[b]Serenity Insurrection: 13 km from Gurin Outskirts; Peoples' Army of Sazkarjhia 8th Regimental Division[/b]

The march had not been that much of a problem for the soldiers. Serenity had a fairly normal gravity and a nice climate, meaning the resources for the internal section of their powered armor didn't drain so fast. The increased mobility and the complete lack of confrontation after a now-12 kilometer march almost seemed like things were going to be perfect. Almost too good to be true.

Captain Turiya Weren'dum, leader of 3rd Regimental Subdivision, looked around uneasily. There wasn't a [i]single[/i] Sazkarjhit colonist walking about; even when they approached the first of the dwellings. [i]Moved to the capital or detained, probably.[/i] she thought to herself.

She continued with the rest of the division for the last 12 kilometers before they reached the outskirts. There they began seeing more houses. Some were custom-built and some were from the modules of the colony ships that had come to Serenity thirty-five years prior. Every inlet into the streets were blocked off with barriers made of welded scrap metal. The Division Commander called the order, "Diverge!" over military comms and subdivisions began splitting into squads. They moved around, looking for ways past the barricades. Finally, the ground shook slightly as a handful of SDF heavies armed with flamethrowers approached the barricades. The hulks of carbosteel and titanium plate armor raised their massive devices and fired streams of white-hot flame. The scrap metal didn't last long under the intense heat and soon melted into puddles of molten steel and iron. 

The squads mobilized and pushed their ways into the streets. And there, very swiftly, firefights began.

Given the nature of the non-military men and women, they fought guerrilla style, an unconventional, unpredictable. The first time Captain Weren'dum noticed this was when an improvised landmine obliterated half of third squad. As fire came from the windows it was truly difficult to tell where to draw fire. Sparrowhawks made continuous passes, their autocannons alight as the ground and anything in the four-barreled weapon's path was shredded apart or turned into glass from intense heat. A flurry of missiles and plasma grenades followed, and soon the once pristine and developed outskirts of Gurin were reduced to rubble with streets pockmarked with craters. 

However, losses from the rebels were inflicting heavily onto the PA, and they pulled back to regroup at the valley. Using kilometers' worth of smoke to hid their trails.