YE 45.1.1 - Later in the day
Gashmere City
Gabriela Lively checked the status of her team through her armor's AIES. Seeing all the injuries and damage, she made a decision to regroup on the ship because the team wasn't combat effective and the enemy had withdrawn into unknown terrain. "Away team, this is Lively, you are ordered to conduct a tactical withdraw from the engagement area. Once the wounded are loaded onto evacuation shuttles, you can either ride the shuttle with them or teleport back to the Resurgence," she said.
Sanda's fists tightened in anger. She didn't want to withdraw, she wanted to get some paypack. But her suit was failing more by the minute and she wouldn't last long without a working suit. She quickly recovered her lost weapons, what was left of some of them and moved to the LZ.
Zanven heard Thad come in over the comma as he put him through on the comms for Beryl. "Looks like the LZ is clear and judging from the chatter...we are withdrawing for now. Beryl if you could get us close to the first LZ, I will help bring the wounded on board and provide cover fire." He said as he tapped the wall and moved back to the door to get in position.
Kiyo heard the order, and turned her head to Sanda, and moved towards her to assist if she needed it. She was certain that Yayoi might be angered if she didn't at least try and be a good teammate and watch her back. When she was able to move she followed her.
Nanook faded in and out of consciousness. His armors trauma systems could only compensate for so much.
Poppy stood over Nanook, injecting him with a quantity of hemosynth-based healing nanites that were configured for him. That is to say, for Kodians with cybernetics. The red liquid would help supplement his blood levels and speed up the healing as well as block leaks where the blood was coming out of the body. To help, she kept pressure on his arm socket area while the stuff got to work. It was not a cure but it would help keep him hanging on.
As the shuttle's approached, Vec activated an IR strobe to guide them in. "Keep the LZ clear, and get our wounded stationed over here," he ordered as he checked the sky. While he waited, he signaled ahead to the Resurgence ordering the MEGAMI to begin cloning an arm for Nanook. He'd be able to trim it and mount it in no time at all
Cheilith lay limply in Thad's arms, her right arm was twisted into a bad break, but still clung onto her iconic greatsword. She roused slightly as Vec signaled the shuttle in.
Sanda stumbled as she moved towards the LZ. Luckly, Kiyo was there to catch her. The Ranger was just feeling numb right now with as adrenaline began to wear off and the weight of their failure began to sink in.
Kiyo moved quick when she saw her stumble, and it didnt stop her from helping her up. "i got you," she said to her unsure if either of their comms were working as she tried to help Sanda get back to where they needed to go.
Nanook looked at the blurry form standing over him, trying to mend his wounds. "Do yew....still waannna get mar-ried", he slurred. Slightly oblivous and mistaking Poppy for Chiasa.
Beryl's Ke-T7 shuttle gently came down in front of Vec and the cadet blue-gray armored rear door ramp came open with a hydraulic whine, revealing rows of red seats in the passenger area along with the armors Zanven brought.
"All aboard," Vec called, "Make a hole near the entrance for the wounded." He said, gesturing crew on board.
Gabriela and Euikoshi helped Poppy get an anti-gravity gurney out of the shuttle, after counting down from three, rolled him to one side to get it under his large, furry body. They used it to carefully load the patient into the back of the shuttle, securing him in the center area where there was room.
Zanven walked out onto the ramp, the armor had a newer shine to it as he scanned the horizon, keeping his gun trained outside the LZ. He saw the wounded, he saw the state the away team was in and he felt bad...but he didn't think anything less of himself as he knew he left for training to be a valued member of the crew...this was just...unusual to see. When he heard the all aboard and for a hole to be made Zanven was fairly sure there was only a few on board to begin with and they all moved in single file and spread out to help at the end of the ramp.
Sanda made her way into the shuttle and sat down she secured her suit and weapons to the shuttle and then removed her helmet. Her hair was a mess. The tight pony tail she started the mission with was barely helded together. Blood was trickling down her face opposite her lighting tattoo but she just ignored it until it ran into her right eye causing her to blink several times. She wiped at her eye, smearing the blood across her face and making her eyes water some.
Kiyo gasped as she saw Sanda's injuries but she didnt think she should ask if she was in pain, instead she grabbed a medkit thinking she'd try and help but she hoped a medic was available to do so.
"Did anyone grab the arm?" Euikoshi asked the others.
Once Nanook was secured in place, Vec went to check over his wounds. The man's arm was almost entirely gone, just a bloody mass of lacerated flesh and splintered bone. "Don't worry, got a new clone queued up," he said, answering his battle buddy, "And I doubt there's much left of it." He began to use his plasma projector on its finest setting to cut away damaged bits of armor.
"Head count," Gabriela ordered. "Is everyone present and accounted for? Sound off," she ordered.
"Euikoshi!"
"Pink," the medic replied, going over to check on Sanda. She grabed a wad of gauze and handed it to Sanda to hold on the wound.
Sanda snapped out of her daze and said, "Thunder here." She didn't argue with Poppy when she handed her the gauze. She just had no fight left in her.
"NOOKIE WOOKIE HERE" Nanook laughed as some of the painkillers left him in a drug induced high.
"Wilson here, five fingers five toes," Vec said without looking up from his grim task. "Hope those painkillers work, kid," he said before using the beam to cauterize the open wound. He removed the Kodian's helmet and strapped an O2 mask over his face. He grumbled to himself, he'd need a set of clippers if he wanted to stick on an adhesive biomonitor. Instad he patched into his patient's AIES. The readings wouldn't be quite as accurate, but he'd know if the kid started coding.
"Unknifto's Alive. unpleasently so." Cheilith wheezed it was getting abit more painful to breathe, probably several broken ribs.
"Silverlight here" Kiyo replied as she took note of Sanda's reaction, then glanced to Nanook and blinked.
Zanven continued to scan the wreckage that was left behind as crews were beginning to work through. The crew was sounding off and after everyone was accounted for Zanven spoke up. "Solo here, looks like we're ready to move...ramps coming up."
After making sure everyone on the away team had made it onto the shuttle, Gabriela removed her helmet, went to the cockpit though one of the hatches and poked her head in. "Take us home to the Resurgence," she told Beryl, who closed the rear hatch and then got airborne. The shuttle vibrated and tugged the Star Army soldiers around as it shot into the sky.
Gashmere
Fort Nozomi
The gopher drones had been dropped into the soft sand of the western sea days before. Slowly digging their way through the slate and bedrock of the continent towards their final objective. Twelve of them, all packed with nearly a ton of explosives. Normally, they had a very routine, constructive purpose, building city caverns. This day however, a more nefarious purpose awaited them.
The target coordinates appeared on their internal navigation computers. Two hundred Meters. It took nearly six more hours, but they finally converged. As one, they all exploded, five meters under the front gate defense tower of Fort Nozomi.
YSS Resurgence - Shuttle Bay
The shuttle slid into the bay on the Resurgence's bottom deck, coming to rest on the shiny black floor. The rear door whined as it opened to reveal the ship's crowded shuttlebay where the rows of small craft were parked. Julia Brisk, the caretaker, and Miriam Norita, the armorer, were there waiting to help people out of their power armor suits.
Kiyo was silent as she began removing her armor, not caring for the temperature on her skin and ignoring it as she removed her helmet and climbed out of her Mindy. She removed her sheathed Katana and held onto it close to herself.
Zanven disembarked and stepped down and out into the shuttle bay. He looked at Miriam Norita and gave a nod as he exited the bay and made his way to the power armor bay. There was enough of the crew there to help the others and since this was a detour for him in the first place...nobody stopped him as he went to jump out of his armor. He arrived to the bay next to the identical armor set he brought and the skeleton crew began to take weapons off of the armor and strip it down. Once it was done, he hopped out and stretched as he felt a little bit disoriented for a moment. After a few seconds of breathing he was back to normal before he walked out of the power armor bay and begin to head back to his room.
Poppy, Eukoshi, and Gabriela pushed Nanook to the cargo elevator and waited for Cheilith and Sanda to come along and join them for the ride up to the medical lab's deck.
Cheilith was walking at this point, painfully limping onto the Cargo Elevator, holding her arm that still refused to let go of the massive sword. She stood there looking a bit dazed.
Sanda removed her damaged Mindy and followed the medics towards the Med bay.
Kiyo looked at her Mindy and knew it would be a tough job for her to fix it. She might need to request new parts for it.
Gashmere Broadcast System
Gashmere and near Orbit
The broadcast was patched into every public and open comms system on the planet.
The camera Focused in on a late middle aged Kodian. He was heavily muscled, his black fur covered face and muzzle crisscrossed with scars. He wore a set of heavy Kodian Power armor with no helmet. "Last night, another tragedy befell Gashmere city. While heroic Kodian first responders attempted to save and preserve life, the unwelcome belligerence of the Yamatai Empire reared its tyrannical head by launching an attack on, and ultimately destroying, the Gashmere ST Center. A group of true Kodians rallied and rushed to the site in an attempt to repel the attackers. Colonel Bjorn Thundershield, a tried and true hero of Gashmere led them. En route to the site, treacherous attackers struck at these valiant rescuers from the sewers and set booby traps to delay them.” Footage of Kodians in power armor having limbs blown off from the opening to storm drains and sewers plays. A car explodes near another Kodian, his body vaporizes in an instant. “Here is footage we were able to recover from Colonel Thundershields armor, be warned however, it is graphic in nature."
The camera cuts to the video feed of a one armed Nanook seeking cover, Chiasa firing her weapon, in the direction of the camera. Sanda and Thad arrive, slaughtering more Kodians. The close-in battle with Sanda, the orbital strike hitting the armored car in the ST Center Wall. The explosions of Thads grenades strobed wildly. The camera pans to the ground as it looks at the closed heat port on an Ursus Assault Cannon. Sanda is standing in full view of the camera. Then a bright flash. The screen goes black. The original speaker appears back on screen.
"Colonel Thundershield and his men will forever be remembered as valiant defenders of Gashmere and its people. Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, they marched proudly to defend the already beaten men, women and cubs of Gashmere City. When it became apparent that it would be a losing battle, Colonel Thundershield ordered his remaining soldiers to retreat into the city's tunnels and bade them to Protect Our Cubs. There he stood, defiantly as he gave his very life in our defense against these alien enforcers. Despite being heavily outnumbered and wounded, it was not until naval fire from orbit struck him, that the enemy was able to extinguish his life.
The screen cuts to a hospital scene, a Kodian childrens hospital ward. Kodian cubs of all different sizes and colors are being treated. “These cubs, none of them will see their families again. They lost any chance of that when the Star Army destroyed the ST building. This is the insidious evil that is the Yamatai Empire. Raise up against the occupation. Open your eyes to the truth. Sharpen your claws and hone your teeth. Even now more ships are arriving in Orbit. The Yamatais 7th Fleet, Izanagi Dreadnaughts, battleships, cruisers, escorts. We know why they have come. They mean to ground us into dust as they have so many others. We must throw these evil creatures from our planet. For our cubs, for our future. Gashmere forever." Tears rolled down the Kodians face as he intoned the last two sentences.
