RP: 5th Fleet [Chapter Three] Attackers

Fieke nodded a quick affirmative to Niel and then clambered over the rubble to rejoin with the rest of the group. As she passed by the stealth infantryman Fieke nudged him in the shoulder with an armoured elbow. “Return the favour next time, in Ordnu- okay?”


“Corporal Amsel here. All stats are reading green Gruppenführer.” The Abwehran announced in a clipped burst. Inside her helmet the OriSec Officer's eyes were still vigilantly tracking the armour's sensors as her AI continued to send a barrage of information her way. Fieke blinked a few times to keep her head out of the clouds but otherwise let her mind do as it was wont to do with the adrenaline still kicking through her system. “I can take point if the squad needs someone who could take a couple hits – my Type S is complaining that it got tired of scanning tunnels a few turns back anyway.”


The temporary AI in the Abwehran's PA let out a short electronic chortle at the fact that the Corporal had actually reported its rather irrelevant feelings on their situation to the squad at large. Fieke blinked a few more times and then swore quietly and glared through her visor in hopes that the AI would take things more seriously.

Damien watched as the Render finally fell to the combined fire of their squad. "Looks like you're the unlucky one today you son of a bitch" mocked Damien at the fallen Render.

The satisfaction of victory was overwhelming and helped distract Damien momentarily from the pain that he was in. It was a tough battle to say the least, but considering their squad had taken down a mech with mostly small arms weapons spoke volumes for their tenacity and resilience. Perhaps they weren't really misfits after all as they had proven to be able to overcome any threat. It was reassuring to say the least, but Damien knew that his was only the beginning and they had much more fight ahead of them.

Looking over to Sif he could see her "putting herself" back together. Looking down at his own mangled body, Damien almost panicked with all the blood covering his body but remembered what Sif had said. He took a few deep breaths and began to press his missing limbs back together and concentrate on suppressing his pain. It took a bit of concentration but eventually the pain started to slowly dissipate. He could also move his arm and leg again after resting for a bit. His armor was still mostly trashed so he knew he would have to be careful. Of course there was one problem, he was a rifleman without a rifle.

"Ah sir, I am good to go I think. I could use another rifle. I don't suppose anyone has seen Geiger's rifle laying around. I don't suppose he'd mind if I took it" Damien said, standing himself up. It took more concentration to block on the renewed pain of standing on his injured leg, but he hoped that the suit would take care of it in time. In the meantime, Damien was going to focus on getting out of this hole. His suit seemed functional enough but he might need a lift.

Freyja smiled to herself as the render finally collapsed in front of her "finally it remembers how to die" she muttered. Activating squad wide comms she said "Freyja Signy reporting unharmed sir" reloading her LASR and returning it to her back the neko began a quick diagnostic of her armour and started looking through data on the other squad members on her hud trying to see if anyone needed a lift.

seeing that Damien's suit was damaged she turned to him and asked "Do you by any chance need a lift out of here since your suit has taken a few hits and if we cannot find Geiger's rifle you can borrow my LASR".

Nakamura Juni surveyed the battleground one last time, listening to everyone- except of course Geiger- reporting in. He seemed satisfied with the results. 30% casualty rate, with only one being a fatality. 80% of combat effectiveness was retained despite the damages. Damien would need to be kept at the back because he would be a liability in his condition, though he would certainly survive if he kept away from action.
"Leave Geiger's remains where they are. Do not worry about his rifle, Damien, I will need you to stay out of combat until we can have you evacuated. Signy Hei can assist you out of the tunnel. Simo-Hei, continue to assist Miyamoto-Hei. Everyone else, move out, and be ready for combat." With that, the Juni activated his thrusters boosting up to the rim of the enormous hole caused by the Render, into the desolation of the No man's land, to look upon the reinforced command post they were supposed to take.

It was a large structure, made of heavily reinforced concrete and covered in some sort of metal, possibly Yamataium, as the edges at damaged points seemed to have a more organic shape than the usual jagged edges that formed after explosions and penetrations. It was low, dug into the side of a hill, probably buried deeper into the hill than they could see. It had various windows and overlooks, which they could see machine gun nests and riflemen shooting from across the vast destruction. Before Kai could make to move any further, though, he received a message from the Taii, which routed itself automatically to the other armors in the squad.

"Well! I'm kind of surprised to see you guys again, after we watched that Render drop into the tunnel, we thought you'd either retreat or get cut to ribbons! I must say, you've done impressively" The small, Chibi-proportioned version of their platoon leader gave them a huge grin and a thumbs up in congratulations. "In any case, while you guys were fighting below, we broke through above! Thanks for distracting the render, that really helped us get through. Anyway! Squad Six should be arriving any moment now, so you guys can take it easy and just watch, if you wanna."

True to the Taii's word, within moments the other squad arrived, and with quite a show. First, Squad XIII was presented with something odd; a lone trooper nearby wearing body armor, instead of a Power armor. She tossed a small round object at the base of the structure, before ducking back into the rubble and disappearing. Moments later, a volley of missiles came screaming over their heads, impacting all over the structure, including the base where the object had landed, as well as slamming into the observation points and rifle and machinegun nests. Not all of the weapons were silenced however, but several loud cracks could be heard from the distance, and several power armors fell out of the windows, missing their heads. Next, a barrage of heavy Gauss fire preceded several Daisy armors approaching at high speed, Fusion thrusters pushing them along at a more than brisk pace perhaps a peter above the ground, LASR and ASGR rifles rattling off, Before suddenly flaring up near the structure, and punching into the windows with SLAG grenades before following the explosions in. One of the windows suddenly spouted a jet of plasma, and several soft-armored troops jumped out, trying to escape the flames, or perhaps just trying to die faster.

The sounds of Squad Six's weapons could be heard within the command point, though they began to sound more distant and sporadic as the soldiers advanced through the building. Three more Daisies advanced on the structure, their support no longer needed from the outside, and they, too, made their way into the structure. Squad XIII then saw the soft-armored soldier again, with he web gun from an AMES, which she shot at one of the windows, then reeled herself up into the structure, disappearing as well.

A Final Powered armor landed in front of them; a heavily modified Daisy II with oversized forearms that had short claws protruding from them, as well as emitters for plasma, and an ASGR slung over its back, which sported a Sylph wing pack. The Daisy II flipped up its armored visor, revealting the transparent one underneath, that showed a somewhat familiar face to them- That of the Taii.
"You did a good job today," she began, the chibi personification appearing in their HUD as well, "And I think you guys deserve a rest. In a few moments, we'll have a Yusou evacuate you guys back into the city a bit. We found a decent hotel there where you can relax and recover. A field hospital has been set up there so you can take care of Injuries, and replacements and parts for damaged Power armor will be available as well. Once your squad is at the Hotel, you'll have a 12 hour combat leave, so be sure to clean up, relax, and prepare for tomorrow. I hear it's going to be a doozy!"

Damien briefly stood there, face screwed up and eyes shut as he fought to banish the pain - pain that seemed to be growing.

By the time he opened his eyes however, a certain somebody's faceless red helmet was pushed right up into his own! Though shorter by almost a foot, Sif continued to stand on the tip of her armored boots, leaning forward and staring at the young man - the sound and spectacle of combat behind her went completely ignored. It was only after a 'quiet', awkward moment had passed, that her flat voice finally broke it. "Your face makes it look like you're concentrating. More like constipated." By then, Damien would realize something else. She'd flipped the armored visor of his helmet open without him noticing, and really was staring right at his face!

Another moment passed.

And another snippet of her voice came at him. "Are you trying to follow my advice? Cancel out the pain?" Sif asked from behind her faceless helmet. "...." Another, incredibly brief yet infinitely long moment passed between them, her close proximity to his face utterly suffocating like a pillow held tightly over the mouth and nose. "...that is a yes? So you're a girl?" she then asked a second time with complete seriousness. The armor was now cocking her head to the side in utter bewilderment. "I thought you were a Yamataian boy, not a Neko," the dainty red armor started to explain her puzzlement, but then stopped short of going on.

For once, she had the decency to give him a chance to defend himself.

Anzu snickered at Aya's comments, as they jetted into the air. "We're gonna have to work on your combat chatter, kid." They landed a few feet from the edge of the gaping hole without incident, bazooka still in her shield-arm as the other stayed wrapped around her fellow Neko for the moment. She straightened up a bit as the message began to play across her HUD, sensors warning her of incoming friendlies before the Taii had even finished speaking.

"Distracting it?" She was otherwise quiet, as the other squad rolled in, and then preceded to roll right over the base. As the modified Daisy appeared, along with the matching image on her HUD, she removed her arm to let Aya stand on her own. "We distracted it!?" Weapons began clattering to the ground around her, as she reached up to peel her helmet off and toss it aside, not wanting to be forced to look at that smug little cartoon another moment. "So you guys could hide out and then show up at the last minute!?" Anzu began to rush towards the modified armor, arms outstretched. "I'm gonna peel you outta that fancy suit and 'distract' you into another hole in the ground!"

Since her many weapons had wound up on the ground, along with her protective helmet, it was obvious she didn't plan to kill or seriously injure the officer. If she was lucky, she'd at least put a few dents into that fancy armor before someone yanked her back, although she was really hoping to get her helmet off and wipe the satisfied smirk off her face.

Following the Juni's orders Rin boosted up through the hole in the ceiling, her plasma rifle at the ready. But Squad Six was already in the process of taking over the enemy command post, and Rin watched in awe as the other soldiers executed their plan efficiently. Then the Taii herself landed just infront of the Juni, congratulating the squad on a job well done and informing the squad that they would have 12 hours of leave.

Rin felt simultaneously relieved and slightly disappointed at the same time, which was a bizarre sensation. She lowered her plasma rifle and then scanned the sky for the incoming Yusou.

Boosting out of the now collapsed tunnel Niel dropped in next to the rest of the squad. He had to admit to himself that seeing the Taii was for lack of a better word confusing. Broody soldiers he could understand, impassive soldiers were fairly common he could even understand the somewhat sadistic glee that some had when fighting. However this happy female just didn't compute.

Brought out of his thoughts as one of his squadmates began to scream at the commander he couldn't help but laugh. To him the development of the mental backup system disabused any qualms about sending soldiers into distractive combat against superior foes or highly lethal missions. As long as power armour was plentiful then nothing significant would be lost, well, he supposed it would hurt somewhat. This was what they signed up for after all. However in the back of his mind Niel knew that while not overly afraid of death, he would do almost anything to avoid being captured by the enemy. The documented history of such instances was for lack of a better phrase not pretty.

The Taii's message of congratulations made Aya's heart swell with pride. The assault on the bunker - if it could even be called that, due to the sheer speed and contemptuous ease with which it was conducted - was awe inspiring, not least thanks to the pyrotechnics that accompanied it. The sight of the enemy troops leaving the structure whilst wreathed in flames made her wince slightly, though.

When the Taii made her dramatic entrance, Aya found herself looking over the PA in quiet appreciation. Perhaps some day she might be lucky enough to get a suit of powered armour like that? No, she would! It might take a long time, but nobody got anywhere without working hard!

Her reverie abruptly ended as Anzu stopped supporting her (causing her to stagger slightly). Her brief confusion was replaced with alarm by Anzu's outburst. Rushing forward as fast as her injuries would let her, she tried to grab Anzu and pull her away. "No, don't!"

She understood the other Neko's anger - things had gotten incredibly hairy and they had lost someone due to the Render - but she was worried about how the Taii would react, as well as what would happen to Anzu afterwards. Aya didn't want to see Anzu getting punished due to a poorly timed display of emotion. Or anyone else, for that matter.

Fieke smoothly placed herself between the charging Anzu and the newly arrived Star Army Officer. Unless the infuriated neko was out of her senses enough to boost over the Abwehran's power armour and resist Aya's attempts to pull her back then the whole situation should be able to be passed off as nothing more than a bit of enthusiastic post-combat yelling.


Though, Fieke admitted to herself with a grimace as she let her AI take the animation off from her visor, the urge to chew out the lackadaisical Over-Officer was something she could sympathize rather heavily with – the Abwehran was no longer sure you were allowed a command slot if you had retention of all your good senses in Yamatai – the lack of discipline it would show was a step too far for Fieke's militaristic upbringing.


If the Officer made a deal out of it after Anzu's squadmates had gone to good lengths to neutralize the situation though – well, Fieke allowed a tense smile to fall on across her face, that'd be a different ball park then.


For the time being though, Fieke just leaned into her rifle and stood solid where she had placed herself. “Oi Riesenfeuer,” Fieke called out to Sif. “lay off the wounded guy until he's back into his right frame of mind – you're probably making too much sense to him right now. Besides, I think we can all tell you - with some decent proof just about now - that there is no way yah katzen are anywhere close to having a monopoly on concentrating.”

Damien was quite embarrassed by the whole thing. He was so used to following Sif's advice that he did it almost instinctively. Plus he didn't have a better idea at the time and it seemed like it was working. Although that may have been his suits medical suite dulling his pain, rather than any sort of actual concentration on his part. Flipping off his visor he looked at Sif in the eyes to answer her question. "Well yes ma'am I was attempting to follow your advice..." embarrassment clearly in his voice. "I am a Yamataian boy and the whole thing seems rather silly now but I thought it might help, because this fucking hurts..." Damien turned his head to see his wounded arm, barely held in by his suit. Something told him that this little rest at the hospital might not be enough for him to fully recover. Damien just hoped that Sif didn't make a big deal out of his mistake and horrible oversight in xenobiology...

It seemed she paid the others no mind at all - not even Fieke. Damien was Sif's sole focus for the moment.

The faceless, red helmet she had simply had no eyes to speak of, making it impossible to tell just what her mood was. "If you're feeling any better, with your arm cut up into tatters and nearly falling off, it's most likely the rush." Just her saying this was already bad enough, but, he could literally feel the truth in her words. He was starting to hurt again. And bad. The red Sylph shifted about, now bending over slightly to take a good look at his grievous wounds. The Zesuaium claws of the frame had cut, rather than torn, clean through his suit to the point that the hemosynthetic insert was having difficulty pulling it all back together on its own. This was a testament to the astoundingly absurd qualities of the substances, both the meta-metal that cut him and the synthetic blood matter trying to heal him. For Damien though, it meant something else. Something very important. "You're not missing any big chunks. If you can get some hemosynth into the wound, then hold it together, you'll avoid the worst of it," Sif explained, her words rather matter-of-fact.

"Hold still," she flatly insisted.

Before Damien knew it, Sif wrapped her arms around him in a seemingly warm embrace. One where their body plates ended up clacking and rubbing together. Perhaps before any male thoughts (if that was even possible considering this was Sif) could enter his mind, Sif preemptively crushed any notion of that as she took a small utility knife and cut herself in her armor's weakest point: the very same gap where she was wounded by the frame too. Unlike before, where the wound instantly sealed itself, a healthy dribble of crimson began to drip over his open wounds - it was oddly hot yet cooling to the very touch. Soothing even. As she stayed wrapped around him, Sif's helmet turned slightly to look at someone else. "Simo-Hei - could you donate some blood? You're about to lose some anyways, and Damien needs it more than the dirt," she pointed out.

It seemed Sif was paying attention - even to Fieke - after all.

Anzu was slowed down as Aya grabbed ahold of her from behind, feet digging into the ground as she tried to continue forward, dragging the other Neko along. She was so focused on the Taii that she didn't notice the alien slipping in front of her, slowed to a stop as her armor ground against Fieke's. Her arms flailed over and under the other's shoulders, outstretched and reaching for the fancy armor that was safely out of her reach. "Let me go!" She snarled a few other commands, along with several curse words in multiple languages, expending plenty of energy trying to reach for the officer while the two armors easily held her in place.

The Taii's demeanor suddenly changed when Anzu began to stomp toward her, formerly fluid and perky motions stiffening and becoming very serious. The Neko stood her ground, however, and did not interfere with Fieke and Aya's blocking of the angered sniper.
"Simo Hei. I would refrain from running my mouth unless I actually knew what I was talking about. There are Four other squads in this Platoon, and I have had to send three of them back from the front lines with heavy losses while your squad made its way below ground. I am more than appreciative of what your squad has accomplished, however, that does not make you immune to my contempt. Unless you fix your attitude, I will be forced to have you disciplined. Now, Please, take advantage of your Pass before I decide to revoke yours. I have to head to the front." With that, Gidget stood for a moment, conversing privately with the Juni, before she suddenly lifted into the air, thrusting forward to catch up with Squad Six.

Kai Cleared his throat over the comms, and spoke up, addressing the entire squad, but the maniacal grin painted on his helmet's visor clearly stared at Anzu. "You all heard the Taii. Our transport will arrive momentarily, Please be ready for it. Simo-Hei, please retrieve your helmet and rifle, and help Aya. We've had enough casualties today, I don't want any from friendly fire."

Sure enough, a Yusou appeared from one of the city streets, flying fast and low. Some of the squad would recognize it as the craft they had arrived on the planet's surface in, though the 'Benjo Box' as was emblazoned on the fuselage, seemed a bit dirtier and more worn than it had looked when they had last seen it. With a flourish, Lou, the Nepleslian pilot simultaneously spun the craft around while settling down, and the rear egress hatch opened up, revealing the turquoise-headed Neko copilot waving them into the craft. Kai ordered them all to pile in, and then did so himself, following Chatterbox toward the front of the craft as the others filed in. Once full, the Yusou closed its ramp, and headed back toward the ruined city.

As the platoon leader ended the brewing fight then and there, Sif silently watched as she continued to seal over the worst of the young man's wounds. It was only after helping him in and they were all in-flight that she spoke again. "I'm not happy, but I will address that later," the Sylph remarked, focusing on keeping Damien together and in once piece. The ride was relatively quick and uneventful - there wasn't even much time to chatter considering how quickly it flew. Instead, they were soon greeted with an interesting sight. Star Army troops were swarming all around a singular abandoned hotel, fortified and womaned - various amenities were up and running already, including food, showers and what looked like a little bit of entertainment. "When we touch down, I want Miyamoto and Zang-hei to start stripping," Sif dispassionately spoke, withdrawing from Damien after doing a final inspection of her handywork on the wounds. "After you've gotten to the medical area. You'll both be going into the hemosynth tanks," she added.

At that, the Benjo Box's ramp dropped as it landed in the parking lot. "The rest of you, get yourselves checked into some rooms."