The trio of Blur, Swarm, and the Mad-E, alongside the duo of Wessex and PM awaited their order to [color=8882be]"Commence Mission"[/color] from their Captain. When it came, their engines rocketed them out of their collective hangar, and they split up, each headed for their own destinations. It wasn't long for either team to meet up with their temporary allies, a Paragon hover-train quickly floating over the dunes to some random outposts, and a duo of Volkov gunships, loitering not too far away from their designated combat zone.

As they were just a bit closer, the Volkov gents met their assistants first, and opened comms. In Russian accents, with somewhat sub-par english, the leader of the two greeted the three coming to join them. "Ahh, lovely, our comrades have arrived. This is Akula 1, how are you mercs doing? Ready to hunt Denver-Vegas dogs? We arrived not too long ago ourselves, we've been talking about god knows-what for the past half-hour. Can't wait to crack some tough nuts!".

Volkov gunships were usually considered to be the best in the world, actually commonly using NC grade technology to achieve superb automation and ease-of-use, allowing the pilots to focus more on fighting then running their own craft. Of course, no actual neural connections were involved, so they still weren't on the level of true NC's. Still, it wasn't unheard of for two gunships, the standard squadron, to flatten a standard tank battalion in a few minutes. Sadly, they weren't fighting standard tanks at all today. These ones, commonly nicknamed 'Prowlers', had a single eight-bladed helicopter rotor propelling them (alongside small turbojet maneuvering thrusters), and two stubby wings carrying anti-armor vulcans, alongside air-to-ground rocket batteries.

Denver-Vegas' 'Siege Tanks' were really rumbling fortresses, twice the tonnage of the second-heaviest tank in the world at the time. They didn't use tech any more advanced then other Denver-Vegas combat vehicles, but their very well-thought out, and rugged (and some say over-armored) designs allowed them to fight NC's on equal footing, assuming that NC already had some damage beforehand. Of course, they were hellishly expensive to maintain, even if they were relatively simplistic designs... These ones were of a newer make and model, more similar to battleships with treads then actual tanks, having two double-barreled turrets, one on the back and one on the front. These 'Crutchley' model super-tanks were also equipped with powerful side armor, in addition to anti-laser smoke deployers. Rumor has it that one of Denver-Vegas' tank commanders personally modified his standard model Siege-tank to something just like these after a run-in with Paragon that he barely escaped from, and its' effectiveness had it taken apart and studied to create a new breed of tanks. Even when not going against their dedicated Paragon marks, they're going to be difficult adversaries...

"Sir, RADAR's picking up new targets alongside those Volkov vultures that have been trailing us!", said one of the tanks' sensor and radio specialists. The Commander of the tank, and squad commander of the trio of land-battleships, pondered his options. "Hmm... at this range, they're definitely hostile and planning an attack. Let them take the first move, aim for anything that has anti-armor measures afterwards. Tell #3 to set their turrets' Vulcans to Point Defense, make swiss cheese out of any missiles or close-rangers that come our way." "Roger boss!", said the specialist, as he began relaying orders. Jameson, the Tank Commander, was worried about how this fight would pan out. They're out-numbered by two, and his personal tank was suffering. Its' aft turret had a barrel malfunction, the left one was inoperable and couldn't fire safely... This was going to be a difficult fight for both sides.

[color=8882be]"Team A, your targets are those three RADAR signatures, your long-range sensors are telling us one's already smoking a little it seems and the third one has different armaments then the rest. Crutchleys' are suicidal to try and circle around, their broadsides are devastating. Pick the front or back and stick to it. We'd prefer the front, it's harder on your end but more salvage will be available, since the crew module is in the front. Back is easier, ammo storage. Of course, don't get too close if you're taking that option. Commence attack."[/color]

About 50 kilometers to the east, a Paragon hover-train 'conductor' greeted her escorts. British in voice, she started. "Hello, mercenaries. We're happy to see you made it here, please commence the escort. Most of our defensive armaments are situated on the sides, please focus on defending our front and back. That would be highly appreciated.". Paragon hover-trains were pretty modular, this one was the standardized engine/command module, connected to a dedicated defensive array, and a bulk-transport unit. A total of six plasma-casters were on it, two on each side of the command module, and four on the defensive one. Whatever it was transporting must've been particularly important, if it had [i]six[/i] directed energy weapons. Paragon loved their expensive and flashy toys, but this wasn't too standard, especially for a train so relatively small.

[color=8882be]"Team B, that's the train. Rendezvous. Wessex, you take the lead and follow alongside and forwards its' path, should be showing up in your vision. Papa-Mike, you cover its' rear and do the same. ...Y'know, I can't be the only one wondering just what we're escorting, here... In any case, you only have to escort it for so long. When it reaches the end of that path, we're fulfilling our end of the contract. If anyone's attacking it'll likely be Volkov or some crazy independent. You two'll be able to handle it, I'm sure. Commence escort."[/color]