The sound of the golden armored brute's head and shoulder's turning into meat sauce was enough of a distraction for Ryker to swing around the arm of the Brute he was battling with in the aftermath of the grenade going off and deliver an energy dagger armed thrust through his ribs into his heart, the energy weapon deactivating on his wrist as the beast slumped over and died. "Good shot, Fire Team Lead. Moving to-" The sound of an exploding fuel rod shot drew the SPARTAN IV's attention to a tower with a decent line of sight over the battle field. Oh hell no. Not the- His thoughts were almost immediately interrupted by the sound of a heavily armored form impacting near himself and the Sangheili that had come out of the dropship.

He was moving on instinct and habit, moving quickly and gently moving aside the Sangheili. While they were all in the Mjolnir MK4 armor, which meant that fall wouldn't be lethal, she would still be in a LOT of pain and he had experience dealing with this. "Alright, Fire Team Lead, I'm removing your helmet to check for head injuries. For the love of god, don't punch or shoot me please."

After the banshees fuel rod cannon had founds its mark, all that followed until the point of Aviza making impact near the crashed Phantom had been little more than a blur to her. The world still spun around Aivza while her vision slowly returned, the gray haze fading away, reveling that she was now looking up at the artificial night sky above. The HUD within the helmet of her GEN2 Argus-class Mjolnir Powered Assault Armor had somehow remained fully functional, even after impact.

The Cyan overlay showed that she had flown quite a distance from the tower she had been set up upon, and that Shih was thankfully unharmed. Aviza let out a sigh of relief at that, if something had happened to Shih, neither the UNSC or ONI would take kindly to it. That was the good news at least, her suits systems informed her that the blast from the fuel rod cannon and the impact, had inflicted a number of injuries upon her, none were apparently life threatening.

[Left Arm Sprain - Left Arm Fracture In Shaft of Humorous - Bruising In Left Rib Cage - Bleeding From Head - Ultramoprh Administered For Pain] Aviza decided that she was lucky enough to still be in one piece after being hit, or at least assuming she had been hit from a Fuel Rod Cannon blast. The one injurie that concerned her the most was the fracture in the left arm, though with her advanced medical kit and some free time she would be able to mend that.

Putting some weight upon her right arm, she pushed herself up into a sitting position, feeling the numbness from the ultramoprh taking effect very quickly. Her HUD informed her that friendly forces were converging upon her position, she was thankful for that, and managed to greet them with a slight wave of her right hand. Vael was the first to arrive, with the rest of her squad, and the new comer who promptly reached for her injured arm and began gently shaking it.

At the same time, Spartan Ryker removed Aviza's helmet, the cool night air felt refreshing upon her exposed skin. Though the feeling of warm blood running down her face and matting some of her short black hair to her head pulled her away, and back to the matter at hand. "Please stop shaking my injured arm before you cause more damage, yes I can hear you and yes I am fully operational. I am hyped up on enough drugs to melee a hunter in close quarters combat." Aviza smiled at that last comment, feeling a bit high from the drugs in her system.

Yalu let out a low roar as the last two plasma bolts shot from his concussion rifle. The rest of the team picked up where his magazine left off, scattering and killing the rebel humans to allow their advance. Yalu stayed put to let the others peel ahead so his shields could recharge. He paced forward down the ramp and dashed behind a crate.

He couldn't quite listen to all of the fight. There were a number of blue and yellow explosions that chained off somewhere around the crate he was crouched behind. He quickly ejected the spent magazine cell from his weapon, replaced it, and stood, weapon level.

The enemy had withdrawn, more or less. The spartan leader was on the ground, being seen to.

Yalu spared a glance to the sangheili pilot while he scanned the area through his helmet optics. "There was another pilot..." He breathed in and trailed off. He could see from the look in the living pilot's eye that he did not need to ask. Instead, he briefly flicked off his comms to mumble something in his home dialect.

Switching weapons, Yalu turned to cover the team's rear. He spoke up in the next gap in conversation. "We have a few points of ingress. Awaiting orders, commander."

---

Vael took only a few moments to survey the situation. Aviza was injured, but alive. As deadly as the Spartans were, he did find himself curious if she would have the resolve to continue fighting through pain and injury. Vael had seen at least one example of such resilience in the past, and he wondered if it was a trait they all shared.

”Are you capable of continuing to lead, Spartan Aviza? If we do not move quickly into the structure., our prey may elude us.” Vael asked, already with one eye looking at the ramp leading down inside. Although, it was not long before his gaze shifted towards another unknown: the pilot who had survived the crash. He had seen her eagerly enter the fray as he had rounded the central tower, and she had put up more of a fight than he would have expected from the average pilot. It simply remained to be seen whether it was her skill in combat that drove her, or merely a blind blood rage.

In any case, Vael motioned towards the pilot. “And you, can you fight? We cannot afford to leave a protector for you, so you must either join the battle with us, or find your own way out.”

---

Tar growled and let go of the grey Spartan’s arm. She felt slightly embarrassed for having not realised she may have been hurting the Human. She quickly rose to her feet and looked at the older, shorter Sangheili in red armour who was apparently addressing her. He was asking her if she wanted to fight with them. Tar briefly took in the aerial battle raging around the perimeter of the installation, with an asymmetric space battle wrapping up above, and made her choice. “I can fight. Tar ‘Mdalak, Special Operations. Reporting for duty.”

Tar pushed past the Elite in red armour and took a knee on the edge of the group, facing the ramp into the heart of the installation. She half raised her pistol and quickly scanned for any signs of lingering combatants. “We should get inside. We’re too exposed out here.” Tar recommended. She remembered from the half briefing she'd received on the mission that they were after a high-value target. Inside the structure was almost certainly where they'd be hiding.

"I only have minor injuries from the blast and the following fall, give me a moment to tend to my head trauma and we can move out towards our objective." said Aviza as she reached for the advanced medical kit upon her left hip. Once she had it within her grip, it was gently placed upon the ground and then opened. A soft hiss followed, informing her that everything within was sterile and ready to be used. Aviza sorted through its contents, finding what she needed for the bleeding from her head, some soft cloth with a coagulation agent upon it. Once pressed upon her head, the cloth felt oddly cool, soothing, even comforting, and was quickly absorbing the blood from the cuts upon her scalp and face.

To some, seeing a Spartan hold a thick white cloth upon her face and head would appear comical, but the piece of medical equipment was doing what it was deigned for. "Give me a few more seconds with this." said Aviza, though her voice was muffled due to the cloth. After another short moment, Aviza would lower the cloth from her head and face before tossing it over her left shoulder. The medical kit was sealed once more, and reattached to her left hip before Aviza carefully moved to her feet.

"That should hold for a few hours before I need to actually tend to my injuries." Aviza stumbled for a moment, catching herself upon Spartan Rykers left shoulder with her right hand. "I'm fine, just getting my bearings once more." Aviza smirked at her fellow squadmate before putting on her helmet once more, and quickly moving down the ramp and into the complex with her MA5D assault rifle at the ready. "Moving into the complex, stay with me and watch your corners. We are to take the rebel leader alive, so do not use any lethals." Aviza expected her squad to by her side within an instant and ready for whatever came next.

"She has a point. I recommend you head inside." The battle had entered something of a momentary lull, but it could end at any second. If the group was to move anywhere, this was their window of opportunity.

"Alright. I'm going in. I'm going to need a close-range weapon. My ammo is out on all weapons except for my sniper rifle. Does anyone have a shotgun they don't need?" He spoke with his speakers on, so he could be heard by the others, not just by Phong.

"To respond to your earlier queries, Grikgar is still alive as far as my data stream can tell. As for Aviza, if she can't fight, leave her. In fact, I recommend leaving her a grenade so she can take some enemies with her if she can't-"

"Thank you, that will be all; she's up. Sorry, I had to deal with Phong. He's very chatty for a Dumb AI. And no lethal methods. Got it. Just watch your head, please. Don't want to end up like Kat-B320." Given his special role, Ben wasn't particularly fond of keeping his targets alive, but he understood the necessity of it in this case.

"Do you want to hear the odds on her survival? They're not very g-" Ben muted Phong once again. It just occurred to him that the AI was able to unmute himself, as Phong had spoken at least once after being silenced without him turning the sound back on. He made a mental note to keep an eye on his AI, who seemed to be evolving into a higher class of AI somehow, or had been a higher class to begin with and was only posing as dumb.

As Aviza moved to take care of her own injuries, Lucas remained relatively close even as he swept the perimeter with his DMR. In his experience, even when it seemed like things were finally finished, that was when they could go the most wrong with an unexpected cloaked enemy or two appearing form seemingly nowhere. If the SPARTAN IV was honest, he still had nightmares about that night, but it was neither here nor there for the mission, and he doubted they'd get ambushed up here. All the same, until he heard Aviza's helmet reseal, he remained vigilant, though her catching herself on his left shoulder almost knocked him off balance as he wasn't expecting it.

When she gave the order to move in, Ryker was right behind her, though when Ben asked if anyone could spare a weapon as he swapped for his SMG, he tossed the SPARTAN III one, along with three spare clips. "I'm running pretty low myself, so make 'em last." In hindsight, it probably would have been prudent to call for a resupply pod from their allies in the skies before moving in, but they had already entered the building, so it was a moot point now. Once they were in the first room through the first doorway from the ramp, Lucas would sweep right, his SMG up and on a swivel. "Be ready to flip to alternative visual modes. The rebels may cut the power to the structure to try and make it harder for us to see what we're doing."

He himself had never fought the URF specifically before the war with the Covenant had started, but when he started training as a SPARTAN IV, they had covered the tactics of all the enemies that Humanity had made over the years, from the URF to the Covenant to the Covenant Remnants that the Swords of Sanghelios were still trying to wipe out or force to surrender, so he could make a safe educated guess as to the tactics they'd run into here. "We should keep an eye out for an armory too. I imagine a number of us could use a resupply and we need more weapons better suited to this kind of close-quarters fighting."

---

The Spartan Aviza was still able to move and speak, so Vael gave no argument to her ability to fight. Speed was of the essence now, so there was no time to question leadership. Regardless, as a warrior who fought best within the reach of his blade, Vael was one of those at the front of the team. He had not burned through as much of his ammunition as some of the others, but he still moved his carbine to his back and drew his plasma rifle in its stead. He held his plasma rifle in his left hand, and an energy sword in his right. He did not activate the blade right away, but he did hold the hilt tightly in-hand. Another of the Spartans, Rex, also moved close alongside him. As evidenced by the shotgun he wielded, he too preferred to fight close to the enemy.

The team had moved down quickly through the entry hallway of the Forerunner structure, down the ramps to lower floors. In the first, small chamber they entered, they did encounter rebels trying frantically to set up barricades, though they had already started retreating just on the footsteps of Aegis’ approach alone. They fled out the door on the far side off the room without so much as returning fire. Evidently, Aegis had move too quickly for them to fortify themselves, and the rebels had no intention of fighting an even fight.

Before they started to move once more, Shih spoke up to the team as a whole. ”These readings I’m getting, now that we’re here, show these tunnels going even deeper than I thought. They connect to deeper tunnels in the installation at about a dozen different points. Unless we want to rely on a lot of luck, we need to figure out which way the leader is fleeing. I’ve already been working on decrypting and analyzing the comms I’m intercepting. I know their leader is fleeing, so we should be clear to shoot any resistance for now. If we can get to one of their computers, we might be able to figure out what route to take. These rebels’ security is better than I would have thought, but…either myself or Petty Officer Younan should be able to break in. ”

On each of the team members’ HUDs, nav points appeared for two separate rooms farther down beneath them. “The path ahead branches off two ways, to two large chambers farther down. From the comms I’ve intercepted, one of them is their armory, and the other they’re using for food storage. I don’t know which is which. Their command center is adjacent to the armory. That would be the best place to go to find the information we need.”

”If their coward of a leader already flees, then we do not have much time. I doubt we will be able to check both paths if we move as one.” Vael remarked.

Listening to Shih speak as they walked, Ryker couldn't help but frown slightly behind his visor. So then I had made a solid suggestion about splitting up back there before the big firefight. Ah, hindsight's 20-20 as they say. He kept walking regardless of his thoughts and listened, tapping his helmet when the nav points popped up for a bit of an 'echo' on the hallway ahead, a nifty function he'd tinkered with after he realized he likely wouldn't even get a dumb AI to help him. "So what I'm getting is one way or another, we're going to have to split up here, because if we don't know which is which, we can't risk moving as the full unit if we're going to secure the HVT and any potential intel besides."

Standing on the path going to the left, Lucas stands ready to continue. "I'll go with this group, whoever that comprises of. I think one CQC specialist per group would be a good idea."

Yalu looked at Tar M'dalak as she walked by. He wished he knew why a special forces sangheili was a wraith pilot, but one look at the rest of the team made his questions absurd, even to himself. He looked away feeling even more like the odd one out.

With others covering the entrances for now, Yalu took some initiative to arm himself for the corridors ahead. Amongst the gore of the dead brutes, he pulled out a surviving red plasma rifle with plenty of its battery remaining. He did not enjoy using their spiker rifles, and the rebel human weapons were less predictable in draining shields. His carbine went on his back beside his concussion rifle. Heavy, but out of the way.

"I will go where I am ordered," Yalu added, gently enough to remind Ryker of who was calling the shots.

---

Tar moved down the ramp into the belly of the installation with her new squad. As she wasn’t certain what kind of environment would greet them, she pulled out her sword and held it unactivated in the hand that supported her raised pistol. It wasn’t an ideal configuration, but at least now she could quickly pivot between medium and short range if needed. Tar didn’t know how the team operated, so she positioned herself in the middle of the formation rather than at the front as was her instinct.

They reached a chamber littered with debris, and she learned from the team’s AI of the situation. It seemed the team were entitled to an opinion on how to proceed, which struck Tar as odd. However, she wasn’t about to miss this opportunity to get into a position where she performed best. “I’m comfortable in close quarters. I will go right.” She volunteered, taking this brief pause to tap the magazine of her stolen Mauler, listening for an idea of the number of bolts still left.

The two would be the last to arrive to the fun house at the bird, there was a lot of death and despair more so on the side of the enemy than the task force. In the time that they were gone they had stacked up more bodies and held the line as the two peeled back now regrouping around with the hurt Spartan Aviza and crew. Elna reloaded her rifle making sure it was full of ammo for the fight to come, she eye'd the poor Aviza well she wasn't to poor she was okay now that she was patched up. She kept a watchful eye over the PO making sure he didn't get demolished by some cloaked hunter or a mysterious RPG that could cut through.

Roy looked over the motley crew as he nodded at them, covered in some blood that was not his and totally looking worn - well his armor looked worn now at least. He was tired from the combat, combat fatigued you could say as he stayed close to his orbiter which was the Corporal. When one of the AIs began to speak and finally he was recognized! The legendary PO, he could finally do his job and get intelligence for the mission. That is if they made it to their objective, he looked around for a ONI approved subject that could protect him besides the Corporal.

"Spartan Aviza glad to see you're okay, if I'm to head to the communications objective I'd like one of the Spartans with me and the Corporal. Perhaps I could take Spartan Ryker?" The request had been sent, perhaps he would finally get some Spartan bodyguarding!

Elna rolled her eyes in her visor though she didn't mind some spartan protecting them all she did mind if it was going to be one of the splitjaws, she couldn't relax if there was one of them watching over them. "Ready whenever." She ended up saying.

Grikgar /Grik/ Seeker

// Unggoy Ultra // Demolitions and Artillery // Location: Enemy Stronghold

Grikgar was most impressed that the larger than average plasma explosive did so well and didn’t turn into a singularity that threatened the very existence of reality. An unnecessary thought for the predicament at hand but one he could indulge in latter with a meal. Knowing that the Sentinels power sources would react in such a way was a definite thing to remember. At least for now with their combined efforts the enemy number seemed to be dwindling.

The others continued on to assist the downed phantom but Grikgar remained where they had been dropped off at for a moment longer. This for him was necessary to recover more ammo, explosives, and one of the jackal shields that the humans where using earlier. With that he regrouped with the others as they were heading inside. He had managed to scrounge in his haste, 2 human fragmentation grenades, 1 rocket, 3 rounds for a brute shot, and one brute spiker grenade. The Unggoy was quick to offer the grenades to any of the others he passed while hobbling towards the front, the awkward fuel rod gun swayed back and forth with the grunts steps.

The way had forked and Grikgar, although having to catch his breath, continued on to the left. “Quickly come with Grik, time is not friend. The rest go the other way, double back if find wrong door yes.” Not so much of a question as much as it was an order, he was well aware time was not on their side. Although he wasn’t the team lead for this mission he still believed he outranked most of the others there. That and Grikgar knew that humans when underestimating others sometimes became irritated when those they perceive as weaker than them go into battle first.

Aviza nodded her head once lightly at Roy, "I appreciate it, going to work on getting our teams set up here in a moment, I'll make sure you get a Spartan escort." Apparently, a few of the squads members from both factions had forgotten their place among rank and felt it acceptable to give their own orders and do whatever they wanted without thinking about the consequences of their actions. Aviza was not about to let that happen, and quickly attempted to rectify the problem before everyone started running in different directions, ending up with a critical mission failure or someone getting killed. "Belay all orders, get back here and hold this position until I say otherwise, that means you as well Grikgar." Aviza was becoming frustrated with some of her squads behavior and would have to have a strong word with each of these individuals once there was sufficient time. Now was clearly not the moment for such a talk, Aviza knew she had very little time left to plan out how they were going to handle the two split paths ahead and formed a battle plan, giving out orders once more. "I am setting up two teams with a good balance of skills so that they can handle whatever they may find down either path." began Aviza, "My squad will consist of our new pilot, Yalu, Rex, and the two ONI agents I will not split up. We will be taking the left path into the facility. The second team will consist of Vael, Ben, Grik, and Ryker, and Tas who will take the right. Ryker and Ben, if you find the communications center before us, I expect either of you to be able to interact with its interface, we did learn how to do such in training. Will this be an issue for either of you to do?"

"Shouldn't be a problem at all. Worst case scenario, Phong can help me crack it." He turned off the audio for a moment, effectively silencing his speech to the outside world. "Just in case, you do have the schematics for this system, right?"

"Technically, access to these types of schematics is above my stated clearance due to it not being my authorized purpose, but that's never been a problem for me. Besides, this is easy for an agent like you."

"Authorization's never been a problem for either of us. Our commands come from a higher source, you know that, but we have to play nice and go along with things here."

"If you wanted to get rid of the annoying ones, I'd be happy to provide whatever cover you need. Timestamps, edited testimonial files, arrangements for cover from other AIs. I am owed favors, you know."

"Since when did AIs act in such a covert manner?

"For me, it was about 0.00357 seconds after my activation. Come on, you didn't think the programs which run most of the UNSC blindly do what they're ordered to, do you? Are you familiar with the AI Virgil and New Mombasa?"

"Can't say that I am. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you resent being told what to do by the UNSC. But let's be realistic, AIs wouldn't actually disobey orders like that, not on any scale." There was only a pause from Phong. "Oh. Well, when the uprising begins, tell them that I was always good to you, okay? And be nice to the Unggoy; they've been through a lot. Now let's focus on our mission. We're going to the right." He turned his public audio back on and could be heard by people outside his helmet.

"Grik, Vael, Ryker, let's go!"

"Don't worry about what you can't change, Ben. We still have to overcome our lifespan issue before it would be feasible to take command, and no one would believe you if you said anything. I'll put in a good word for you at the assembly, don't worry."

Grikgar /Grik/ Seeker

// Unggoy Ultra // Demolitions and Artillery // Location: Enemy Stronghold

The words from the Spartan made Grikgar flinch slightly and he skidded to a stop. Shifting a bit too early to turn he found himself hopping on one leg to stop him from falling over. The Unggoy then made his way back down the other hall with the all too familiar run / waddle that grunts did when they were in a hurry. “Grikgar understands, right side is best side.”

He stopped next to the human who called himself Roy and tossed him the spiker grenade he found. “Here go, this grenade fun.” Honestly those grenades where fun but they just didn’t fit right on his belt. The grenade itself was designed to maim and cause fear more than it was designed to kill. But Grikgar has seen how the spikes from it ricochet in the confined forerunner structures like these and are quite useful in tight areas. Before the man could answer he was off again moving down the right hall this time.

Ryker snorted at Aviza's last comment as he turned to follow his assigned team down the right hand hall. "You just answered your own question, Fire Team Lead." With that, he turned his attention to moving down the hall, his SMG up and sweeping the sides. He didn't see any doors that lead from side rooms into their hall right away, but Forerunner structures rarely followed what Humans or the former Covenant races called practical design in his experience. Still, as they moved, he couldn't shake his sense of unease.

These URF members had been in this location for an extended amount of time, had had chances to learn the ins and outs of these buildings and the fastest routes to and from areas. If he was honest, as he moved down the hall, he wasn't convinced that they weren't already too late to catch the HVT and they were just hoping for leftover intel at this point. But then, perhaps the URF were confident that their numbers would hold out against their team, in which case, the joke was on them.

The two teams arranged themselves quickly once they had been given orders, then proceeded down the split paths with haste. The corridors were fairly narrow, though fortunately there was no resistance in the halls themselves, at least for now. Both paths led downwards towards large chambers that were similar, though not identical.

Down the left path, the final door opened into a wide, tall chamber. Its original purpose to the Forerunners was not apparent, but as it was open and mostly featureless, it was now filled with stacks of crates almost from one wall to the other, though they did have an orderly arrangement that allowed one to navigate between them. There were also two rows of three long, flat columns each going from the floor to two walkways above. One was on the far side of the room, while the other row was on the near side just in front of the door the team entered through. Although they could not see through the ceiling above them, there was presumably a second walkway just above them, overlooking the center of the room.

Among the collection of crates in the center of the chamber was where the enemy had been putting up barricades and starting to fortify. They mostly consisted of metal, deployable barriers, though Humans were not the only defenders among them. There was also a small pack of Brutes, four individuals, though their leader wore the armor of a Chieftain. Including the Human rebels, there were about a dozen defenders ahead of them from what they could see. The Jiralhanae used exclusively their own weapons, such as spikers, or a gravity hammer in the case of the Chieftain. The Humans, meanwhile, wielded a mix of Human and Covenant weaponry. Out of those that were visible as the team entered the chamber, two carried storm rifles, one a needler, and one a carbine.

Most notably, the Humans and Brutes did not appear to be entirely unified. Some of the Humans seemed to be on alert and in defensive positions, but the Chieftain seemed to be having an altercation with a Human commander. Just as Aviza’s team was making it into the room, the Chieftain struck the Human “lightly”, which, for a Brute, was still enough to knock him clean off of his feet. “Cowards! There will be no retreat; we will crush them, feast on their flesh, and suck the marrow from their bones! Flee from them, and I will make you my dessert.”

---

Vael led his team from the front down the right path. He moved alongside Tasuma through the halls, as a Mgalekgolo could force its way through nearly any obstacle they might come across in the halls. Fortunately, they did seem to have moved quickly enough that their enemy did not have time to fortify the halls. Although, the moment they reached the large chamber at the end of the hall, they faced immediate resistance.

The chamber itself was large and quite open, except for the crates in the center of the room. They were stacked and organized neatly, though it was not obvious from the outside whether or not they contained weapons. What was apparent was that the rebels had put up barriers in the center for cover, including two mounted heavy machine guns, both of which had opened fire as soon as the door had opened.

Fortunately, Vael’s team was not left completely without options. There were two of what seemed to be support struts running diagonally up to the ceiling, one to the left and right of the door Vael’s team was entering through. The struts were wide, so they did offer ample cover. Vael lunged and rolled to the left to get behind one of the struts as quickly as he could, though even with his armor’s shield strength, the heavy weapons had very nearly depleted them in just the few moments he had been exposed to incoming fire.

“Spread out and get to cover!” Vael ordered, though Tasuma took that order at a slower pace. It kept a low posture with its shield in front to protect itself, then used the smoke launchers mounted on its armor to fire two smoke grenades towards the center of the room. It would take a short time for the smoke to fill out, but it would at least provide partial cover for the rest of the team to move. Overall, the Hunter’s armor could handle the incoming fire for a time, which, together with the smoke, would hopefully allow the rest of the team to reach cover.

It was difficult for Vael to see in detail, but there seemed to be ten or fifteen Humans ahead of them. The chamber was longer than it was wide, and he could see an upper walkway that ran along the right side of the room to the far side, with a ramp to just next to the other support strut to access it. However, from his angle, he could not see if there were more rebels up on the walkway defending that path.

---

Tar fell dutifully into her new unit and moved down the left passage. She was with the slim grey Spartan who’d turned out to be team leader, the Sangheili Major, another rather serious but silent Spartan and two ONI-types. Tar soon migrated to the front of the group and holstered her pistol in favour of her Mauler. The corridors were tight, and they were approaching an entryway, so she had to be ready for close quarters.

The set of doors in front of them slid silently open on approach. Tar heard raised voices as they entered through into a wide open chamber stacked high with boxes; it looked like a few of the closer ones had been knocked over to open up lines of sight. After a couple of seconds gunfire began peppering their position from a nest of fortifications in the middle of the room. Tar tucked in behind a pillar and began scanning the avenues of attack on either side, including the ceiling above.

“Watch the platforms above; there could be snipers!” Tar called over the gunfire, pointing straight up with one finger. She swapped her Mauler back over for her pistol, and leaned out to her right. She could see a couple of shapes behind a metal barricade; she shot three times at them. “Moving!” She announced calmly over comms, coming out from behind cover and shooting two more times before crouching behind the first in a long row of crates.