RP: 5th Fleet [Chapter Three] Attackers

Aya felt a jolt of triumph as the enemy reeled in the face of the Yamataian onslaught; this was more like it! Of course, there was no time to celebrate or rest as the survivors beat a hasty retreat. The Juni's disembodied voice ordered Squad XIII to pursue, and Aya was all too happy to oblige.

Instead of utilising her thrusters, Aya let herself float into the air as she chased the Reapers, reasoning that it might let her close the gap that little bit faster. Taking full advantage of Kai's telemetry data, Aya began to shoot at the opponent furthest away from the squad. Although her fire wasn't as accurate as she would have liked, the Nekovalkyrja felt that it was important to stop the Reaper who was closest to accomplishing their goal.

As the squad took off, bit by bit, like blood hounds that had picked up the scent of a bleeding deer Geiger watched, putting out the occasional aimed shot at the rapidly fading backs of the enemy. Finally deciding that enough had displaced in pursuit, he joined them, making his way up from cover point to cover point doing his best to keep up with the galloping and eager individuals on point.

Anzu actually seemed surprised to see Reapers falling, fleeing. She'd been expecting something unexpected. The still camouflaged Neko hopped onto the column, then up into the air, spinning to land on the ceiling. The others were filling the ground and air, so she'd take the last available space. It gave her a unique firing angle, at the very least. LASR blasting in spurts, moving to the other side of the tunnel before firing again. Simo made sure to keep an eye on the passage behind them as well, letting the others' targeting data aid her aim forward.

Fieke cursed to herself as the squad's point of contact rapidly deteriorated and moved on – if the tunnel was taking them as deep into the enemy lines as things might suggest it was any one of the targets being able to disengage could be disastrous.

It didn't help the Abwehran's mood that she was situated at the back of the line either.

Taking a page out of Geiger's book Fieke fired her ASGR three more times – long range single dart shots more keyed towards accuracy than slowing the fleeing enemies – before she vaulted out from behind her position and joined the pursuit.

Rounds ricocheted off enemy shields as squad thirteen doggedly pursued the fleeing enemy, but even with Kai's telemetry data, and the numerous angles of attack that the squad came up with, it was obvious that the moving targets were quite a lot harder to kill than ones who were standing their ground, though their sporadic return fire was nowhere near as dangerous as that of a determined foe, either. The squad followed, managing to bring down the shields of the closest one through their efforts, but before they could finish it off, everyone's HUD lit up a warning as they found themselves heading around a bend toward a wall of return fire; The fleeing enemies had joined up with another group, suggesting that enemies were staged at intervals down the tunnel.

"Find cover, and select a target!" the Juni ordered, crouching behind a pillar and reaching around to fire on the last fleeing enemy as they themselves found the safety of their own cover. Once more, the number of enemies had become five, except now two of them were fresh. There were two to the left, two to the right, and one in the middle of the passageway firing through the slit of a pillbox improvised out of the ever-present rubble.

******

As the squad moved on, April finally left her spot. quite a ways behind the group, she responded to Sif "If we treat them like trash, that's all they will ever be. If we put some hope in them, we risk havin' our hopes crushed, but may be rewarded with them growin' into somethin' even better than we managed to be. Instead of coldly correctin' 'em, try gently nurturing them. Yeah, war is harsh n' all, but if'n we give 'em a chance, well, they may just survive it." With that transmission, the blonde moved on, hurrying to catch up to the firefight ahead, before adding a little something.

"Oh, Can ya make sure tha' guys we left lyin' there are dead? wouldn't want 'em shootin' us in the back, ya hear?"

Rin realized her mistake as soon as she rounded the corner. Caught up in chasing down the fleeing enemy, she had neglected to check her surroundings more thoroughly for possible ambushes like this one.

Rather than attempt to jump back behind cover, Rin went with her momentum and slid across the ground as the enemy returned fire; Impaler and LASR fire zipped past her as she did so. She managed to slide behind another fallen pillar and hunkered down behind it while she got her bearings.

"I don't plan on doing that again..." thought Rin.

Far off, armor clad feet dropped from the air and ground deep into the soil before coming to a stop.

The dainty, red plated figure tilted her head to the side in thought as rubberized soles began to tread across cracked cement and gravel. Meanwhile, the person inside did the very same as she pondered, the warmachine enveloping her merely echoing her state of mind. "You mentioned this 'treat them like trash' - when did this even occur?" Sif asked April, her voice sounding honestly confused. A staccato burst of fire cut by as a reeling figure lined up the rifle again.

"No matter," she quickly spoke, cutting the thoughts off. The Sylph flashed forward and struck hard, blood splattering across a nearby wall. "I have finished cleaning up the remnants and will be with you shortly."

As Damien rounded the corner he saw the alert flash on his hud, followed by flashes of light from enemy return fire. Thinking instinctively, he dived for the nearest set of cover which happened to be a pillar on the left side of the tunnel. Damien ducked as the rounds passed over his head as he listened for orders from their Juni.

Having already found cover, Damien moved to the next set of orders, finding a target. The return fire made it slightly easier to find his targets than relying on his sensors, but it was still hard. Raising his LASR he aimed it towards one of the targets on his left side and fired short controlled bursts between the return fire.

Anzu was close enough to the back of the group to stop before rounding the corner. She swapped her LASR for the bazooka, as she picked up on the readings the others were sharing. Still on the ceiling, she trudged around the bend to join her squad. She fired the armor piercing round right at the improvised cover in the middle of the tunnel, quickly moving away from where she'd fired after temporarily ruining her camo.

The Neko ducked behind a chunk of pillar still attached to the ceiling, waiting to see if she should pop out and fire again.

Aya dropped to the floor hard as she swept around the bend right into the jaws of the enemy's murderous fire. Realising that staying still for long wasn't a wise choice, she darted toward her own little piece of cover. Thankfully, the other members of the squad were already throwing rounds down-range, which made things much easier for the rookie Neko.

She decided to focus on the far right, keeping her bursts short. Aya temporarily entertained the notion of firing off a grenade, but thought better of it - the structural integrity of this tunnel was... questionable, to say the least. No reason to take a stupid gamble.

The data from the rest of squad engaging the enemy streamed into Fieke's suit as the Abwehran caught up with the pursuit. Chewing through the data – paying particular attention to positions and current fire patterns of the XIII troopers – the OriSec corporal frowned at how effectively the resistance was stalling their advance.

Coming up on the bend and the active firefight the Abwehran clicked open her coms. “Going in for some punishment Squad Leader.” Without waiting for a response the OriSec Corporal dashed around the bend.

Switching her weapon to only her right hand Fieke gritted her teeth and made a charge and vault towards and over the cover of the closest of the two rightmost enemies – leading with her left shoulder in an attempt to bull her target over on contact.

Somewhere between the veterans and those who had charged forward into the breach Max stood, he wasn't anxious to sprint into fire, no need with the amount of cover the wrecked tunnel provided. The Nepleslian watched as the concrete and steel on the far side of the bend exploded with impacts and the threats on his HUD multiplied as the forward group of the squad piled up and into cover just beyond the bend.

He slowly rounded it himself, finally slipping behind pillar just as the improvised hostile firing line came into view. Then he carried on with his original order of battle... short bursts aimed at anything humanoid.

Rin's skid ended up saving her, for as soon as she came around the corner the space she would have occupied was filled with enemy fire. However, despite her camo, a few sparks as well as the copious scraping and rubble-moving she made directed enemy fire toward her cover, which began rapidly decimating the Neko's sanctuary.

The addition of Damien to the Juni's already present fire distracted some of the enemies, however, slowing the rate of cover loss for Rin. bits of rubble flew everywhere as well as the telltale sparks flinging off the enemies shields indicating glancing blows, draining their target's barriers as they stood and fought.

Anzu's sudden shot from her Gauss Bazooka, however, caused a change in the enemies' attitude, as the rubble pillbox immediately collapsed, trapping its now shieldless occupant under the rubble that should have been protecting it.

Aya's additional fire joining the conflagration further acted to demoralize their enemies, and it was soon evident they were preparing to leave once more as the rate of fire from two of the enemies suddenly increased, while the other two enemies stopped firing altogether.

And then Fieke came. Charging in like a madwoman, the heavier-armored Impulse managed to somehow avoid being hit, from either enemy or friendly fire, to boot, but when she vaulted her cover she found what she had thought to be her target to already be several meters down the tunnel, leaving her to instead smash the other enemy into the wall, which paused their fire for a few more seconds, before they turned and fired directly at Fieke. The sporadic nature of the fire, despite its close range, showed Fieke that her target had been dazed, but it still jetted away on its thrusters, leaving Fieke with damaged shields, and letting her watch as four enemies made their way down the tunnel.

Geiger managed to get a lucky shot off at one of the enemies, breaking through its barrier and causing one of its thrusters to explode, sending the armor off-course and smashing into a wall, where it stopped, the pilot apparently knocked out.

"Keep it up, Unluckies!" the Juni ordered, but rather than continuing with his squad, he only advanced to the pile of debris that had until recently been the enemy pillbox, setting on top of it with his Rifle pointed down in case it started moving too much.
"Fieke, stay here with me, we need to collect these prisoners so the soldiers behind us can deal with them, and your shields need to recharge anyway."


******
Toward the entrance to the tunnel, Sif and April received a transmission from the Platoon commander that the Juni, and by extension the rest of the squad, did not. It seemed someone was needed to return to the tunnel entrance to pick up some transfers, but not much more than that was elaborated on.

"Well, Ya wanna get 'em, or shall I?" April asked her superior, pausing where she was for the mini-Neko's answer.

The red armor cocked her head as the transmission came, turning it to look down the long tunnel at April, still quiet a ways away within the bowels.

"No need. I am nearer, and it appears my assistance or command is not required for the time being," Sif remarked, turning on her feet to exit the tunnel. Flat, businesslike, yet disinterested, she went on. "Inform Nakamura I will be tending to the newcomers - my presence will return shortly, but any requests for help will be answered promptly on my part." With that the Neko made her way out, steadily walking towards the light.

*****

Outside, a waypoint appeared atop a bombed out looking subway entrance within the new recruits' HUDs - someone was expecting the two, and was showing them the way.

The APC thundered through the air towards the drop off point. Two figures in armour sat inside. Niel gazed out of the cockpit window. He didn't feel any need to start a conversation. Not a word had been spoken since they left the ship hanging in a low orbit over the planet and yet they were nearing their destination.

The silence wasn't uncomfortable per-se. Well... at least for him it wasn't. It was ever so slightly tense however. Even so the thought of combat already had the adrenalin pumping through his veins.

"Coming up to the the LZ. About a minute to go."

Niel donned his helmet and fastened it in place securely.

"Landing in 10 seconds"

Niel stepped up to the APC's rear door his bag slung across his armours metal back.The door opened letting daylight flood into the compartment. Stepping out of the vehicle he spotted a red glimmer coming out of the tunnel. 'Well... that couldn't be more obvious on the battlefield if she tried'. And to Niel being obvious meant it was that much more likely to be on the receiving end of lead brain surgery at about three hundred meters per second. No he much preferred colours that could blend in with the surroundings. Even without active camo engaged.

The green suited minkan braced towards his new commanding officer.

"Santo-Hei Finchard Niel Reporting for duty Ma'am"

In the midst of the firefight, Rin saw her squadmate Simo use her gauss bazooka to destroy the enemy cover. Rin thought using such a powerful weapon inside a ruined tunnel would have been dangerous, but she could also not deny the effectiveness of the results. It was something for her to remember for later.

Rin saw the Juni move up to the next line of cover and she quickly followed, vaulting the fallen pillar in front of her. Firing her Plasma Rifle in precise shots, Rin advanced towards the enemy. She moved forward carefully to keep her shots accurate, but to also keep the pressure up on the hostiles. She held her shield up until she was able to find more solid cover behind another pillar.

Upon seeing the way-point in her visor Freyja jogged forward eager to meet her new CO. Scanning the environment it was clear that the area was in ruins. While she ran Freyja calculated the fastest route through the area and where people could hide.

"Santo Hei Freyja Signy reporting for duty Jôtô Heisho" she said saluting "Where do you want me" her CO was entirely ensconced within her red armour but was only about 6 and a half inches tall. While her training caused Freyja to keep quiet she had never met anyone that short in her short life and she thought it was intresting.

As the two stood there before the ruined subway entrance, one saluting, the other doing the same and looking at her CO's profile, the speck of red they saw above grew as the Yusou took off.

Red plated boots slowly rose and fell, taking this small, dainty figure up and out of the stairs. Soon enough, this woman - judging by the curves of the suit, it was - stood right in front of them both. Against what Freija was reading on her HUD, this figure, the one that stood there, was...still short. Larger, but still short - the two of them were just about six feet tall in their powered armors, but this person? This little person? She was easily a foot shorter. And the armor plates were thin, relatively form fitting. If it weren't for how worn, weathered and battle marked they were, the whole entirety of the suit would have looked like a gritty-girly cosplay at a convention back at Yamatai!

Just. One that was absurdly well detailed.

"I am Nishizaki Sif," a deadpan, serious voice remarked, introducing herself as their craft left. "Your Executive Officer, or Assistant Squad Leader." Before she could continue, a supersonic crack far off in the distance rang out, a round smacking right into the side of the now toy sized shuttle - it dove for cover, dodging a second. "Your Squad Commanding Officer, Kai Nakamura, is a little deeper underground," the dainty figure added, ignoring the initial cannon shot and gunfire which was now raining at the holed-up enemy some ways off. "Follow me."

With that, the Sylph hopped, landing at the bottom of the stairs before taking off into the bowels of the subway in a brief burst of thruster-wash.

A bullet ridden train tunnel awaited them.

Damien's fire landed a few hits, but no kill shots. Not very effective but then again, they were fighting shielded opponents and it would take quite a bit of fire to take them down. Unless of course you had a gauss bazooka like Simo and could blast enemies with heavy fire.

Damien was worried that the heavy cannon would do more harm than good, but it appeared as if they had gotten lucky. The cannon only took out the enemy behind the rubble and not collapsed the tunnel on top of them. It did appear as if Simo certainly knew how to properly utilize her weapon. It was definitely reassuring.

What wasn't reassuring was the four enemies proceeding down the tunnel. Damien continued to fire on the enemies as they fled but someone had gotten in a solid shot and down one of the enemies by shooting its thruster. Still it didn't change the fact that now three units were probably falling back to their next position, given the short chase that preceded this position, it was unlikely they would have to go far before the next defense position was found. Still he had a job to do and he would do it.

With Kai ordering them to keep up the pressure, Damien flew ahead in pursuit of the enemies, albeit more cautiously this time, having his shield out and being ready to dart for cover. He would follow the thrusters until they stopped and then himself find cover so he wasn't cut to pieces by an ambush, hoping the rest of the squad would keep up with him.

Without a moments hesitation Freyja jumped down into the tunnel using the stairs to navigate her fall to land with a graceful roll just shortly after her new XO .

She sprinted forward wanting to keep up with Sif, After catching up the Nekovalkyrja asked "When can I buy some new equipment there's a few things I would like to get". While the grin on her face was hidden by her helmet it was obvious she was exited about the prospect of new weaponry by the tone of her voice.

While she talked Freyja readied her Plasma Rifle and started looking ahead for fighting, this would be her first real battle since finishing training and she wanted to make a good first impression.