pressed a few buttons on his wrist-mounted interface. "According to my systems, Thorn's custom attachments to my armor integrate themselves perfectly to my system. If anything goes wrong, though, be ready to swoop in and catch me." He laughed to cap his statement off before turning to look to Jack. "On your mark, boss."
Jay entered the room, a little late but he didn't seem to care and offered no apology. "Good day gentlemen, ladies." He then turned to the commander. "Hello again, Jack. Good to see you're actively leading your team. I'm anxious to see how the team has progressed since training."
Jack was half way through pulling up his suit, the large downward pointing crimson sword with black wings tattoo of the back of his scarred torso facing the group, but covered as he finished pulling it on all the way. The faint lights of the segmented spine lighting up as the suit sealed. Jack then attached the armor pieces, including his large left pauldron, and his gauntlets with integrated heat blades. Jack turned around, "Good to have you back Jay, clear for boarding Beaumont, and good luck everyone. As stated before briefing enroute, and Jay I suggest you get acquainted with the new faces." his eyes now glowed red as his HUD was brought online with the Geist's activation. Jack picked up his helmet and put it on his HUD synching to add the data and telemetry from the R1-SPA suite.
Sarah helped Thorn get the suite on, not being able to but slip a feel in the process. She sealed the suite up and began placing armor pieces on.
Neera climbed aboard the waiting gumdrop APC docked to the U-1 that was black with red markings. "Waiting aboard sir." Neera said he hadn't noticed the voice and that the Jay person didn't ask too many questions.
Thorn gave a knowing smirk as Sarah slipped her feel, more than content to watch the taller woman walk away in the skin-tight body suit, if only to get more armor pieces. "As much as I enjoy you dressing me, can't we just skip to the part where you rip my clothes off?"
Beaumont clambered forward the moment Jack gave him the green to enter the ship. As far as he was concerned, he was only there to make sure that injuries were cared for and that Neera's body conversion was a successful one. It hasn't been long since the day they had conducted the procedure, so he'd need to keep a close eye on her. "How are you feeling, Neera?" He glanced towards her before pulling a cigarette from his pocket." It's about time he started getting into some action, anyways. Sitting around, spinning in his desk chair, drinking beer and wasting smokes on boredom had been brutally under stimulating.
Jack stepped aboard and waited at the end of the troop compartment of the APC on the driver's cab end, "Come on move it, move it! We got outlaw asses to kick." Jack yelled as he took ahold of a hand rung.
Sarah placed the last piece on and handed Thorn her helmet, "We can get to that later, but first let’s get our work done."
Neera stiffened a bit as Jack stood close, "Later Beaumont."
"Oh, must you break my heart?" While the pout was there in her voice, it was nowhere to be found on her face as Thorn hooked her helmet up to its lines and let it dangle on her chest. She grabbed a field engineer's tool harness and delighted in how strong the physical augmentation of the armor was, bouncing towards the APC before strapping herself together.
Beaumont tilted his head, looking confused at her sudden response. He wasn't trying anything, he just wanted to check up as per protocol. He shrugged while the cigarette was placed between his teeth and he strapped into the seat beneath him. She must be keeping it under the table for some reason or another. While he fished for his lighter from one of his pockets, he shook his head slightly. Sometimes you just don't get women.
Quickly slipping on the suit, Jay would begin attaching the armour pieces while casually observing the two squad members and their romantic shenanigans. "Yeah, because that always ends well..." he said as he attached the armour plates to his suit.
Jay quickly finished attaching the armour plates, then made his way to the transport. As he did so, he began configuring the suit's systems to interface properly with his implants. "I'd better get a custom one of these if this is what I'm gonna do from now on."
"After this mission, get with the boys in the lab and tell them what you need. And Jay, it doesn't hurt to get to know your comrades. You need to have your brother’s back if you want them to have yours. I know from experience." Jack said the glow of his eyes from his HUD even visible through the dimmed visor.
Sarah boarded the APC and patted the seat next to her for Thorn to sit, "I strongly agree with my brother, Jay, was it? We need to work together and watch out for each other."
Neera looked to the young man named Jay, "So you must be Jay Nagato, I was expecting someone taller."
"In power armor and still the shortest person on the team..." Thorn noted her hair too long for the helmet to seal correctly as she sat down next to Sarah. "Sweetie, can I borrow your knife? I need a hair cut."
"Well, sorry to disappoint. Regardless, I hope you all realize that I'm not here to impress." Jay grabbed a handle on the ceiling, placed roughly in the middle, slightly towards the front. "Anyone else care to comment or are we ready to go?"
"I'll admit I kept my expectations low in the first place. I mean..." Beaumont jammed a thumb at Jack. "He was willing to hire my sorry ass. I'm pretty sure nearly anyone with some sort of experience and an application will be accepted so long as the role needs to be filled." As sharp as the statement was, the cyborg would mean it all in good fun. His tone was jovial, with a hint of tinniness provided by his false vocal cords.
Beaumont pulled his cigarette from his mouth, tossing it out of the Gumdrop's door to keep from the chamber filling with smoke on the way over. His mask slid down to cover his jaw once more, clicking into place. "Let's get this show on the road."
Despite the clear lack of intended offense, Jay bristled at the comment. "I'll have you know that I myself flew several combat missions with Jack." He turned to Jack, a slight smirk on his face. "Hell, I even saved his ass a few times."
"Oh, you still have to impress them, Lieutenant, You have command of the fire team. I can't be around forever, especially with project trinity underway. Once that station is done, I'll have my duties as station Admin and Admiral of its defense fleet. That leaves you running the show for me on the ground while I attend to that. So, don't be an ass, last thing I need is my wife bugging me because you didn't care enough to watch your men's backs as well as mine," Jack said focusing his glowing eyes on Jay.
"Yeah here," Sarah said handing over her Sheska.
"Well, that was one hell of a bomb to drop boss, I don't think we would have been any more surprised if you dropped a nuke." Sarah said not holding back her smart mouth.
Jay finished configuring his suit for the implants, then turned to look at the group. "Well, I guess that's that people. Like he said, let's get moving."
A quick bundling back of her hair and Thorn had most of it a handful, Sarah's knife clamped in her teeth, before she drew the blade behind her head and sliced the lump off in a clean strike. "Okay, that's good and sharp. Nice." She handed the knife back before stuffing the removed hair in a waste bag and putting her helmet on and commenting, "I knew I needed to get out of the lab every once in a while!"
"Alright, here's the brief, we’re heading to a small settlement that has been occupied just outside our borders. It's just bandits, so Uso has asked us to take this job, and an armed force so close to the border will not be tolerated. We'll be ascending to high altitude to execute a low orbit drop. Everyone is equipped with Revenant armor making this maneuver possible. Even for you Beaumont. I have plotted the course now and will commence strafing runs as we ourselves descend. Hopefully, catching them off-guard and by complete surprise. Any questions?" Jack said scanning his vision over the team.
"That sounds like something I'm not entirely trained for." Thorn drew a ration bar out of one of the engineering kit's pockets. She quickly opened up her datapad's display in her helmet's visor, her hand idly pawing the air apparent to what she was seeing. In the air in front of her, and with the Revenant's communications array, she had linked up to and logged in to her ship, logging this suit as a new device. "What are the roles?"
A few icons were thrown towards the others to link their communications to a satellite uplink as Thorn’s ship’s powerful sensor and communications arrays started feeding data to the individual suits, based on where each one was and what it could pick up from its geostationary orbit above them. Granted, it could pick up an individual brick on the road from that position, but that was beside her concern at that point. "Also, Beaumont, I'm gonna need you to open your firewall. I've got the Eye feeding data."
Jay now spoke deliberately and precisely. "I'll handle this one. Although this mission isn't anything special, we still need to ensure minimal casualties and maximum shock value. As such, we will ideally be moving in from multiple directions simultaneously. Therefore, all of you will be expected to operate with a certain degree of independence. That being said you'll still need to cover each other effectively, so everyone pair up. Medics, find a heavy specialist. Everyone else, try to mix range and speed. Any questions?"
The cyborg paused and tapped his mask, looking around at each of the individuals in the transport. "Remember, I'm pretty much the only guy here whose primary goal is to focus on medical treatment while out there. As such, maintain communication at all times. I won't have any idea if you've been hit if you don't tell me, but in the event that you're killed, I've had your life support systems send signals to my internal computer, but it'll only alert me if shit REALLY hits the fan. So, let's hope it doesn't get to that point." He taps the radio on the left side of his head two times to cap off his sentence. "So! Who wants to team up with the medic and cover his tin can ass?"
Jack looked to the cyborg, "That will be me. Jay once we hit dirt you have full command, show me what you got."
Neera just sat there listening and trying to not draw Jack's attention too much.
Sarah took the machete back and sheathed it, "Any time. Though I'm gonna miss that long hair."
"Plenty left to grab later." Thorn smirked behind the mask, her arm slipping behind Sarah to run a thumb down her spine, just firmly enough for her to barely feel it through the suit.
"Alright then." Jay said, putting on his helmet. "I'll try not to disappoint."
A cheeky smirk formed under Beaumont’s mask. "Alright. Looks like I'mma get a chance to get an up close and personal look at how my boss fights. This'll be fun."
"Alright, fair warning, when we accelerate up there will be a severe tilt. like 90 degrees of it. So, buckle up, and those standing be advised to use mag boots." Jack said as the U-1 took off after the hangar doors opened and the catapult launched the variable mech. Within minutes they were at high altitude and nearing the drop point quickly as the U-1 tilted up even farther having passed the borders of the USO.
"One mike to drop, Thorn and Beaumont, I'll be synching to your suites to guide you for the drop given your lack of experience........30 seconds!" Jack shouted now technically staring down as they were above the target. The hatch at the back opened, the wind roaring in as the ground was in far view dead ahead.
"Alright, commence for drop, green light!" Jack said using his mag boot function to move to the side of Jay patting him on the shoulder as the light above the hatch shown green. Jack disengaged his mag boots falling free, the U-1 now far above him as he nosedived towards the ground.
Sarah shrugged before pushing off from her seat to drop out the bottom as well with "Wooooh!"
"Shit! And I thought this was a good idea?" Neera said before doing likewise.
Thorn looked over to the side, now suddenly realizing the very real possibility of something going horribly wrong, and she couldn't help going through disaster scenarios in her head. And then immediately unbuckling herself and kicking off the seat to fly free. Her uplink to the Eye started giving signal statuses to the rest of the team and she started miming a touchscreen as she fell. If her suit was synced, she could rely on Jack to make sure nothing happened, for the moment. And she could route command data functions, assign unit numbers with Jay as zero, and let the Eye blink its confirmation before changing its sensor angles slightly to follow them down. "Thorn Ironhart, suit's designated as unit five, I said it before, but I have a scanning ship in orbit feeding data now. It'll spot that brick before you trip on it."
Jay was next, quickly but carefully moving towards the door. "See you all on the surface." He said as he disengaged his mag boots and pushed off the edge.
The cyborg hesitated, looking out at the landscape far below the door with a deep swallow. He pulled himself to his feet, knees becoming metallic gelatin. He never feared heights - though the prospect of leaping from them only to rely on two little boxes strapped to his back never ran across his mind as a very appealing one - hell, it never even did before now. "Whelp!" He calls out. "Either i jump out or I look like a massive pussy, so..." He turns around, stretches his arms to his sides. "Down I go!"
Beaumont tumbled into the air, keeping his back stiff like someone had dropped a statue and remaining stuck to the bottom of the transport by his grav boots. His HUD flickered to reveal his altitude and his alignment to the ground, prompting him to turn to face the earth head-on. "Alright, Thorn. I swear on my secret bikini magazine collection this glorified back strap on better do its job!"
"Alright five mikes till land fall, sending my view to everyone, should give an idea what to expect on landing." Jack said over the comms as he sent the team his point of view through his own eyes. The ground was rushing up to meet him as the icons of the rest of the team filed out.
Sarah was doing poses as she fell, "We should do this more often."
Neera dolphin nosed towards the ground giving Sarah a miffed look as she flew by, aAnd she's going to be my aunt? god this is one weird family.
The U-1 Black Reaper it's roll and dive as it moved to strafe enemy forces before the team landed. The U-1 only a black blur as it sped past.
"You'll be fine, Beaumont, I built those myself." Thorn looked back to see the neat single file line of icons and felt suddenly very comfortable. Without the feeling or sound of air rushing past her as though she'd fallen without a suit like this, the experience was much like zero gravity. She tucked her knees in sharply to rotate and let them out, pulling herself into an angled stop as she figured it out.
"I like this!" Aligning herself into vertical, Thorn tried using her hands as control surfaces, but that was far less effective than her knees or lower legs. With a quick, relaxing breath, she switched her mind over into a far more professional mode, collecting and analyzing data for later use. She watched the camera feed in her HUD, a mimed movement switching that out of the way of the red interface. Compass down below, targeting reticle, and IFF icon, all in red, and that was just what wasn't coming with the Eye controls. She rolled her eyes ad opened another menu, switching the hud color to amber, easier to focus with. "Confirming, five minutes to landing. Moving back into formation, now. I have eyes on the landing zone, and it looks clear to the Eye's sensors. Jack, you see anything yet?"
Jay, meanwhile, angled his body towards the ground. Arms to his sides and legs together, he gained a bit of speed as he fired his thrusters to maintain direction. "Ok everyone, try to move towards your partners. Just don't get too close."
The rest of the team would hear a rampant stream of swears and vulgarities over the intercom from Beaumont, making attempt after attempt to sever the magnetic bonds between his boots and the hull of the transport to no avail. He raised his wrist to get a good view of his holowatch, the light forming a stream behind the rapidly moving vehicle. After a press of a few buttons, he managed to find the override in his systems allowing the boots to come loose - though even then he lacked any preparedness for it. He spun wildly, banging against the side of the Gumdrop before plunging towards the ground below like a curled shrimp tossed up from a stir fry wok. "Fuck fuck fuck fuck," he barked as he contorted his body in a desperate attempt to regain control of the situation.
With a lucky twist of his figure, Beaumont managed to position himself belly-down, facing the ever creeping crust of the planet beneath him and sending his stomach back in circles. A glance to the side, and he would see the amount of time it took him to deploy had sent him a little farther away from the bunch. "Well shit..."
Jack sighed as he watched the antics unfold, but that was a problem out of his hands. The ground filled his view as the settlement came into view, the U-1 having left a train of smoke as a few technicals were left in fiery wrecks and dots scattered about as they moved to return fire their attention focused on the disappearing plane.
"Alright, condition red, mounted guns detected. Prepare to engage!" Jack said over his comm before hitting his thrust on full burst as he brought his legs up to land in a crouch, his RKAR-1A being drawn and the armor plates for his visor quickly sliding into place with a "shink" as the enemy was grouped around the perimeter watching for the U-1 and any other aircraft that might show up.
Sarah did not wait to hit the ground before pulling her rifle, the barrel and scope flipping into position with a loud metal clank as she took aimed with the suppressed rifle and put a round through the head of a bandit behind the mounted gun of one of the few technicals left. Her feet now hitting the ground, she looked for a vantage point.
Neera followed Jack’s lead, but with less grace as she stumbled on landing, to come back up steadily and pull her own rifle, "Oh shit, let's not do that again."
Thorn's landing... Was far less graceful than even Neera's. A curling of her toes fired her thrusters as she curled her knees and flipped over, her arms spreading wide as she sought to use her mass and the braking thrusters to land in a ditch, not far away. However, she overcompensated, and her braking thrusters did their job, slowing her down enough to survive the impact when she landed on top of a plant of some sort and sent it splattering, coming down hard on her back with her helmet's armor plates sliding down to protect her face from oncoming fire. She quickly got up and sought cover, the optic sensors letting her see as though through sunglasses or a tinted window. Pulling a P-1 from its holster, she checked over her tool strapping, and, convinced she hadn't dropped anything, slipped quietly behind one of the flaming wrecks that were once trucks. "I'm down. Remind me to get some actual training with these things. That's gonna smart for a bit."
Jay landed heavily into a roll, activating his camouflage. He had intentionally landed on the side of an embankment facing away from the buildings. Pulling out his RKAR, he quickly identified four contacts near his position, on the other side of the embankment. "Four targets identified, about a quarter klik north of the compound. Alright Jack, confirm transfer of command to me."
A few shots whized by Beaumont's head at too close a proximity for his comfort, prompting him to spin with his heels face down. From a holster on his belt, he pulls out his RKP-10/45, propping it on his forearm to aim, taking several potshots at a few assailants down below. With his free hand, he punches a button on the strap of his harness, kicking the jets on his back to life and slowing his descent - but he had mistimed it, sending him careening towards a shack and crashing through its ceiling. Of course, it hurt like hell, and definitely jarred him, but wasn't enough to deal any severe damage. A few planks of wood fall around him, clanking harmlessly around the cyborg - one even knocking against his helmet. "Oooh boy this already sucks."
A few bandits had already clambered up the building, aiming their rifles at the cyborg while he emerges from the pile of scrap material that was once the ceiling of what appears to be their barracks by the beds and tables laying around. "Looks like I'm gonna need Thorn to install some HUD software into that thing cause that landing huuurt," he rubbed the back of his neck before turning to face the two cronies gawking at what looks like a human and the tin man had sex and this was the result.
Jack engaged ECS and stalked around the shacks and buildings as he searched for targets, finding the shack that held Beaumont, he approached.
[whistle], The bandits stopped and turned around to see no one just before the flash of a rifle appear from thin air as each received a round to the head in short order. "Beaumont, vacate the structure and regroup. Lt. Nagato, you have command effective immediately, I'll be observing closely as I work independently," Jack said as he became visible again.
Sarah sat on a roof with ECS engaged and her sight set on the fuel tank of the remaining technical, which was followed by a whisper then an explosion as the technical turned into a ball of fire. "Last enemy armor eliminated, moving to infantry, change in command confirmed. Nagato sir, I will be your acting XO," Sarah said as she began picking off targets turning them into burst of blood and gory wounds with no warning, or sound.
Neera was with the other Sabers and Jay as they grouped up, ready to move, "Orders, sir?"
A quick bit of ECS to make sure she wouldn't get spotted running, and Thorn decided to start bouncing around the field, picking up flashbang grenades from the corpses of the bandits and slipping behind cover to shuck her tools somewhere safe, grumbling about being a technical person who had never handled a real weapon before, let alone could she handle one, now. She had a sidearm and a bag bulging with ordnance, but no knife and no combat rifle. So, she borrowed the knife off one of Sarah's kills, a quick look up into her upper left to make sure the ECS was still engaged. "Alright, if you need something blown to Hell, I've been snagging grenades off these guys. I've got six flashbangs and four frags. Point me to something to make go away."
Naturally, Thorn managed to get close to one trooper and was busy trying to rip the pins to his grenades while he tried to spot where the shots killing his buddies were coming from, right up until his chest exploded, spattering her camouflaged suit in blood, and there, standing in the field, was a red covered hollow figure of about five foot and nil. "Dammit, Sarah, I had him!"
Jay began setting up the sight on his rifle. "Acknowledged, commander. All units report position and contacts being engaged." As he said this, he quickly popped up, dropped the two targets on the right, then dropped back down and moved towards the left.
"I'm surprised at how good you are at popping up in unexpected place, boss." Beaumont grunted as he dusted some splinters from his clothing. He plucked his handgun from the debris before nodding to Jack. "I'll trust ya with these mooks. Just don't make me need to patch you up too much. I've only got so many supplies out here."
With that, the cyborg turned on his heel, stepping to the side before clambering down the stairs. Lo and behold, a couple more bogeys had heard the commotion. One would watch as a scalpel flew into the forehead of his comrade before feeling a gunshot in his own neck - dropping down. "Goddammit I'm gonna need more of these suckers." Beaumont hummed, feeling around in his pocket for another surgical sharp. "Though I'm pretty sure Pine won't mind getting me more when this is over.
The servos in the cyborg’s legs whirred while he pushed them to their limit, his sights detecting the position of his comrades nearby. "I haven't heard any of you lot, so I'm guessing it'd be safe to assume that none of ya have gotten hurt yet. Good news for me. Less work when this is all over."
Jack nodded before re-engaging ECS and moving on to a higher vantage point, relatively close enough to see some of the bandits only a short distance away, but unseen himself with his active camo engaged.
Sarah continued picking off targets with increasing speed, causing spreading panic amongst the enemy, with only her mumbling kill count to herself.
Neera formed up near Jay with the rest of the team waiting for his lead, tripping as she drew near.
"Fine. Okay, then. Killing ain't for me. Never liked the thought anyway." Thorn walked away, having not figured out the communications system yet. She quickly made her way to the tree line as the enemy troopers scattered, finding a stream to wash off the gore spattered on her suit. A beeping filled her ear and she looked up to find her ECS indicator off, just before a burst of gunfire sounded off, way too close, and she bolted.
Thorn’s HUD told her where Jack and Beaumont were, and her thrusters fired to try and get her there faster as a much higher pitched beeping filled her ears and she looked up for a wound indicator on her leg. Another spray of bullets pocked off her back and one of the thrusters blew out with a sharp crack. Her balance was thrown and she hit the ground hard, crying out in surprise more than pain, before the burning hit and she couldn't help but note her left thigh armor plate missing. With little other option, she rolled under a burning truck to wait for things to calm down enough for her to not be risking fire with her suit damaged.
Jay noticed Thorn's icon change to indicate that she was taking fire. "What the - Thorn! Status report!"
The cyborg saw it too. Small blinking red dots where each bullet had met her body. He swore before punching the button on his chest that activated his harnessed thrusters. A kick to the ground would launch him up, where a few bandits would spray him with bullets, most of them ricocheting off his figure, leaving dents, or piercing the hollow portions of his body - by sheer luck. "Fucking hell, this is gonna go downhill fast." He twists around to aim his pistol. Each bandit would have a red crosshair positioned over them in the order that they were to be pockmarked with bullet holes. As he lands to the ground, he drops the magazine from his weapon, grabbing another from his pocket. Boy did he wish he didn't only bring a few magazines. "Thorn, sit tight. We'll provide you some cover while I patch you up. Then you'll be right as rain."
Jack instantly took notice of the alert as he pulled his sheska from the back of a bandit even as he gunned down two others with his pistol. He quickly left the body strewn area as he made haste to get to Thorn's position, "No this is not happening again!"
"I'm fine! All, I'm okay." Thorn called into the transmitter, the Revenant's systems dispensing pain medication and a gel based liquid bandage before sealing up. Naturally, one of the ingredients in that painkiller cocktail was a dose of stimulant to get her back on her feet. Judging by how her heart started to pound and she started getting a tight sensation in her chest, it was a rather potent one. Thinking fast, she slipped out from under the car and threw one of the grenades she stolen from Sarah's kills, forgetting to rip the pin in the process. Upon this realization, she reached for another one, to find her bag empty. A quick look under the burning vehicle told her what she needed to know as several fragmentation grenades went off under the heat.
"One person, go check on Thorn" Jay said. He then looked towards Neera to indicate he was talking to her. "You a good shot?"
"On it as we speak!" Beaumont grunted - only to feel a particularly large bandit wallop his mask, sending him tumbling against a nearby wall. He falls onto his rear, a small puff of dust around him. "Scratch that. It'll take a second." With that, he clambered to his feet and drew a scalpel from his pocket, flicking the blade to life. The bandit would chuckle at such a small weapon, cracking his knuckles only to feel the sting of a quickly drawn bullet from his pistol. "Forgot I had one of these, eh? Do you really think I'm going to take the time to melee you when I have a gun?" He kicked the hulking criminal's corpse a couple times before lunging away in Thorn's direction. "Don't do anything risky, Thorn. Do you copy?"
"Um, maybe?" Neera said confused and surprised by the sudden question.
Jack and ran and thrusted, in a rush to reach Thorn in time hopefully.
Sarah fast approached the site where Thorn's IFF indicated as her location, to only find a smoking vehicle with a rather large man armed with some sort of cobbled together squad support weapon surveying near the wreckage. He seemed to take notice of something and was about to call it out to his buddies when an explosive round detonated into his back armor. Sarah ran up to find Thorn, her armor slagged partially and punctured in several places, blood pouring to the sand.
"No no no no, Thorn!" Sarah screamed as she ran to slide into a crouch at her side.
When the grenades had gone off, Thorn's body had been flung across the gully, impacting the wall hard enough to knock her helmet off, and she watched as the blood seeped from the multiple holes in her armor. The tightness in her chest increased as the armor tried to save her life and only made the blood flow faster. Trying to say she was okay as Sarah rushed up, she pushed herself to her knees and coughed, wiping the blood from her lips before her footing failed and she toppled, her eyes locking with Sarah's as everything slipped into darkness.
Beaumont pressed a few buttons on his arm-mounted computer to isolate Thorn's reading from everybody's HUD. Best not let everybody see what's going on. He only had so much time if he wanted to save her... though odds were that everything he had on hand would be insufficient. He crouched down, scanning for a fading pulse. "No no no no..." He growled. "Not now. Come on Thorn, you can take more than this. Come on!" He pulled the girl down to lay flat on the ground, spreading her out to get a good view of each wound pockmarking her miniscule form. A small swear escaped him. It sounded like a growl, but felt like a squeak.
Beaumont drew a pair of defibrillation pads from his back. A special piece of gear built to run from his internal electrical systems in the event of cardiac arrest. He placed them to her chest. "One... two... three... CLEAR!" He yelped. There was a thumping sound as electricity poured into Thorn's body to force the heart to beat once more.
Suddenly realizing what the medic had done to the HUD, Jay now momentarily shifted his attention to the already hard-pressed medic. "Beaumont, you'd better have a good explanation for this. I'll hear it when we get back." He then returned his attention to Neera. "Good enough. I need you to move off to the right. Once you're around the edge, focus on the targets on my side. I'll mirror your movement. You catch all that?"
"Yeah." Neera stated flatly before moving as directed.
Jack stepped forward to find the scene before him, one he had seen before with different people, but the same scenario. He could hear the echo of distant voices as if on the other side of a great cavern, dulled and distorted, but still loud and non-ignorable. It was the shouts of dying men on a battlefield away from home, bleeding out on foreign land, deep down knowing that they would not return home.
"Beaumont, status report? What's her condition? Is she saveable?" Jack asked in a calm and even voice, even as his mind warred within. This may have seemed cold, or heartless to others, but he was numbing outwardly to the inevitabilities of war.
"Eat a dick and do your job before you request I explain mine." Beaumont snarled onto the radio. "Focus on cover fire." He began funneling electricity into the paddles once more. His breathing heavy while the paddles were pressed to the girl's chest again. "CLEAR!" There was another loud thud as another pulse went through. "She's in rough shape, Jack, but I’m not gonna let her die this easily! Come on, Thorn, open those god damn eyes and wake up!" Even he's beginning to lose it.
Another charge, another press to the chest. "CLEAR!" And yet another blast into her chest. The cyborg can see the sand turning a darker and darker red around her. "Fucking hell..." He lowered his head.
"When you do operations on mercs, you never know who the person is that you're trying the operation on." Beaumont heard himself say in the farthest recesses of his mind. It was from before Beaumont became the cyborg Section six had come to know. "It's great because you lack that emotional connection. They're essentially dissection subjects but you need to patch 'em up afterwards - and their merc buddies would never even know what went wrong."
Beaumont snapped out of his thoughts, roaring while he charged another shot into the paddles in his hands, pressing down on her chest once more. "CLEAR!" whump the defibrillator groaned.
"I mean sure. The mercs may have friends or families... but they never tell you about them. Hell, they probably never realize how many friends or families they've ruined..."
"CLEAR!"
whumpf
"Note, Thorn Ironhart. KIA. Time 1527 Zulu time. Cause: traumatic physical damage due to shrapnel and burns. Peace to the fallen. Retribution for the wicked. Let them find the eternal paradise across the infinite sea. While we those left living carry on the task now and ahead. Forever we will stand united in our purpose. To grab the victory of peace that these brave men and women shed their blood to reach. Let their memory carry us forward as we search for our own path across that sea, all the while using the strength they have taught us to achieve peace. For no angel of retribution ever falls, they only become legend, the standard to all. Carry the mantle forward forever more," Jack said at first in the same flat tone, but took on a reverent tone as he progressed. Jack placed an armored hand on Beaumont's shoulder at the last part.
As the prayer was recited, the cyborg had resorted to putting away the defibrillator and smacking his hands across the girl's face in sheer desperation. Since Louisiana... he felt unable to do anything. It was as though his mechanical heart had suddenly stopped for a few brief moments. Beneath him was not Thorn, but his sister once more. He gritted his teeth, hunched over... as the hand meet his shoulder, he wondered why he, of all people, felt this outrage... this weakness. It was then that he realized how much she reminded him of his only sibling. His hands dropped to become supports while his mask locked into place. He didn't move for a few seconds. He could not tremble to cry. His systems could not muster such a feat. His mask - nay, his face - had no tear ducts. "Shut the fuck up... she isn't dead. I won't let her. Sarah needs her. Section Six needs her!" He raised another fist... but he was unable to bring it down. No matter how much he yelled or slapped... nothing would happen.
"Beaumont, she's gone. You may think me a heartless bastard right now, but I've learned to be dead to this outwardly. Do not show the enemy the pain they have caused, as it will only give them strength. I lost almost my entire squad, the very same that used to say this very hymn when one of us fell. I never kept stock in it, as I'm not religious. But, I told myself it was my duty to carry it forward when they could not. Like you, I have medical training, not a medic, but still trained in the skill. I would patch when it was needed, but that is not always possible. I learned that the day they all, save one, died. We were crossing a field, with little knowledge of it being the strike zone of mortars, and we were pinned for hours hiding in craters. I was forced to sit there, as men I called brothers were blown to bits around me, and what I saw when I finally had the nerve to leave the crater. I miss every one of them, but no matter what I could have tried to do they weren't coming back. Now it's our job to make sure justice is brought to those responsible, and we turn that pain back tenfold." Jack said calmly, "Just like how I couldn't save my parents."
"I'm not gonna lie... A sob sorry was the last thing I needed right now," Beaumont hoisted himself up to his feet. "But... you still have a good point. Loss is a part of this kind of job." He shuffled through his pocket a little bit to draw out a scalpel. "And if someone takes something from us... better take something in return." The small laser blade of the scalpel flickered to life in a light blue glow illuminating from his metal hand. "You don't know this, but I had a sister just like her... who took a route far worse than hers. I won't go into detail... but I'm pretty sure she would have been like Thorn if she went into the sciences like us." He gritted his teeth.
Sarah, her moist cheeks hidden behind a polarized face plate was still knelt over Thorn's body, and now held it as she quietly sobbed.
"We can still revive her, not now, but when we get back. But we need to make sure these bastards pay," Jack said reading movement behind him. The man Sarah had shot in the back was trying to get up. He unsteadily stood and began to raise the heavy weapon, most likely the same that had caused the bullet holes still visible in her armor.
Jack whirled around to thrust shoulder first into the man sending him bouncing backwards. He attempted to raise the weapon again, but would have his arm broken as Jack ripped the weapon away from him, the arm having been caught in the weapon's crude bracing. Jack picked up the man and slammed him into the wall of a hut.
"Who is your leader? What was your goal here?" Jack said calmly, but with a undercurrent of anger.
"Fuck you! This place is ours, and we don't listen to that neko's bitches." the man growled back through gritted teeth.
Jack simply dropped him, letting his back scrape against the wall before removing his sheshka and burying it through the man's right knee and into the ground underneath as the blade hummed piercing armor, bone, and flesh alike.
"Let me tell you how this is going to go. You've killed one of my people. That means you owe us blood. You will die, but do you want it to be quick, or painful," Jack growled back twisting the blade slightly getting a pained whine from the bandit, "So either you answer the damn question and die quick and painless, or I start taking you apart limb by limb, piece by piece, until you will fit in a shoe box."
"If you don't mind, Jack... I'd be more than happy to do the honors." Beaumont stepped towards him, but kept an eye over his shoulder in case any backup is on its way. "Hell, if he asks, I can pull those bullets out of him... it's a shame though that I don't have an anesthetic. Unless you would rather I go and catch up with the others. It's your call."
The cyborg’s first mission as a field medic and he's left with one party member dead. What a medic I am. "Either way, he or his buddies are gonna have a chat with Mr. Angry Cyborg."
"You’re just a fucking tin can and some crazed guy in a fancy suite," the man said which was rewarded with a very sharp twist of the sheska again causing the man to scream, "Fuck you," he whimpered.
"Alright, have it your way." Jack said before pulling on the buried machete like weapon, causing the man's leg to be ripped away with the sickening sound of tearing flesh followed by the man's resulting sobs and screams. "Now answer the question, or it’s another limb," Jack said now switching to between pointing the point of the blade at various joints.
"I aint telling you shaaaa!" The man cried between clenched teeth.
Jack sighed and paused in thought for a moment in thought, before stabbing the blade through the man's right shoulder and tearing that away as well sending out fresh screams and sprays of blood from the bandit.
"What do you think, Beaumont, can you keep him alive long enough to pull answers from him? We need to know where these assholes are coming from, and it's sad to see such an enemy with a strong constitution," Jack said casually as he stared down at the man as he squirmed in agony.
"I dunno, Jack." Beaumont would chirp. "I don't think mister tough guy here really sees which tin can and guy in a suit he's talking shit to," He hunched next to the man and lifted one of his hands. "Besides... I do feel like you're not torturing him the right way. Loss of whole limbs will just cause him to bleed out. While we still have time, we should..." He put the scalpel to the tip of the man's index finger, digging it in right down the middle, ready to cut it in half. "...Cut parts away little by little til he squeaks. May take a little more time... but if it gives us results, it's a much more effective measure."
Something in the back of Beaumont’s mind had snapped. Was what he did cruel? Absolutely. Did he hate that he, did it? Most certainly. But in the heat of those moments, he knew nothing but the desire to make every last one of those wretched beasts pay whatever was then due.
Jay came back onto the comms, now coming from the heart of the settlement. "Commander Pine, we've taken their command center - if you can call it that. I've cracked the computer systems, and it appears we're in luck. Minimal damage to the system and they obviously had no protocols for such an assault as ours."
"Understood. Pull their location and affiliation." Jack replied.
"Already under way. Also, we need a medic over here. We've got a possible concussion here," Jay replied.
Neera spoke up in the background, "I'm fine damnit, get off me!"
Jack looked to Beaumont for a moment his helmet hiding a raised eyebrow, "Jay, who is that, I don't recognize the voice. Is it one of ours?"
"She's been with us since I showed up, I assumed she was one of yours..." Jay responded quizzically.
Beaumont knew, but he was currently bound to keep that knowledge a secret. He grunted "You're lucky it's just one finger." He pulled himself to his feet, turning his attention to Jack. "Regardless of her identity, if she's one of us, I'll hot foot it over there." He turned to face Jack with a nod. "I'll leave him in your care."
"They called us 'Angels of retribution' for a reason." Jack said before plunging the Sheska deep into the man's heart through his sternum as Beaumont headed off.
"Right then," Jay responded as he helped the rattled soldier into a sitting position against a wall. Removing his helmet to get a better look, he now addressed her directly. "I'm going to need to remove your helmet, so try not to move around too much."
"I said get off bub, I will bite! The helmet stays on." Neera struggled to keep Jay off her.
Jay sighed. "Look, I don't know if you're a real soldier or not. Frankly, I don't care. Even so, I hope you understand the meaning of an order, because I am ordering you to take off that helmet. And if you don't want to listen to me, I'd be more than happy to call Commander Pine over here."
"Fine damnit." Neera said before removing the helm with a hiss and click as the seal was disengaged before she removed it revealing her anthromorphic face. Her hair was several inches short of shoulder length and parted in the front into two long bangs, with one falling to either side of the face. Neera's fur and hair were snow white and her eyes crimson.
"There we go." Jay said as he shined a light in her eyes to check pupil dilation. "Any headaches? Nausea? Other things I should know about?"
"Just a growing irritation at a very persistent boy who doesn't know to back off when a lady says no." Neera said not bothering to bite back her remarks of smartass sassiness.
Beaumont’s approach was marked with the sounds of clicking while his mask proceeded to engage its scanner. It was a simple thing to check for her vital signs. "Hate to be rude, but what I'd suggest is best for her would be a little room to breathe." His mask clicked once more, but this time to disengage while he knelt down a little way from her, but remaining roughly at face level. "I don't see much of an issue."
"Right then." Jay said, now backing off. After quickly putting his helmet back on, he reactivated his comms. "Alright Commander, I got all the info we need. Anything else you want to take care of, or should I call our ride?"
"Did you pull the coordinates of their base?" Jack asked simply as he wiped off his Sheshka.
"Of course. I wouldn't be calling you otherwise." Jay replied matter-of-factly.
"Alright, have the rest regroup with you and I'll call in my U-1 for extract. What's the condition of the trooper you reported on?" Jack asked as he made his way to a very rusty looking dropship that had landed in the center of the settlement. As Jack did so he felt uneasy at the fact that they had not seen a single civilian the entire mission, and it begged the question of what became of them.
"Good." Jay replied, sighing. "Bordering on insubordination, but healthy."
"Give me their ID and I'll deal with them later." Jack said signaling the Black Reaper.
Jay checked her ID, only to be confused further. "Um... yeah, that's the thing - she seems to be... an animal. I mean, she's obviously humanoid, but the only records I can pull up are for a wolf..."
Jack had finally started to ascend the ramp as the last transmission came in, causing him to stop at the top, "Say what now?" he said looking directly at Jay, his utterly confused expression hidden behind his visor.
Neera had quickly replaced her helm as she saw Jack coming up the ramp, "Oh shit shit shit."
"She's a Neshaten recruit. You'd be surprised how close the readings for wolves you get from some of the individuals. Sometimes even throws off the scanners." The doctor lied, pulling his wrist-mounted display up to scan Neera once more solely to see if anything really was wrong. From the looks of it, nothing seemed too bad. Maybe a couple bumps and bruises, but nothing life-threatening. Perhaps a little headache later may come over her later, however. He steps forward to wrap an arm around her shoulders and hoist her up. "Come on, up and at 'em. That U-1 will be here any second."
Jay looked right back at Jack, his brow furrowed in confusion. "Records indicate she's a wolf," he said, looking back at Neera. "I can double-check if you like..."
"Yeah, run it again, need to make sure our equipment is working right. What's your name and rank trooper?" Jack said as he stepped in front of Beaumont.
Beaumont lifted her a little higher. Beneath his mask, he gritted his teeth. There was no real other way to keep this story under the wraps. He looked to Jack. As far as they were both concerned, only he knew what was on her medical scanner. "Boss, I'd really suggest we save the questioning 'til we get back to base." He tried to think up something quick. "At first glance, she seemed fine, but my scanner told me otherwise. Think that blast may have given her a concussion. I need to get her back to my office to check the intensity of the injury. If all goes well, I won't need to operate and relieve the pressure." His gaze flipped from Neera to Jack, to Jay, and then back to Jack. "I'll keep tabs on her. If she's a spy or something, dock the medical expenses from my pay, I'll put her down, and we'll call it a day."
After running two full scans, Jay reported back. "Looks like it was right the first time. Two full scans give the exact same result. But why would there be records for a wolf in our database?"
