"If that's what you're going to do, don't mince your words - I'm covering!" Ylfa yelled over to Stripe, the rifle in her hand hammering away.
The launcher in Alec's hand let loose a streak of fire into the hallway ahead, but the missile fell short - one of the leading Super Militants leaped forward, and thrusters burning, collided with the projectile. Vanishing in the soundless blast, the rumble dull in their suits as it conducted through the floor, the machines kept on coming. Both sides were exchanging fire, and every moment the Militants got the upper hand, no matter how brief, moved up from side room to side room, closer and closer to the mouth of the hall. Right then and there though, new sensor data started pouring onto their HUDs as smoke enveloped the hall; the sword-wielding marine from earlier still had their backs! With the spreading smoke, the Machines tried pushing, but she slammed them back down as her underbarrel mass driver sent a high-explosive into the mess. With each trigger pull, Alec's HP-DMR would spit out powerful, precise death, but it still took a few good rounds to bring down their shields and finally crack open their hulls in a shower of sparks.
As Jamie let out burst after burst of rifle fire, he decided to chance it again despite the chilling scene from before. A cluster of BOLT mini-missiles streaked out from his calf launcher, and unlike before, the machines ducked for cover as the scene in front of them was temporarily burned away by the flash and rumble of anti-matter fueled fire. The entire hallway was black and burnt now, but the machines kept on popping up out of the woodwork like undying, apocalyptic roaches. In the middle of all this, Stripe made one last request before he made his move. Short, brief bursts of plasma splattered against his shield as he moved forward, but the squad held firm; they weren't going to gut him, not now! Sawyer's shoulder minigun sprayed down a stream of tracers with a 'Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt!', forcing the Militants into cover, only to be followed up by the cannon-like boom of his large bore railgun. Parts literally flew as shields collapsed, limbs being dislocated or torn out of their sockets.
As Stripe made it to the side of the hall and slammed his armored hand into the button to close the blast doors, Richard made his way into the hangar's command center. Blasted open and exposed to space, he could see the remains of a plain, original Militant which had prompted the heavy firepower from some previous squad. However, luck shined for both marines. Shields popped into place as atmosphere hissed back in. Down below, the thick, heavy doors slowly slid closed. It was then however, they heard it.
"Hun? You're asking for a scalpel from the Sledge Mama," they heard the ship reply to Stripe. "Try getting there first with this, then I'll consider coming in swinging~" As Stripe's armored fist brought the blast doors slowly grinding to a close, air hissed back into the hangar as a shield popped into place thanks to Richard's efforts. But most of all? An armored giant fell into the hangar as several crates of ammo and supplies followed.
An Aggressor stood there, lonely and waiting for its pilot.
"Squad, grab those heavy shields, we're going to shove our way in deep," Ylfa spoke with some relief, reloading her rifle. "And Sawyer? You said you specialized in running those?"
