RP: NSS Altomir [Mission 1.1] Gathering the Bearings

If Alex did not move back into the room, her shields would be taking quite a beating right now. Her HPAR was not very effective on the Render, but that was to be expected. There was also that Ripper, which posed quite a problem too with its weaponry. Not to mention that all three of them all huddled up on one level was not greatest idea too.

"Goin up!" Alex shouted and fire two shorts bursts into the ceiling, before jumping through the floor. Much faster then using stairs. She then moved towards the window and checked the situation. Render was using its boosters to dodge, but they could use that against it. Alexandra locked all her monoeyes on the monster.

"Okay next that big bugger jumps to the side," she started explaining her plan. "Just hit it with your P/P and push it backwards. If we combine it we should be able to topple it!" She shouted at Devling and Bernie and prepared herself to do just so. She aimed her HPAR and fired long burst at the thing, prepared for it to jump to the side again.

"Bloody hell, you fucking moron! Thanks for giving away my position!" Bernhard screamed at Devlin. Again, Bernhard's effectiveness and small amount of surprise was gone. Ruined by that inexperienced Marine, Marsh. Didn't Basic Training teach them not to bunch up? Didn't it teach them how to spread the battlefield while concentrating fire? It was like this man was a complete civilian and not a Marine who had finished the grueling five month training course.

Bernhard broke away from the wall, still silently seething and cursing Devlin, his ancestors, his family, and his future progeny. He activated his thrusters and shot up to join Alex, taking a position across from her.

He finally had a shot that the Render wasn't going to expect. Bernhard aimed down the gun, placing the mecha's head in his crosshairs. He took a breath, held it and pulled the trigger. Immediately, the HPAR began spitting coin rounds at 4km/s at the Render. Bernhard held the trigger, keeping the rifle on automatic fire. The three-round burst was useless, in his opinion. He cracked a smirk, listening to the roar of the HPAR and feeling the thump-thump-thumping as round after round was propelled towards the wretched squid armor. (1 attack)

Desiree's salvo of DARTs scattered towards the two Rippers to the Southwest (A and B), roughly around the same time Saveli stepped up and began firing concentrated bursts at the Ripper (D) standing next to the fleeting Render. Their positions behind the NMX armors proved to be an advantage; the Rippers strafed betwixt the small flurry of Des's final salvo of DARTs, a few of the miniature dirty missiles exploding within a few feet from the duo of Rippers (A and B). The first detonations immediately garnered their attention, however; the proceeding ones were quickly danced away from, short bursts of speed awarding them a lessened effort on the subsequent explosions until the last of Desiree's DARTs were either disabled with short bursts of aetheric point-fire, or detonated in small plumes of billowing black smoke and an occasional crackle of latent electrical charges scattered amidst the darkened clouds.

The Ripper (D) that Saveli was shooting at turned towards its companions as they were bombarded, catching the tail-end of Saveli as his Impaler's barrel blared with white and red flashes. The Impaler rounds sailed through the air, impacting the stalled Ripper's shields before pelting the side of the powered armor. The shots proved to be slightly more effective against the thinner armor plating of the lightweight Ripper, compared to the thick shell and several-tonnage frame of the Render mecha. The Ripper twisted around slightly with the force of Saveli's shots, planting its feet on the ground once when it landed as the thin beams of energy passed into the armor, the extent of the damage not immediately apparent. Instantly, the Ripper (D) utilized its thrusters and charged towards Saveli's position, weaving erratically in short bursts from its rear-mounted thrusters. The Ripper also began to spray short bursts of aetheric fire from its forearm to cover its deadly approach towards Saveli.

At the same time, the other two Rippers (A and B) rushed towards Desiree, their forearm-mounted zesuaium blades and razor-lined left arms glinting menacingly in the light produced from their thrusters. One of the Rippers (A) pounced past the curb, slamming its shoulder into Krystian and sending the marines Hostile flying to the left, its four-eyed faceplate still transfixed onto Des. Meanwhile, the other Ripper (B) flew past its companion straight towards Desiree, raising the lethal bladed weapon on its right arm up and into a ready position as it quickly closed the gap between the two.

---



The the three Rippers engaging the rest of the marines in close quarters combat, the Render paused its advance down the street and planted its four legs firmly against the ground. Some of the HPAR rounds, designed to burn with the intensity of weapons-grade plasma, had already begun melting holes into the armored hull, albeit small ones. This did not seem to directly phase the Render mecha, however, as the machinery on the titans' back began to whir. Four long-barreled cannons rushed down across its shoulders, pointing directly at the office building in which the three other marines were huddled.

Bernhard and Alexandra's HPAR rounds continued to pelt the Render's front-mounted armor, doing noticeable damage to the frame and hull, the four-eyed faceplate in particular. A few of Alex's strafing shots impacted against the face of the mecha in quick succession, shattering the plate completely in the shower of molten metal and sparks, followed by a small, contained explosion. Alexandra's small victory was met with a harrowing reality, however; at the end of her assault, the readout on the HPAR's small digital ammunition display read a single, solemn zero in red digital text, leaving her with just her LSP-01a and standard issue VCBS.

All of this firepower, however distressing to the NMX trooper inside, did not seem to deter the Render from its original intent; the four barrels of its shoulder-mounted aether cannons began to glow at the end of the barrels before unleashing its salvo. Four thick blue-white streams of intense energy sailed through the graying morning mist, slamming into scattered positions around where the three marines were taking cover. Two impacted the wall of the floor directly below Bernhard and Alexandra, where they had previously been; the aetheric energy impacted the brick, stone and mortar with a flash of concussive force, blowing away an enormous portion of the wall with it. The flooring beneath Bernhard, the support beneath it suddenly shifting away and falling several floors down, gave under the weight of the man's Hostile, sending him toppling down amidst the rubble of his once-stable footing.

The other two shots followed along Devlin's predicted path, impacting to both his left and right, tearing away more of the buildings side, spraying Devlin's Hostile with shrapnel and debris. The Render remained stationary while this happened, the four barrels of its aether cannons remaining silent for a moment. However, a continued hum from the mecha revealed that it was still in a firing position, no doubt giving itself a moment to ready another salvo of fire. The cover of the office building was quickly being worn away; it would not be long before there was nothing else between the three Hostiles on the four deadly aetheric weapons aimed at them.

"Yes, ma'am!"

After a quick salute, John turned around and left the subway, making all haste to the entrance. Immediately, sounds and sights of the combat zone filled his senses. He saw the Render off in the distance, a dangerous target indeed, but a vulnerable one at the moment with its back mostly to the marine.

However, the more pressing danger was directly above him. Armors pounded on the awning above him. He checked his weaponry. Three more volleys left on his HPAR and one set of missiles. Not much to work with.

But he had the element of surprise just once. It was important to make the most of it while it lasted.

The marine swallowed hard and gripped his HPAR tightly in hand. He put himself in position, then, after a small breath, flew up onto the awning, where he tried to spray the closest foe (D) in the back with a burst of fire from his HPAR (Attack: 1).

Thomas watched the battle unfold on the outside, being able to do nothing more than that because of his lack of proper weapons. He readied himself, stashing his LSP back on its container and holding his VCBS with his right hand, for whatever good it would do.

The marine ducked as the first enemy Ripper (A) came and knocked Krystian , thinking that the attack was meant for him, then used the opportunity to counter attack the foe while it had his attention on Desiree.

What he did next was a very risky gambit, using the two heavier thrusters on the back of his Hostile for a single, strong burst to propel himself up and towards the Ripper. Thomas arched himself back and brought his left arm back as if he were going to simply punch the enemy armor, bringing it back down on a punch as he approached the enemy machine from above, activating his PPP Repulsion field to push the enemy armor away and towards the floor beneath it in what could be described as one hell of a punch.

"Out of ammo," Alex shouted at her compatriots as she moved to the right side. "Marsh, Bernhard status report! Are you two okay?" She asked putting her HPAR on her back as she moved. She locked all her mono-eyes on the Render as it moved. With other Ripper leaving it was all alone and Alexandra and other could take advantage of that. She needed to know the status of other two though.

As the floor collapsed, Bernhard felt his mind race and time slow. What should he do? What could he do? Bernhard knew he was falling back to the ground. If he ignited his thrusters, he would just crash into the wall. How could he right himself. He had seconds, at best to react and time was quickly... gone.

Bernhard had tried to fire his Push/Pull on the Push setting to cushion his impact but as he extended his left arm, he hit the ground hard. On impact, he was knocked unconscious as his head struck the Hostile's helmet hard.

If he had been fresh and better rested, and with more experience, he might have been able to pull off the maneuver. But in his fatigued state, his response time was slower by critical seconds.

Saveli's spine curled a bit in fear as he saw the Rippers tear towards him. Of course, they weren't all diving towards him, the sight was just frightening. He didn't have much to move against either. There was the option of diving deeper into the sub-way, but that risked the civilians and the officers getting caught in the fire. So, he turned his his mono-eyed visage on the Ripper (D) coming towards him. The soldier held his gauntlet up, and fired off his PPG at the Ripper.

The Ripper (D) flew towards Saveli with reckless abandon, even in the face of the Iroma's retaliatory strike, coupled with John Davis' arrival and subsequent spray of his HPAR. John's shots struck up along the left chassis of the Rippers armor, each superheated round piercing the armor of the machine, jerking the NMX power armor to the left a bit with each collision but ultimately not impeding its advance. Saveli's Push-Pull Guard emitted a focused force of propulsive kinetic energy at the Ripper (D), striking the bounding armored unit at the hip. The recoil of striking an object of similar weight caused Saveli himself to be taken aback slightly; the PPG's kinetic fields, both attraction and repelling, were still subject to standard laws of inertia. The horned man's kneeling position granted him enough purchase to remain stable while the Ripper spun around violently, its flight pattern skewed for a moment at the repulsive force.

Despite the damage from the HPAR and the momentary disorientation from the kinetic blow, the Ripper regained its composure and throttled back towards Saveli, apparently in total disregard for its own condition. This was fairly common with Ripper units, as some of the veterans of Misshu combat could attest; brain-slave pilots often held little regard for personal safety in the face of enemy opposition.

The Ripper (D) launched at Saveli in a flying tackle, its upper torso colliding with the Iroma's squatting form and hurtled it back. Amidst the close-quarters brawling, the Ripper raised its forearm-mounted blade and tucked it close to its torso, readying a lethal stab to Saveli's Hostile's abdomen.

---

Bernhard's tumble landed him on the ground-level floor of the office building, a pile or rubble, settled dust and solid concrete foundation stopping his descent. Although his application of the PPG to "push" against the ground beneath him sent his body spinning as a result, the gel layers and cushion system in his Hostile softened a sizable amount of trauma. Bernhard would still receive some rather irksome neck and back pains as he regained consciousness, his visioning beginning to return to him after the brief moment of incapacitation.

His Hostiles HUD displayed minor abrasion damage from the fall, but nothing critical or life-threatening. His system noticed small decreases in brain activity, prompting Bernhard to regain his focus.

The Render outside fired a second foursome of energy beams at other sections of the buildings front that remained intact, once again reducing the area of cover for the marines within by a good amount. Bernhard seemed to be the safest from this attack, his position farther within the ground floor of the building lending him more of a position to avoid the lethal blasts of energy as he recovered.

---

The Ripper (A) advancing towards Thomas and Desiree surged across the black pavement, meeting Thomas' projected tractor field at a fairly close distance. Thomas would find it somewhat difficult to really act upon the Ripper in an effective fashion; the powered armor weighed nearly the same as he did, meaning the exertion of force could have went both ways. What it came down to was the Ripper being flung against the pavement at the behest of Thomas' PPG, only to boost itself back upright a few yards away from the group of Nepleslian Marines.

After recovering, the Ripper immediately raised its left arm, the forearm-mounted aether projector beginning to spray a multitude of bluish-white energy surging towards Thomas, Desiree and Krystian.

---

As the battle grew fiercer on the ground, motion detectors affixed to observant monoeye systems would catch small glimpses of movement on the eastern edge of the street intersection, atop the multi-tiered parking garage across the street from both parties of marines.

A cold sweat broke out on the Cohronl's brow as he found the Ripper still proving reckless enough to bring its assault forth. He had heard of the NMX's self-abandonment in their tactics, seen the videos. Yet, nothing prepared him for being on the receiving end of the assault, right there, then and there. If he did not act then and there, he was dead, another casualty on the long list building from the day's dawn. His family would smile at his picture, thinking he was making his way, knowing he was too far from home to message back. He'd be a fond memory.

His mind knew he couldn't dodge, his thrusters would just send him crashing into another armor. So he did what he thought was best in the heat of the battle. He parried the tucked blade with his Impaler, striking at the Ripper's arm. With his free right, he grabbed his vibrosaw knife and sunk it between the armor plates of the hulking green beast, aiming for a spot near the brain slave's vital cranial region.

With his MPR raised in firing position Ruse slowly emerged form the lower levels of the parking garage onto the top level. Ruse swept his rifle across the level of the garage before advancing onto the level proper. Speaking into his laser comm to his fellow recon unit he voiced “Clear”. Once Ruse was on the top level of the garage he dropped into a duck crawl and headed for the corner of the garage closest to the intersection they had approached. His suit was still running in with its stealth fields active as he placed one knee of the suit on the concrete floor and took a look over the edge of ledge of the garage.

Ruse had his suits mono-eyes sweep over the intersection taking in the battlefield below. Ruse grunted in displeasure has he looked upon the what his HUD was displaying. Shifting his position against to ducking back behind the ledge with his suit's back unit against the ledge. “So we've got three tangos at the subway entrance and one tango below.” Ruse said over his comm to the other Night unit with him. The most displeasing thing to Ruse however was the number of shots his HUD was displaying were left in his MPR. “I've got one shot left. And that big beast below us is just aching to take it” he stated. “I think we should link our shots on this and see what happens.”

Shifting back in to a crouching position facing out towards the street below Ruse readying his MPR. He locked his targeting sight on the Render's rear center back unit. Ruse's heart rate began to increase slightly in excitement of the moment it would be his first action of real combat. He'd finally be doing his part for the Empire by ridding it of these squids. Placing his suits trigger finger on the his MPR's trigger he fixed one mono-eye towards his accompanying NIGHT unit while his targeting camera stayed focused on the Render below. “Ready when you are.” Ruse stated again over their comm. He'd fire his round when the other unit was ready to get there shots as synchronized as possible.

After letting loose his round on the Render aimed at the Render's cent back unit Ruse would we watch the aftermath of his shot for a brief second before crouching back behind the ledger and duck crawling away form it as he place his now spent MPR onto its hard-point on the back of his power armor and readying his LSP. He'd make his way to the opposite corner of the building still facing the subway entrance.

Daniel Rand followed Haives as he looked out over the edge of the top-most level of the parking garage which lay to the east of the street intersection. In response to one of the P3C's mental commands, the Combat Savtech of his NIGHT2 stealth and reconnaissance armor fixed one of the shoulder-mounted targeting cameras upon the Render that was chipping away at the ruined office building across the street -- its incandesant bluish-white bolts of aether streaked through the misty air like infernal lances and were steadily reducing the structure before the mecha to smoking debris with each successive impact. Daniel's targeting camera magnified the sight, clearly showing him the Render's back-side and the formidable anti-starship gun that was mounted there. The camera turned towards the office building, giving Daniel the chance to visually confirm the condition of those inside -- but the dust and mortar that had been cast into the air by the Render's weapons fire made it difficult to confirm anything without using his monoeyes in active mode -- an action which could also give away his position to any enemy paying attention to their sensors.

Daniel directed his other shoulder-mounted targeting camera to look in on the other fighting in progress at the entrance to the 5th street subway station that was north-west of his present position-- it seemed to him that the squad there was fairing slightly better, as from what Daniel could tell they had the enemy outnumbered 5-3.

He turned away from the scenes of battle to regard his squad-mate, Ruse Haives -- out of the seven marines of Fox Two that had managed to make it ground-side and regroup after the NMX had nuked their destoyer, the NSS Okir'Shakai, Haives was the only member of Fox Two besides himself that had made it this far. They hadn't been on Rok'Veru long before their recon squad had picked up the short-range broadcast calling for all friendlies to head for the subway. However, despite being equipped for stealth the NMX had somehow managed to ambush their squad and their CO, Staff Sergeant Hans Gunnert, had been killed by the first enemy salvo. Daniel could still remember the sight of raw aether ripping into his armor, shredding and melting through it like a hot knife through butter. Chaos and confusion had followed, with Haives and Rand being lucky to get out alive -- though they had also been seperated from the rest of their squad.

Using his armors communication laser to talk covertly to Haives without giving themselves away to enemy, Daniel responded to the marine. "Agreed -- we should hit that Render in the back before it realizes we're here -- even if we can't take the son-of-a-bitch down, we can at least distract it enough to give those hiding in the office building a chance to retaliate without being cut to ribbons. If we get lucky and manage to quickly take the bastard out, then whoever's left in the office building will also be able to help us outflank the Rippers attacking the subway."

Daniel separated from Ruse and moved to a position a few meters across from him so that if the enemy quickly retaliated they wouldn't both be caught in the returning fire. The marine then knelt, readying his multiphase rifle and aimed it over the ledge -- pointing it squarely at the center of the Render's back. Through the magnified image provided by his central targeting camera, Daniel judged from the Render's physical configuration that the enemies power generator was located where he was aiming -- or very close by.

"Fire!" Daniel sent to Haives using his suits laser as he simultaneously pulled the trigger and unleashed his last APFSDS rod towards the back of the unsuspecting enemy.

Once his final round was spent, Daniel crouched back behind the ledge and crawled across the ground in pursuit of Haives, placing his now empty rifle back in its mount and pulling his LSP free for use.

Bernhard tried to get up but stumbled forwards after catching his foot against a piece of rubble. He tripped over another piece of rubble before falling face first into the floor again. Pain shot through his back and he cried out. His vision was still blurred and he couldn't understand what exactly was going on or where he was. As far as he could tell, he was swimming in soup.

The medic tried, again, to get up but instead of walking, as he had tried earlier, Bernhard stood still to gain his balance and focus his vision. The pain in his back and neck were horrible, the worst he had felt in a long time. And without any painkillers left in his suit, Bernhard would just have to take it. For the moment, it was taking all of his efforts just to stand and ignore the pain while trying to concentrate.

Oh shi-, thought the marine, not being able to voice his thoughts as the aether beams slashed around him. He didn't know whether he had been hit by one of them or not, but the fact that he still had full shields kept him worrying about the possible damage too much.

Thomas activated his thrusters and moved towards the nearest cover back to the subway entrance. He didn't have any proper weapons to engage the Ripper at that range, so he decided with the withdrawal and drew his VCBS instead.

Thomas turned his head towards the two other marines who were also being targeted by the Ripper, "Little help over here!", he yelled hurriedly as he boosted himself back.

"Come on Bernie! Talk to me!" Alexandra shouted in the comms. She was worried, but she could not risk jumping back down now. Two tons of her Hostile might help collapse the lower levels even more. She also could not hear Devil shooting, which sounded like bad news. Even worse was that Render decided to level the building and Alexandra was down to her knife and peashooter.

Then her monoeyes gave her movement warning. Alexandra looked out of the window and on the Garage behind the Render. She could not see anything, but her monoeyes never lied before.

"I have two movements on the garage across from the office building." Alexandra reported to others. She could not verify if they were friendlies yet, but they did not shoot at her so that was good sign. "I can't verify friendly or foe. Optical camouflage, no IFF signal yet!"

Alexandra decided to not just sit here and do nothing. Her sidearm might not give enough punch, but it can still be useful. Her monoeyes once again locked on the Render to give her best chance to hit as she raised the pistol and fired short burst at its eyes. Short burst, because she wanted to make sure if its shields were still up, or if they managed to bring them down with the previous fire. If the shield would be down, she would start shooting at its eyes, hoping to damage or destroy them. Alex was sure the Render needed those to aim.

John's look towards the injured, yet suicidally-inclined ripper was one of shock, mainly due to the fact the thing had taken a beating and was still mobile.

Then there was the fact that the thing was ignoring him. That would just not do.

As he readied his Vibrosaw Knife, John took position and readied himself to lunge at the ripper (D), where hoped to plunge the weapon into his foes' exposed back.

Bernhard heard noises, loud ones, all around him. But the most annoying was in his ears. The medic sank back to his hands and knees, trying to make sense of what was going on. There had been a fight. Or was the fight still going on and those loud noises were gunshots?

Though his vision remained blurred, Bernhard crawled and tried to feel his way around. His right hand came upon something which surprised him. A weapon. His HPAR. Bernhard grasped it but without any sort of vision, aiming it was pointless.

But the noise, like a woman's voice, grated his ears and seemed to set off his back pains. Was it Romero? As much as he hated her ministrations and child-like mental instability, he would have welcomed the sight of her right now. Of all people, she would be able to get him patched up and out of here alive. But wait, he had left 4th Fleet some time ago. No, the other medic. Mayhew. Alex Mayhew. Maybe?

"Stop shouting, it hurts my ears!" he cried out as a spasm of pain ran through him. Bernhard's mind began to clear, his medical analysis (probably flawed) said that if it wasn't for the rigid shape of his Hostile, he'd be screwed even more royally.

Rippers were damn sturdy.

Throughout the galaxy's Age of War no powered armor had better all-around defensive, offensive, and mobile capabilities than the Ripper. Many pilots fought their last battles against squads of the monstrous first generation models. In a one on one fight between Mindys, Daisys, you name it, the NMX prize armor normally won, by a landslide. Their propensity for self-abandonment, combined with cold, hard military technology supported the backbone of the NMX war machine. Rippers, as they came to be named by their enemies, not their creators, saw the fall of many worlds. Yet, despite their powerful fleets, the Mishhu could have never accounted for one thing on Rok'Veru.

The Marines of Democratic Imperium.

Saveli's nano-muscles bulged as he tried to hold off the Ripper from gutting him. His knife had sunk into the Ripper's casings, and sparks flew from the heated metal on the air, yet the armor pressed him. The beastly machine bent his Impaler, nearing the blade to his abdomen. His SAVTech lit up like a Pasco Tree, firing off warnings and alerts as it read a massive heat source overloading his shields.

"H-Help me!" cried out the Iroma, as he struggled, trying to press the vibro-chain knife as far as it could go.

SHHNKKSKH

More sparks flew as John's knife stabbed into the Ripper's back, the teeth biting in between the segmented plates. The armor let loose something akin to a howl, leaning back off the Marine below it, and wildly swiping behind itself. John would feel a strong claw pull him off the ground and hold him in the air. Even with two blades in it's back, the beast primed its free arm to gut the marine.

That was, until Thomas and Saveli hopped on the Ripper's back. Saveli yanked out his blade and began furiously stabbing the armor, while Thomas helped bring the behemoth down, sinking his own blade into the spinal control line, paralyzing the brain-slave. After a horrific display of chain-rending teamwork, the three marines quickly brought the death of one of the Ripper's(D).

The other and last armor(A) came back to bear, still being pock-marked by fire from the other two Marines. However, with its compatriot(D) dead, it found the resulting hail of fire of a combined force of five Marines too much to withstand. The contour plates on the Ripper chasiss buckled, bent, and broke, before collective streams of heat vomited out of it's sides, cooking the brain-slave inside.

The Render was doing no better under sustained fire. The seperate team, along with the joining Marines put a harsh strain on the mecha's defensive systems. While cover from the building was quickly disappearing, the riflefire onto the Render's ignited one of it's dorsal mounted thrusters, knocking off aim and trajectory. Further its head mounted cameras exploded in a gout of fire and glass as more suppression extended it's damage.

Though, it revealed it was not completely blinded. The Render turned to face the parking garage, and stared for a second. The unit's head twitched left, then right, before bringing it's guns to bear. Daniel and Ruse would find the Render missing them completely, cutting up the very edge of the top floor of the garage.

But then the Mecha turned, sending a cascade of fire across the edge of the top floor, collapsing the edge they were on, and plummeting the two marines to the floor right below it.

Whoever was on the parking garage was no friend of the Render. It seemed they damaged him and it was clear that monster's shields were down already too. It was still standing and that was problem. Devil was out of battle apparently and Bernie was injured. Alex should go make sure they will be fine, but that Render needed killing.

"Bernie, stay where you are! I will take care of something and be right there!" She said into comms. Her HPAR was empty and her sidearm was useless. She holstered it and drew her knife. If she learned something during her time on Acadia, was that sometimes you need to do something crazy.

Alexandra's monoyes had the Render still targeted, so the jump should not be too hard. She sprinted and jumped out of the window, using P/P system to pull herself at the monster, trying to fall right at the powerpack on its back, above its lower thrusters. Her plan was to use her Knife to hold there and attack the beast with her PPG. Up close PPG was one of the deadliest weapon on the nepleslian armours after all.

As Daniel Rand crawled across the top floor of the parking garage a short distance behind Haives, his armoursuits audio sensors let him know that the Render had survived and was now retaliating by firing at the position where they had sniped from mere moments earlier. The shriek of aether bolts and heavy thuds of exploding concrete reverberated through his NIGHT2's helmet. Daniel paused for a moment, using one of his shoulder monoeyes to look back at the results of the enemy weapons fire.

Daniel noted that the Render continued to fire and adjust its aim despite the fact that the two marines were no longer in line of sight. The Render was causing severe damage to the topmost floor of the parking garage structure. It took a matter of moments for the weakened material upon which their heavy armorsuits lay to start crumbling, succumbing to the weight of the armor and collapse. Daniel swore heavily as he and over a ton of armor plating, nanomuscles and electronics fell towards the floor below along with several sizable chunks of scorched concrete.

In order to avoid getting damaged by accident during the fall, Daniel quickly activated his armors gravitic drive to abruptly slow and control his descent to the ground. Once his armored boots touched the floor, he disengaged the drive and broke into a run to change locations -- making his way to the north-western side of the parking garage facing the subway -- intending to jump down to street level.

Now that the cat was out of the bag and the enemy had a rough idea where he and Haives were, using more of their suits functions probably wouldn't hurt even if it increased their chances of being detected. Rand instructed his combat savtech computer to activate his armors shields -- which were off by default to further reduce his armors sensor profile -- and prepared to use his gravitic engines again to control his descent to the ground floor. Before he jumped, Daniel addressed Haives in a faintly amused voice, using Fox Two's radio frequency.

"I'm going to try and join up with the squad at the subway -- no sense sticking around and taking pot-shots with my LSP as it tries to reduce us to charred wreckage. Better to try and tackle that beast with the others -- combine firepower and all that."