RP: 4th Fleet (NSN) [Mission 5.51] The Watchful Minutemen

"Yes I'm Aubrey" Sawyer replied from his Aggressor. "Do you need something?" He asked as he continued to run his algorithm compiling program that was determining round drop for his AOP as well as for the kegbusters carried by other members of the squad. The heavy rounds that they fired would be substantially affected by the heavy gravity on this planet and he thought that having preprogrammed adjustments would prevent accidents and minimize misses. He'd already decided that the other squad leaders seemed to not appreciate input from their subordinates even when it was useful and figured that they wouldn't want his assistance so he only sent the finished product to his own squad as well as a copy to Henry to show what he'd worked out to get the engineer corporal to take a look at it as well.

The pair of smaller Raiders in front of Sawyer began turning into themselves, as though talking about something. Then, together, they turned, faced him and bowed deeply.

Without another word, they left him.

Farther away, Corporal Motoyama watched the proceedings without a word.

Watching the Raiders give a bow to one of the Aggressors, Aleksei stared for a moment. "What the hell was that about?" he mumbled to himself before finding a quiet place away from the rest of the squad, taking a knee and beginning a quick inspection of his armors systems to ensure that everything was in working order.

Erm huh?

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was all Sawyer was able to think as he saw the two raiders bow to him. He decided to let that sit and wait until after they got off this rock to find out what was going on there. When his calculations were done he sent them to Claire, as well as to Henry and Aleksei to help them out with the gravity and compensating for it. On a private line to Henry he sent

Uh, hey corporal, do you have any idea who those guys were or why they just bowed to me?

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Henry was waiting in the tank patiently for the others to follow his lead and pile in. He saw the Raiders walk past, but didn't give it much thought. Then he received a question from Sawyer. He blinked for a moment and leaned out of the Tank's entry ramp to watch the two Raiders walk away.

"Buggered if I know, Aubrey - they seem polite, which only makes me speculate more." I mean, they could've just been Yamataians, which would explain the bowing. Or, they could be from somewhere either very high up, very low down, or bereft of the pecking order.

Though Zyv instinctively moved to fulfil a superiors order he was not happy about it. Primarily it was a question of why someone from another unit was checking his kit now. Surely if the Corp didn’t trust this marine to be able to double check if he had taken everything on the list the investigation should have been done by one of his superiors before the actual drop?

He did fulfil the order however, though keeping an eye open to make sure this corporal Watson didn’t suffer from sticky fingers.

It was with a sigh of relief that Zyv fulfilled the later order to mount up again.

"Hoo-rah," Lisa replied moving back. She was furious about being told back, after pointing out the obvious. If the NCO's did not realize that it was Minutemen who had the best firepower and mobility combination that it was their problem. A problem of being stupid. Of course Henry had to told her back to save his face, but she will have a talk about that with him later. After the mission, just between the two of them. With a sour face under her helmet she went for the tanks they were supposed to board.

"I hope we actually get to shoot things now, cause our mission parameters keep changing faster then public's opinion." She said on the squad channel to at least try and bolster mood up a little with a small joke.

"Uh... sir? I didn't say anything." Claire was amazed. Was everyone in charge in this operation completely retarded? First was the whole 'we have no intel, fuck you. Oh wait, here's the intel, other peson' and now people were imagining her speaking? The redheaded geshrin bit her lip a bit, feeling her heart sink with her morale.

She piled in quickly, as soon as the order had been given. But she gave no hooah. Claire was sure that they were all going to die this mission for their childish and backwards 'leaders'.

Seeing the others piling into the tanks, he quickly stood as he got a folder of calculations that were adjusted to the gravity. Checking the name marker on it, the name Sawyer was attached giving him cause to open up a private line to the man.

Got the adjusted calcs. Much obliged, brother.

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Finding the nearest tank with an open hatch, Aleksei piled in, taking a seat next to a marine in Hostile armor. Taking advantage of the break, Aleksei loaded the compensations Sawyer had sent him into his systems.

Max listened to the briefing. He wasn't quite sure why the change of orders, but eh. He listened to Lisa's little joke and got a small chuckle out of it. He turned back to the tank and loaded up again. He was ready for the assault, he just hoped that he didn't get in the way.

A hint of a smile appeared on Zyv’s mouth as he listened to Lisa complain. Having just triple checked that the targeting parameters were taking the planetoids gravity into account he found himself replying.

- ‘I hear you Simmons. Mind, I wouldn’t complain if the mission changed again providing it changed to “Liberate a warehouse full of whiskey and cigars” or “Escort these girls who look suspiciously like the models from this years swimsuit calendar to a five star holiday retreat” where all twelve of them happen to fancy a bald, silent underweight marine or something similar…’

Zyv finished, the entire rant delivered in his standard voice that sounded as if he suffered from a complete lack of enthusiasm.

The Marines moved out in silence to their positions, the Minutemen loaded in Corporal Toby's tanks.

Likewise, they disembarked in silence and took up positions around the crest of the ridge. A simple glance over the crest revealed hundreds of Neko infantry and Mishhu, dozens of NMX power armors ranging from the heavy Rippers to Daisies and some newer, lighter but unidentified armors.

But what was now plainly visible without having to look over was the true problem. Two of the largest, most terrifying and destructive machines towered over the ridge. Each Ravager was more than a match for a fully-equipped squad of Marines. Nor were they stupid.

Alone the pair of mecha would have been difficult. In the midst of an NMX battalion, the opening act would need to be carefully played.

The seconds counted down. And then there were three simultaneous discharges. Three rockets shot across the sky, visibly dropping due to the gravity. Sixteen armors flashed down the ridge, firing as they went. The NMX forces scattered before them, reacting poorly to the surprise attack.

Sawyer would shrug inside his armor to himself and pull out a magazine of GREEN rounds and load it into his AOP. Once he was done he'd send

Up fully loaded with GREEN rounds Corporal

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to Henry and await further orders as his plasma chainguns on his shoulders swiveled side to side watching for targets and he readied to fire a volley of BOLTS as well.

Finding himself standing next to Sawyer, the rookie marine let the barrels of the AMP spin one more time to ensure it was in working order. Swallowing the growing discomfort, Aleksei took a deep breath deciding he would be much more careful than he had been on the ship.

'No friendly fire this time.' he thought to himself while he waited for orders from the Corporal. The plasma chainguns on his shoulders swiveled much like Sawyer's as they searched for targets.

And now there was waiting - again. It was like doing perimeter duty all over again - except that his squad was now being teased with what was in front of him. He was tapping his finger against the trigger guard of his plasma weapon as he waited upon the ridge for Hardman and Motoyama to finish their first run. His weapons were calibrated, the servos on his armour had zeroed and stabilised, and his thrust was vectored properly for following the tanks and remaining mobile.

His leg was positively twitching with anticipation as he remained quiet, sitting back and watching the battle. His mouth was practically wet with anticipation.

Excellent, Aubrey.

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He relayed back to the most destructive person on his team.

He then sighed as he continued waiting for the order to go.

With snakeskin on Lisa jumped off the tank and moved in the position. On the way to the place she used the program made by Aubrey to adjust her weaponry and targeting systems to the higher gravity. That was a good thing to have. Her mortars range probably dropped quite a lot, but she was still close enough to use it. All she and Henry needed was for the Ravager to be dragged out in the open.

"Sir?" Lisa asked Henry. "Are we going to hit them from this ridge or move closer? Because if we are going to stay here, we could prepare shield-drones in advance. Make them take position and then just start them up."

As the Marines watched their fellows crash straight into the middle of the melee, they also saw the two Ravagers turn to identify the source of chaos. That was the moment to strike. On the end of the ridge, Kerr's tanks appeared, flanked by Holmes' squad. Both units opened fire on the Ravager nearest them, just as planned. Explosions rippled along the mecha's exterior as it turned once more to find the source of irritation.

Beside the Minutemen, Toby's tanks hovered up to the crest of the ridge and settled there for a minute. The turrets turned to present their guns towards the Ravager closer to them. "We're firing in five seconds, get your boys ready, Corporal," Toby messaged Henry.

Below them, in the valley, the NMX were in complete disarray as the charge, led by Hardman and his Aggressors, smashed apart the heaviest opposition with seeming ease. They were firing point blank, speeding through the mass of NMX forces using their thrusters the way. At one point, one of the Aggressors, tagged "Butch" on the Marines' HUD, left the formation briefly and destroyed a Daisy by punching it. Once. Then he returned to the triangular formation, led by Hardman in the front. The Aggressors followed a simple pattern, clearing their path with mini-missiles and Kegbuster rockets, then firing their plasma guns at anything still standing.

While the Aggressors formed the tip of the spear, blunt though it may be, thirteen Raiders followed behind in their wake, finishing off the enemies damaged or left untouched by the Aggressors. Where the Aggressors were an unstoppable destructive force, the Raiders acted as a precision unit only targeting what they could kill instantly.

Max dismounted the tank when they had moved into position. He watched the display of firepower from the top of the ridge and was very impressed. It was stuff like this which is why he signed up for the Marines. Hardman and his men were pretty fucking badass. Their precision was something to be admired. One day he hoped to get an aggressor armor and pull off formations like that. Until then he would wait his turn for combat.

Watching with a smile as the Aggressors slammed into the NMX formation causing confusion and death with each foot of their advance. 'That's the way it's done. Fucking textbook.' he thought while he waited for their own order to move. Wishing he had torn into one of his NMR's for the tobacco based product held within, he shook his head knowing that removing his helmet in the middle of a combat zone would get him an ass chewing he didn't feel like getting at the moment.

"About fucking time!" Henry piped up indignantly as he got the order from Toby. No more spectating and standing slackjawed at the feats of others - able to leap into the fray at last! He flicked over to a line to his Squad, "We're moving and shooting with Toby in three, two, one-!"

He had to lead the charge - he was the only one with concrete orders from Toby and the other squad leaders. The plan was pretty simple when he explained it to his squad earlier - just follow the tanks, don't stop moving, and don't stop shooting at whatever was not in front of the tanks.

Of course, you could tell someone what the plan was - but following it was something they're harder pressed to do.