RP: 5th Fleet [Chapter Two] Escorts

As Fieke pulled her trigger, her rifle suddenly swung wide and away, knocked out of line by the Juni's Daisy. it rattled off before being remotely locked down bu the officer, whom sent a private message at her. the message was accompanied by a simulation of what her shots would have done- slam right into Damien rather than the enemy Reaper.

Maya's single shot proved to be much more effective than Fieke's, the round draining the last of the enemy's shields, the popping surge of them failing causing the Reaper's thrusters to fail for a second, before popping back to life as the Yamataian pushed back with his own thrusters.

Damien's efforts did indeed save him from taking any major damage, but the Reaper still did manage to gouge a very deep line down his chest plate, the armor informing him that the chest plate was compromised despite the lack of penetration. The Reaper was thrown off balance and dove headfirst into the ground, sitting face down before another Daisy pounced on it.

"Could ya gimme a hand here, sug'?" Aprils voice called out, as her armor's helmet looked toward the Idle Anzu. "I think we got ourselves a Pris'ner o' war, here." The tall Daisy pilot had managed to grapple the NMX Neko into submission and had her by the wrists, facedown in the ground. "Ah could use some help gettin' her off the ground" April asked, as the Neko conceded her defeat and gave up struggling.

As April took her prisoner, Kai glanced at the Abwehran once more before broadcasting to the entire squad. "There will be an AFV coming toward our location soon, allowing us to reload and resupply, as well as send the Prisoner back to base. Everyone make sure the area is secure before it arrives, got it?" The Juni then turned away to the other squad and the tank, probably telling them the same thing.

Anzu was a clatter of weapons bouncing off her armor as she approached. "You sure I shouldn't just put her out of our misery? She's just gonna cause problems." She didn't seem thrilled about their new friend, but she assisted April as best as she could. Simo was very careful with the prisoner, not wanting to give her the chance to squirm free or grab at any weapons.

Once that was settled, Anzu began deploying drones to help scout the area. One would be keeping a close eye on the NMX Neko, just in case. "Want me to get up high and check out the path our ride is taking?"

Her gamble had paid off; Aya's shot had disabled the shields of the NMX armour just long enough for Damien to take it down - and net them a prisoner in the process! She was in high spirits, and so the Nekovalkyrja watched April and Anzu dealt with the prisoner with a great big smile on her face.

The Juni's order snapped her out of it, however. She gave the area a sweep with her sensors as she tried to find a good vantage point of her own to look out for anybody who wished to do them - or the AFV - harm. Who knew, after all, how many hostiles were still out there? The brawl nearby was another important consideration. Aya couldn't let herself relax despite the still fresh victory. Nevertheless, it seemed she had done herself - and the squad - proud.

And that was worth everything in her eyes.

Fieke closed her eyes to calm herself as she held back a snarl. One part of her mind was insisting that the Juni wouldn't have stopped her for no reason and that obviously the other soldier's movements had mooked her aim – that's what you get for throwing rounds at someone without letting her know.

The other part was yelling that her aim was fine thank you very much and that the Star Army Squad Leader was just being a jackleg.

Then the military upbringing of hers chimed in to comment she was probably the jackleg and to stuff it.

All-in-all it was a rather annoying bout of mental confusion for the Nightwalker and Fieke sighed in relief as Aya's shot rang true and took care of the problem.

Shouldering her rifle, seeing as it might do more good there than it had so far for the squad, Fieke shook her head to herself. She hadn't managed to do much for the team and more than likely almost gave them their first casualty from bullheaded friendly fire. A record that was so far proving the reason why the Corporal had served as a buck Private for multiple years based off her Origin service alone.

“Roger that Sir.” Fieke responded towards Nakamura's orders, her voice flat and unemotional as she turned her attention to her scanner readouts and the surrounding area.

The Abwehran briefly mused on apologizing to the Juni for her unbefitting conduct, but cast the idea aside to concentrate on the orders that had been given.

As Damien overpowered the enemy Neko with the help of his squadmate he felt a sense of relief. Not pride that he had won his fight, simply relief of not screwing up either. Damien sighed as his squadmates secured the prisoner. He supposed he could take pride in that at least.

As Damien got up off the ground he walked over to Aya and said "Thanks for the assist" and patted her on the shoulder. He figured without her lucky shot, it might have been a long, embarrassing struggle with the enemy. It was becoming a habit for his squadmates to save him and Damien was getting sick of it. He told himself that he would do better, but he was still a rookie.

Still embarrassed Damien went to collecting his gear which was scattered about the street. Picking up his shield, and impactor and touched his chestpiece. The giant scratch down the center was there to remind him how close he had come to dieing. Damien wasn't sure if he would wear it as a mark of shame or a careful reminder not to screw up again.

Of course it wasn't as bad as what Fieke had gone through. He had almost killed him during the fight. Not to mention almost getting him killed earlier during the trench fight. The Corporal was bad luck for him but Damien didn't say anything. He simply collected his gear and remained quiet as he looked around, securing the area while waiting for their ride.

After a short period of time*, The AFV skidded to a halt on the rubble strewn street, a couple of new additions to the squad disembarking as the AFV's crew opened the rear cargo doors, allowing the squad members to peer inside- finding themselves LASR, SLAG, and ASGR magazines, as well as spare rounds to top off partial magazines the troopers currently carried.

Almost immediately, Nakamura Juni began issuing orders. "Alright, Simo, I want you to escort that prisoner to the AFV and make sure they're secure before reloading. Everyone else, top off your rounds, and make sure you have plenty of extras. Intel is that the area up ahead is extremely hot, so we'll need to be ready for a lot of action. You two newbies, I need you over here to report."

"Heya Fieke, Could ya be so kind as ta grab me a few ASGR mags when you dip inta the pile?" April asked of the Abwehran security guard, simultaneously giving her permission to use the ammunition that was available from the Star Army for her own personal weapons.

Not to anyone's surprise, but Nishizaki Heisho had surreptitiously disappeared again. Though, to be honest, her whereabouts were not really the business of the others; perhaps she had been sent to scout ahead by Nakamura Heisho, or maybe she had gone off hunting some unwary prey that might have been attempting to ambush them.


*Yes, I know it took forever IRL but at least we're going now!

Rin, clad in her Daisy, quickly disembarked from the back ramp of the AFV and out onto the cracked asphalt. And then suddenly there was her squad at the foot of the ramp, eagerly waiting to take advantage of the supplies that were delivered. Before Rin could say anything a man's voice came out over the comm.

"You two newbies, I need you over here to report," said the Dasiy marked "Nakamura" on Rin's HUD. She quickly made her way over to where the Juni was standing and stowed her plasma rifle on the small of her back.

"Santo Hei Maki Rin reporting," said Rin, saluting quickly with her free hand.

The second 'newbie' thudded his way out of the AFV at a more.. conservative pace, behind the Daisy's faceplate was a human, a nepleslian to be specific... one who'd spent the entire ride out here dosing at the back of the AFV. Almost groggily he thudded down the ramp, almost reflexively pocking his own collection of magazines as he took his place next to Rin and bowed. A custom that had taken many hours of non-judicial punishment to embed in his habits.

"Santô Hei Geiger reporting as ordered... uh.. sir?" Said Max, as he briefly looked around at his new.. assignment.

Aya, unsurprisingly, made a beeline for the cargo doors. She certainly didn't need telling twice! The Nekovalkyrja slipped past the two newbies - even if it was an incredibly relative term in this case - murmuring an apology as she did so.

The Santo Hei felt almost like she was spoilt for choice as her eyes fell on to the bevy of ammunition awaiting the squad, but she reminded herself that only some of these were LASR or LASR-SLAG munitions. Nevertheless, the young Neko quickly replenished the ammunition in the magazines she was already carrying, and grabbed several extra LASR and SLAG magazines for insurance. As far as Aya was concerned, extra ammo was only a good thing.

Her current work done, she slinked out of the confines of the APC to give her squad mates easier access to the interior. The Juni's warning of things being about to get hectic didn't so much make Aya anxious as excite her. Though it was probably inexperienced bravado talking, Aya felt like she could take on whatever the enemy decided to throw her way.

Now that she could get a better look at them, Aya wondered how the two newcomers would do in the upcoming fight. She was pretty sure they'd be able to handle themselves - otherwise they wouldn't have been sent here, right? Regardless, she was looking forward to getting to know them better. The Nekovalkyrja had always enjoyed making new friends, after all.

Damien was ready for his next assignment. Damien watched as the two new newbies reported Nakamura Juni. It was nice that their was someone else here to screw up, hopefully it would take the heat off him. He could only hope. He had failed pretty spectacularly in the last two firefights and it was only set to get worse. Still it was a learning experience and at least someone else needed to learn more than him.

Shaking off the thoughts, Damien loaded upon ammo. He hadn't been as conservative as he thought he had been with his ammo. He made sure to pick up a couple extra mags of each type to make sure that if they did get into a protracted firefight that he would be ready.

"Alright, get movin'." She prodded the NMX Neko, herding her toward the AFV. Anzu waited nearby while the others resupplied, shoving her prisoner in once the path was clear. The drone she'd deployed continued to watch the enemy while she worked with the AFV crew to ensure she was secured, moving over to reload once that was handled.

"Looks like the real fun's just about to start. Hey, you're not even the new girl anymore!" Rejoining the squad, she playfully whapped Aya upside the helmet, giggling. "That didn't take long. Just try to survive longer than most of these guys, and you'll be a veteran before we're done here."

“Großartig.” Fieke murmured to herself as she finished methodically 'topping off' the half used magazine that had been in her rifle when the fight had finished. Slapping the full 300 round box back into the rifle the Abwehran grabbed a judicious allotment of fresh mags and then the spares April had asked for.

Settling the collection of ammo for the Heisho in the crook of her arm Fieke strolled out of the AFV and towards April. As the Abwehran came up close to the Star Army veteran she plucked the first of the magazines out of her small collection and offered it to the other woman.

“Danke Unteroffizier.” Fieke titled her ASGR in a little wave of a salute for the Ittô Heisho. Turning her attention towards the two new troopers meeting with the Squad Leader, Fieke tried to figure out what they had gotten in the little batch of reinforcements off their voices alone. The crisp and enthusiastic one was probably another Neko, but the more reluctantly voiced newcomer hardly seemed like normal SAoY material.

“New fellow seems a bit... verdrossen – ah, moody. I guess nachzüglers can get everywhere though, no?” Fieke let out a small shrug along with her comments to April. It was rather a shame Sif was not there to stomp her own special kind of help into these two like she had done with everyone else.

"Good, Maki, Geiger. We'll be needing you for the next mission command has assigned to us," the Juni greeted the two new soldiers.

With the prisoner squared away, and the soldiers having topped off their ammunition reserves, the AFV beat a hasty retreat, heading off to its next task, likely to help resupply another squad or similar. Once it had left, the Juni gave his next set of orders.

"Everyone, form up on the tank, we're heading into the city center." Kai himself followed suit, and April took her position behind the squad, motioning for them to move forward as the tank rumbled into action, heading down the next street towards the din a little ways away, indicating they were indeed heading for one of the more intense areas of fighting on the planet.

"Everyone, form up on the tank, we're heading into the city center," said the Juni.

"Hai Juni," said Rin, starting off towards the tank. She retrieved the M6-W3000 from the back of her Daisy and extended the weapon to its full length. Ensuring it was linked to her AIES, Rin loaded a six-round magazine of armor-piercing sabots into the bazooka.

With the weapon resting comfortably on her right shoulder, Rin took up a position to the right of tank; she was already scanning the ruins ahead of them and watching for threats.

"Everyone, form up on the tank, we're heading into the city center," said the Juni.

Damien nodded and moved forward to his position in the formation. They were on another escort mission again. If they were truly moving into a hotzone he couldn't afford to screw up again. After his last encounter in the store Damien felt more prepared for what was to come. He hoped that his confidence wasn't misplaced.

Pushing out the doubt, he picked up scanning the area, looking for targets or ambush positions. He would be lying if he said he wasn't concerned about walking into another ambush. But if they did, Damien knew to stay with the squad this time.

Anzu smirked inside of her helmet at Rin. She let the newbie move first, hefting her own bazooka as she fell in on the opposite side of the tank. She still didn't trust the thing, and there was no way she was standing where those treads were pointing. Simo let the drone she'd used to watch the prisoner lift further into the air, above the tank. This way she could keep an eye on it, and Maki on the other side.

"Would've been nice to stop for lunch, ya know. How're we supposed to kick the maximum amount of squid-ass on an empty stomach?"

There's was nothing to do now but slog ahead, until they ran into the next problem. Which would likely be solved by large amounts of violence. That was how she tended to solve most problems, actually. At least it would make her forget all about lunch. For a while.

"Yay!" Aya had a silly grin on her face as she rubbed the back of her helmet. Glancing at Anzu, she added, "If you're not careful I'm going to outrank you soon!"

It was all in good fun, of course. Aya's attention was pulled away by the Juni giving the squad their latest batch of orders. The Neko fell into her position, occasionally glancing enviously at the M6-W3000 that Rin was toting. That thing looked like it would be a lot of fun to use...

She shook her head to clear her thoughts. She had a job to do, and right now that job involved showing the NMX what they were capable of. Like Damien, she maintained good situational awareness by keeping her head on a swivel. Aya paid particular attention to rooftops and other high perches that would be perfect for anyone looking to disable the tank... or one of the squad.