NSS Dauntless
The 4th AASP Fleet's flagship had only just returned to its station in orbit.
Ten minutes ago, they had moved to support 3rd Assault Fleet Marines as they broke past another layer entrenched NMX defenses. The planet had been heavily fortified by the Squids. They knew that if the SMDIoN or SAoY were going to launch a southward invasion, this planet lay directly in their path.
So the NSS Dauntless was used as one of many orbit to surface artillery platforms. The ship's main guns were good at burning NMX emplacements. And since there'd been so many Marines interspersed through the NMX positions, Dauntless and her sister ships had dropped orbit to get better target acquisitions.
That, however, had opened them to the threat of surface to orbit weaponry. While Blackjack-class cruisers were normally able to defend themselves from such weapons, Dauntless was already damaged. For long moments, the flagship's sensors fed information to CIC but that same information was not relayed to the automated CIWS. Grand Admiral Dominic Valken had watched, pale-faced, as a 250mm depleted uranium kinetic round smashed into his flagship.
The round did not penetrate past his ship's shields but it exploded violently against them. That secondary explosion collapsed the shields so that a follow-up could destroy the entire forward prow. One second, the main guns had been working. The next, they had been vaporized along with a dozen of Dauntless' crew.
Admiral Valken had been thrown to the deck and knocked unconscious. That left Captain Valencia Ironside as the ranking officer. She had immediately ordered medics to the bridge to tend to the Admiral while she ordered all of the Fleet's warships to break for high orbit.
She had then ordered Dauntless and her escorts back to their original position, orbiting over their own Marines.
"A reminder to our boys, they now have an hour of sunlight left before night hits."
A night on Mwigflukbajik was as long as its day. A full three hours.
"And inform Corporal Morris that I am sending some assistance to him."
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"Orbital drop incoming. Orbital drop incoming." Every Marine fighting around the ridge who had access to a Savtech heard the annoying warning.
They could see the white streaks as a dozen drop pods blazed through orbit towards them. It couldn't be more Marines. It definitely wasn't armed sailors. Which meant that it was one of the handier toys left behind by Valken's predecessor. J2 Combat Robots. Expendable (and relatively expensive) robots that were only good for a few minutes of sustained heavy combat before they were destroyed.
But all the Minutemen needed were a few minutes as well as a really good prayer.
Fortunately, they also had a few other resources which were more reliable than religious supplication. Thomas Hardman and his "brothers" were known as Hammers for a very good reason. They could hit really hard.
Butch, strongest and toughest, the meanest, most aggressive bastard who was also the most loyal bro that any man could want. He led the charge, holding his Kegbuster underarm and firing the plasma lances as well as his plasma turrets. At one point, he got so close to a Ripper and simply punched its face as he passed it by. The Ripper simply collapsed with a hole where it head had been. Butch's Aggressor was painted in a deep dark green with black tiger stripes.
Behind him, to his left, was Ben Linzer. Boomer to his bros. Outside of combat, he was the nicest if not the brightest man around. In the heat of battle, he was a speed demon and his dark blue Aggressor, lined with lightning bolts, could turn into a blur. Boomer had modified his Aggressor countless times to make it go faster than what the NAM reps said it could do. Such were the wonders of Nepleslian engineering.
Then there was Thomas Hardman himself. The Brick. Mostly because he was so damn stubborn. His old CO had once told in (during one of the many disciplinary hearings) that Hardman had the brain of an officer and the self control of a fire-and-forget anti-matter warhead. Which was why Hardman remained a sergeant. And like his bros, he wore a color which made him stand out. Blood red with even darker patches for contrast.
They were the unstoppable trio. They were Hardman's Hammers, even if they had to put with a trio of wretched girls now in their squad. And it was now time to remind the Squids why one doesn't ignore a trio of Hammers with blood on their minds.
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The NMX had mustered their remaining power armors against the entrapped Minutemen, forcing them into a smaller and smaller perimeter.
Sawyer's shields failed. And then he took a particle beam to the gut. It burned right through the Aggressor's armor into his gut. His right lung had been punctured and four ribs had been vaporized, leaving a fist sized hole in his guts. That same particle beam had cauterized his wounds. But without medical help, his time was short.
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The Ripper towering over Max roared in bestial triumph as it suddenly exploded. Henry's grenades had exploded almost simultaneously, destroying the NMX armor.
But just as one threat was neutralized, a pair of Spikys appeared before Henry. Undamaged and armed with more powerful aether rifles, they were clearly of a different class and a greater threat than the ordinary Spiky.
And just as sudden as they had appeared, they disappeared. One exploded as a rocket smashed into its back, detonating the whole armor. The other seemed to have simply been pummeled into the ground by a single punch from an Aggressor.
"Corporal Morris, time we were leaving!" Sergeant Hardman bellowed loudly, striding up in his Aggressor, stepping on the pummeled Spiky.
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A hundred different smoking holes appeared in the Spiky before it crumpled to the ground in front of Aleksei. And then a Neko leapt at him, clutching an explosive satchel. It detonated itself in Aleksei's face, taking out his armor's shields and tossing him backwards.
