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RP: Reactivated Reactivated M5: The Siege of Bifrost

Commissar Farzi

🎖️ Game Master
Discord Booster
RP Date
YE 44.3.2-44.5.2
RP Location
Sandraker
Sandraker, NMX Command Center, YE 44.3.2 16:30 Local Time

After the events of Dune Prowling

The three nekos stood motionless, staring at the being sitting upon the throne crafted from the bones of their previous victims-the stench of decay was strong, stronger than anywhere else in base with the bodies lining the roome-some posed artfully or placed upon the walls and pillars-these had been crafted from an equisite marble, of the room as trophys, with others being placed in carfully arranged piles. Foul smelling liquids, colored in repugnants blacks, yellows, reds, and browns oozed from them-collecting in various drain offs carved into the floor, which flowed into two central ones that provdied the gentle, soothing sound a flowing stream, a stark contrast to their surroundings. Dim lighting cast soft, deep shadows-lending a certain, albiet grotesque, sense of peace.


It was a macabre imitation of of a trophy room, or a ruler's retreat. Superior Fighter Elise wondered if the Commander had any idea of the environment that had been created-or if so, took some sort of perverse pleasure in what had been created. The being was partially encapsulated in shadow, sitting at rest with their legs crossed, one arm propped on their head-all that could be seen was a pair of bright yellow eyes. "So tell me, Superior fighter-what exactly what happend?" The voice, inquisitive with a slight hint of annoyance, sent a shiver of fear down her spine-but the neko also knew that if she showed so much as a mere hint it was over-hopefully her subordinates would have the sense to do so as well. "Master Commander," She began, doing her level best to keep her vocie steady, "We had dismounted after we'd suffered some trouble with drive and formed a standard defensive pattern while the engineer was checking over the truck." She could almost hear Takami's mutterings about the excessive wear the environment was causing on their vehicles-Elise missed her already. "I see," The voice was neutral but they'd shifted in the throne-for a moment the Superior Fighter thought their commander was going to pounce, but gave a lazy guesture for her to continue.

At least she hadn't voided her bowels yet.

"The engineer had found the cause, the hull had suffered a small breach at some point, likely due to either the normal wear or possibly debris striking at some point." When she heard the growl at her statement Elise realized she'd made a mistake, but it couldn't be helped now. "Why was it not addressed sooner? I know those trucks have sensors that monitor for that sort of thing." The tone was harsh, but she pressed on. "Master, the sensors had malfunctioned at some point, though Fighter Takami was unable at the time to pinpoint it." Another silent guesture to continue. "Takami was able to seal the breach, but the drive would need a full over haul and our shields were down-that's when we were attacked, they struck with rockets first, our engineer was the first to go down, followed by our driver-that's when the truck went out of control, I managed to hit the power armored soldier and she crashed-that's when they charged." She took a deep breath, trying to not to tremble-the memories still fresh in her mind, "Our commander was killed shortly before that by one of them in close combat, even if she had survived I doubt it would've mattered, we were flanked by one of them, they'd closed the distance while we were focused on the other two-we were forced to retreat after heavy losses." The figure was silent for a long while before finally speaking again. "I see...it would seem that-" The heavy door at the end of the room boomed open as an Advanced-Type mishu appeared. 'Superior Commander,' It transmitted, staring at the throne, 'We have lost contact with the repair depo in the Zigaffar Basin.' The figure glared at it-Elise felt a flicker of relief as to have their commander's attention diverted somewhere else, though she wasn't privy to the conversation. 'This is not unusal, communications on this world are usually limited.' The creature waved its tentacles. 'Not this time, one of the last transmissions we received was that the base had come under attack.'

That was interesting. 'Our kinsmen?' It wasn't the first time, their brethern in the SMX had hit them before-though that particular depot wasn't anywhere near a major front. Her subordinate's response however, was even more so. 'No, our reports are indicative that it may have been the humans from the colony in the west.' That WAS interesting-so far the human's had, save for destroying the listening post near their base, mostly contented themselves to local patrols and had been reguarded as a relative non-threat-something to be toyed with or sharpen their claws against in preparation of greater conflict. For them to be able to strike at one of their facilities...


'Perhaps it is past time to nip this threat in the bud-inform Battlegroup 1 they are to be deployed to the western sector-I want that settlement pacified.' The tone that colored the message left little room as to what the consequences of failure would be. As the Mishu left in a hurry, the eyes shifted to Elise. "Congradulations Superior Fighter, you and your sisters have a chance to redeem yourself of your failure-you will be in the vanguard when the time comes." A death sentince then, but at least it would be quick, quicker than what might've happened had their commander been less than generous."Of course Master Commander," She responded, before giving her a sharp salute, "Glory to the NMX." She lead her squadmates out.


"Well, we're not dead." One of them whispered once they were out of earshot. They may as well be at this point.

As the figure watch them go, a slow smile crept across the lips of the figure-perhaps if they won this battle the conquest would be enough to finally devour the SMX-however, they were not so foolish as to assume victory-no matter who this opponet was.

------

Bifrost, YE 44.5.2, O6:00 local time

The changing of the watch was nothing new-between the Company and Common Guard the trenches were a hum-drum of activity-the usual horn sounded, and the soldiers, many of them tired, hungry, bored, or some combination there of waited for their relief to show, while the fresh troopers drew gear, checked their air and and headed out. Morris himself, and the rest of the squad for that matter had thankfully, after they'd knocked out that firebase been granted a few days leave and was exempt of from this-for the moment that was. Still, despite a soldiers penchant for getting whatever sleep they could found himself up at the arsecrack of dawn. The big man sighed, pulling himself from his wife's embrace-taking care not to wake her, before going over to Helena's cradle-the child was wrapped in swaddling cloth, sleeping peacefully-a faint snore eminating from her. He chuckled-she was already taking after her mother in someways. After he was sure she wasn't going to wake, he padded out to privy to relieve himself, not to mention look for something to quiet the growling in his stomach...

----------


The junior yeoman was currently scanning the horizon attentively, well, about as someone who'd been on night watch for the last four hours after getting off a detail could. Doing his level best to keep awake he checked the Mauler for what seemed like the millionth time tonight-charging handle racked correctly, ammo was relatviely dust free, and sights dialed in-his fellows did like wise-checking rifles and trying to stay awake. The horn for watch change had sounded-and all he had to do was remain at his post until relieved. Then it was food and hopfully a few hours of sleep. He heard footsteps behind him, and thinking it was an enemy began to reach for his pistol as he turned to look-it was a member of the common guard-his long thicktrench coat a vivd powder blue despite being covered in the omin-present dust, which was worn over the thick lead lined cotton and leather envromental suit. Other than this, his mask, and the wide-brimmed helmet he wore he had armor to speak of. He held up his right hand in the universal guesture of peace, shifting the bolt action on his left-one of Melchoir's guys-there were two others with him. "Easy brother," He said, as the yeoman slowly moved his hand, "Thought you were asleep for a moment." The yeoman shook as head as the guardsman came up beside him, nodding to his fellows as they moved to relieve the other mercs. "Anyhing to report?" The yeoman shrugged, before checking over the weapon again. "Not an ancestor's damned thing," The junior's voice was full of irritation, "Aside from maybe the sand, then again there's plenty of that out here." The guardsman chuckled as the yeoman moved aside, indicating the gun...

-----


They were in posistion-before them was the human colony-the fools likely didn't realize their doom was upon them. Sylogoth, if he could, would've smiled, still-once the assault began they would surely fall before the might of his army. "Perpare the assualt-gunships commence strafing actions to be followed up by the ground forces; for the glory of the NMX!" The whine of the engines as the gunships raced forward, his ground forces following shortly after...


----


"Well, at least the gribblies are settling down-" He was cut of by the high-pitched whine of an engine as several long orange forms shrieked overhead-firing energy blasts and peppering their lines with missiles-the sound causing all six of them to instinctively seek cover and ready weapons-alarms sounded as anti-air defense came on line-flak batteries began their deadly song as missiles began to track targets. The Guardsman looked over the gun, seeing the dark forms growing ever closer. Racking slide as his men brough their rifles up, the mercs doing the same-the man he'd been sent to releive muttering a stream of curses in trade and valhallan. "Right at shift change." He didn't want to even think about the carnage those craft had likely had left in their wake. He thought he could see something swimming in the sand, even as the mines, a mixture of HE and incendiary detonated, leaving burning swathes of hyperoxidized fuel mixed with higher than normal levels of white phosphorus in the mix to keep them burning even in this atmosphere. Triggering the cannon, sending a stream of he, canister and AP at the approaching horde of monstrosities...


---


Steiner growled as the general alarm went off. The sudden strafing run had caught them off guard-though even the mishu would eventually be forced to withdraw their craft if just to simply limit the damage the atmosphere would do. Signaling to his honor guard to follow him, he sent up a general broadcast. "All personnel, this is Grandmaster Albert Steiner, we are currently under assault by mishhuvuthyar forces-report to your combat stations immediately-this is not drill, repeat, this is not a drill-all non essential personnel and civillians report to the shelters immediately!" All around him was chaos-vehicle crews scrambling to their vehicles while the ones that were already on standby began immediately rolling out even as infantry drew weapons and armor-common guard were filing out, an electic mix of modern and archaic equipment in hand-much like them now that he thought about it...


He fired his plasma cannon at a tank even as datafeeds began pouring into his onboard computers, revealing a grim situation at hand-this was large, larger than anything they'd ever fought-perfect-perhaps they'd be able to cull a good deal of the enemy's overall strength this day.


----

Morris cursed as the alarms went off, as Helena began to cry. 'No time for food.' The big man thought as he rushed in to their quarters and began donning his armor as disheveled Freya tended to their daughter. Olaf came sprinting out, likely confused as to what was going on. He voiced as much, with Morris responding. "We're under attack-gribblies finally got around to hitting us-and hard enough for a general alarm." He pulled an old rifle out and handed it to his son. "Stay with your mother and sister, protect them both." He nodded as Morris left, shield, machine pistol, and hammer ready to commit to the bloody work he'd set about this day..
 
OOC Notes
Edit: had the dates written wrong as 44.3.5 when it was supposed to be 44.5.2
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Sandraker, Bifrost
YE 44.5.2, 0600 Local Time

Cursing as the general alarm cut into his morning calisthenics, Susan dropped his legs to the floor then pulled them up underneath himself and hopped upright. Grabbing a hand towel he mopped off the sweat his workout had drawn from him. The yeoman took a few seconds to take several long gulps of electrolyte-enhanced water, pausing only to listen as the Grandmaster made his announcement. So the gribblies were coming for breakfast, were they? Good! It'd be a nice change to start the day with a good stomping of alien scum and after a couple of days of leave, Susan was more than ready to get back into action.

The yeoman quickly threw on some clothes and began grabbing what equipment he had on hand. Sure, he could have run towards his combat station in just his exercise shorts but Susan figured that it made more sense to take the time to gear up first. That way the odds of him fatally intercepting gribbly weapons fire as soon as he entered the fray were significantly lowered. Plus, Susan had no real desire to test if Drill Sergeant Trawmuh's promise of 'if any of you maggots die because you did something dumb, I'll have you resurrected using devil-cat tech and kill you in the most embarrassing way I can!' was actually true or not. He figured it probably was just a motivational thing but, as Susan really didn't want his soul corrupted and buggered six-ways-to-sunset by the witch technology of the devil-cats, it seemed like something to keep in mind.
 
Sandraker, Bifrost
YE 44.5.2, 0600 Local Time

Auli’i was hard at work in her workshop, working on her Power Armor project, removing the weapon systems from another power armor to attach it to her new one when the area was suddenly rocked with a explosion, which caused the general alarm to blare throughout the Iron Company’s base. This caused the short fox to curse colorfully as she got up. She cursed again as she knew that her power armor wasn’t ready or operational yet. “Gribblies attack, great, they are so lucky, that the Jabberwocky isnt ready!” Auli’I said with another curse, before she blinked. “Jabberwocky.. yeah I like that name.” she said deciding to name her future Power Armor, the Jabberwocky. She grabbed her rifle and made sure it was full of ammo.
 
15
The sudden assault had done exactly what it was supposed to, the strafing run had hit the western sector-the only place they'd be able to truly muster the killing blow that Sylogoth hoped to drive home-had been thrown into disarray-with the zombies and parasite swarms forcing the defenders to expend ammunition and clearing the minefield. He was salivating at their inevitable victory now-the sudden influx of slaves and material would turn the tide against the SMX and enable them to claim final dominion over this world! The heights of glory and power he would know!

It almost brought a tear to his tentacle eye...

----

On the frontline Superior Fighter Elise was counting her blessings as the truck that was transporting them behind the armor had made it through-complete with the gauss cannon it'd been fitted with-they'd managed to get through the first line without incident; the sudden assault combined with the humans being forced to fend off what zombies and swarms had made it through the mine field lest they be dragged down. Well, as long as they were shooting at the fodder and not them, that was a win. 'Dismount!' She sent telepathically to her squad as the truck was forced to stop as they hit the trenches-they and other units immediately lept into the trench-it looked like the gunships had cleared out most of the scum-a few survivors that were either too wounded to get away or had managed to escape the sudden shock of the assault-what they'd come across wounded were dispatched, though not without incident-a few of them had fired pistols or detonated satchel charges; collapsing parts of the trenches and killing other untis-one had even managed to remain still enough to thrust a dagger into someone's inner thigh-and those able to fight had put up stiff resistance-rallying in small pockets. They'd been forced to call on the truck's turret or had to be driven back by the gauss cannon. Despite this, they'd made good progress, advancing rapidly along the staggered, zig-zagging setup of the trench line-which was likely the only reason there were any survivors at all after the strike.

'Shouldn't be too much further-we get through this trench line and it'll be a straight shot to the colony!' Her squad shared in her enthusiasm, glad that they'd be able to remove this eyesore soon.

As they rounded a corner-the point woman suddenly pitched backward as a loud bang echoed on the other side of the trench-a large hole in her chest causing her organs to spill out as her now shattered sternum gave way. 'Hostiles!' She sent, priming a grenade before tossing it around the corner-a dull thump, followed by the dust and debris raining down on them-what came next, provided she survived, would haunt her nightmares-the sound of a primitive combustion engine starting up followed by a large form suddenly leaping into them-a massive cannon-one she recognized as the 'Deathsong', in one hand, and the other carrying what looked like four iron bars shaped into a crude mace-it's gun roaring-scything them down without a care even as it caught someone with an almost casual, backhanded swing-the wet crunch of bones audible even over the din of combat; the usual rush of hardsuit clad troopers equipped with bulky rifles, shields, and melee weapons were mixed in with the powder blue uniforms of soldiers wielding primitive, archaic bolt-action rifles followed close behind, snapping off shots or bludgeoning someone who got too close. Her fellows tried to stop the rampaging monstrosity, grenades, and rifle fire simply bouncing off of it.

----
20
Junior Yeoman Bjorn was having the time of his life-he'd been assigned to a Mule to see about shoring up a strongpoint that had fallen into disrepair, when the attack happened he'd immediately turned the suit to more refined purposes; crushing devil-cat skulls. His autocannon clicked after he loosed another burst; slamming it into a hapless devil cat before securing it to his back. With a close combat-induced grin he began to wade into the gribbly-fuckers-his fellows close behind. A vicious upward stroke sent one of the bitches flying, helmet broken, and head at an awkward angle as he grabbed another, flinging her into the ground in front of her before delivering a vicious stomp to her back-her spine snapping with a satisfying crunch. Beside him one of the guards racked the bolt on his rifle, struggling a bit as some of the planet's omni-present grit had worked its way into the bolt and rendering it somewhat sluggish. ("Ancestor's bollocks; what I wouldn't give for one of those!") Another of his fellows said in awe at the suit's progress, firing his own rifle at a fleeing NMX trooper. It missed but it would make her more cautious.

("That'd require the boss to set aside his pride and open his coinpurse.") He shot back, even as one of the troopers brought up one of their machinegun's-an overengineered air-cooled piece of shit-the yeomen brought their shields up to protect from particle fire to give them time to set up. A few choice words were thrown out as the three man crew set the tripod down before mounting it-digging a stripper clip out, they racked it and began laying down suppressing fire once the yeomen broke up their formation. and took up defensive positions, forcing the NMX back. Bjorn on the other hand, unaware of his compatriot's sudden defensive posture sought to take back the section of trenches they'd lost-he was hungry for glory and by the gods he'd have it! Chasing one wayward squad-batting aside a parasite-infested zombie and making sure to stomp on the little bastards that decided today was their day, the yeoman made his way to where the enemy had decided to try and make themselves at home. It was then he saw the trucks-one of them was a little too close, and a little too well armed for his liking-with no ranged weapon at the moment, he threw his bar mace straight at the driver's seat-the weapon embedding itself in the canopy and turning them into so much spread. Grabbing one of his spare ammo belts, he loaded the autocannon-racking the slide he looked to try and dislodge their beachhead.

Unfortunately, despite the damage he had doen the gun crew was very much active and drew a bead on him-the last thing he saw was the sudden flash of the muzzle as the armor-piercing round hammered into his suit-detonating the hydronic fluid and reducing the exosuit to a flaming wreck. The remaining ammunition detonated in a conflagration. Right behind him however were several more squads of troopers-flooding in from other points along the trenchline-this particular squad took umbrage with the fate of their fellow-bringing up missile launchers and firing a dozen missiles into the offending vehicle-reducing it into so much scrap even as they began to push the NMX troopers out of the trenches-all manner of combat taking place-gouts of liquid flame bowling hostiles over almost like they'd been hit by a water cannon. The smell of cooking meat filled the air along with their screams. Firefights broke out along with brutal melee battles as the Company's foe was pushed out of the trenches.

All along this particular part of the trench the same scene played out as resistance suddenly stiffened-whatever initiative the NMX might've had was suddenly lost-leading to a moshpit of fighting along a front not even 30 meters wide-this wasn't helped at all as armored vehicles on both sides began to exchange fire.

---

Steiner had received word that the attack had been halted in its tracks-good. ("Alright, we have a chance to stop this here and now, see if we can sally-") He was cut off as an explosion shook the entrance of the gantry-a group of previously unnoticed power armored units had managed to destroy several of the UMT's and a Myrmidon that had yet to deploy-thankfully their crews had not been lost, but the fewer tanks they had, the less likely they were to be able to repel the assault. His honor guard immediately engaged-powered melee weapons cackled to life and rifles boomed as the assailants were repelled, not with out loss though as two of his guards fell-Steiner himself snatched one that had gotten to close-and simply crushed the life out of it before hurling the body aside. ("All Company units, be advised we have enemy saboteurs inside the settlement perimeter. Be on the lookout, any units near the western sector reinforce and drive the enemy out!") Toggling another comm, he knew just who to contact about their infiltrator problem. ("Yeoman Sergeant Morris, do you read, over!")

----

Morris cursed as the Grandmaster's transmission reached him-Valka following close behind in her brigandine-she'd been wandering the halls of the hab complex when he'd found her. ("I read sir, over!") He looked around the hall he was in-relatively deserted save for a squad of common guard-dressed in long hauberks over their environmental gear and carrying halberds and pistols. Likely itching for action but lacking a proper ranged complement. ("A number of enemy infiltrators have slipped past our defenses-you and your squad are tasked with their elimination, acknowledge, over!")

("Acknowledged Grandmaster, over and out.") Morris sighed as he looked back at the neko. "Seems your friends have come looking for a fight-you ready?" She nodded as she hefted the bulky Thunderer. "Blood, Andrake, Nara, Auli'i-we've got order-infiltrators made their way into the base and we've got to root them out before we can join the main battle, I've got Valka with me and am currently at the entrance of the second level-rendezvous with me here and then we'll get our sapper problem dealt with."

This was going to be a long fucking day, well longer than usual.
 
A slew of nira'las curses flew from Nara's lips as she hauled ass up to the second level. There was little to no warning before this onslaught kicked off on their home turf, may their enemies find themselves at the wrong end of a thurok. The invasion had caught her right in the middle of experimentation planning for what definitely was not morally questionable weaponry. "You rang?" she said as she came to a near instant halt next to Valka.

Nara looked from Valka to Morris then patting the sword attached to her armor at the hip, lovingly known as "Mossur Ssaullw//Mr. Stabby" in nira'las. "Anything that doesn't match a life sign that should be here is fair game, yes?" she said hopefully, a tad itchy to deprive someone of existence. In addition to "Mr. Stabby," she carried her normal accompaniment of feather drones, grenades, and a plasma rifle.
 
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Susan felt a momentary pang of sadness that his new gauss rifle wasn't yet ready for its first outing. As the smith had told him, the salvaged weapon had needed some work done and the yeoman had spent the past few evenings taking apart different sections of the cat weapon to provide some maintenance and see how it all fit together. As a not-insignificant portion of the rifle's electromagnetic coils were his current focus, and in a state of semi-disassembly, the whole gun was of little better use right now than as a crude bludgeoning weapon. He also hadn't had a chance to get back with the smith to sort out the heavier armour Susan had been looking for, so there probably wouldn't be a fun round or two of 'stompy, stompy, 'splodey gribbly' in his immediate future either. On the upside, he had at least been able to get their mascot's brigantine sorted out for her. Would also make it easier to deal with the enemy though - is cat wearing Iron Company armour? Yes - is good, consider headpats. No - is enemy, bring the pain!

He knew he'd likely have to scavenge for better weapons as he went - Susan had no spare mags for his battle rifle, his sidearm wouldn't be of much use outside of point-blank shots to weakpoints and he suspected that his knife, while perfectly serviceable for cutting throats and stabbing kidneys, would be of limited use for any kind of ranged encounter. He could throw it, maybe, but that would mean Susan would have to go and pull it out of whoever it got stuck in before he could use it again. That'd mean wasting at least several seconds that could have been better spent fighting.

Enjoying his happy thoughts, the big yeoman hummed happily to himself as he made his way to the rendezvous point. It sounded like it was going to be a close-quarters kinda day and he was eager to get to the krumping. "...never gonna rip you up, never gonna put you down, never gonna run off and ignore you, never gonna make you die, never gonna laugh if you cry, this is all a lie 'cos i'm gonna hurt you..."

Susan stopped the muttered half-remembered lyrics as he turned a corner and spotted the rest of the squad. "Mornin'!" he called out enthusiastically as he moved towards them. "Someone say something about a hunt?"
 
Sandraker, Bifrost
YE 44.5.2, 0600 Local Time

Auli’i's heart raced as the alarms blared, cutting through her frustration with the incomplete Jabberwocky power armor. The loss of her precious morning in the workshop was painfully annoying, but the idea of those gribblies invading ignited a fire beneath her. "Well, they certainly picked the wrong day to mess with us," she muttered, slinging her rifle over her shoulder before bolting out of her workshop.

She sprinted down the narrow corridors of the Sandraker, dodging technicians and other personnel rushing to their posts. The tension in the air was palpable as soldiers hurried past her, armor clanking and equipment rattling. Auli’i cursed under her breath again. Despite her disappointment with the Jabberwocky’s progress, Auli’i couldn't just sit back and do nothing. Fortunately, she wouldn’t be doing so. She heard her father’s voice, and made her way towards the the entrance of the second level.

Auli’I smirked at Nara “yeah sis, anything that looks like a fucking gribbly, sounds like a fucking gribbly, gets hunted and sent to where they belong, in death like a gribbly should. “The fucking bastards are incredibly lucky, I don’t get to test my new toy on them.” Auli’I grumbled in annoyance. She glanced to Susan and nodded “yup, hunting Gribbly invaders” She said.
 
Mike had come sauntering up, her usual kit of shotgun, knife, and rifle ready to go. "Yea, if it ain't one of ours, kill it." Morris replied, hefting his combat shield and praying to whatever god was listening that they weren't going to wind up with their throats cut. "So far the last report puts them near the vehicle gantry-if I was looking to cause problems I'd be looking to get at the ammunition stores or fuel, or cut off the communication." He signaled them to follow him to the entrance to the first level. "If we're quick, we should be able to head em' off at the first level-keep them from disrupting reinforcements or detonating the storages there."

The squad made its way to one of the nearby side stares, the sounds of combat and the whump of explosions occasionally shaking loose dust and causing the lights to flicker. As they made their way into the all-too silent side corridors, Morris found himself face to face with a pair of his fellows-rifles pointed at him-likely having been startled at the sudden noises behind him. "Hold your fire!" He barked, "Friendlies!" The duo glanced at each other before nodding. "Why aren't you two on the line?" He asked, to which one of them gestured to the entrance they'd just come from. "Been told to watch the corridors-heard there was some infiltrators running about." The man sounded aggravated, likely wanting in on the action but understanding why him being here was necessary. "That's why we're here," The big man replied, gesturing to the squad, "We're looking to knock their heads together once we find em'-keep an eye out and radio us if you notice anything odd." The juniors nodded and went back to their vigil, bristling with an impatient energy.

The corridor ahead was dark, lit only by the florescent lights that dotted the walls at long intervals. For now all they could hear was their own armored footsteps on the floor. "Standard armor formation-Nara; center-Blood right, I'll take left-you three take up the rear." Morris said quietly, moving to assume his position. The corridor turned to the right approximately ten meters ahead...perfect place for an ambush...

He though he could hear something, but wasn't sure-holding up a hand he looked to the three non-human members of their group. "Possible contact, Nara-send a drone, you two-" he gestured to Valka and Auli'i, "Keep an ear out and let me know if you hear anything."
 
Sounds of combat served as ambient background noise to Nara while they ventured along. She hoped they made it there before their uninvited guests did, if they did not things would get messy rather quickly. Nara nodded in agreement with Morris' assessment of the matter, otherwise remaining silent.

Nara maintained her position in formation, reigning in her desire to just throw grenades at anything in their path that was not a friendly. It was one thing to do such in an enemy's' house, her own was an entirely different matter. Nara spotted a pair of fellows rifles that Morris almost kissed good night and blinked slowly. "What in the?" she thought to herself as a slew of unseemly curses flowed through her mind. A short scan was taken for later purposes, that is if those two survived she might have a little fun with them. Though it did strike her as a little odd that they had separated, this was their home and not a normal mission.

Scans continued to run as they proceeded down the sparsely lit corridor, if there were any enemies it was likely those scans might catch them. That is unless someone had betrayed them, which was an unfortunate possibility no matter where one was. At Morris' behest Nara sent out a drone to scan for possible contact. If it was not one of their own they would know shortly.
 
"Well, let's hunt these Thurok-fuckers down and pit an end to them." Susan grinned and moved out as ordered by Morris. The yeoman couldn't help but wonder if the formation was also a bit of a trap for the enemy who would mistake them as escorting their captured cat to somewhere more secure. Then, when the gribbly-cats came to rescue the squad's new mascot-cat, they could drop the hammer on them and tenderise their meat a little. He also made a note to keep an eye out for any of those mass-produced battery packs that seemed ubiquitous to devil-cat weaponry as he knew his gauss rifle would need a supply of them to operate in addition to the ammunition.

As he loped along, his long strides eating up the corridors, Susan paid close attention to the distant sound of gunfire and explosions. It certainly sounded, and felt, like someone was having fun. The yeoman just hoped it was the Iron Company enjoying themselves and not the gribbly fucks on a winning streak. With any luck there would still be some battle to fight after they had mopped up the enemy intruders.

'One, two, Susan's comin' for you. Three, four, he's poundin' on your door.' He smiled as the silly childhood rhyme ran through his head. It was almost a pity he couldn't speak it out loud, maybe pipe it through the base and engage in a little psychological warfare with the gribbly's. But then again, Susan wasn't even sure that the gribbly's had any logical to be psyched out over. Ehh, it was honestly all too much effort to think about under the circumstances. Much simpler just to find 'em and krump 'em - plus, they had Morris to do the thinking and planning anyway.

Then there was no time to think about anything any more as Morris relayed new orders to scout the right-turn ahead and sent Susan's ambush senses a'twitching.
 
Morris could feel what felt like nervous prickling in the middle of his back-it was an instinct honed over many years working in the quarry, and further enhanced by his time in the Company. It was a feeling of impending danger. As Nara sent her drones ahead, and Susan brimming with his usual violence he risked a glance back-the two yeomen were currently looking at them. Their rifles not quite brought up to their shoulders, but still at the ready. Nothing seemed off...until Valka perked up-at the same time Nara's sensor began to ping wildly-and a quartet of figures emerged from the shadows-the usual gribbly kitten armors-puke green and all spikes. Those were easy enough to deal with-use the pointy bits as leverage and shank em if they were too close-if far away shoot em a few times.


NMX/Yeomen Guards: 5
Ugly bitch: 10
Morris/Valka: 17
The problem was the figure in the center-she was shaped much like Valka, though with a horrible twist of gribbly-a sleek, brownish green carapace, at least four of those slender tentacles on her back. The bright yellow eyes met Morris's for a moment before shifting; seemingly piercing through his visor-a smile crept across her face as she lunged-tentacles reaching outwards towards the two yeomen as it bared down on Nara-the duo behind the squad to their credit hesitated only a half a second before one brought up his rifle and the other triggered a general alarm in their sector-adding to the confusion of the battle raging above. Morris barely got his shield up in time before roaring "ENGAGE!" Feeling the particle beam impacts as the duo snapped off several shots-most of them going wide even as the tentacle sprayed some kind of brown liquid at him-it was eating through the monoplate covering of his combat shield. Another tentacle was aimed at Susan-spraying more of the brown caustic liquid even as two more bladed tentatcles joined the blasts of...energy? directed at Nara. Cursing he batted the tentacle aside and made to strike at the back of the creature's head-the hammer impacting but barely slowing it down. Valka mutterd something before bringing up the bulky rifle, trying to bring the heavy weapon to bear-she must have done something, for while she'd missed the creature she'd managed to drop one of the armored ones.

They needed that thing dead, and they needed to kill it now...
 
"Who weaponises their sharts like that?" Susan snarled as he jumped sideways, out of the path of the gribbly's nasty fluid attack. Quickly running out of space, the yeoman brought his feet up under him and kicked off the corridor wall, propelling him back towards the tentacled gribbly. Tucking his legs in to shift his center of balance, Susan hit the floor and rolled past the cheeky fucker that thought it was acceptable to spurt brown caustic liquid at him. Finally in his desired position, the valhallan got his feet back underneath him and exploded upright from the floor. Wrapping his arms and locking them around the waist of the gribbly fuck as he rose, Susan continued his motion, muscles heaving with the effort of deadlifting his enemy off the floor.

"Raghhhh!" He roared, spittle flying from his mouth as he attempted to lift and smash the armoured gribbly face-first into the ground at Morris feet.
 
Nara's focus lasered in as the sensor's began wildly pinging. Her plasma rifle aimed right at a quartet of puke green armored gribbly kittens. "Aww look a litter box escapee," she thought darkly to herself, or would have had it not been for what happened next. Some adorably tiny yet hideous tentacled gribbly began began its assault upon them. "Someone's that's got a bad case of the runs," Nara thought to herself leaping out of the path of suspicious liquid and tentacles that came her way. She fired one shot at each tentacle that came her way, then turning her attention towards the main body her weapon's aim followed suit. That's when she saw that Susan had decided to give the little shart thrower a nice tight hug. Without hestitation she adjusted her aim accordingly so as to keep Susan out of her line of fire. As soon as Susan attempted to smash the creature face first into the ground, she set her plasma rifle to heavy mode and attempted to fire a shot at shit kitten's noggin once Susan was out of the danger zone.
 
Auli’I could only grimace in disgust as the tentacled creature lifted its tentacle and started what her teammates were describing as sharting at them. Auli’I having spent time in certain tanks back at their home gritted her teeth in complete disgust “oh fucking hell no, I will not be covered in that, kill that fucking disgusting piece of overly larger shitter.” She growled as Nara and Susan took care of the creature. Before she focused on the other creatures near by and fired her rifle.
 
The first thing the creature felt was the shield bearer's hammer bashing the back of her skull-no matter, she would endure and take these insects' bodies as trophies-making a note to take her time with that one as she sent scalar pulses at the power armored one even as her blades sought weak points in the armor. The other big one literally launched himself off the wall, somehow rolling under the spray of caustic digestive fluid she had sprayed-the acid eating into the nearby wall and floor. No matter, it would be simple to-a searing pain lanced across the tentacles she'd sent outwards as bolts of superheated plasma burned through them, causing what was left to flop to the ground like so much wasted, charred meat-she then felt a pair of arms lock around her waist-a roar in her ear as she was bodily lifted into the air before being piledriven face first into the ground like the slave she had decided to feast upon before coming here.

Her vision exploded into spots right before a searing pain erupted in her skull, and her entire world went dark...

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19
5
10

The duo of Susan and Nara had been more than enough to put the monstrosity down-hard. The stench of roasting meat filled the corridor as the high energy plasma practically vaporized the upper torso, showering the junior in particular in the boiling, rancid juices that had been the gribblies innards. To their credit, the three remaining troopers hadn't simply broken and run-if only their aim was better-particle blasts filled the corridor, with a few hammering rather ineffectually into the leading trio-one's torso simply exploded-having been a victim of Mike's seemingly magic aim with the chem-laser flash boiling their internal organs through their armor and leaving steaming, liquified remains inside-the other staggered by Valka's own well place shots as Morris followed up-slamming the spike end of his hammer into the already damaged section-before hitting her several more times. Auli'i's own fire sent the final for cover, with a few shots hitting her-or would have had the duo not drawn a bead on her and cut loose. The neko jerked and spasmed as the high velocity rounds hammered into her, the square-tipped munitions pulverizing her internal organs.

"Good kill!" Morris said, his tone genuinely impressed. "Alright, that's a team down, no telling how many more there are-Nara vaporize that-" He indicated the corpse, "-and let's move-who knows how many more there are." Ahead, the corridor junction was clear-just the self-same, sparsely lit corridors, Nara's feather drones returning no pings. The duo of guards as the squad regrouped looked at each other then back at them. ("Well, that's gonna make a hell of a story.") One remarked, swapping out a magazine. ("Aye, and I've got a feeling it won't be the only one.")

Morris was just glad they'd intercepted them before they could do any damage to the civilian sectors, now they just had to keep that streak going.
 
Somewhat surprised to be both alive and free from any intense pain, Susan took a moment to pat his body down and make sure all the important parts were still where they should be. Now feeling much relieved that he hadn't accidentally melted a piece of himself off during that impromptu grapple, it suddenly dawned on the yeoman that there was some foul-tasting liquid slurry inside his mouth. Rolling to the side, and not noticing that he rolled through more of the liquid in the process, the valhallan spat it out.

"Ewww, gribbly-juice in my mouth!" Susan began hawking and spitting, trying to get rid of the taste. "It's like someone scraped the burn off their toast, combined it with rancid milk, added fermented fish and threw it all in a blender with a boiling cup of snot. Bleh!" The yeoman began looking for something free of contamination of eau-de-gribbly that he could use to scrape his tongue clean but quickly realised that he was literally coated in it. "Aww, crud! This shit's gotten everywhere - just like sand, if sand was mostly liquid and smelled worse than the communal privies the day after an Aletruce!."

Turning, he spied the dead gribbly he'd helped defeat and waved his arms towards it. "Oi, Thurok-fucker, you get the hell back up so I can throw you a proper krumping! Gah!" Susan leapt back as the corpse came down with a terminal case of vaporisation due to being bathed in hostile plasma. The yeoman took several deep breaths, regretting recent life choices but also, feeling the affects of the adrenaline spike waning. Retrieving his weapon the valhallan continued cursing and muttering to himself right until he moved back into formation.

"Ready to move, Sarge." Susan nodded towards Morris and straightened himself, wondering how best to tell the story of this fight without mentioning all the nasty.
 
Nara wasn't blessed with sniffing stench of roasting meats or rancid juices, due to a set of filters that graciously prevented her from having to bask in rank glory of gribbly carcass. That piece of technology that saved her was one thing she would never take for granted, though she didn't need it as much as she once did. On direction from Morris, Nara waited till their team was clear. One of her feather drones scanned the gribbly's remains and after it went back towards its resting place, she fired one last heavy mode shot from her plasma rifle at the gribbly's corpse. No, make that two heavy mode shots. As she looked over the remains to ascertain if they were suitably vaporized, her drones out scanning continued to return no pings. Nara adjusted back into formation with Morris ready to continue eradicating the little shits from their home. Susan's outbursts brought a grin to her masked face, "Careful which orifices you leave open to enemy usage, it could easily have been something else." she said flatly with the tiniest hint of amusement.
 
Auli’I chuckled at Nara’s quip, feeling slightly lighter after the tense skirmish. "Knew I always liked you for a reason, sis." She scanned her surroundings, the faint sounds of chaos echoing in the distance, a reminder that their job wasn’t done yet.

Positioning her rifle carefully, she nodded at Morris. “So, where to next? I don't know about you all, but I could stand to put some lead into a few more of those bastards before breakfast is over.” The adrenaline from the fight still coursing through her veins, Auli’i felt invigorated and hungry for more action.

The preceding battle had agitated her, and while she intended to channel that energy into something productive, she was mostly eager to rid their home of the invading filth. She briefly caught sight of Susan still trying to rid himself of the gribbly juic, and her smirk widened. “And don’t you worry, Susan; you’ll have a good story to tell, even if you end up smelling like a two-week-old garbage dump that got run over by a tank!”

She adjusted her grip on her weapon, keeping her senses attuned for any further disturbances. "Let's move. The faster we clear this place, the faster we can all get scrubbed down and into something more comfortable than gribbly slime."
 
"Why by all the Gods and Ancestors aren't you wearing a helmet?" Morris shot at the Junior, before hitting him with a nanite injection-making sure to jam it in to the most painful part of his arm as possible, "No telling what you swallowed there, and I've only got three of these, now two." Shaking his head at Nara's banter as he signaled them to follow. As they advanced into one of the central corridors-which was bustling with activity, off to their left was a long trolly cart loaded to bear-a trio of yeoman were dragging several bodies to the side. "Report." Morris ordered, scanning the corridor, one of the leads, a fellow sergant shook his head, "Damned infilitrator got em-" He pointed to another power armor-it was the usual Nep affair-slightly bulky with weird flared armor plates along the hips, a wrist gun and what looked like four thin wings on the back, "-We scorched it but good though." That they did-if the gaping holes in the chest were anything to go by.

"How in the ashes did that thing get in here?" His voice incredulous, to which the Sergeant shrugged. "Shimmershield," He explained, not looking up as an explosion shook dust from the ceiling as he and his fellows finished loading the cart from a near by armory, "Didn't realize she was there till it malfunctioned right as she dropped em'." Great, one more thing to worry about. "Alright, stock up-" He said indicating the aforementioned armory, "-And get a helmet you fool!" He snapped at Susan before grabbing a pair of detpacks, three mags and a pack of lifeguards-a small one-only really good for four additional doses, six in total. Valka also grabbed a couple of magazines and a revolver with four reloads. Hopefully it'd be enough...
 
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The sergeant did raise a valid point. Why no helmet? Oh, wait, that was right, it was back in his quarters waiting for the lacquer to dry that he'd applied before hitting his bunk. If he'd worn it as is, every bit of dust and airborne detritus would have ended up stuck to it. Which would totally have nullified the point of cleaning and buffing it. Sure he could have turned it in to the smith's for a cleaning, but it was always worthwhile taking care of your gear. Plus, it usually made people smile and laugh when he truthfully told them he had been up late the night before 'buffing his helmet'.

It hadn't occurred to him that gribbly-juice could be dangerous, but Susan supposed that made a lot of sense. Would be just like those gribbly fucks to sabotage their own meat and bodily fluids in order to properly fuck over anyone that partook of such. Cheeky fuckers, the lot of them. On the upside, nanite injection. Stung a bit, but then there was the icy rush as it went to work. Plus, there was the way it tasted of orange sherbet and sparkles. Well, the yeoman had been told it was the taste was of orange sherbet, but he'd never had any himself which was a pity. Sherbet was a weird word too. Sounded more like 'sure bet' to him, which was a total win of merchandising, if you thought about it.

Susan was quick to take advantage of the order to stock up and hummed to himself as he grabbed some extra magazines of ammo for his battle rifle, and a handful of flashbang grenades alongside a bunch of flares. If those Thurok-fuckers were using optical camo, maybe they could use flares to create extra light sources and spot any distortions easier? The yeoman also went to find a helmet, although it took a couple of attempts to find one - the first had been way too small and the second much too wide, but the third had fit just right!

Returning to the squad, he looked at Morris. "Hey sarge, any ideas on how to spot the gribbly shimmershields?"
 
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