"Hi!" Was the introductory word of this Joto-Hei, a Nepleslian person with a slight gap between his two front teeth, blue eyes, and a blonde mop cut that made you wonder how he saw ahead of his own hair. His job on his ship was one of the Medical personnel thanks to the teal panels on his uniform. Specifically, one of the assistant medical staff. "My name ith Jack, Jack Penbridge, pleath'd to meet you, Ms...?" He saluted to the woman.
Every now and again, he'd whistle at the end of his sentences as air rushed between the gap of his teeth. He tried to keep his mouth closed even though he had a lot to say about his field. Build wise, he was of stocky build, a little under six feet tall, and pleasant to look at - teeth aside.
The taller, blonder, infantry woman with the rank of Itto Heisho looked over Jack and quirked an inquisitive eyebrow, her freckled face turning to address the Nepleslian. "Well, uh, Hi there, Jack. M'name's April Jackson, so it looks like we have mor'n just hair color in common. Watcha want, Tealshirt?" The tall, thin woman was just about to head into the training facility for some combat practice, but it seemed that she wasn't in a particular hurry to get in.
Jack was having some trouble keeping up, "Oh, I need to do my weekly combat practice too. Need t'h keep my, uh skillsh sharp." Which was something of an embellishment, as his skills were, at best, non-skills when it came to combat. He was more at home behind a cloth mask and in front of an operating table. There was very little he couldn't fix, but very little he could actually harm. He took the oath to heart - perhaps a little too much.
"They make you Medical boys cross-train in combat? You got a hardass CO or somthin?" April joked, looking at the man's Star Army blues, which contrasted with the black type 31 combat shirt and multi-net cargo pants.
Jack shrugged, and his eyes rolled if you could see them. "Yeth..."
April shrugged back. "Well, I S'pose it aint gonna hurt nothin. I'm guessing you wanted to go in with some actual Infantry to help get yer scores up?" The blonde was fairly quick with her wits, but she seemed like she had no problems with him doing just that. "If'n you don't think ya can handle it alone, that is." April grinned, slapping the Nepleslian on the back in a friendly manner, before turning on her boot's heels and heading into the ready chamber to suit up.
"Well, I ahm th' medic after all. I'm there if y'h get hurt." Jack replied, straightening up from the strength of April's lighthearted slap. It didn't take him long to locate the Daisy II armor that was assigned to him - it was carrying not only a vanilla armament, but also a pack of medical supplies. He had to be able to fight with that extra bit of bulk and weight on him and use it if need be on his specific part of the training.
April found her own Daisy II as well, which was stock except that it had had its LASR swapped out for the much sturdier ASGR by origin Industries. "Y'know, it migh' be a bit embarrasin' if this was the old days, Ah'm glad the new model lets ya wear clothes in it." The Country girl popped the helmet off the racked armor and opened it up, hopping in and doing the startup as the armor closed itself around her. "Where I come from, it ain't decent do just drop yer skivvies in fronta others."
Once the armor had readied itself, April popped the helmet on and checked her rifle. "Alright, I'm good ta go, you 'bout ready there, Jacky?"
All he had to do was put the helmet on, and he gave April a nod, "Yeth, ready when you are." He nodded, getting a feel for the armor yet again. He checked his weapons, finding that they were configured for training rather than combat, and made the correct signals to indicate as such.
April's Daisy nodded at the Nepleslian, and she announced "Settin' up the course, gettin' ready for a simulation based on battle data from Tami. This'uns gonna be fun. We were outnumbered an' surrounded." Jack gulped in reply to April's enthusiasm.
April laughed loudly at the reaction. "If yur scared, I'll let you in on a secret. Ah made it out alive with nary a scratch on me, so you're in good hands, here." Without another word, April hopped through the door, vanishing into the simulation chamber. When Jack followed, he would find himself quite bewilderingly lost in a forest of incredibly tall pines, in some places so thick you couldn't see more than a few meters away, in others spaced apart as if to make wide avenues of loam.
A few paces ahead of the medic, April could be seen, leaning up against a tree, in a half-crouch, her Daisy's shield stowed on her upper arm so she could get a better grip with both hands on her ASGR. "Git over here quick, and keep low." April radio'd to the Medic, waving him over as she surveyed the surroundings, her drones conspicuously deployed.
Jack nodded in replied and radioed back, "Roger," and started moving in a crouched position, slowed down but carefully keeping his wits about him, and his finger off the trigger, but close to it. He was peering in April's direction, keeping his shield up in that direction too. "Situation?"
A burst of gunfire in the near distance gave Jack a hint, but April still responded. "Well, one'a my drones has found the first group, about a hundred yards to the west. they can't see us on account of the foliage, but number two's gone almost three hundred yards to the east with no resistance."
April looked roughly east, and snuffed her nose a bit. "I don't like it one bit. I'm thinkin' the must have an ambush set up that-away and are tryin' ta trick us over there. One showed about five Reapers to the west, so ah think we can break through that way." The tall Daisy motioned with a shoulder to the west, emphasizing the suggestion to go toward the devil they did know rather than the devil they didn't.
Jack nodded in agreement, trusting April's combat experience. He was trained through and through to be a medic, and the cross training was a suggestion on the XO's behalf, as she was concerned about the lack of skilled soldiers after the toll the battle of Tami had taken on the fleet. "Think we can ambush the group we do know?"
"If'n we're lucky, but we gotta start movin' now. they don't know where we are, but they know which way the drone came from." April stood up, and moved to another tree, back toward the 'door' they had gone through, which was now south as far as Jack could tell. "We gotta keep low and loop around, elsewise we'll run straight inta them and it'll be our funeral, got it?" without waiting for Jack, April continued to advance from tree to tree, sweeping the area ahead of her with her rifle.
The sounds of distant battle could be heard, much farther away than the enemies present, but still very omnipresent no matter where they went. Occasionally, the discarded husks of defeated power armors from both sides were encountered, but nothing moved in the forest except them, and the occasional bough blown by the wind. Before long, the flat forest floor gave way to a gentle slope, heading roughly northwest from where they were, in the direction they were hoping to loop.
"Well, shoot, this ain't lookin' good." April muttered, noting the sudden existence of high ground that they did not currently control. "If I was anybody with half a brain, I'd be up top this hill. Somethin' tells me that they prolly left at least three armors up there to control the high ground."
"Snipers, maybe." Jack guessed as he looked at the discarded husks. Their vital signs were null, and they were beyond his care. "Think we can draw them down here?"
April surveyed the area, before giving Jack an answer. "Nope." She did, however, look up, and note a rather large break in the canopy. "Hrrrrrmmmmm.... Perhaps we can make our own high ground. You used ta the thrusters on these things?"
"Maybe?" He replied nebbishly, looking behind himself to ensure that he wasn't being followed. The idea of snipers combined with roving patrols was starting to make him nervous.
April chuckled. "Well, all this sneakin around's makin' me antsy. New plan is, boost up through the trees, find the top a tha hill, and drop in on it firin' like the dickens. Got that?" April then held up three fingers as a count down, and dropped them one after the other. the moment her index finger curled down to form a fist, the girl was boosted into the great blue by the fusion thrusters integrated into the Daisy II's backplate, making quite a bit more noise than the pair combined had made since their arrival on the scene.
Nothing ventured... He was reassured by the example that April was setting, and crouched down shortly after she ascended, Nothing gained! He leapt up and the thrusters turned on he found himself passing between tree branches, narrowly avoiding boughs to meet the sky, keeping his rifle pointed at the hill. The shape of his body was in a slightly different configuration thanks to the medical pack he was carrying, as he had to offset its weight.
Jack would find April several meters above him, reaching an apex to her flight, which had begun to arc, and, at the top, she cut her thrusters, momentum propelling her forward as her Gauss rifle opened up, its rhythmic pace a third slower than that of the LASR Jack would use. Over the Radio, Jack's ears would be greeted by the loud exclamation: "YEEEEEEHAAAAAW!"
The trees around the crown of the hill began to tear apart as the computer simulated the effect of real bullets on foliage, and clouds of dust began to rise, along with a few odd bursts from Mishhu Impaler rifles, which were nearly all wide, all of them missing their mark.
April's Daisy crashed down through the canopy, and brought her a view of her enemies- She had guessed correctly; there were three camouflaged Reaper armors standing in a hastily constructed fortification, any defensive value being negated by her trajectory. Already one of the Reapers showed it had been hit in the arm, damage causing it to freeze uselessly at the armor's side, but it wasn't out of the fight yet, and the three impaler rifles continued firing at April, and the Medic coming in behind her.
Jack's reflexes weren't quite as hard wired for combat, and he found himself steadying his rifle so he could aim correctly at the Reaper armors below. Even though it took him a moment to get his rifle ready, he was still making small, controlled bursts with the LASR. A whistle could be heard through his teeth as he breathed hard with every shot that connected - and some of the ones that didn't. His breathing was steady.
Jack's and April's combined fire proved to be a bit more withering than the defenders had expected, and one of them stopped firing, ducking for cover, but the other two held their ground, and, despite taking a number of hits from both LASR and ASGR, remained functional as the pair of Yamataian armors landed.
April was swift to move her shield from upper arm to forearm, and swing it in front of her as a barricade, keeping the Zesuaium implement between herself and her enemies, whom now had the full advantage of their defensive emplacements, though she continued to pour 8c100mm Gauss darts into it, causing a vision obscuring cloud of dust and debris to form. Her sensors, however, continued to outline her enemies, meaning she still had a proper view of them, as did Jack.
Following April's example, Jack kept his shield up, and circled around the remaining enemy in order to try and flank her and force her out of cover for April to finish off, or, perhaps, by his own hand. He moved cautiously with his rifle up and around the tagged enemy. "Close in!" He said, even though he was a little hazy on the combat terminology.
"Nah, SLAG 'em!" The blonde woman countermanded, referring to the underbarrel grenade launchers their rifles had. April fired a few rounds very quickly, then got up and moved opposite from Jack, but not quite into his field of fire, keeping her distance as she poured more rounds into the emplacement. Return fire continued, but after the Grenades was more sporadic, especially since their attention was now divided between two enemies.
Unfortunately, the third party in the Mishhu camp decided to rejoin the fight, and two Impaler rifles started pouring fire at April, turning the ground around her into powder and making a mess of the front of her shield, though the fire stopped shortly due to the low ammunition capacity of the Impaler; Jack encountered much the same resistance.
"Okay, NOW we rush in!" she ordered the Medic.
Jack looked under his LASR rifle and noticed the grenade launcher. He kept forgetting about it and thought it was just an addition to make the whole package easier to grip. He pushed the rifle against his shoulder and re-adjusted his grip, making sure he was able to shoulder the rifle. And then he just had to think about firing it once it was pointed in the right direction.
He was probably too used to things for singular purposes, but he figured this worked too - if you were a good multitasker - you wouldn't want to fire a grenade when you meant to fire a normal burst of LASR.
As Jack closed in he would hear the sound of April's thrusters engaging once more, her armor leaping to the air and reaching a crest just as he fired his grenades. The explosive ordnance managed to catch a distracted Reaper right in the torso, turning it into a pile of bloody scrap in an instant as its already compromised armor gave way completely. April, however, started coming down, still boosting, with her shield forward, but her feet moreso in a powered dropkick, aided by her rapidly firing rifle- Just as the 300 round magazine ran out, the woman's legs connected with the Reaper, smashing it to the ground, a position which it did not move from.
"Got one!" he smiled as he watched April tear into another at close range and moved in to assist her.
Within moments, however, she was beset by the third Reaper- a pop of something spring-loaded mixed with the slight noise of metal rubbing could be heard as her Impactor as deployed, and she spun around just in time to deflect and angered shoulder spike from driving into her armor's chest, but the enemy armor quickly regained itself and brought its weapon down like a club- again it was blocked, but the Reaper was forcing April back by pressing forward.
"Ah wouldn't mind a li'l help here, sugarcube!" the girl grunted, fighting against her assailant.
"On it!" Jack yelled over the Din, he rushed forwards into the third Reaper from the side and gave it a firm kick in the midsection, followed by gunning it down at close range with the LASR's primary fire. He didn't care if it fell over and allowed him to spread the damage around, all that he wanted to ensure was that it wouldn't be able to mount a counter attack while it was off-balance.
Jack's method of assisting worked in that the Reaper was now no longer pushing April back, and, covered in scars and penetrations from the LASR fire, it was certainly worse for the wear as it tumbled sideways, but the less practiced motions of the Medic also caused him to nearly lose his balance- the armor compensated for him, a bit of wildly swinging arms and some light touches of thruster and the inertial redirection system keeping him righted, but that was distraction enough for the Mishhu to finally load its impaler and continue firing.
Jack was saved by April quickly placing herself in between the two of them, her armor taking several blows before she could bring her shield forward, covering them much better as the Reaper came up to right itself. The Blonde pulled a spare magazine from the space behind her shield, but didn't have time to reload the rifle before the Reaper charged the duo of Yamataian armors.
"Crap!" He dropped his rifle and flicked his wrist. Something could be heard telescoping into his hand and flicking up, he made a step forward and a wide, arcing backhand swing against the oncoming Reaper, shield to one side and ready to swing in as a parry against whatever the Reaper had coming.
The Reaper, seemingly unopposed, continued its forward bullrush, still firing away with its rifle, though the rounds proved mostly ineffective as they simply ablated the shield that was one of the Daisy's strong points, not at all penetrating them. But once it got close enough to get around those shields, Jack's suddenly moved in a flurry of motion, smacking the Reaper in the face, Dazing the pilot, who's momentum continued forward, although some of it bled off in pushing Jack back a bit. April used that advantage to bump the armor upwards, sending it tumbling behind the duo in a heap as it lost a fight with gravity.
Jack then turned around and knelt over the downed Reaper, lifting his shield up and smashing it against the pilot's neck. Even though Jack was a medic and a doctor, he was also a Nepleslian - and their brand of brutality and pragmatism in combat just ran in the blood. Crunch! It didn't take a doctor to figure out that this was a lethal attack.
With the final enemy dispatched, the simulation suddenly became pixellated, before the pixels began to fall away, like some crazy sort of electronic snow, finally disappearing, and revealing a large round chamber. Littered around the chamber were the training rounds their rifles had used for the simulation so as to provide realistic recoil, but aside from that, no evidence of their simulated fight remained. Even the charred and scorched and otherwise abused fronts of their shields had become pristine once more, leaving the simulation to display scores.
In front of Jack, the first set of scores and stats displayed themselves- Number of rounds fired, number of hits taken, number of enemies dispatched, etc. but at the top was a big number and a letter, signifying his score and grade- For one kill and one assisted kill, mixed with the data from his firing profile and use of tactics, Jack earned himself a solid 87% on the simulation, landing him a B+ grade, which handily let him pass.
April had a similar score- one kill and one assist, but her superior use of tactics and strategy netted her a slightly higher number- 90%, giving her an A for the simulation.
"Well, I'll be. Not too bad for a noob." April commented on Jack's score, whistling appreciatively as she doffed her helmet, placing it in the crook of her shoulder. "I'd say with a bit more practice, you'll be able ta pull those kinda scores off solo."
"I always work better in a team," Jack smiled to April, happy that he was finally able to practice a two-person fighting team. Two person teams just seemed to work on small assignments, since they could keep each other covered if they were coordinated. And with a strong leader like April, the inexperienced Jack was able to follow suit and deliver. "Couldn't have done that without you."
Maybe one day he'd learn something on his own and put that to use rather than relying on being in a team. Maybe one day he'd be by himself.
"Aww, Shucks. I'm just doin' my job and nothin' else." April replied humbly. "I figger i'd been right smothered tryin' ta handle those three on my own, 'specially doin' something foolish like jumpin inta the middle before checkin' my ammo." Of course, April thought to herself, I would have likely fought a bit more conservatively if I had been by my lonesome, and having a partner did make me pass the simulation faster.
"Ah well, I learned somefing too, so we both came out of this wiff somefing valuable. Don't be so hard on yourself." Jack reassured the taller woman. Combat was never his strong suit, but he learned a few new things today, and discovered some more uses for the Daisy armor - especially the shock-tactic boosting.
April chuckled, and gave jack another amicable slap on the back, though with the armor it was a bit harder- not that Jack could tell through his own Daisy. "It ain't no thing. Now, come on, let's get cleaned up and outta here, looks like another group needs the sim chamber."
Every now and again, he'd whistle at the end of his sentences as air rushed between the gap of his teeth. He tried to keep his mouth closed even though he had a lot to say about his field. Build wise, he was of stocky build, a little under six feet tall, and pleasant to look at - teeth aside.
The taller, blonder, infantry woman with the rank of Itto Heisho looked over Jack and quirked an inquisitive eyebrow, her freckled face turning to address the Nepleslian. "Well, uh, Hi there, Jack. M'name's April Jackson, so it looks like we have mor'n just hair color in common. Watcha want, Tealshirt?" The tall, thin woman was just about to head into the training facility for some combat practice, but it seemed that she wasn't in a particular hurry to get in.
Jack was having some trouble keeping up, "Oh, I need to do my weekly combat practice too. Need t'h keep my, uh skillsh sharp." Which was something of an embellishment, as his skills were, at best, non-skills when it came to combat. He was more at home behind a cloth mask and in front of an operating table. There was very little he couldn't fix, but very little he could actually harm. He took the oath to heart - perhaps a little too much.
"They make you Medical boys cross-train in combat? You got a hardass CO or somthin?" April joked, looking at the man's Star Army blues, which contrasted with the black type 31 combat shirt and multi-net cargo pants.
Jack shrugged, and his eyes rolled if you could see them. "Yeth..."
April shrugged back. "Well, I S'pose it aint gonna hurt nothin. I'm guessing you wanted to go in with some actual Infantry to help get yer scores up?" The blonde was fairly quick with her wits, but she seemed like she had no problems with him doing just that. "If'n you don't think ya can handle it alone, that is." April grinned, slapping the Nepleslian on the back in a friendly manner, before turning on her boot's heels and heading into the ready chamber to suit up.
"Well, I ahm th' medic after all. I'm there if y'h get hurt." Jack replied, straightening up from the strength of April's lighthearted slap. It didn't take him long to locate the Daisy II armor that was assigned to him - it was carrying not only a vanilla armament, but also a pack of medical supplies. He had to be able to fight with that extra bit of bulk and weight on him and use it if need be on his specific part of the training.
April found her own Daisy II as well, which was stock except that it had had its LASR swapped out for the much sturdier ASGR by origin Industries. "Y'know, it migh' be a bit embarrasin' if this was the old days, Ah'm glad the new model lets ya wear clothes in it." The Country girl popped the helmet off the racked armor and opened it up, hopping in and doing the startup as the armor closed itself around her. "Where I come from, it ain't decent do just drop yer skivvies in fronta others."
Once the armor had readied itself, April popped the helmet on and checked her rifle. "Alright, I'm good ta go, you 'bout ready there, Jacky?"
All he had to do was put the helmet on, and he gave April a nod, "Yeth, ready when you are." He nodded, getting a feel for the armor yet again. He checked his weapons, finding that they were configured for training rather than combat, and made the correct signals to indicate as such.
April's Daisy nodded at the Nepleslian, and she announced "Settin' up the course, gettin' ready for a simulation based on battle data from Tami. This'uns gonna be fun. We were outnumbered an' surrounded." Jack gulped in reply to April's enthusiasm.
April laughed loudly at the reaction. "If yur scared, I'll let you in on a secret. Ah made it out alive with nary a scratch on me, so you're in good hands, here." Without another word, April hopped through the door, vanishing into the simulation chamber. When Jack followed, he would find himself quite bewilderingly lost in a forest of incredibly tall pines, in some places so thick you couldn't see more than a few meters away, in others spaced apart as if to make wide avenues of loam.
A few paces ahead of the medic, April could be seen, leaning up against a tree, in a half-crouch, her Daisy's shield stowed on her upper arm so she could get a better grip with both hands on her ASGR. "Git over here quick, and keep low." April radio'd to the Medic, waving him over as she surveyed the surroundings, her drones conspicuously deployed.
Jack nodded in replied and radioed back, "Roger," and started moving in a crouched position, slowed down but carefully keeping his wits about him, and his finger off the trigger, but close to it. He was peering in April's direction, keeping his shield up in that direction too. "Situation?"
A burst of gunfire in the near distance gave Jack a hint, but April still responded. "Well, one'a my drones has found the first group, about a hundred yards to the west. they can't see us on account of the foliage, but number two's gone almost three hundred yards to the east with no resistance."
April looked roughly east, and snuffed her nose a bit. "I don't like it one bit. I'm thinkin' the must have an ambush set up that-away and are tryin' ta trick us over there. One showed about five Reapers to the west, so ah think we can break through that way." The tall Daisy motioned with a shoulder to the west, emphasizing the suggestion to go toward the devil they did know rather than the devil they didn't.
Jack nodded in agreement, trusting April's combat experience. He was trained through and through to be a medic, and the cross training was a suggestion on the XO's behalf, as she was concerned about the lack of skilled soldiers after the toll the battle of Tami had taken on the fleet. "Think we can ambush the group we do know?"
"If'n we're lucky, but we gotta start movin' now. they don't know where we are, but they know which way the drone came from." April stood up, and moved to another tree, back toward the 'door' they had gone through, which was now south as far as Jack could tell. "We gotta keep low and loop around, elsewise we'll run straight inta them and it'll be our funeral, got it?" without waiting for Jack, April continued to advance from tree to tree, sweeping the area ahead of her with her rifle.
The sounds of distant battle could be heard, much farther away than the enemies present, but still very omnipresent no matter where they went. Occasionally, the discarded husks of defeated power armors from both sides were encountered, but nothing moved in the forest except them, and the occasional bough blown by the wind. Before long, the flat forest floor gave way to a gentle slope, heading roughly northwest from where they were, in the direction they were hoping to loop.
"Well, shoot, this ain't lookin' good." April muttered, noting the sudden existence of high ground that they did not currently control. "If I was anybody with half a brain, I'd be up top this hill. Somethin' tells me that they prolly left at least three armors up there to control the high ground."
"Snipers, maybe." Jack guessed as he looked at the discarded husks. Their vital signs were null, and they were beyond his care. "Think we can draw them down here?"
April surveyed the area, before giving Jack an answer. "Nope." She did, however, look up, and note a rather large break in the canopy. "Hrrrrrmmmmm.... Perhaps we can make our own high ground. You used ta the thrusters on these things?"
"Maybe?" He replied nebbishly, looking behind himself to ensure that he wasn't being followed. The idea of snipers combined with roving patrols was starting to make him nervous.
April chuckled. "Well, all this sneakin around's makin' me antsy. New plan is, boost up through the trees, find the top a tha hill, and drop in on it firin' like the dickens. Got that?" April then held up three fingers as a count down, and dropped them one after the other. the moment her index finger curled down to form a fist, the girl was boosted into the great blue by the fusion thrusters integrated into the Daisy II's backplate, making quite a bit more noise than the pair combined had made since their arrival on the scene.
Nothing ventured... He was reassured by the example that April was setting, and crouched down shortly after she ascended, Nothing gained! He leapt up and the thrusters turned on he found himself passing between tree branches, narrowly avoiding boughs to meet the sky, keeping his rifle pointed at the hill. The shape of his body was in a slightly different configuration thanks to the medical pack he was carrying, as he had to offset its weight.
Jack would find April several meters above him, reaching an apex to her flight, which had begun to arc, and, at the top, she cut her thrusters, momentum propelling her forward as her Gauss rifle opened up, its rhythmic pace a third slower than that of the LASR Jack would use. Over the Radio, Jack's ears would be greeted by the loud exclamation: "YEEEEEEHAAAAAW!"
The trees around the crown of the hill began to tear apart as the computer simulated the effect of real bullets on foliage, and clouds of dust began to rise, along with a few odd bursts from Mishhu Impaler rifles, which were nearly all wide, all of them missing their mark.
April's Daisy crashed down through the canopy, and brought her a view of her enemies- She had guessed correctly; there were three camouflaged Reaper armors standing in a hastily constructed fortification, any defensive value being negated by her trajectory. Already one of the Reapers showed it had been hit in the arm, damage causing it to freeze uselessly at the armor's side, but it wasn't out of the fight yet, and the three impaler rifles continued firing at April, and the Medic coming in behind her.
Jack's reflexes weren't quite as hard wired for combat, and he found himself steadying his rifle so he could aim correctly at the Reaper armors below. Even though it took him a moment to get his rifle ready, he was still making small, controlled bursts with the LASR. A whistle could be heard through his teeth as he breathed hard with every shot that connected - and some of the ones that didn't. His breathing was steady.
Jack's and April's combined fire proved to be a bit more withering than the defenders had expected, and one of them stopped firing, ducking for cover, but the other two held their ground, and, despite taking a number of hits from both LASR and ASGR, remained functional as the pair of Yamataian armors landed.
April was swift to move her shield from upper arm to forearm, and swing it in front of her as a barricade, keeping the Zesuaium implement between herself and her enemies, whom now had the full advantage of their defensive emplacements, though she continued to pour 8c100mm Gauss darts into it, causing a vision obscuring cloud of dust and debris to form. Her sensors, however, continued to outline her enemies, meaning she still had a proper view of them, as did Jack.
Following April's example, Jack kept his shield up, and circled around the remaining enemy in order to try and flank her and force her out of cover for April to finish off, or, perhaps, by his own hand. He moved cautiously with his rifle up and around the tagged enemy. "Close in!" He said, even though he was a little hazy on the combat terminology.
"Nah, SLAG 'em!" The blonde woman countermanded, referring to the underbarrel grenade launchers their rifles had. April fired a few rounds very quickly, then got up and moved opposite from Jack, but not quite into his field of fire, keeping her distance as she poured more rounds into the emplacement. Return fire continued, but after the Grenades was more sporadic, especially since their attention was now divided between two enemies.
Unfortunately, the third party in the Mishhu camp decided to rejoin the fight, and two Impaler rifles started pouring fire at April, turning the ground around her into powder and making a mess of the front of her shield, though the fire stopped shortly due to the low ammunition capacity of the Impaler; Jack encountered much the same resistance.
"Okay, NOW we rush in!" she ordered the Medic.
Jack looked under his LASR rifle and noticed the grenade launcher. He kept forgetting about it and thought it was just an addition to make the whole package easier to grip. He pushed the rifle against his shoulder and re-adjusted his grip, making sure he was able to shoulder the rifle. And then he just had to think about firing it once it was pointed in the right direction.
He was probably too used to things for singular purposes, but he figured this worked too - if you were a good multitasker - you wouldn't want to fire a grenade when you meant to fire a normal burst of LASR.
As Jack closed in he would hear the sound of April's thrusters engaging once more, her armor leaping to the air and reaching a crest just as he fired his grenades. The explosive ordnance managed to catch a distracted Reaper right in the torso, turning it into a pile of bloody scrap in an instant as its already compromised armor gave way completely. April, however, started coming down, still boosting, with her shield forward, but her feet moreso in a powered dropkick, aided by her rapidly firing rifle- Just as the 300 round magazine ran out, the woman's legs connected with the Reaper, smashing it to the ground, a position which it did not move from.
"Got one!" he smiled as he watched April tear into another at close range and moved in to assist her.
Within moments, however, she was beset by the third Reaper- a pop of something spring-loaded mixed with the slight noise of metal rubbing could be heard as her Impactor as deployed, and she spun around just in time to deflect and angered shoulder spike from driving into her armor's chest, but the enemy armor quickly regained itself and brought its weapon down like a club- again it was blocked, but the Reaper was forcing April back by pressing forward.
"Ah wouldn't mind a li'l help here, sugarcube!" the girl grunted, fighting against her assailant.
"On it!" Jack yelled over the Din, he rushed forwards into the third Reaper from the side and gave it a firm kick in the midsection, followed by gunning it down at close range with the LASR's primary fire. He didn't care if it fell over and allowed him to spread the damage around, all that he wanted to ensure was that it wouldn't be able to mount a counter attack while it was off-balance.
Jack's method of assisting worked in that the Reaper was now no longer pushing April back, and, covered in scars and penetrations from the LASR fire, it was certainly worse for the wear as it tumbled sideways, but the less practiced motions of the Medic also caused him to nearly lose his balance- the armor compensated for him, a bit of wildly swinging arms and some light touches of thruster and the inertial redirection system keeping him righted, but that was distraction enough for the Mishhu to finally load its impaler and continue firing.
Jack was saved by April quickly placing herself in between the two of them, her armor taking several blows before she could bring her shield forward, covering them much better as the Reaper came up to right itself. The Blonde pulled a spare magazine from the space behind her shield, but didn't have time to reload the rifle before the Reaper charged the duo of Yamataian armors.
"Crap!" He dropped his rifle and flicked his wrist. Something could be heard telescoping into his hand and flicking up, he made a step forward and a wide, arcing backhand swing against the oncoming Reaper, shield to one side and ready to swing in as a parry against whatever the Reaper had coming.
The Reaper, seemingly unopposed, continued its forward bullrush, still firing away with its rifle, though the rounds proved mostly ineffective as they simply ablated the shield that was one of the Daisy's strong points, not at all penetrating them. But once it got close enough to get around those shields, Jack's suddenly moved in a flurry of motion, smacking the Reaper in the face, Dazing the pilot, who's momentum continued forward, although some of it bled off in pushing Jack back a bit. April used that advantage to bump the armor upwards, sending it tumbling behind the duo in a heap as it lost a fight with gravity.
Jack then turned around and knelt over the downed Reaper, lifting his shield up and smashing it against the pilot's neck. Even though Jack was a medic and a doctor, he was also a Nepleslian - and their brand of brutality and pragmatism in combat just ran in the blood. Crunch! It didn't take a doctor to figure out that this was a lethal attack.
With the final enemy dispatched, the simulation suddenly became pixellated, before the pixels began to fall away, like some crazy sort of electronic snow, finally disappearing, and revealing a large round chamber. Littered around the chamber were the training rounds their rifles had used for the simulation so as to provide realistic recoil, but aside from that, no evidence of their simulated fight remained. Even the charred and scorched and otherwise abused fronts of their shields had become pristine once more, leaving the simulation to display scores.
In front of Jack, the first set of scores and stats displayed themselves- Number of rounds fired, number of hits taken, number of enemies dispatched, etc. but at the top was a big number and a letter, signifying his score and grade- For one kill and one assisted kill, mixed with the data from his firing profile and use of tactics, Jack earned himself a solid 87% on the simulation, landing him a B+ grade, which handily let him pass.
April had a similar score- one kill and one assist, but her superior use of tactics and strategy netted her a slightly higher number- 90%, giving her an A for the simulation.
"Well, I'll be. Not too bad for a noob." April commented on Jack's score, whistling appreciatively as she doffed her helmet, placing it in the crook of her shoulder. "I'd say with a bit more practice, you'll be able ta pull those kinda scores off solo."
"I always work better in a team," Jack smiled to April, happy that he was finally able to practice a two-person fighting team. Two person teams just seemed to work on small assignments, since they could keep each other covered if they were coordinated. And with a strong leader like April, the inexperienced Jack was able to follow suit and deliver. "Couldn't have done that without you."
Maybe one day he'd learn something on his own and put that to use rather than relying on being in a team. Maybe one day he'd be by himself.
"Aww, Shucks. I'm just doin' my job and nothin' else." April replied humbly. "I figger i'd been right smothered tryin' ta handle those three on my own, 'specially doin' something foolish like jumpin inta the middle before checkin' my ammo." Of course, April thought to herself, I would have likely fought a bit more conservatively if I had been by my lonesome, and having a partner did make me pass the simulation faster.
"Ah well, I learned somefing too, so we both came out of this wiff somefing valuable. Don't be so hard on yourself." Jack reassured the taller woman. Combat was never his strong suit, but he learned a few new things today, and discovered some more uses for the Daisy armor - especially the shock-tactic boosting.
April chuckled, and gave jack another amicable slap on the back, though with the armor it was a bit harder- not that Jack could tell through his own Daisy. "It ain't no thing. Now, come on, let's get cleaned up and outta here, looks like another group needs the sim chamber."
