RP: NSS Sledge Mama [NSS Sledge Mama] Ep. 3 - Into Steel

Rachael was caught by surprise by the sudden Mindy flying in and crashing nearby, she had to dive out of the way herself before she stood up and watched the going ons quietly, great, another male... They were repopulating in greater numbers, this did not bode well for her complex!

Hearing that he was contractually obligated to take on anything short of a Kaiju, whatever that was, RIchard considered changing careers, but after recalling why he was here in the first place he simply sighed there wasn't much he could do about it. Maybe he could find one of these Kaiju and beat it, just to spite the next generation and get Kaiju included in their contracts, how bad could it be? He just took down a giant spider tank, he figured it was unlikely it'd be any bigger.

When the new guy showed up through the hole and only brought more bad news Richard began to feel like maybe getting Yamatai to owe them wasn't the best solution. "A cyber neko? What is that even supposed to mean? And do I really want to even know?"

As Richard asked about the cyber neko, he looked at him, a sense of terror in his eyes. "You don't want to know. But I have a feeling you're all going to soon enough."

Vaikon? That skinny guy in the green ocean? Cyber neko? Itsy bitsy spider is dead for sure right? Quentin shook his head, gathering his thoughts. Too many things to consider and respond to all at once. "Cyber neko... I thought that was impossible, I don't know much about Nekos but, I heard their bodies reject cybernetics..." He shook his head again, clearing the cobwebs of adrenaline form his head. "This is starting to get weird."

Vaikon nodded as he listened to Quentin.

"You don't gotta tell me." He remarked, checking his weapons.

As the marines made small talk over their laser based comms and pat themselves on the back, Ylfa stayed near the breach, watching.

"Enough of the chatter everyone; it's gone for now," she breathed a sigh of relief. "Kelly; the moment we're through, teleport yourself and Briggs to safety. The rest of you, stack up behind me," Ylfa ordered, quickly checking over her damaged suit and ammo. "Like Quentin noticed, the fact that Neko can't have cybernetic implants is why this is a big deal," the Master Sergeant addressed them all. "They're synthetic organisms all made to fit a certain mold, no matter what. Even one breaking out of it like this is something to worry about. At least this one doesn't look like it's armored," she added.

"When we storm in, we want to push as fast and hard as possible to overwhelm these guys and get to the computer room at the opposite end. I count three enemies, and they look a cut above the rest. Even then, if we focus fire, we can take them down." As she said this, information on the enemy locations came up on their helmets.

"Any last words?" Kelly sarcastically finished for Ylfa.

Vaikon Ikared looked at the Sergeant as she spoke, checking his gun yet again (it seemed to be a nervous thing of his). He listened to her plan, with a multitude of thoughts coursing threw his mind. He moved into position behind the Sergeant as she ordered a stack-up.

"Copy that Sergeant. Quick note though, when I was out there, don't know if their gone now, there were some above-average, upgraded Militants escorting the hostile Neko. They are not run-of-the-mill Militants, but with the firepower we have here they shouldn't be much of a problem."

Terrence, truth be told and after nearly shooting Vaikon, leaned back against his resting place as he passively digested the information being circulated. "Cyber Neko? That a digital software or something?" He gave it no further thought until Ylfa called for the squad to reform and prepare to storm the next enemy position. He jogged over and took position behind Vaikon, patting him on the back in a non-verbal greeting. "Can't be any harder than fighting that giant bastard." The colonist seemed entirely unaware that he may or may not have jinxed the Marines, as he absent-mindedly retrieved the magazine in his rifle to ensure it was full.

Steeling herself, the squad leader quickly summed up what she saw.

"Two sets of train cars to our right, with four round seating spots between the two lines. One small guy and one big guy in the middle of it all, and the second small guy at the end of the cars closest to us, but on the opposite side," Ylfa told them all, their uplink giving them a view of what the drones she commandeered saw. "The line closest to us looks like it leads to a total mess with the bodies, so steer clear." True to her word, it seemed that the moment they passed through the breach, they'd find themselves in a train station that wouldn't have been entirely out of place in Kyoto. The train cars themselves were small but looked pleasant to even be in, while anyone that had to wait would find ample seating in between the two lines - the shorter one further away had several arcs over it which people could climb the stairs of to reach the second and longer set of cars closest to the squad's breach.

Meanwhile, anyone that had to wait would find that there were several vending machines set along the walls. These however, made the ones back at Nepleslia look a little dull; besides hot and cold drinks, they also dispensed snacks, hot or cold food, and even ice cream. It was only in the most upscale places back home where these would be seen. There was even plenty of spots to sit down at; carved from marble, a fountain ringed by plants was the centerpiece of each. In other words, despite being a transit hub, it was lavish.

Yamataian turf at its finest.

What drew the most attention however, was what one rail line lead to. Each line didn't pass through the Astrometrics bay considering the space it needed, but did run through the other sections of this level, partitioned save for the boarding areas. Looking at where each lead, the drones could see the dark mouth to the tunnel dead in front of them was littered with bodies. Like a den of some monster, the Mindy clad Nekos looked like they were literally torn out of their suits and butchered with all their pieces strewn all about. Worse still, it was very clear that they were flayed. The Flesh deliberately cut and rolled back, torn off and away from the bodies; worse, the resulting 'pelts' were nowhere to be seen.

The fact that a pair of very alert and intelligent looking Militants were accompanied by a third that looked Roided Out and had cannons for arms didn't seem to matter in comparison to the horrific state that this entire section was in. Riddled with bullets and scorched by plasma, blood was splattered onto the floor and onto the walls where the fighting had been the worst.

In comparison to all this, their objective - the other hole in the wall that lead directly into PANT-IES's heart - seemed insubstantial.

"Alright marines, when they're not looking....NOW!"

Listening to the Sergeant's orders, Vaikon did a final check, ensuring that everything on his suit was in working order. He was more then a little nervous, but relieved to hear that the Cyber Neko was gone. As she ordered them to go, Vaikon rushed into the station.

Vaikon Ikared raised his rifle, opening fire on the closest Militant as he charged to cover behind the train cars. As he reached cover, he reloaded his empty mag and deployed a pair of Nodal Support Drones. The Drones then ascended over the train car and began to open fire on the Militants, as Vaikon observed the situation threw the cameras on the Drones.

Richard checked his rifle and equipment as Ylfa explained the situation on the other side of the wall. He had an idea of what he wanted to do and simply needed the moment. So when given the order to begin the assault he did not fire right away, instead he moved the close the distance, rushing to to the seating area closest to them and ducked behind the marble structure. He knew it wouldn’t be as good as a structure made out of armor grade materials, but marble was still a pretty solid stone so he was hoping it’d at least lessen the impact.

The reason for his approach was to close the distance, he had fought a militant not too long ago and he understood just how hard it was to stop, so he wanted his shots going where he aimed them. Those shots he wasted no time delivering though, once he was positioned he lifted his rifle and began firing, aiming for the center of mass to start on the closest upgraded militant, he’d let the heavier weapons take care of the heavy.

Terrence grimaced as they prepared to breach. He grunted in affirmative at the call to advance as he pushed off the wall next to him and rushed into the enemy position. The initial surprise of seeing an upgraded Militant wore off quickly, considering he and his unit just scrapped a TASHA. Regardless, he sprinted towards the right of the hole in the wall they used as an entry-point, spraying with the Pulse Energy Weapon on his left wrist as he bee-lined for the right-most dais. He was hoping that with the upgraded Militant behind his target, that he could put some damage on both enemy units with what was left of his magazine.

Quentin stared in numb horror and disgust at what happened to the neko soldiers. Some dark part of him insisted that they were still alive while being skinned. He chose to gnore this voice. the decor was rather nice though, a little too nice actually.

At yifa's command, Quentin snapped to attention and took cover behind the train cars, fring his SLAG and the aether cannon in unison at whichever looked like the biggest foe.

Mark quickly took in his surroundings before sprinting off to flank the huge militant. Crouching into position he began to fire his LASR and 50mm cannon at the big bastard.

Max rounded the corner into the new area. The place was a mess and it was about to get worse. Quickly eyeing the situation, Max noticed a big militant that looked like Megaman with his two cannons for hands. Almost instantly he knew that would be his prey. Apparently some others on his team had the same idea and Max quickly moved up for a shot. He aimed his Guass Cannon first before squeezing off rounds and joining it with plasma and incendiary fire. Max hoped to immobilize the thing before he moved in for the kill with his plasma projectors. It was time to see which was mighter Sword Hands or Cannon hands!

The room beyond was eerily quiet, the three enemies standing guard as the air simply hung there, stale and stagnant with the faint haze of smoke. Despite the fresh marks of violence and cruelty all around, the war machines themselves seemed to be uncaring of it all as they soundlessly strode about. Into this dreaded peace however, came noise. Rubberized soles pounded against the floor as the marines rushed in as fast as they could, some blazing away, others deftly moving for cover before taking their shots. The nearest Militant quickly spun around at this noise, far more deft and faster than the last ones they had seen, but was immediately pummeled with fire.

However, electricity arced and flashed as a barrier flickered around the war machine. Vaikon's tracers were followed by Richard's a split moment later, the rounds literally arching, bouncing off of its defenses as they made their run to cover. At the same time, particle bolts sprayed over it as Terrance dashed for cover behind one of the raised marble dias right after Richard, the telltale crackling burst of energy shields collapsing followed fast by their opponent leaping into cover nearby the metal giant that loomed over the fight. Despite the Nodal Drones deployed and firing, it ignored their shots, annoyed at the most against their angry flashlights.

More importantly, the all and towering machine became the prime target of several of the Nepleslian Marines as they opened up on that behemoth.

Both Max and Quentin's grenades exploded in mid-air as shields shimmered, but the incendiary paste continued through, splattering across its hull and heating up its armor plates, weakening them. Though in-atmosphere, the Aether cannon's white-lances of energy rapidly pummeled the powerful shields as what greenery was at the station immediately burst into flames. Nearby fountains began to steam and then boil as dead koi floated up to the surface as Max's plasma rife bolts followed up, splashing and crackling across the shields. As Mark and Ylfa made it into position, Max didn't stop there; air thundered and parted as several hypersonic shells boomed through the air and smashed into its defenses. Under this assault, its shields crackled and broke as well, Mark's following rifle fire pinging off its hull. Despite this assault however, the large Militant held steady as it counter attacked.

Its right arm let off a hail of fat balls of blue-white light that exploded across the trains that the bulk of the marines had taken for cover. And began striding forward. Like an unstoppable titan, it was simply going to just stroll right through the ruined train cars to get to them! Right behind it, the two upgraded militants began firing back as well to try and suppress the marines at their flanks with plasma guns of their own; before they knew it, a dozen mini-missiles arced up into the air and were streaking straight towards Richard and Terrance!

When Richard noticed the mini-missiles on his HUD, he moved out from his cover firing the last of his current magazine at them to shoot them down as he made his way to the set of two train cars furthest away from the team. From the location he could give good cover fire to suppress the big, if only the little ones weren't being such a distraction. Once in place he quickly reloaded his magazine and decided it was time to return the favor they had given him. He focused his fire on the one who's shields he had already hit, and kept him in place as best he could before firing three missiles form each launcher at him, and his cover, trying to finish him quick.

As soon as he saw the incendiaries get through the sheilds, he started relaoding the launcher, completing just in time for the machine to decide that it didn't like the way that train car had looked at it. "Oh what the fuck." Fireing off the aether cannon in a blind panic at the weakened chest plates and moving to avoid the titan, Quentin quickly realised they were between a rock and a hard place. They wouldn't have any cover trying if they want for the marble dais, and the only other ways to go were 'closer to the titan' and 'closer to the thing that flaed all the cats alive'.

"Does any one have a damn teleport module? Jump on that titan and cut its damn arms off or something!"

Rachael, who up til this point had been watching their back, decided to cover Richard’s movements by getting where Richard was moments ago and bringing her gun up. She unleashed a wave of bullets to help Richard destroy the incoming mini-missile barrage. She then turned her attention towards the enemies and for the moment decided that saving her bullets to help take down any incoming missiles would be the best choice for the moment. “Fucking hell…“ Was all she was capable of saying at the moment.

"Oh holy shit," Mark muttered as he watched the machine shrug off their attack. Quickly snapping off a few cannon rounds at it he turned and began looking for a new piece of cover to get behind. There was no way in hell he was staying there with the militant coming right at them like that.