RP: NSS Altomir [Mission 1.1] Gathering the Bearings

The forgiven marine broke away from the Hostile. Devlin was satisfied with the hug and started for the edge of the platform to check the tunnel when Alex challenged the group. His hand hovered over the sidearm in reflex, but relaxed at the sound of the marine. "P3C Devlin Marsh, 1st Fleet Marine, Fireteam Muna," he said with brimming pride.

Thomas broke free of the other man’s grip and took a step back, walking on the opposite direction, clearly frustrated at the other marine's attitude. He looked towards Saveli as both suits IFFs locked, and acknowledged the marine with a quick glance. He listened to his suggestion about covering both ends of the rail and was about to do so when a new person appeared.

He looked on his HUD, saw the Nepleslian signal from Mayhew’s suit. It was good enough for him to know he could trust the marine, although he knew from past –although short- experience that it would be better not to make any threatening gestures.

Thomas turned casually towards the female marine, his HPAR low, “Private Third Class Thomas Mort, 1st Fleet. I was in Orbit when we got hit and barely made it. I managed to link up with another marine before getting here, though he didn’t follow me.” He spoke, still pissed off at the situation.

Saveli didn't turn, instead, his targeting suite simply lined up through the networking SAVtechs. He found that none of them had an actual aiming solution on them, so he took to ignoring them for a moment as he took a few more steps towards the panel gate. His mild interest in the unknown overrode his need to truly pay attention.

"Saveli." he answered mildly, still skittering about.

Alexandra eased up and put her rifle down. She looked at the three and studied their reactions. One went almost for his gun, one slowly turned and one did not even react. Interesting group, she expected guns aimed at her face.

"Bernie get the rest of the squad down here and inform them." She lasered to Greer and then turned her attention back to three soldiers within the station. "Okay mates, what is the situation down here?" She asked them with worry in her voice.

"It's Bernhard. And I want my HPAR back," he lasered back without much emphasis before deactivating his Snakeskin. The protestation of his name was merely a formality right now. Bernhard rose, watching the group for a second, before going back up the entrance stairs. At the top, he sent a radio call to Yuriko.

"Alex has made contact, they're friendly enough but basically unarmed. She says to come in."

"We're moving down now." came the conformation after Bernhard's report. A short while later the sounds of multiple suits began to echo throughout the stairway as they made their way down. The members of the squad had fanned out enough to cover the area with their HPARs upon arrival even as the lead Hostile closed to within a few feet of Bernhard.

"That them?" Yuriko asked while nodding toward the three new suits.

Around the same time Yuriko's small team of soldiers made it to the entrance to the subway station to rejoin with the others, Saveli, Thomas and Devlin had already searched and secured most of the area. Devlin and Thomas would find nothing immediately distressing about either the south or north tunnels leading through the Liganda Subway Station; just a long length of empty tram tracks, occasionally lit by a strip of fluorescent fixtures as it stretched beyond their field of vision.

Saveli's approach towards the large sliding panel door at the opposite end of the room was also met with little resistance. The Hostile's scanners, constantly flipping through several fields of vision from the monoeye, picked up nothing from beyond the door. However, once Saveli had reached roughly three or four yards from the door, his Hostile's warning systems suddenly burst into action. Suddenly, two figures became apparent from beyond the panel gate, seemingly materializing from thin air, their forms raising up from a kneeling position. In the next instant, thin beams burst forth from the gray, thin metallic panels, passing through the material effortlessly in Saveli's direction.

At the same time, the rest of the team would also be made aware of more entities suddenly appearing, this time from the book store on the northwest end of the station. Three figures rose up from behind a handful of bookshelves, training their weapons at Saveli as well. From their now-revealed position behind the transparent glass of the storefront, Saveli's Hostile could easily identify them and transmit the visual information to the rest of his team in the span of a nanosecond.

NMX clone-bred nekovalkyrja, a fairly common sight for both general infantry and scouting purposes. Saveli's monoeye caught the three in the bookstore rising up from kneeling positions as well, a flutter of shimmering fabric violently rushing behind them as they rose to attack; a means of sensor camouflage no doubt, used to deceive the team on their approach. They were wielding Impaler particle beam rifles, another common mainstay for both armored and unarmored infantry.

From their positions, the rest of the Nepleslian soldiers were not in a position to fire at the three NMX nekos in the bookstore; the angle wasn't in their favor. While they were in Saveli's range of attack, he was also in theirs, and the surprise attack and near 90-degree pattern of flank, he would be hard-pressed for options.

Saveli jumped as he saw hostiles pop in his field of vision. The Iroma stared for only a second, before his mind registered danger, recognizing the field visors that field Nekos wore. His SAVtech was trying pull up his arm to link his LSP and PLA up with her targeting resolutions. The Cohronl tensed, and brought his weapon up to let out a spray of bullets and PLA fire into the panel gate room, while boosting over to the subway tunnels.

"*&@^$@*$*$@!%!&$()%&$^@%@~!!!" yelled Saveli in his native tongue, it sounded a lot like a slew of curses, but it was hard to read, especially as he began to scramble to cover.

Devlin placed his right hand against the corner of the wall, walking away from the group to lean over the platform’s edge and peer down the subway tunnel. He could see nothing in the scattered darkness, but his eyes dilated as the mooneye registered a plump rat scurrying along the rails. The vermin hunter jumped off the ledge and dropped onto all fours, gauntlets curling at the joints, ready to pounce.

Mine.

Alarms broke the trance. The SAVtech brought his attention back to the platform, where five new IFFs had appeared on the mini-map. Beams sliced the air and Saveli looked to be caught in the middle of the crossfire, thrusters pushing him to the side. Devlin hugged the side of the platform in a crouch where most of the Hostile’s head showed, despite the armor’s flexibility. The centerpiece fountain stood between him and the bookstore but the panel room remained in his HUD. The marine raised his LSP, setting his arms along the station’s tiles until the panel's gate were in its sights. Once Saveli moved out of his line of sight, Devlin began firing in bursts, resetting his aim at the gate's midsection between bursts. He slowly moved along the side toward Private Borzakov, whose language made his cybernetic ear whir in discomfort.

As the first shot was fired, Thomas instant reaction was to lower his head and hunch over, too distracted at Greer's request of returning the former's HPAR. Thomas spun around on the heels of his Hostile and followed Devlin, only lasing a simple "Later!" to Bernhard as he moved away after Devlin. The last thing he wanted then was to give up the weapon, let the other marine come and get it if he wanted.

Thomas activated his thrusters, landing near the edge of the platform and sliding the last few inches down, ruining the tilework as he landed besides Devlin with a small avalanche of debris following him. Thomas ducked momentarily as more beans cut through the air around him, not knowing whether they were aimed at him or not. He rose shortly after Devlin did so, much more exposed thanks to the bulk of his weapon, and turned his upper body towards the panel gate and brought his HPAR to bear, switching it to full auto as he did so.

Thomas fired a fraction after the other marine, his first salvo went wide, he corrected it, and then squeezed the trigger for a couple more times, while the thought of conserving ammunition never seemed to cross his mind.

Bernhard heard the familiar discharge of particle beam rifles and looked to Yuriko. It was not in his nature to take the initiative except in the direst circumstances. "Orders?" he asked simply.

He knew he was not a leader. His family were doctors and as the youngest son, he never, ever was the primary physician. His brothers and parents were always far more skilled than he. So Bernhard was content to follow orders and obey.

The HPAR went up the moment she heard the distant sound of gunfire. Even as Bernhard asked his question, Yuriko was already in motion with the rest of her squad following suit.

"We fan out, find where the hell that fire is coming from and assist. Careful about using those missiles of yours. One mis-step and it could cause several tons of earth and steel reinforcement to cave in on us. So mini-missiles are restricted until told otherwise, clear?"

Saveli's Hostile was pelted with the dangerous beams of energy, colliding and deflecting from the powered armor's robust shielding arrays as he dove to the right. Midway through his thrust, a solid strike against his barrier succeeded in 'breaking' it, the shield system momentarily shutting down to avoid a critical failure as it whirred and hummed in an attempt to reestablish the protective wards. A second set of particle beams grazed the Hostile's left leg as the Iroma dove down beneath the rim of the subway sunken tunnel, the concentrated energy searing the nerimium composites close to the thigh and knee joints. Saveli wasn't injured, luckily, but his Hostile immediately warned him of multiple mechanical failures occurring in the afflicted area; further use of the calf-mounted thruster system was ill-advised due to possibility of critical failure, and several mechanisms for movement were offline.

---

The concentrated fire on the closed panel door pierced the thin metal quite easily. The two figures behind the gate, however, were ready for such a retaliation; after they had let loose their first salvo, the two of them had surged to either end of the panel door, letting the foot or so of solid concrete wall shelter them instead of the thin metal of the sliding door. They remained that way, even as one of the several shots through the gray panels struck the holding mechanism, causing the panel door to instantly slide upwards into the box above the doorway.

The small room that the team could see into now was a good sized garage, featuring a second panel door on the right-side wall that undoubtedly led to the tram tracks. Although the Nepleslian soldiers could not see the two NMX neko's, their forms hidden on the edges of the doors frame, they could see beyond them. In the middle of the room was a large vehicle; a K16 transport, possibly left there by construction crews for track repair or construction.

---

Although Saveli had jumped out of sight, the three NMX infantry within the bookstore continued to pepper Saveli, Devlin and Thomas's general vicinity with a hailstorm of deadly gunfire. One of them stopped firing for a moment, ducking behind the bookshelf they were using as a firing position.

Alexandra reacted. Adrenaline kicked in and tiredness and bad mood was leaving. Just like always when combat started. She quickly boosted to Rest Area, taking cover near at the corner close to the restrooms. She raised her HPAR set on bursts and peeked out, checking the sliding doors. She saw Saveli jumping out of the fry and his armour being hit by beams she knew too well. Damn Impalers. Her SAVtech also informed her on location of Mort and Marsh, who were by the tracks.

"Mars, Mort concentrate on book-store! Saveli keep your head down and give me status report!" She shoted out orders and herself took attention to the slide-doors. They were now open, revealing larger area behind them. There were still two nekoes hiding behind the door frames. Alexandra aimed at right side of the doors where see form of one neko. Her HPAR was raised. She aimed to fire through the door-frame hoping for her assault rifle, which was usually enough to get Ripper to penetrate and hit the neko behind. She pulled the trigger firing three-round burst.

Blood surged through his body and Devlin bobbed his head to the beat of the battle. "Yes, sir!" he called to Alexandra over the channel before biting his tongue, "I mean, mam." He had moved closer to Saveli's position, switching to the Push/Pull arm guard for extra shielding in order to give the injured Hostile some time to get comfortable. He switched back to the LSP when one of the NMX nekos took cover behind the bookshelves and took aim at the store. He was still wary of the newly exposed storage room, but suppressing fire sounded more fun to the adrenaline hungry Nepleslian and he kept his attention on his 12 o'clock. He went full-auto on the bookstore, pulling his arms downward as the LSP fought to rise. Once he found an equilibrium between the opposing forces, he began grazing the bookshelves, side to side, with depleted-uranium rounds until his clip ran dry.

Bernhard followed Yuriko and prepared to fire the LPA. Impalers meant Nekos or Mishhu. Probably Nekos since he didn't think squids would be alone in a small group. They usually had a ton of Nekos guarding them.

"Alex, where are they?" Bernhard asked as he followed Yuriko.

Saveli worked his way around the corner into the tunnel as his back came peppered with gun-fire. The Hostile pilot, with his barely working leg, came to a crashing halt as he dove down get out of the way of fire. He took a few seconds to ascertain the concrete floor, it was a nice floor, wasn't it? Not really. You're just reeling from the shock of being shot over twenty times, said his SAVtech with big red damage notices. Oh, thank you, ever helpful SAVtech, shoots back Saveli by standing back up against the wall. Anytime.

The bleary situation began to smooth out, clean as silk again. Only the silk was getting peppered by fresh helpings of Impaler rounds.

"I think my leg is dead!" reported Saveli, finally, regaining his senses. There was a level waviness in it, though. His SAVtech was cheering him on, though, in the form of recommending ideal targets to strike from his position, based on telemetry from other armors. He took his chances, though, and leaned out by tossing his foot forward, and putting a vicious spray of bullets into the bookstore.

"Damn it!" Thomas cursed as the area around him was peppered by the blue energy beams, some of them hitting really close for his liking. He ducked back into cover and checked the bullet count on his HPAR to see that he still had some ordnance left on the current magazine, and realized that he was wasting more ammo than he had the good sense to do so, then switched the fire more to burst-fire.

Although he wasn't exercising himself in any way, Thomas was wearing breathing as if he'd did an obstacle course. He popped back up, this time switching his aim towards the bookstore as per Alexandra's request and took some more time to pick his targets as they appeared, then kept on firing.

"Use your SAVtechs and Passive Sensors if you don't know. Aural, Infra-Red. If you can't see'em, trace the sounds of the gun reports and muzzle flashes."

Yuriko's Hostile opened a violin-like case and released an Observation Probe before locking her HPAR into place and retrieving the Vibrosaw Knife on her suit's thigh and LSP on the right clearly prepping for CQC even as the Probe begin to increase her field of view.

Alexandra's HPAR, as its name implied, deftly pierced the solid concrete wall protecting the infantryneko after a handful of bullets collided with the hard surface. The noise of the impacting HPAR rounds must have tipped her off, however, as Alex's target quickly hit the floor, the shots sailing through the hole the previous barrage had left and into the room.

The neko on the other side of the sliding door frame took the opportunity to lean out and return fire, the Impaler rifle's bright blue beams reflecting light from the goggled mask on her face. The beams soared through the air at nothing in particular; suppressive fire, perhaps, meant to give her a clear moment to ascertain other potential targets. The first thing the NMX soldier saw was Yuriko's drone, floating towards the center of the platform. One well-placed shot vaporized the light materials comprising the support drone, causing it to explode into a small amount of debris.

---

Yuriko's drone, although short-lived, provided her with a number of things that were already somewhat confirmed from the constant stream of information the other Hostile armored suits were providing. Three targets to the west in the bookstore, and two to the north, in the parking garage. Firing positions were plentiful, but with the degree of fire that the two NMX positions being held had, it would be difficult to maintain one safely.

---

LSP and HPAR rounds stormed their way across the short expanse between the track trench and the bookstore, easily piercing and shattering the display window and showering the area around it with broken glass. With Devlin, Saveli and Thomas laying a hefty amount of suppressive fire upon the bookstore, the two Neko's still standing upright immediately ducked behind the shelves. The LSPs couldn't do much from that position; a wall of solid concrete about waist-high below the broken window provided ample protection, and while Thomas' HPAR would have fared better, there were also a number of obstructions beyond the wall itself; it would take several rounds and a lot of luck to pierce a hidden neko.