RP: OIF Atuan [OIF Atuan] Episode 7: Mine

[CadetNewb]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Kelly scratched the faint coarseness of his chin with a gloved hand before wiping his sweaty brow off. "Yeah, I got one Mark," he nearly panted. "Can you switch places with me man?" the team leader asked, the noise of Lucien stomping away somehow more audible over Kelly's end. "Actually, how about you switch places with Yoshiko right now, and she take her frame back?" He suggested.

"Yesss!" the Ex-Neko sounded, triumphantly fist-pumping in her cockpit with Mark. Upon recalling she wasn't alone inside however, Yoshiko went rigid and spoke mechanically, sounding as though the words out of her mouth were rehearsed. "Uh! I mean, I feel bad that Kelly got shot, and am sad that you won't be with me anymore Mark. Yeah, that's it!" she explained, not daring to look behind her at the Nepleslian.

"Ouch. That's just cold Yoshiko," Kelly frowned. Before anything more could be said, her fist suddenly slammed down on a button in the cockpit, loudly ejecting the damaged portion of the leg with a blast of hot air and what seemed to be steam. Taela was able to literally just plug in the leg portions, which loudly clanked into place, filling the cockpit of Yoshiko and Mark's shared giant robot with the noise. Gunning the controls, their mecha suddenly leaped to its feet with brief boosting puff of the thrusters.

"Thanks Taela, you should grab a wrench more often and help me around sometime!" she thanked the Neko - Yoshiko briefly thought something over before continuing on, ignoring the little embarrassment of her by concentrating on the situation at hand. "Hm. Can you go over to Lucien and Victoria? The controls for doing the fancy ejection thing is on your right - go over and help them please?" she then asked Taela.

*****

A trio of Demons quickly filed by Camellia and her squadmate, unaware of their presence. It seemed they were quickly making their way to the none-too distant location of the Armor team, several RPGs in hand. They were supposed to be playing decoy for the infiltration team anyways, but, where there were a few Demons, there were always more. The things were a dime a dozen after all, and with how things were in the Kikyo Sector, the same went for human life.

"Sarge, say something already - hell, start bitching even!" he hissed, his superior's silence as they stealthily moved starting to bother him excessively.

Oh man, she better not be one of those types that are all happy-cheery, 'everything's going to be ok!' one moment and psycho the next kinds...

*****

Lucien's eyes darted to and fro. The cement continued to crumble and move - with paranoia sinking in, it almost felt like there was an enemy behind each bit of falling masonry and brick that came apart. Watching through the dust and shadows, it almost was as if that were exactly the case.

With his mind so focused on the scene and sensors ahead of him, he almost didn't even notice Victoria angrily chasing after him until she started yelling.

And he'd find that feeling of wrongness was still tugging at his gut.

 

[Moogle]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

"Mmmkay. . ." Taela uttered in response to Yoshi's request, performing their little switchout with little-to-no fuss. The cat was getting more and more nervous as she did this, but still managed to keep control. The highs and lows of her adrenaline rushes were really wreaking havoc on her body in the short term, it seemed. But her nervousness wasn't entirely based on her emotional drive. It was just too quiet. Surely an enemy headquarters, facing an enemy they should have LONG expected, had some sort of contingency plan should the initial lines of defense fail? That was just her military instinct speaking, but the neko immediately counter-reasoned that HiGA was a military manufacturer.

She said nothing.

 

[Luca]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Lucien backed off from where he was, he knew something was still wrong. It might've been a trick to lure people out or make the rest of the group stay in palce while an enemy group got into position, perhaps to surround the group and exploit the divide and conquer strategy.

He voiced his concerns to the group: "We can't stay here. Viki, the arm will have to wait. Something just seems wrong. C'mon, someon' pick up Kelly and get movin'!"

He was still looking around nervously as the possibilities became nebulous. They could have anything from another set of Snipers to Power Armours to whole Mecha just lying in ambush, somewhere, somehow.

 

[ShotJon]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Viki sighed and walked to Lucien. She looked around her scanner fully on, looking for any kind of danger. "You need that arm," Viki said. "I do not see anyone and it is not like you need to step out. Wir haben infantry cover und die Katze Taela is covering us too. Now come one and let me work." She said ordering the man.

 

[CadetNewb]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

As Lucien and Victoria fought over whether or not somebody was going to get fixed, Taela made her way over and intervened, doing the repairs herself with a single minded efficiency. As she did so, Yoshiko had hunched her own mech over Kelly's and opened the cockpit. "Mark, take care of Kelly when he gets up here, ok?" the Ex-Neko asked hurriedly, quickly pulling a cord out of a winch built into the nearby plate and clipping it to her belt, quickly leaping off and descending with the mech in between her and where the sniper had seemingly fired from.

As her feet touched down, the Impulses with them quickly covered Yoshiko with their bodies for safe's sake while keeping a lookout. "Heh, I cleaned it up a bit while you were taking your sweet time getting here Yoshiko," Kelly remarked with a slight rasp. Yoshiko glanced up from the clip she placed on the man and noticed several cans and wrappers tossed haphazardly about the hull. She blushed.

"Thanks." As Kelly whizzed up and away into Mark's frame, Yoshiko leaped into the cockpit, and Taela finished her work on the fussy couple. When Kelly took up the still warm seat Mark had occupied earlier, several contacts popped up, swinging out of the city in the distance and moving through the forest. Things were getting exciting again.

As he nestled himself in and looked over the data, Kelly made up his mind. "We've been stalled long enough - everyone, move straight into the city and go for the objective. We're doing a Blitzkrieg right up to their front door!"

 

[Lamb]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

"Uh..."

Mark bit at a his nail a bit and fumbled with an eyebrow piercing poking out from under his raised visor. He eyed the controls now under his hands nervously.

"Uh, sure." He said, "I've got this."

He knew that this would be clumsy. He expected that Kelly knew that, too. He was certain that everyone knew he was no frame pilot. But he had to try, for the sake of the team. One weak link was better than one less link, after all.

"Can I just... Ehm... Do we have time for me to stomp around a lil' before anything crazy happens?"

 

[Moogle]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Taela took point. She did not speed ahead. She did not slow to a crawl. This place was too dangerous for either. She tried to keep an optimal distance between her and the others for manuvering purposes. The Neko would not be caught off guard this time. She was sure of it.

 

[ShotJon]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Viki pouted for a while, looking Luc's way. She did not say anything though. It was his bad, he was stalling. If he let her repair his arm right away they could have been gone from this place minutes ago. Instead he insisted on looking for sniper who was most likely dead or already gone. Viki was a pro, she knew that sniper that stay in one place too long is a dead sniper. The sniper tried to kill Kelly. He made his shot and then ran away. The enemy had pretty skilled soldiers so far and this one was good enough to hide well from the scanners on their mecha.

"Ja," she then said as she reloaded her massive pump-action railgun. "Let's go. I will go forwards first. Mein unit has keine damage." Her large Asura moved forward. It was funny enough she called it Blitzkrieg. Which was right what Kelly wanted them do right now. "Schnell, schnell." She said to hurry others, forgetting they won't understand again.

 

[Luca]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

"See? 'bout bloody time!" Lucien was happy that Kelly was agreeing with him in spirit. There was definitely something amiss from staying in one place. He gave his new arm a few rotations and found that it seemed to work just fine.

Combat Mode Engaged

He drew his longsword and 50mm Gauss rifle, and simply smiled as he followed the others with the sword resting against the shoulder of the frame. Sometimes, life was good to him.

 

[CadetNewb]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

"Heh, plenty of time Mark; we're just going...on a stroll after all," Kelly grinned. "Pee Ahy guys, hitch a ride on us and we'll get moving!" the dark skinned Nepleslian barked; at his order, he started to cough in his seat behind Mark. Thin trails of blood wept from the corners of his mouth and nostrils, but a sleeve quickly wiped them away. As soon as the armors leaped on and clung to handholds on the hulls, the team was away.

As though they had passed an invisible line in a game, autocannon and rocket fire sporadically opened up as they sped by buildings - Demons were getting ready to spring an ambush, but with the Test Team simply plowing forward before they could set up, they were tossed into disarray, their shots poorly aimed and timed! Kelly's hands heavily worked over the controls and deployed the drones, spitting fire out at the Demons down below. "Just head for the waypoint!" he ordered, popping it up onto their HUDs. "Hammer them as we break right through, but keep moving!"

*****

Whatever it was, it was perhaps the start of a big battle. Cannon fire and beams. Explosions everywhere. He didn't like it one bit, but to make matters worse, it all seemed to be coming right at them!

"Hey! Bosslady!" the trooper shouted. Getting desperate, he shouted again, "Camellia! They're coming right at us! What the hell are we going to do?!"

*****

Yoshiko was quickly bringing up the rear - the pink frame's leg snapped out and kicked at an almost knee high Demon, punting it like a football and instantly killing the pilot inside. At the same time, her 75mm Autocannon strafed the area as she went by, peppering the scenery with holes and tearing apart the unshielded power armors while the point defenses picked at targets of opportunity, ablating plate and stunning the pilots as the beams ablated armor.

Meanwhile, the Impulses that had leaped up to cling to the Origin frames were firing madly from their vantage point, protected by the shields of their charges - like archers firing down from on high, their rounds slipped through thinner armor or went past neck rings.

"C'mon, come on! Keep on moving guys - we're behind schedule as it is!" Kelly ordered, an explosion going off nearby their objective in the distance, deeply buried within the city.

"I think that might have been the infiltration team or something!" Yoshiko remarked, stomping down on top a fleeing Demon before glancing up at her sensors - "Ohmygosh! There's two of them up ahead, not far away!"

"The hell?"

 

[Moogle]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Taela did not reply to the Abwehran, rather she flipped around back behind the woman's mech, using it as somewhat of a rampart for any potential incoming fire. Her eyes continued to survey the sensors for what could be enemy movement, but other than that she did nothing aside from pegging stray Demons with single rounds from her AKTG.

 

[ShotJon]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Viktoria kept charging forward. That was the idea move up front, cause havoc and break enemy formation. Every time enemy demon armour showed up in front of her gun she fired. Large gauss rifle was more then enough to do the deed. Viki did not stay with they as she also fired her Vulcans on her mecha's head. Not really anti-armour weapon but strong enough to damage anything. And it was good for laying covering fire.

 

[Luca]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Giant 50mm pieces of metal launched at relativistic speeds against small men in low-end Power Armour that has been easily outclassed by contemporary models and was nowadays only seen on the lowest of the low, criminal organisations, small rebellions, and cannon fodder was no contest. It wasn't even worth elaborating on.

So, Lucien was watching his step amongst the Origin Impulses as some benevolent giant transporting troopers and letting them nestle within in the comfort of his shields. The giant, meanwhile, was keeping an eye out for the bigger fish to fry.

And there was always a bigger fish, "I dunnae. This all seems a wee bit too simple. There's gotta be somethin' bigger." Then he saw the explosions Yoshiko was pointing towards and frowned, "That's exactly wot I wos afraid of." The bigger fish could've been on its way and he kept one of his 50mm gauss cannons raised in that direction while his other hand carried the frame-sized longsword.

"If I make a run, prepare tae fly. Jus' lettin' ya know." The scotsman warned his piggybackers.

 

[Kai]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Meena was taking her time while hurrying up, lending special care to not jostle the Impulse armors too much so that they could stick on without too much trouble. As they continued on Shinji did his best to watch the sensors to make sure he knew exactly what was going on around them, and relaying any important bits of information to Meena and even the other frames as they went.

 

[CadetNewb]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

It was as though the world was listening to them all.

At Lucien's words, heavy fire came in from behind, smashing into buildings and bouncing off their shields as it hurtled in from afar. Lucien himself took the brunt of the few shots that did manage to hit. "Hey, hurry up! You're falling behind!" One of the Impulses angrily yelled, kneeling low to knock on the frame's visor. "You're not going to kill us unless you do something really stupid, like slow down and be the straggler!"

Both Shinji and Mark could see their sensors start lighting up several pursuers behind them, as several Gallina and Kuritsa emerged from where they were before in pursuit. Even as the Frame Team ground everything in front of them into pieces, the chicken-walkers behind them were just keeping up and barely maintaining weapon locks.

"Let's all run the Tour of Morant!" Yoshiko shouted, briefly spinning her frame around with it's thrusters to let off a long burst at their pursuers, unbalancing one and forcing another to take cover. "We're getting deeper into the city, and the buildings are starting to hide us really well, so keep going!" the young Ex-Neko explained, practically bubbling over with excitement - her frame slowed down to pick up Camellia and her squadmate, the scale between the two sobering as they were just as high as the Asura's head. While kneeling.

As they plowed forth, the Demon power armors had already broke and scattered, but as the streets narrowed, they could only go three or perhaps at a time at the very most if careful. A lone Gallina rounded the corner ahead of them all, backed up by a pair of Paragon made IVF's and a single lonely Personnel Carrier. The group practically stumbled into the charging Origin Frames by chance and all quickly backed up in a panic, their attempted pincer on them all closing in too loose and too late!

With Victoria, Taela and Meena at front while Mark and Lucien brought up the rear, Kelly grinned and said two words as the Impulses leaped off and sailed upwards to clear the fight.

"Rape time."

 

[ShotJon]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Viktoria was at the front her Blitzkrieg running against the enemy, ready to fight with it's large railgun. She blinked fast, gasping for air when Galina and those vehicles appeared in front of the unit. It did not made her stop they had to be as surprises as Viki was. Only Viki was ready to shoot whatever moves.

"Impulses get off me!" She shouted at the PAs riding her suit and sped up. If they did not get off they, will fall off. She did not care right now as adrenaline started to go into the woman's veins. Those IFV's were dangerous but so was the Galina and Viki wanted to get rid of both.

Her hand quickly moved her big gun to her back fast enough for her to hit the thrusters, rocketing against the Galina. She wanted to tackle the chicken mecha and push it on one of the fighting vehicles.

"Taela back me up! Let's flip those bastards over!" Viktoria shouted at her comrade.

 

[Moogle]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

"Copy that. Ripping them a new one," Taela coolly replied, focusing her twin cannons on the smaller vehicles and unloading plasma on the unprepared vehicles. Her rifle trained on the parts of the Gallina that Viktoria wasn't in the way of, sniping those wayward limbs easily.

 

[Lamb]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

"Um..."

Mark tried pulling on the the controls. They weren't those kind of controls.

"Uh..."

Mark tried pressing down on the controls. They weren't those kind of controls.

"How the fuck do you stop!?" He asked desperately, as he found the massive mecha trundling down the path towards a sad-looking Galina. Mark held back his desire to vomit all over the console just to teach it a lesson and tried to turn his head to Kelly behind him, sending the Kirin into a running punch as it made a similar turn.

"Seriously, how the hell do I stop this crazy thing!?"

 

[Luca]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

"Ae Mark get a hold of yerself! Y'ain't a domino! Er, deep breaths 'n wotnot!" He told the flailing mecha before looking out and seeing the new threats come in: "Ae. There's that bigger fish!" His face lit up as his Asura's AI identified and painted the newcomers with hostile signals.

He quickly put a spare hand on Mark's frame to steady the flailing, and then put his head down and moved forwards

Lucien then switched his voice chat to the Impulses that were piggy-backing on him, "Remember me warnin'?" He decided to pick up the pace, "Hold on tight, 'er fly!" He kept the frame-sized longsword on his shoulder as he approached the melee, then lowered it to his side and made a thrust with it at the Armoured Personnel Carrier, extending his body fully to get the most power and reach out of it.

 

[CadetNewb]

Re: Episode 7: Mine

The APC smoothly ran along the deserted streets of the city, the men inside readying their weapons or otherwise grumbling.

"Hey Sarge, why the hell do we have to listen to that crap every time we deploy?" one of the younger PMC troopers whined. That got him an icy cold stare from the Sergeant in question, as many more eyerolls and angry looks from the others. They'd been through this before and knew better to ask, save for the F*ing New Guy. The Sarge roared, cybernetic eyes blazing red.

"BECAUSE THIS MUSIC IS - "

The entire squad was suddenly shaken as a massive blade entered the vehicle's front before withdrawing. Light poured into the breach before the sound of giant footsteps went right up to the wrecked vehicle. They were all kicked away within the APC, tossed and tumbled like clothing in an out of control laundry machine from hell, the people inside becoming rapidly battered, broken and bruised. Those with power armor merely crushed those without before a Demon's autocannon went off inside the vehicle. The entire world went deaf from the muzzle blast, and vanished in white light.

A few moments beforehand:

Impulses leaped into the air at Camellia's command, peppering every hostile that moved down below with their rifles. The power armors' thrusters kept them safe even as a single explosion burst across the Abwehran woman's shields as the enemy mech's main cannon roared, stripping her defenses. But it was too little, too late! Victoria's Frame smashed into the Gallina with a thunderous roar of sparks and metal.

The walker tumbled to the ground as it was knocked off balance, the Origin frame recoiling back from the impact, armor slightly dented and pilot shaken from the body check. The Gallina fell, narrowly missing one of the smaller ground vehicles as its driver frantically attempted to steer out of the way of flailing legs.

The autocannons mounted on the IFV came to life and peppered away at Taela's shields, but her own reply quickly stifled it's whining. Shields were quickly stripped before the hull was peppered with bullets and plasma, quickly punching holes in the hull and busting tires before the pulses of light slagged it all under their heavy combined fire. The deadly beams she fired stitched across melting asphalt before opportunistically pounding on the fallen Gallina her teammate had knocked over, pecking at it like a picky bird at whatever she could get.

Tighter confines of these city streets weren't a trouble in the slightest for Lucien. Picking one of the vehicles, only a little taller than his own frame's knee, the man's sword stabbed out, slipping through shields and piercing through the armor like butter. Just as he was about to bring his sword down for another blow, Mark and Kelly's frame stormed on through, incidentally kicking away the APC and sending it tumbling.

The Impulses quickly picked up the pace and hosed down the exposed underside even as rounds popped out from the inside, hitting something important and brewing it up. As the first burned, the Nepleslian's frame literally went on walking right over the second, its lower hull stuck on a center divider when it's driver panicked into reverse.

Kelly deliriously cracked up laughing as the Kirin stomped over the remaining APC, it's suspension giving out sending the whole thing crashing to the ground from the strain. "Just watch the foot pedals Mark! Both forward to go forward, and both back to go back, you know? Aw man, maybe you're more badass when you don't know the controls or something!" he laughed. Switching on the comms, he chattered at Camellia, "So what's happened to your team babe?" The last word hung in the air for a moment before Kelly came back to Morant. "Er, I mean uh...Man, those painkillers are really strong!"

"Guys, we got a pair of really really big ones coming up behind!" Yoshiko burst into the comms. "We slowed down too much! Kelly, where do we go?!"

"Uh, same heading, two blocks down then a right! We're smashing though the front gates!" he replied as quickly as possible, jabbing a finger out at the column of smoke not too far off in the distance. "Even though this looks like it's all going to hell, let's hope the rest of the Infil Team is alright!"