Squad 1
After returning fire to the approaching terrorists Leo ducked back down into cover, fumbling to remove the empty magazine from his weapon and swap it out for a fresh one before looking across to the one-armed Daur. He took a moment, tugging on the new magazine to ensure a proper fit as he re-ran through his adrenaline-addled mind what Yinri had said.
"If you think it'll help then go for it, Arbavin, we could use extra hands," the now-sweaty captain nodded before scooting sideways, repositioning slightly behind the small bit of cover at his disposal, taking a knee to cover their demolitions expert's swift work before speaking once more.
"We've suspected that for a while now, Arynn, this all but proves it... keep that in mind for your after-action report," Leo panted before giving Suzu'ha the all clear to detonate her breaching charges, balling his hand into a fist and pulling it down next to his shoulder. It was a wonderful spectacle, the explosion causing a bright ball of light and briefly collapsed inwards on itself before releasing a thunderous and devastating shock-wave, collapsing the slope inwards on itself and spraying sand hard enough to blast some of the protective paint off the various armour-plates protecting the operatives.
Squad 2
Only really Cirillo and Hana would notice as they huddled behind a small lump of sand-stone, but the Daur that'd been saved from the dropship had been still for a while now, far too still. Her skin was pale and lifeless where it wasn't smeared with a combination of her own blood and Hana's, one eye angry and red with burst blood-vessels as they stared off into the distance, sand starting to pool in the deceased woman's slack maw as she lay there.
One arm was outstretched towards them both, and desperately clutched in it was the IFAK that'd been previous strapped to the back of her vest, the protective flap unbuckled though its contents unused as the wind lashed at the small medical kit. There was nothing more that could be done for her other than retrieving the body when appropriate, though the coagulants and wrappings would do wonders to help treat Hana's wounds if he could just get to it.
Through the combined fire of both squads they made quick work of the surface-side terrorists, dropping their poorly-armoured bodies to the floor from the sheer volume of plasma and metal flechettes being sent their way. Ki'lnda's plasma bolts in particular served two purposes, boring a hole clean through their targets and causing the distinct silohuette of Kyet to spin around and face them, it took a second shot for the busty operative to pin-point the second squad's location but she could be seen looking across to the distant form of Leo before pointing towards squad 2's semi-entrenched position at the crash site of the second prowler.
Static filled the headsets of anyone fortunate enough to still have their helmet, barely audible but steadily building as a plume of sand followed by a thunderous boom erupted from the slope near Squad 1, soon becoming apparent that some breaching charges had been detonated as Cirillo let loose another burst from his weapon into the exposed tunnel. All it took was one needle striking the prowler's hull at the right angle, sparking off the vessel where paint had been stripped away, to ignite the puddles of fuel that'd been pooling down there in the tunnel. In an instant there was an intense heat in the air and flames licked out through the cracked ground, the defenders that squad 2 was previously engaging were immediately immolated, a quicker death than the needlers ever could have caused. The resulting explosions was largely contained to the expansive confines of the tunnel, though there was enough of a pressure wave to knock over any members of squad 2 not previously braced against anything. The breached area finally gave up the ghost and collapsed in on itself, the ground cracking and falling away to seal the wound that had been created in the ground.
Everything was still, and quiet for the most-part as the ringing in the ears of the operatives slowly died down and their hearing returned, the dust and smoke settling to reveal the scale of the opening fire-fight. The desert floor was lined with the bloodied corpses of terrorists and even a Division 5 member that'd been thrown free from the prowler that'd been shot down, their body mangled and twisted at unnatural angles that spoke of their quick death.
Squad 2, cont.
"Hold your fire, team," Leo commanded, slowly rising up from his half-squat as he surveyed their surroundings, small motes of sand and smoke still twirling away from the recently opened slope as he turned back to face where Operative DePolanskaya had reported seeing friendly forces. His pale eyes squinted for a second as Leo's HUD zoomed in and confirmed that it was indeed Squad 1's sniper and the remains of Squad 2, the white-haired commander licked his dry lips and swallowed hard before pulling his mask aside to yell out.
"Fall in on me and give me your status! do you have any critically wounded personnel?" he yelled out across the sands as that static continued to haunt the team's communications systems, waving Squad 2 across to their position at the base of the slope, before turning back around to his squad.
"We need to take stock of the situation but I want to get indoors first, I want Yuri'no and at least one other to go in and secure us a foothold, then we can discuss what to do next. Sort it out among yourselves," Leo ordered, taking a step back to lean against a nearby chunk of limestone and take some of the weight off his feet, SMG tucked tightly into the crook of his elbow as he waited for the survivors to catch up.
Now that they had a moment to breathe Arynn realized why her ear was itching, reaching up to finally satiate it her gloved hand came back slick with a small bit of blood. The wind finally starting to make the grazing shot against one of her large, fluffy ears sting something fierce, distracting her from three unidentified IFF signatures popping up on her tablet briefly, only to fade as suddenly as they'd appeared.
Slope Entrance, whoever decides to enter alongside Yuri'no.
It was dark but their eyes quickly adjusted with each cautious step further into the breached area, large chunks of sandstone and concrete dotted the area alongside what looked like they used to be mass-produced bunk beds, now twisted and splintered. One light occasionally flickered to life overhead, refusing to completely die just yet and casting eerie shadows throughout the decently-sized room, illuminating plastic tubs in one corner and a now ruined carpet now stained red.
Near the carpet, protruding from beneath a large slab of stone, was a bloodied glove. It took a moment for a stomach-turning realization to hit whoever had entered alongside Yuri'no, but there was no doubt about it, the thing was too small to belong to anything other than a Kit. They weren't afforded enough time to process the dark realization however, as something moved past the doorway leading out of what used to be barracks, blacker than black and followed by a blood-curdling scream that echoed throughout what seemed to be an expansive tunnel network, reverberating off the walls to seemingly coming from everywhere and nowhere at once.
