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RP: 4th Fleet (NSN) [Mission 5.5] The Digging Cavaliers

Sigma

Sigma

Inactive Member
Mwigflukbajik

The flying bricks hurtled through the atmosphere, loaded with 4th Fleet Marines. To ensure maximum survivability, one squad and all of their equipment was loaded onto a single shuttle. The exceptions were the tank squads. They would be transported down once the PA infantry had landed.

Phaedra Volkov and her Cavaliers rode down aboard one of the shuttles, bouncing about in their seats as the shuttle made atmospheric entry. A quick look out the window revealed a veritable armada. Half a dozen Zachitnik shuttles were escorted by just under a hundred FA4 Interceptors.

A text message from Drei pinged on the Marines' HUDs.

Code: 
Situation update.  3rd Marine Shaik has set up a Forward Operating Base and airfield.  They are continuing to land troops and are making some progress into the NMX fortifications.  Typhoon Wing will deploy from there.  Green and Grey Squadrons will be departing to provide ground attack support to 3rd Marine Shaik once they have confirmed that the airspace above the Landing Zone is free of NMX aircraft

It seemed to take forever, but the turbulence gradually became less violent. "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for flying Star Navy Airways. In just a few moments, we will be landing you at your destination. We ask that you make sure to take all of your belongings as you depart the shuttle. We hope to see you on the return flight," the Navy pilot announced to the Cavaliers.
 
Phaedra, clad in her Hostile, rose to her feet and gripped a handhold for stability. She wore her helmet and spoke to her squad from behind the wolf skull emblazoned on it.

"Listen up, Cavaliers! Our primary objective is to capture this mining facility intact and we are going in blind. Morris' Minutemen will be covering us while we venture inside. The workers in the mine may be slaves, or NMX Nekos; we do not know. So do not simply fire at everything that moves. Challenge any occupants we find and force them to surrender; if they take hostile action, take them out. We most likely need to locate the control center of the mine."

Phaedra grabbed her HPAR with her free hand.

"Cavaliers! Sound off!"
 
"The only one who matters is ready!" Laura Romero declared loudly and enthusiastically, going so far as to raise her hand from her seat. Her VOID looked silly as she bounced in her seat, hand held high. With its waist chainguns and duo of pulse laser arrays, the VOID was set on CIWS and anti-infantry firepower.

Laura had taken the stock plasma autocannon as her only other weapon. Having seen the NMX weaponry up close, Laura now wanted to acquire some. She fully intended to return to the Dauntless with armfuls of captured NMX weapons to play with.

Her tongue-in-cheek would be well-known to the veterans in the squad. The new guys, however, were expendable as far as she was concerned. She only cared about them if they got wounded. Breaking her perfect record was a horrible prospect.
 
Rita sat quietly, clad in her new RAIDER armor, holding her sawn-off HPAR by the handguard. She gave Laura a dirty look from behind her helmet. Rita had been uncharacteristically quiet ever since she came back from the hospital. That didn't last for long on the shuttle, though.

"Yeah, and we hope you don't get shot down before we get back on, flyboy."
 
Francis sat in his seat, shaking with the motion of the shuttle. His mind was racing and his heart was beating fast. He was just moments from his first combat, and he was going in style. Francis felt that this would either be one of the greatest events of his life or an ordeal for the ages. His eyes scanned over the HPAR in his hand and he gripped it tight, feeling safer know that he had a weapon with him. When Phaedra called for everyone to sound off, Francis lifted his head, and with a healthy amount of gusto to display his readiness, shouted his reply.

"Pvt. Lasalle ready. Let's go kick some NMX ass!"
 
Once again, Wulfe found himself staring at the floor of the shuttle as it rattled and shook during its descent. This time he was more confident than the previous mission although the cold feeling in his gut was still there, but, just as the last time, he was sure it would all be gone once he got out of the shuttle .

"Stones here, ready to go." He announced over the comms as the armored hand of his Hostile tapped against the HPAR. Although he had picked that as his primary weapon, the marine was ready to switch out for the AS4GS when the -and he was sure it would happen- close quarters stage of the mission took place.
 
Stan settled for staring hard at the opposite wall of the shuttle, feeling somewhat cramped - but safe - within the transport's confines, although it was predominantly caused by the bulk of his Aggressor. Volkov's speaking caught his attention, and he gave a short, curt nod (or at least as much of a nod as the Aggressor would let him) and replied, "P3C Brandt is ready to go."

He felt that it didn't warrant any further comment, at least on his part. The events of the previous mission had taken some of the wind out of his sails, and he viewed this more as an opportunity to prove that he wasn't a danger to his squadmates than anything else. Time would tell if he would succeed.
 
Ice continued with repeated systems checks from the armoury until the Sergeant spoke up. Her stomach lurched, not always in step with the turbulence of the shuttle, as they neared the LZ. She recognized that she was looked at as a bit of a liability right now, but she was damned if she was going to live down to that. But while she'd fought before, this was her first real taste of combat.

"Plainsview, locked and loaded." Ice clipped out, setting her AS4 across her lap and switching to checking her sidearm. It was do or die down there, and she didn't plan on dying.
 
Luke sat cracking his knuckles inside the hostile. He could feel the shuttle lurching about as it flew through space.There were hostiles and aggressors and VOIDs all settled in; all were strangers to him. He didn't mind though as he was too eager to get out there in the front lines. He thrived the chaos and pace of being on a mission and it always gave him something to brag about after. "Daniels here, ready to raid this bitch!" he said with a loud, gruff voice.
 
"Private 3rd Class Bastilen Dieudonné Wreno," nodded the scar-eyed Marine, with a certain measure of pride in getting his own rank. The Tech Expert seemed to have chosen to operate in the Hostile he had fought with not long before. The torso had been patched and repaired, as most of his surface damage was not critical, and after a quick wash, most of the blood had been cleansed, leaving but a strange red-tarnish in a splatter pattern on his armor. For the most part, Bastilen had been eerily non-existent for the past few hours, even during the briefing. Despite his appearance, he seemed quite apt at not wanting to be noticed in a crowd.

He leaned forward on his HPAR, which was also covered in that same, red, gorey tarnish.

"Flood programs and uplinks are ready to download any information and crack security. Just point me where you need me."
 
The monoeyes on Talbains Aggressor panned around as people sounded off. Lot's of people checking their gear. The ID-SOL had to assume it was pre-combat stress. He had made all his checks and adjustments the night before. He knew the AGGRESSOR was ready for combat. Basic load out with BOLTS and the AMP.

"Talbain standing by." He said calmly. This was his last few moments of quiet before everything went sideways and he intended to enjoy it.
 
"Starting final approach. Oops."

Laura looked up when the pilot uttered the last word. Just then, the shuttle rocked. A glance out the view port revealed the reason for the sudden turbulence. NMX Nekos were manning a couple of small anti-aircraft batteries. The pair of quadruple-barreled guns were mounted around the perimeter. They were firing tracer and high-explosive shells.

The shuttle's shields shrugged off the initial hits and its two plasma turrets began raking the NMX positions, sending Neko infantry scattering for cover. However, it wasn't enough to take out the two armored turrets. "Hold onto your hats, girls, we're going in."

All of the Marines had assumed that the shuttle had been going at full power. It hadn't and now it started blasting towards the ground in a sharp dive. Then it came to a sudden stop and the rear ramp dropped with a loud clang.

Laura was one of the first up, "Go! Move, boots!"
 
Ice was up and moving almost before the ramp had dropped. Pent up worry and fear propelled her forward toward to, at least, the illusion of control over her destiny. She hit the ramp with the rest of the Marines, covering the left (the side of the shuttle she'd been sitting on) angle of their insertion as she'd been trained for. Keeping her eyes open for any enemy units so as to deliver leaden or plasma-y death, Ice made best speed towards the nearest patch of cover between the shuttle and the mine entrence
 
Bastilen slammed the barrel of his rifle on the floor to bounce it up into his hands when the ramp came down. He turned, taking a few steps, before skating down the platform with his thrusters, and making a hard right. He got his sights set, and he scanned around for targets to cover the rest of the squad's exit from the vehicle.
 
Francis sprang out of his chair, clutching his HPAR. He had assumed the landing would take a little longer than it actually had, so he was caught a bit off guard when the ramp came down. However, he moved as quickly as he could down the ramp and took up a position near Bastilen to assist with the covering fire. He looked through his sights and tried to find any NMX infantry to shoot so that his squad mates could get off the transport safely.
 
Wulfe sprung to his feet and made his way out of the shuttle along with the other marines, his helmet's monoeye scanning the surface that they had been dropped on, HPAR ready as he formed a perimeter to the right with the other marines, looking for any movement in the distance.
 
The only outward sign of Stan's mild discomfort at the sudden and somewhat violent descent was a muffled grunt. Had he been in a more jocular mood, he might have wondered aloud if they had really landed or if they had been shot down instead. As he was not, however, he bit his tongue and only thought about the quip, tucking it away in some corner of his mind for future use. Like the others, he wasted no time in shifting his carcass down the ramp, keeping his BULLDOG in a ready position in case he needed to lay down suppressive fire.

Maintaining his momentum, he seamlessly tucked himself in a position to cover any fields of fire that the others missed, trying his best to maintain proper seperation from the rest of the squad. Even though he was in an Aggressor, the last thing they needed was a (un)lucky shot from a concealed heavy weapon hitting him or someone else and causing a chain reaction.

The thought had barely formed when the ID-SOL started to wonder if he was being paranoid about the whole affair. It took only a moment's mental wrangling before deciding that no, he was not. Caution, although not the most likely quality to be exalted, was vital to prevent foolish mistakes. He coolly observed his surroundings, mentally taking note of any significant features nearby as well as the positions of his squad mates. If anything was going to hit them soon, they would probably be at their most vulnerable now, at least in Stan's opinion.
 
As soon as the ramp dropped Phaedra was out onto the dusty plain, HPAR at the ready. After taking a minute to glance at her surroundings, Phaedra noticed an entrance at the front of the mining facility.

"Cavaliers! Move out! Talbain, Wreno, get that door open! " she said, pointing towards the facility.

"Phaedra, Minutemen have touched down, we're starting Perimeter duty, what is your status?"

"Disembarking now, Corporal Morris," replied Phaedra. She then switched back to the squad channel.

"The Minutemen have us covered. Get to the facility, doubletime!" said Phaedra, boosting towards objective.
 
Pulling up the rear disembarking Talbain's aggressor left at a full burn.
"All troops clear. Get clear shuttle."

Redirecting towards the mining facilities entrance he continued as fast as his armor would carry him. Preparing his racks of BOLTs to do the knocking, but first checked with his suits monoeyes to be sure they wouldn't do too much damage.
 
Before Talbain had the chance to do any knocking, Bastilen shot forth to the door. In a strange way of defending it, he had gotten in front of it, but was already sinking his knife into the door's operating panel. The smaller hostile held up a hand, having detected Talbain's firing resolutions on his end. "Hold on! Don't shoot! Save those things for something that has it coming! Besides, it's easier to repair a damaged panel instead of a hole in the wall."

With that he quickly turned his attention back to the panel, shearing off the front covering. The Tech Expert began working diligently at splitting wires from their couplings. His finger glided over some of the loose wiring. For a moment, he stared at one loose wire, and then eyed the coupling it had come from. He set it loose, before staring at a few seconds, speaking his mind aloud.

"This one has to pulse another system inside to approve the security code entered..." Bastilen unraveled his jack-cord off his rear arm to reveal the two-ended cord: one, a neat universal port, another, a frayed end of wiring. "Just need to slide this in..."

The Marine settled the frayed end into the previous wire's coupling, and clamped it in. "Then we send a signal that the correct code has been entered... and... pulse."

He then waited to see if their attempt at a more subtle approach of entry was fruitful.
 
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