RP: NSS Acadia [Mission 3]: Between Lambs and Wolves

[TeslaTornado]

"I appreciate the extra cover," Harrison said over the radio, his voice coming off as abrasive and sarcastic even though he was genuinely glad to have another gun on hand. The merc looked at the drone camera again, then let loose another PAL blast on a lone Ripper armor squad, not even bothering to watch the damage as he panned the view over to another set of Rippers and let loose with the PAL again.

 

[Luca]

Henry was keeping the back of Harrison's position safe from lone flankers and similar threats. All the while, he was entrenching himself with a variety of shield drones, letting one group of three out, then letting another group out whilst letting the other ones recharge in the backpack when the original group had taken a few hits.
As for offence, he was utilising the Gatling Laser Cannons to keep the squid's heads down, and keep them down and in cover so others could pick them off with a flank if they were so inclined.

The alternating shield setup was a great way to keep himself in one piece, but it was steadily draining power. Concerned, and spotting a small group of Rippers headed in Harrison's direction from an alley, Henry used the four most powerful drones he had in his arsenal to wall them off.

He then took a moment to check his shoulder mounted grenade launcher, and realised that he had a few Purple grenades in there, the sort that emit a Scalar Pulse. Henry's monoeyes made a few calculations for the area over the wall, and how much force should be applied when launching the grenade.

The grenade landed right smack in the middle of group of flanking Rippers. This gave them quite a nasty shock, and Henry then finished them off with his LPA. All in a few minutes work.

"The squiddy bastards seem to value swarming tactics. How quaint," Henry mocked the NMX's line of thought, "They also seem to have massive difficulty in understanding that they should keep their heads down."
As he said this, a couple of Rippers charged out of cover and got barrages of laser, to the face.

 

[TeslaTornado]

"Hey," Harrison grunted, re-targeting for a long shot on another advancing Ripper team, "if they want to keep throwing fodder at us until they run out, I have no problem with that." The ex-merc released his shot, then turned towards another small group, flicking his eyes to the camera drone's display as it made its way over to the next group of Mishhu.

The next group of Mishhu were bottlenecked in an alley about a block south of them. Harrison targeted for another shot just as a Ripper in the squad noticed his location and the big glowing ball o' death being ready-made for an express delivery to its face. Just as Harrison fired his shot, the Ripper fired its own shot. The slug hit Harrison in the shields but caused him to jump, leaving the shot in the burnt hands of Saint Napalm the Explodey, Patron Saint of Artillerymen. The shot blasted a wall out of the building parallel to the Mishhu, splitting a portion of the structure off and burying the Squidlies under a pile of rubble. Harrison scowled a bit, doubting that the Mishhu were dead underneath, but quickly switched over to present dillemas. He returned his camera drone to Henry to allow its limited, almost-dry batteries to recharge before scanning the horizon manually for a formation of bad guys on the move.

 

[Keladrian Santhis]

Keladrian tried to ignore the fight between orders going on right now. When he noticed Kingston and Anselm moving, he boosted over to meet them.

"I got your left flank Anselm." Keladrian said in a non-challant kinda way. He took aim with his AOP-01a at a group of Mishhu soldiers who were targeting them. "I love explosive ammunition..." Keladrian muttered as he launched the high-explosive projectile towards group. An explosion followed about half a second later. There weren't any Mishhu in that spot anymore.

Keladrian hurried with the group towards the rendezvous.

 

[cyborgakadjmoose]

Phaedra found herself surprisingly agitated by Viktor's response.

"Escorting the new arrivals to meet up with the Chief, as I was ordered, would bring myself and the others closer to Harrison's position, would it not?" she thought.

She wouldn't have dared to reply across the comm, but the thought came nonetheless. Above all else, she desired to prove herself and to follow the orders she was given to the letter. But Viktor's comment chafed her the wrong way, and made her appear incompetent. Phaedra was not one to let emotions cloud her judgement, nor one to bear grudges, but she couldn't help but feel a tinge of frustration.

"Damn it Viktor," thought Phaedra.

"I can make it from here, Volkov, I'll cover you on your way now," replied Trey.

"Thanks," she said, letting no emotion show in her voice. She leapt up and ran off down the war-torn street, using the shattered buildings as cover from the Mishhu onslaught. Phaedra's frustration only increased as she watched the new arrivals move farther away on her HUD.

The ground shook as enemy ordinance detonated nearby, causing Phaedra to stumble briefly but then regain her footing; the metal muscles in her NIGHT power armor tensing and strengthing her legs.

After several more moments Phaedra arrived at the rendezvous, the black shape of her NIGHT armor emerging from the dust clouds swarming the streets. She immediately sought out Viktor, clad in his VOID armor and opened a private comm channel.

"Seriously, what the hell Viktor?" said Phaedra with an unusual edge in her voice.

"Since when are you one to countermand the Chief's orders? I was ordered to escort the new boys here to the Chief's location. Instead, they made their way to the rally point by themselves, per your order. Tell me if you see a problem here."

 

[Aendri]

Feeling it was a decent time to pipe in, Sean came on the radio. "Hey, I'm new, but I'm already over here with Harrison. Should I meet up with the rest of you, or what?" Stepping back out onto the street, He lit up a group of three Mishhu with his HPAR before bounding across the street. "And it's nice to meet you too, Harrison. Should I just go find my own spot then, or am I useful enough to bear with here." As he finished the sentence, he ducked into a new building, figuring staying alive was priority one either way.

 

[Victor Adair]

"Seriously." Victor said "Where's the Chief: I was ordered to link up with him as soon as possible." Victor said.

As more Mishu fire began to focus in on their position Victor grew increasingly nervous and watched as Sean ducked within a nearby building for cover. Believing that to be the best idea anybody had so far, without arguing, Victor chose a building across the street from the very one Sean had chosen for cover and ducked inside: reserving the two shells left in his current clip for an available target.

 

[Keladrian Santhis]

Keladrian saw yet another Power Armor joining there group. 'Man, it must take a lot of people to escort a wounded person to his CO.' Keladrian thought, simultaneously dodging Mishhu fire from northwest of their current location. He looked at the newcomer, and his FoF ID'd her as 'Phaedra Volkov,' a sniper. Keladrian admired the rather large rifle she had with her. 'I gotta get me one of those.' He thought, laughing a bit in his head.

"Hey, I might be the new guy, but I think we should focus on getting Anselm to a secure location. If that location is with Harrison, or with the Chief, it doesn't matter to me." Keladrian said, trying to smooth the current tension.

 

[Cy83r K0rp53]

Thoroughly irritated, Anselm took his time to pour enough plasma into a team of Rippers to cause their armor to cave under the heated barrage.

"Dammit, why are these rookies fawning over my arm, I can kill just fine without it," the wounded marine griped over the air, taking cover behind a patch of wall that had survived the Ripper's aether blasts. He quickly grabbed up a lonesome HPAR, shaking off the dismembered hand gripping the weapon with a wry grin and an equally wry comment "Lookit that, a spare!"

Limbering the coilgun to its back, the Aggressor picked up the AMP once more and unloaded another stream of violent, gaseous death at the Mishhu forces who dared fire on the position of a surly marine.

 

[Blackbird Lore]

As they moved, a private channel opened up. "Mm. Mayhaps I missed the order, but last I checked the Chief was in the middle of a meeting, and the last thing we need is our reinforcements standing idly while the rest of us take the squids. If this comes down, it's on my head, Volkov. Don't you worry a bit. Let's just focus on keeping our squad together and alive." Kingston didn't bother to comment on the irony that moving toward Harrison was a more dangerous location toward what was quickly becoming the frontlines as the Misshu crushed through the Nepleslian defenses; it would seem counter-productive to his previous statement of staying alive.

Better to die defending than to live standing around and playing with yourself while the big boys talk about big stuff and your friends fight for your safety.

Right?

The argument was pointless. What was important was that everyone was needed on that line. Everyone, even the new guys. "Sorry new guys, but we've got a mission to accomplish and it happens to be in the opposite direction of the Chief. You can talk to him after he's done doing whatever the hell the squad leaders are doing."

Plowing through a smaller street, he came behind a Ripper attempting- like so many others- to flank Harrison via the route Henry was defending. With the advantage of being unknown, he activated his CFC and drove it straight through the armor. "Anyone like their sushi cooked?" he quipped, trying to sound light-hearted. It didn't sound right though, first because Kingston had said it and second because it was quite contrary to the mood of the moment.

"Henry, reinforcements have arrived!" he announced.

 

[Koenig808]

A comm channel opened by the Chief, directed at Kingston, Volkov, Keladrian and Victor Aidar would serve to hurry the Marines to their position.

"What's the hold up? I need those new guys at Harrison's position, now."

Using the circular ditches cut around the city as cover, the Chief hurried over to Harrisons position, managing to snake his way through the mixed crowd of dead and wounded Marines. So far, Marines had taken 14 percent casualties and were able to inflict 17 percent casualties on the enemy forces. Not the best ratio, but on paper it would be considered that the Marines were winning for the time being.

Coming up the slope of the ditch, the Chief took cover behind the still-burning remains of a Sunburn, its ordinance layed out in the ditch behind it so as to not cause casualties if they were to explode. "Status report, everyone. That means any boo-boos and a count of all ammunition."

 

[Keladrian Santhis]

"Status report, everyone. That means any boo-boos and a count of all ammunition."

Keladrian chuckled slightly at the chief's offhand comment about 'boo-boo's.' "Keladrian Santhis here, I have no boo-boo's, and still got 23 rounds left in my AOP, seven of them being High-Explosive." Keladrian stated, hunkering down behind the corner of a building that wasn't demolished. Kel was glad he was finally at the rendezvous.

 

[Victor Adair]

"Victor Adair reporting: I have two shots left in and five reloads, two are high-explosives." Victor said.

Who's idea had it been to send him in with only two high explosives? He hated that armorer, having tried to inform the man that he was a demolitionist and he was going to need all the explosives he could get but the man just refused to listen to him. Oh well, there was no use in crying over spilled milk, was there?

Victor had followed right behind Kingston as they moved through the city. Victor didn't really like the fact that they were moving away from the man he had been ordered to meet up with. However, Victor had been told that eventually he'd be able to report to the Chief and so he'd have to satisfy himself with that.

Victor took cover after Kingston had stabbed a Ripper through his stomach, cracking a corny joke about cooking sushi, and pulverising the Ripper's insides in the process...but wasn't the big thing about sushi that it was raw? Victor didn't stop to ponder on it and instead simply took cover.

 

[Blackbird Lore]

Private Kingston smirked silently to himself; he had acted upon what seemed the proper course and had been validated by the Chief. It was reassuring more than anything, although he was still human: the slightest tinge of pride resonated within Viktor at Ran Rui's words. "No problems here; still plenty of ammo."

Now that they were at Harrison's position, it was time to get down to business: shields for everyone! He deployed the three that had once been sitting silently in their bays and gave them to Private Santhis. "They're yours for the time being," he said. "Use 'em well and give 'em hell."

Witty probably wasn't the most apt word to describe Viktor Kingston, but no one could really blame him for trying: it was practically a staple trait of every worthwhile Nepleslian soldier. His mind wasn't on that, however. Instead, Kingston was focused on his next plan of attack. Decisions, decisions... Well, they were in a rather clusterfucked alley; one well-placed explosive would really leave them hurting, and most likely dead. He turned to the northern building and kicked the door frame, making it wide enough for the VOID. Once inside, he took the express route (ie, boosters) straight to the top. On the roof, he bent low and crept toward the edge to supply support fire from above. Another salvo of a quarter rack of TRACERs followed by a quarter rack of BOLTs went sailing into the Misshuvurthuyar ranks. From here he had a rather grand view of enemy movement; unfortunately, that worked both ways so Viktor had to be careful not to make himself too much of an interesting thing.

 

[Cy83r K0rp53]

Anselm pulled behind what cover was left at his position as gauss rounds tore through a fellow Hostile and left the pilot bleeding out in the open, the flash-clone cursed to himself and used his remaining hand to brave a few seconds of open ground to drag the other marine behind cover with him. Anselm was thankful that he wasn't the only one left standing in his area as a team of two Hostiles and another Aggressor poured a wall of cover fire into the Mishhu lines.

"Plenty of ammo, Chief, not enough hands to use it," he responded to Rui's request, "we could use a few bandages over here though; a medic would be good too; but most of all, I'd really love some Naval support and an evac if they're done with the propaganda films."

 

[Kai]

Trey had just made it to the rearward sniper's position that Phaedra had previously occupied, and began surveying the situation. From here, he switched to single fire, so he could snipe proper-like, and radioed in to the chief. "P1C Penton, reporting in, no injuries, but I found a new gun and I've got over 900 rounds" he reported, noting a larger number of rippers and unarmored Mishhuvurthyar, and decided he'd start by picking off the armor suits from his ranged position.

Slowly, Trey picked out the spot on the rippers that was about the size of a brainslave, and began to fire Gauss rounds from his rifle, Taking a shot and then moving around a little bit to conceal exactly where he was.

 

[Aendri]

"P3C Masson here, I'm sitting pretty when it comes to injuries and ammo. Got a couple spare clips for an HPAR if anyone needs one, actually." With that said, Sean poked his head out of a window, quickly ducking back inside when shots almost immediately came his way. "Don' know how long that status will last though. Seems we're doing well enough to attract some attention at this point." Popping out of the door, he emptied an entire clip of his HPAR into the nearest group of Mishhu, dropping two or three of the five before hiding himself again.

 

[Keladrian Santhis]

Keladrian watched as Mishhu fire ripped open a Marine in a Hostile armor suit. "Damn..." He trailed off, lowering himself even further into his cover.

"Hey Anselm, I don't have a good visual on any tangos. Care to give me a pinpoint?" Keladrian asked, making sure a high explosive round was in the chamber.

"They're yours for the time being, use 'em well and give 'em hell."

Keladrian gladly accepted the control of the drones, and saved them for later. Right now, Kel wanted to shoot stuff. "Thanks Kingston."

 

[TeslaTornado]

The ex-mercenary scowled. He was losing track of himself in battle and needed to be more alert; deep in the pit fight with Mishhu on all sides was the worst possible place to not be on edge and ready to shoot at all times. As if to punctuate the point, a Ripper armor appeared in the alley in front of him, disengaging its active camo and charging at him. The artillery support pilot raised his wrists up and started firing his wrist-mounted plasma chainguns until they overheated, then stabbed the Mishhu in the chest with his chainsword until it was dead. When this engagement had cleared, the pilot boosted back up to the nearest rooftop and established another vantage point, crouched amongst satellite dishes and TV aerials as he fired crudely-aimed PAL rounds at where Marine fire converged on a specific point.

 

[cyborgakadjmoose]

"P3C Volkov; No injuries to report, sir. Twenty-five rounds left for the MPR," replied Phaedra over the comm before switching back to the private channel with Viktor. She boosted up to the rooftop adjacent to Viktor and crouched behind a collection of machinery.

"Well, looks like you got the job done anyway," said Phaedra, the edge gone from her voice. She rested her MPR on one of the bulky machines and began to scan for targets.

"Forgive me for jumping on your case, Viktor. It's just that the Chief gave me a direct order, and I couldn't stand having the completion of that order interfered with. But the end result was the same in the end."

Phaedra shrugged her armored shoulders.

"I guess I could stand to be a little more flexible; after all, no plan survives contact with the enemy, eh?"

Another large armored Mishhu form crossed her sights and Phaedra fired the MPR, the tremendous recoil absorbed by the NIGHT's musculature.