Hidden 12 days ago Post by Whoami
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Once More Into the Fray

(Mood Music)


Leah had chased Sabine all the way back to the hangar just as the commander was forming an O-group with the rest of the team. She caught up with Sabine, practically tackling her. "Got you, you little shit!" she said as she twisted a knuckle into the top of Sabine's skull.

It didn't take long for Leah to realize she had made a strange return to the team. Looking up to the other pilots, Leah just quietly let go of Sabine and took a step away, clearing her throat awkwardly. She huffed and stuffed her hands in her pockets as Sagan went over the details of the mission. When he got past the summary of their task, Leah pulled a notepad and pen from her pocket and began to write down the important information in short-hand form. It sounded like it was going to be a pretty hot drop... Going in with the main body, using their signature umbrella to mask their own insertion through skyfire and every orbital defense in the hemisphere. Urban combat, fortified to the max by an enemy that knew they were coming. And an ultra-sensitive package that needed liberating.

Thankfully, Hex was far more comfortable fighting on the ground, a preference that came from her service in the infantry. Movement was so much more predictable when there was solid ground below you. It was easy when cover and concealment didn't drift around and move, and one could easily see the predictable pathways in low ground that forces would take to advance. Ranges for shooting were far closer too with atmospheric pressure and friction to contend with. Weather could be a problem, but there wasn't much one could do about that if Mother Nature decided to rain on their parade. But none of this was all too different from what she and the 7th had done in the past. Plus, in the event of rain, Hex was thankfully not made of sugar... even if the sugar pills offset that a bit.
__________

The 7th was beginning to mount up for their next sortie. Hex stood before the Blackout in her flightsuit, her helmet resting under her left arm. She looked up at the machine, spotting the replacement chest plate in standard gray paint underneath the new DCA plates. Leah took a deep breath and let it out in a slow sigh. She wasn't going to let that happen again. She was too reckless last time. Her eyes drifted to the repaired sniper cannon mounted on the Blackout's shoulder hardpoint. Her engineering team lead stepped up next to her and planted a firm hand on her shoulder. "I trust my message reached you in the medbay."

Leah nodded. The tech smirked, "Then you know what to do. But for what it's worth, I looked through your flight logs, and you pulled some real cowboy shit in that last scrap. Nobody's doubting your talent anymore, grunt. Just don't come back to the Roanoke on a stretcher, yeah?"

Leah nodded again, "I certainly don't plan on it. Thanks, Tex."

The tech chuckled and patted her shoulder some more. "Your MAS used a ton of the spare parts the Roanoke had on hand for it. I'm sure we could source more parts from elsewhere in the fleet, but the paperwork's gonna be a bitch. You're on the mend, and in spirit, so is your machine. Don't push it, otherwise you'll be grounded by default without a functioning machine." he pointed at the sniper cannon, "Sniper things."

Leah sighed, nodding for a third time. There wasn't much she felt the need to say. She reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a pill bottle, taking two pills as prescribed by the nurse before a sortie to fight the light sensitivity. After downing the medication, Leah brought her helmet up and pushed it down onto her head. The suit sealed around the neck with a small hiss. She stepped onto the gantry elevator and mounted the Blackout, slipping in through the hatch and sitting herself down in her seat. After plugging her helmet in to the MAS unit's life support, she gasped a bit. "What the-... Woah..."

Tex's voice chimed in over her radio, "Oh I forgot to mention. I got clearance to put a little additive in your O2 supply. You should be experiencing some hyper awareness right now. Take a second to get use to it, it'll keep you awake, conscious, and more attentive for the op."

"A warning would have been nice..." Leah said as she looked at her hands while curling them into fists.

"Like I said. I forgot to mention." Tex said with a chuckle.

"Right..." Leah responded, unconvinced.

She powered the Blackout on and went through all of its preflight procedures before walking it out to join the rest of the 7th. She stepped onto an empty drop plate and locked the MAS in position for a launch. As she did, she listened over the squadron net as Sabine recounted the harrowing drop of Targovo. That was a wild ride, one that resulted in Leah being forced to land on a passing Coalition frigate in atmo at high speed. The landing had fractured the hull of the coalition warship and collapsed several decks, but the sudden emergency deceleration the Blackout had to do meant that she didn't have enough fuel to retroburn her way down to the surface. It was one fiery surf through the atmosphere before she managed to reach an altitude she could use her primary thrusters to land safely. The cowabunga jokes that flew around after that mission took a while to simmer down.

Hex didn't speak, not wanting to dredge up the surfer-bro lingo again. Hex was not feeling 'radical', and she knew mentioning any of her part in the Targovo assault would wind up with someone reminding her that 'life's a beach'. So she focused on her job, prepping the Blackout for atmospheric drop. Once all of the measures were taken, she signaled to the commander, "Hex, the Blackout is ready for launch."

Then she heard Vulture's return. It was a comforting display of caring leadership which Leah appreciate. "Understood, commander." she said professionally as she settled into her seat and waited for the drop.
Hidden 10 days ago 10 days ago Post by HereComesTheSnow
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HereComesTheSnow dehydration expert

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LTJG ROY KILMER, CALLSIGN "COMMIE"




<<Commie, set.>>

The smooth hiss and chunk of the clamps locking his ride to the plate were, by contrast, a welcome bit of haptic feedback for the lax, loose American— confirmation that Boeing's new toy would survive reentry with all of its operational capacity intact, as opposed to Roy Kilmer's idea of "enough operational capacity for me to make it work". Bad news about their production models had earned intrepid folks shallow graves over the centuries, for Christ's sake. Commie was a daredevil behind the controls, a label he was always too honest to really downplay or shy away from, but he too had his limits.

They tended to start popping up once you hit "two bullets to the back of the head and dumped in an unmarked grave on Ganymede" territory. With ample time to kill on the order of two minutes, he rolled his shoulders, cracked his neck, and clicked himself into the idle chatter that was special operations comm lines before things really got hot.

<<I'd be all for another Targovo. We were back by lunch and the chassis was still warm enough to heat up the MRE on. Best beef and bell peppers a stick jockey's ever had.>> he quipped, the Shrike offering a a shrug of its MAS scale shoulders as though it were just the man in a suit. <<I'd have to bust out the Sparrow for it, though. No chance they let me drop hot in this thing.>>

He fell silent, letting the rest of the team imagine the wry leer on his face while Vulture carted out his old pre-drop standbys. The man with the horn was the boss, of course, but even he had nerves when the operation reached scales like this— it was the little traditions that kept you anchored. The senior members of the unit all knew that well enough— and had their own ways of joining in.

Roy was hardly any different. The familiar pattern of preflight checks danced out from his fingers and onto the controls, running through ailerons, verniers, retros, sensor suites, while he rejoined the fray as a liquid mercury echo to Sagan's bellowing tones.

<<Time to dive into the fireworks! Rookie, this is your first drop with us, isn't it— house rules are simple: If you get shot down, crash where we can't see!>>

It was easy to sympathize with the kid's concerns from before, especially having also watched poor Sorrels get toasted right in front of the both of them. If he overextended again... well, Roy'd proven he could reel him in before he croaked once this offensive already. Best to not push the luck.

Especially if he'd taken Sab's words to heart (classic blunder) and actually snuck a case into his cockpit with intent to partake mid-descent (classicer blunderer) after all.

Never underestimate how dumb a new kid could get. He'd learned that one on both ends of it.
Hidden 10 days ago Post by TaintedMushroom
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Elliot Braide // ROOK

Ensign



For the most part Elliot had been quiet after the briefing. Part of it was nerves, yeah definitely nerves. First planetfall drop, and on top of that this was technically a spec ops style operation in a sense and therefore carried an entirely different ruleset than what Elliot had anticipated. For starters he’d been a bit taken aback when ordered to ignore friendlies over their primary objective. Elliot of course wouldn’t argue or question his commands but it did register in his brain as unusual. Then again when given the opportunity to join a standard squad he’d opted to find himself in something a little more prestigious and thus different rules came with the territory. It likely would just take some time for Elliot to find his groove as far as this kind of stuff was concerned.

For now he remained quiet as he listened to the rest of the squad banter of their shared mission history. To be honest Elliot couldn’t help but feel a little outside the group, but that likely was just the way things were in this line of work. Elliot was in the big leagues and that came with its own set of rules, something he’d have to get accustomed to.

The Venator was the last MAS to approach and secure itself to the drop plate like the rest of the squad. As he went through the pre-flight checks the rest of the squad shared a few tidbits about an operation on Targovo, a MAS drop with no drop plates with what sounded like an objective to secure a VIP. Talk about intense, hopefully Elliot wouldn’t have to do something that crazy any time soon.

“Rook ready.” He stated simply as his pre-flight checks all came back green.

Hidden 6 days ago 6 days ago Post by vietmyke
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Out of the frying pan...
Orbit above Skogsrå_
101st Special Forces Legion. Local Time: 1155_



"I love a good fireworks show," Sabine drawled over the squadnet. "I even brought some party favors! Me~" Sabine was cackling over the comms as the last of their squadron set onto their drop plates. All around them, some hundreds of twinkling thrusters indicated that they were not alone in the skies. A line of UEE warships floated in place above them, their massive bulks shrouding some of the light around them, the barrels of cannons pointed at the planet beneath them. In the distance a trio of flares exploded. Green, green, green.

<<Orders from central command:>> Eva's voice called out to the squad. <<Second wave is to commence drop.>>

In unison, the thrusters mounted to their drop plates flared to life, propelling the 7th the last short distance out of zero G and into the atmosphere. The thrusters quickly burned out as gravity began to take control of their descent, drop plates and MAS alike shuddering as tons of heavy metal began to force its way through the upper layers of the planet's atmosphere. The drop plates slowly began to turn red as their absorbed most of the friction, though the residual heat was enough to turn the interior of most MAS into a veritable sauna. 'Hot Dropping' pilots liked to call it- instead of the comparatively more cushy experience of riding a ship into the atmosphere. Sweat beaded inside of helmets- sealed and unable to be wiped off, and even the typically chatty Sabine was relegated to controlled breathing instead of mouthing off like she usually did.

Eventually temperatures would regulate as they dropped into the planet proper, the red flares surrounding the drop plates giving way to the clear blue of the planet's stratosphere. Below them was the spotty cloud cover and the ground far in the distance below. They were still out of range of most of the planet's MAS defenders. But Skogsrå was far from helpless. At this distance, the flashes of light weren't visible to the naked eye, but they didn't need to see barrel flashes to know they were being shot at. The air exploded around them as rocket propelled munitions streaked up to meat them, exploding in large clouds of flak. Sabine winced as she heard the sounds of pinging against her drop plate, luckily far enough away that it wouldn't tear the thing apart.

<<Oh fuck!>> A panicked voice cut in through the local tacnet, from one of the squads directly next to them. Sabine's eyes opened as she glanced at the comms. A rookie from the 223rd, one of the reg' units, must've accidentally hit the wrong broadcast channel in her panic. <<I'm hit! Shit! Shit! Drop plate's breaking up- the seam!>>

<<Disengage!>> Another strained voice called out in reply, <<Ditch the plate!>>

<<Which one do I?- Its not respond- Fuck!>> One of Sabine's proximity warnings flared as a Sentry beneath her began to spin and spiral wildly, half a drop plate flying past her as the other remained struck to the MAS' foot, sending it into a violent spin. <<Somebody help me! AAAAAAAHHHH->> Sabine grimaced as someone muted the rookie, silencing her bloodcurdling scream as her MAS quietly spun out in the sky, MAS rifle, spare magazines and bits of armor flying off like confetti. Unlucky shot, lack of training, freak accident, or some combination of the three. On the bright side, the force of the spin would knock her out long before she blew up or crashed.

<<Check drop plate integrity.>> Sabine called out to the squad, <<Coalies are rolling out the welcome mat!>>

The MAS felt like it was picking up speed as the dropped through the cloud cover, though it was more likely because of all the rattling. As they cleared the clouds, they could see the city of Gelcastre beneath them. The battle for the city was already underway. Explosions and tracers flew across the ground, up into the sky and beyond. The fleet's first wave had already made landfall and were engaging the defenders, as the Coalies shot at them and the second wave as they careened through the sky. From their vantage point in the sky, the 7th could already see localized firefights breaking out between small units of UEE MAS and Coalition forces. The city itself might as well have been a massive gun emplacement with the amount of flak fire they saw coming towards them. Already, UEE forces in the air were taking hits, some few unlucky SOBs exploding before they could even release from their drop plates.

<<Rabbit, disengaging plate.>> Sabine called out as her machine kicked off the drop plate, quickly folding into flight mode as she burst away. She wasn't planning on sticking onto those target skeets for any longer than she had to in an environment like this. Already a squadron of Garmr and Naginata fighters were breaking away towards them, though it wouldn't be hard to find all manner of Fenrir or Garmr no matter which direction you faced. Even miles away from the city- the area around Landing point Delta seemed to be engaged in a pitched fight. A unit of hunkered down Fenrirs engaging a squad of UEE Sentries, holding them away from a anti-air installation. <<Heads up, LZ looks just as hot as the rest of the city- call it a target rich environment.>>

A rapidly flaring warning yanked Sabine's eyes away from the LZ, throwing her mech into a wild spiral as a pair of heavy lasers blasted through where she just was, settling instead for coring a trio of unlucky Sparrows through their drop plates above her. It appeared the Anti-air installation had some serious teeth on it, which meant that once again, the 7th was in for a big fight.
Hidden 5 days ago Post by Eisenhorn
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Lieutenant Commander Johann "Rhino" Von Brandt





Von Brandt had nothing else to add in over the comms as the rest of the pilots locked into the plates, instead taking the time to take slow, deep breaths to center himself before the drop. Even with plates, orbital drops in Secutor were always hard landings even under ideal circumstances, and given how well fortified the planet was, this was not ideal circumstances. As they prepared to launch, Rhino exhaled and finished sealing his suit for orbital entry. Command came over the comms, announcing the approval for the second wave to deploy, and Rhino focused as each member of the squad was sent hurtling out the short distance of zero g before the planet's gravity took over, and he began immediately fine tuning power distribution and his precise position as best he could as they began to descend. He could always gauge how taxing on the pilots a maneuver was by how much Rabbit was running her mouth, and the relative radio silence spoke volume than she usually did.

With the temperature settling, came the inevitable anti-air and interceptor runs on the second wave of descending MAS units, the sound of flak and other incoming munitions rattling against both plate and frame a reminder they were dropping feet first into another hell. Suited him just fine, he thrived in the thick of it, though he didn't have much say in the situation as they dove steadily downwards, comms chatter was getting increasingly busy and one in particular ended up interrupting his train of thought. Some poor rookie got clipped and panicked, losing control and spiraling out of of formation, shedding weapons, armor, gear before someone on her squad cut her comms. Before he could catch himself, he found himself muttering over the squad comm as they continued to descend into fire and conflict.

<<See you on the other side kid, rest well.>>

Rhino focused on the latter half of the descent, Rabbit jettisoning her drop plates and engaging flight form, heading off to intercept and treat the Garmr and Naginatas to their own personal hell of a MAS that could double as air superiority fighter. It reminded him that there was a lot of fancy tech in the team, though there was plenty of time for a wandering mind after the LZ was secured. Spotting the Sentries struggling to get to an AA installation, Rhino began adjusting his trajectory, narrowly avoiding a burst of heavy lasers that clipped the plates, damage mounting as he descended far faster than was safe for most MAS units to even consider. He also was not jettisoning the plates, the mounting damage visible from the cockpit as warning alarms on their condition began growing in number and volume. The shots aimed at Rabbit would buy him enough time to enact his plan, stating as much over comms.

<<Targovo's actually giving me an idea, I'll bail those Sentries out and help clear up some of this AA. Rhino, going in hard.>>

Engaging the thrusters just enough to allow the Secutor to withstand the impact, he only disengaged the plates at the last possible second as he braced himself in the cockpit. Rhino came down directly on top of the anti air installation itself, crushing the weapon platform under every last ton of his Heavy MAS and what little the ruined plates added to that, sending up a massive plume of malfunctioning wiring, smoke, dust and the generator components for the heavy lasers going up from the impact as well, providing Rhino a temporary visual screen. He opened local UEE comms, pinpointing the Sentries pinned down by the Fenrir units that were now, at this moment, between a metaphorical rock, and a quite literal hard place, a confident smile on his face as the system reports showed nothing that couldn't be patched later. The servos were not too happy with the impact but hell, when were they ever?

<<This is Rhino, 7th MAS Squadron. Going to throw some Proxy into the Fenrir ranks and pincer them from behind. Then how's about we rally and go start busting up some more AA?>>

All the while, Rhino had swung up the Secutor's 170mm MAC-011, selecting one of the proximity fused HE shells he had loaded before they dropped. He was going to use them for anti air purposes, but he could spare one to make the Fenrir's lives a living hell for however long they were about to last. Temporarily shunting power from non essential motor functions, he finished the charge sequence and just as the dust was clearing, and one of the Fenrir units was turning to see what the hell just happened to the anti air they were supposed to be guarding, the computer reported full charge and targeting for the proximity fuse. With a squeeze, the MAC-011 shuddered, sending the 170mm shell hurtling straight into the ranks of the Fenrir's hardened position. It was well fortified against attack, but not from behind, and the massive explosion engulfed several of the hostile MAS units as Rhino slung the superheavy weapon, Vanguard 20mm lifting from its shoulder housing and immediately opening up on any hostile air targets that got too close to the Secutor, acting as an impromptu anti air weapon while the hum of the rotary autocannon spooling up was music to Rhino's ears.

One Fenrir was reduced to scrap, the combination of explosion and pressure wave had not only damaged the unit beyond combat effectiveness but likely knocked out, or pulped, the pilot. The other two caught in the explosion itself were dazed and damaged, but had gotten their Shoulder shields in the way just in time. Suited him fine, as he leveled his 30mm and began walking fire across the Fenrir's as he advanced, chewing through damaged armor as he advanced slowly and implacably towards their position. The one Fenrir tried to get a Sledgehammer missile off, and caught the brunt of Rhino's opening 30mm barrage for his trouble. The other, several damaged weapon systems forcing his hand, sent him charging to try and gut the Secutor and its pilot with its Broadsword. A low sweep of 30mm took its legs out and sent it crashing down in front of Rhino, who raised his PG-01 plasma gauntlet that flared to life right before slamming down, coring the unlucky Coalition MAS in one solid blow. Keying to Squad comms, Rhino was pleasant in tone as he assessed damage down to the Sentries, already making ready to head for the next Anti-Air position to start cutting down on casualties before even touching down.

<<7th, Rhino, first anti-air position down. Moving with allied elements to continue disabling anti-air capabilities for the LZ. Damage from landing negligeable.>>
Hidden 10 hrs ago Post by Whoami
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Planetfall

(Mood Music)


The start of any planetfall operation was always the most dreadful part. The anxiety. The silence. Not knowing what defenses the enemy would bring to bear on you. They harkened back to the old beach landings of Earth's most infamous wars in history. Much like those landings, a planetfall required overwhelming numbers to outmatch the volume of fire the defenders could send back. It meant that hundreds, if not thousands, would die before ever setting foot on enemy territory. That was where the dread sank in. Not knowing if you were going to be one of the unlucky many who wouldn't make it to the bottom. The first wave always saw the worst of it. Part of their job isn't just to land, but to force the enemy into revealing their hand so that the following waves could exploit weaknesses in the defense and land forces where resistance was lightest, or where it was crushed by those of the first wave who actually managed to land and still be combat effective.

As the 7th began the initial stages of their drop, Leah sat calmly in her seat as she watched her displays and saw the thousands of fiery streaks in Skosgra's upper atmosphere, signaling MAS units and dropships, debris, and skyfire from the surface. It was in the moments before reaching the upper layers of a planet's atmosphere did Leah get a moment to truly comprehend and appreciate the sheer scale of modern warfare. As a gutter-runner on Cerol, Leah had been too focused on surviving to think about what was happening outside the city's perimeter, let alone Cerol itself. Then as a grunt, she could only see things from the ground. But as a MAS pilot, she could see the dozens of squadrons all launching from their respective motherships. The battlegroups of warships flying in formation over different planetary sectors dropping ordinance to support the assault. The flares of lingering space battles where the Coalition's navy refused to give up. The flashes of thermonuclear detonations lighting up the dark side of the planet. The fiery orange glow of massive swathes of land and infrastructure burning. Leah was aware of Skosgra's history. How it seemed cursed to never escape the century of warfare and bloodshed perpetrated by the UEE and the Coalition. It was scarred, and it would likely never fully recover.

Leah heard some warning beeps in her helmet notifying her of the next stage of the orbital drop. The cockpit began to shake and vibrate as her drop plate began to break through the upper atmosphere. Plumes of orange fire began glowing around the hard edges the shield and extending past the Blackout. The cockpit started heating up, and Leah's breath began to pick up in her helmet. The O2 additives her lead tech had put in the tank was spiking her awareness and helping her hyper focus on what was happening. Her body was jostling from the air resistance, but she remained on target during the drop. The distress call from another squadron dropping alongside the 7th came out, and Leah turned the Blackout's optical sensors toward the dying MAS as it was shot out of the sky and sent into a deadly uncontrolled spin. Leah clenched her teeth and looked back to her own landing. There was no time to dwell on the lives of other soldiers with their own missions. She had her own life to worry about as well as the lives of the 7th. Her cockpit suddenly shook violently as airburst munitions began to come her way. One got particularly close, enough to alter her course slightly.

Leah hissed and corrected her trajectory before reporting, "This is Hex. Taking fire." she said, her voice calm and cool as she got to work angling the drop plate below the Blackout to shift her trajectory and be a more difficult target to track.

Once they broke through the atmosphere and the entry flares simmered down, Leah activated the Blackout's Legion backpack. All eight drones deployed from the pack, fanning out with four to either side of her MAS. They raced forward with a high pitched howl, moving ahead of the Blackout as their lasers charged. Switching the drones to a defensive intercept stance, the drones began targeting incoming munitions and firing off low energy beams. Pre-mature detonations erupted along the paths of the blue beams as the funnel drones kept her path clear. "Back trace this incoming AA fire." Leah said to the Blackout's onboard AI.

It took only a few seconds before a AA site was highlighted on her HUD with several lines projecting from the surface to indicate traced ordinance. Seeing Rhino sight in and go for another AA site, Leah decided to take this one. The Blackout was screaming toward the surface, and as she breached a cloud, she could see without any augmented visuals the firebase she had locked onto. A warning ping notified her of a Fenrir at the firebase, armed and active. Leah shifted her landing trajectory and narrowed her eyes. "Hex engaging at Grid 361 099."



Lieutenant Morgan of the Coalition 203rd Army Battalion walked his Fenrir through the open ground of Firebase Bravo Six as he directed his platoon of infantry into fighting positions. Behind him, a battery of AA guns sang as they shot upward toward the incoming UEE MAS units. "Stand to, men! We've got incoming! Get those recoilless rifles ready! Howes, you son of a bitch, get your ass moving already!"

There was a high pitched howl that could be heard just moments before a laser sliced through one of the AA guns. The gun's ammo magazine erupted in a fireball. Another one of the AA guns was tracking a fast moving drone as it zipped by and sliced one of the logistics trucks parked at the firebase in two. Morgan heard a warning alert as his Fenrir received a radar lock. He boosted sideways, a blue energy beam missing and scoring a red hot line in the mud as it chased after his MAS. Then another laser coming from another angle. He growled and boosted away from that too before raising his cannon and aimed it into the air to shoot at the next drone that tried to make him dance. But when he looked up, his visual displays were filled with the sun, eclipsed by a drop plate. He pulled the trigger, his cannon thundering as the explosive round launched up and split the drop plate in two. The Blackout pushed through the fireball, black smoke wisping off of the MAS unit's edges as its knife gleamed, poised to claim the Fenrir.

Morgan gasped, but before he could boost away, another drone laser cut a line alone the back of the Fenrir's torso. A booster erupted in flame and unbalanced the Fenrir. Morgan groaned, stunned for just a second. But it was all the time the Blackout needed to close the gap. The Blackout landed on top of the Fenrir, the two great metal bodies slamming into each other as dirt and mud splattered around them. Sparks flew. The Fenrir's leg suspension had been utterly overwhelmed by the weight of a MAS dropping on it. It lay on its back, raising a steel fist to try and punch the Blackout. The elite MAS kicked the arm aside and stomped it into the ground as dozens of infantry rifles crackled and fired up harmlessly, small sparks flashed along the armor of the MAS. The Blackout raised its knife and dropped it down into the MAS unit's core. Morgan was impaled on the blade. The infantry continued firing on the Blackout as it withdrew its bloodied knife from the hull of the dead Fenrir. Behind it, another laser drone detonated an AA emplacement and its ammo magazine, backlighting the black MAS with flame as it turned its optical sensors onto the infantry below. The soldiers dropped into foxholes and trenches, and one duo was seen shouldering a heavy anti-tank weapon.

The Blackout drew its pistol, armed with airbursting munitions, and fired just above the foxhole of the anti-armor team. The blast turned the two troops into mist. It began walking toward the next AA emplacement as it raised its heavy pistol to destroy it was well. Meanwhile, the MAS's three-sixty degree sensors locked the individual infantrymen dug into their foxholes. As the Blackout fired a trio of rounds at the last AA emplacement, a volley of Stiletto micromissiles whistled out from the Blackout's shoulder mounted pod. The highly agile missiles raced up and snapped around toward the infantry behind the Blackout. The stilettos were merciless. The infantry couldn't hide from them as they approached from weird angles and quickly adjusted if they missed to come back around for a second attempt. Those that were hit were skewered to the ground and left to bleed out if they weren't immediately killed by the rifle-sized darts. A second anti-armor team rushed from a tent, the gunner kneeling to fire a round at the Blackout's legs. But again, the team was intercepted. A drone making a pass had spotted the threat designated by the Blackout's AI and streaked a laser over the team and the tent they emerged from, causing a detonation from within the tent. Another stiletto punched through the canvas of a tent and carried a hiding trooper through the other end of it, spearing him to the side of a smoldering logistics truck.

Corporal Klaussen had been in a position several hundred meters from the firebase when the Blackout landed. He stared in horror was the drones and dozens of micromissiles swarmed around the black UEE MAS like a hive of perfectly coordinated bees. On the horizon, a white nuclear flash backlit the Blackout as it calmly strode through the firebase, systematically wiping out any resistance the firebase could mount against it. Fear had paralyzed him. So much so, that even when his fireteam partner was tugging on him and telling him to hurry and help rescue survivors, he didn't even hear him. Private Venner left the paralyzed Klaussen in his foxhole and climbed out to rush toward the ruined firebase, only for a drone to vaporize him seconds after emerging. Klaussen just kept low and hidden, his eyes locked on the sight of the nightmare MAS and the drones it commanded. Finally he had the sense to do something. Reaching for his radio, Corporal Klaussen tried to listen for anything. But he heard only static. The Blackout was jamming comms. He was alone. Isolated.



Leah fitted the Blackout's heavy pistol and knife into their respective mag-plates before pulling the sniper cannon from its carrier pylon. "Hex. AA installation destroyed. And scratch one Fenrir. We have a beachhead. I will set up a position and begin supporting the team's advance."

The drones howled as they all pivoted and returned to their respective slots on the Blackout's backpack. Once they were all in place, the Blackout too a knee and raised its LR-90 sniper cannon, taking aim toward the city as the rest of the 7th made planetfall. The DCA plates on the Blackout's hull flashed for a moment before recoloring and retexturing to match the surrounding environment and blend the MAS in. For those not looking for a MAS, they'd only see the columns of flame and smoke mixed in with mud, gray skies, and drab foliage. The only one left to witness the Blackout merging with the surroundings was the terrified Corporal Klaussen in his dirt hole.
Hidden 5 hrs ago Post by Psyker Landshark
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CMDR SAGAN "VULTURE" KODOS


The drop started, and the horses were off. Sagan shifted his control mode to one-hand with the stick, using his other to start tapping away on an AR interface with his haptic gloves. With this many targets coming in, he'd have to refine and limit the targeting AI's intake so that he, and the rest of the squad by proxy, wasn't bombarded with a massive flow of data. Despite the MAS cooling system's best efforts, sweat came fast when it did start, dripping down his neck and forehead in beads.

This wasn't his first rodeo, of course. But hot dropping was never something one got used to. This far up, death was something far past your control, with only the lucky few having any opportunity to avert burning up in atmo the moment something went wrong.

Unfortunately for that poor fucking rookie over the tacnet, it seemed something did go catastrophically wrong for her. Plate locked on one foot. Damn. Sagan did his best to divert his attention back towards the oncoming battle as someone thankfully muted the rookie's death spiral. Hopefully the one on his team wouldn't go that way.

In contrast, once they made it to atmo, the real fight started. Gelcastre started becoming more than a twinkle in the distance below, and Sagan quickly switched back to dual-lever controls, preparing to disengage his plate.

<< Vulture, dropping plate. Commie, Rabbit's got the right idea. Cover our ground-pounders and deal with the flyboys coming in, I'll run overwatch. >> He disengaged early, the Watchdog's flight boosters kicking into full burn as it tore through the sky, coming down after the Secutor and Blackout started decimating ground-bound AA.

<< Rhino, Hex, acknowledged. Good work, stack up and start moving to make a push, I've got your backs. Rook, still alive back there? Keep up and don't play hero. You pull that shit you did in space, you're gonna die. >>

The Watchdog reached close enough to the ground that firing on landbound targets was viable, and Sagan quickly opened up with the HPK, sighting up an incoming mixed squadron of fast response vehicles escorted by a few Fenrirs and pulling the trigger.

<< Fuck, enemy fast mover engaging us! They got Zhang! >>
<< I can't get tone, bad angle, bad angle! >>
<< Missile in the air, missile in the air! Defending- ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ >>
<< Shit, shit, shit, our escorts are down! He's closing in! >>
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