Mike grumbled off mic about spotting duty, be seeing as he was a lighter sniper then some, and others had longer range equipment, he squashed the complaint as prowler straitened up. <understood sir, scout, wait, and charge> he replied as he checked his chainblade, the chain removed and replaced with paint soaked foam. finding his knives blunted as well, he double checked his firearms, all were loaded and operational. he rested the rifle against his shoulder and opened a trail ration. the dry hard meal replacement grinding into gravely bits of blandness before he washed them down with a gulp of water.

weapons ready, and rested as he could ever be, he nodded to Raisa. <ready as ill ever be, you?> mike looked over at flanker, two light gears with melee weapons could do a lot of damage quickly if they needed to, as long as their momentum didn't fail. as an after thought he brought up the jumpjet tanks, but sighed in relief when the red green at 80% and batteries at 95% everything was running well.

Oliver's heart was beating heavily from the adrenaline rush he got out of dodging fake shells. His eyes double checked his radar and other sensors to make sure no other shells where incoming before he started to move his GEAR into formation again. Only a few moments after the tiger's machine had start moving again he heard Shona's voice over the radio "Oliver, you OK?". The bat must have noticed that he took some damage and was showing her concern, something that the young tiger appreciated. "I'm pretty much fine. Nothing too serious. Apparently the computer decided that my hydraulics are slightly damaged. Now I'm even slower then Kradis and his old bulky machine" Joked Oliver joyously as he linked up with his team. So far the exercise went pretty smoothly, the tiger had survived the first encounter without getting knocked out but the next part was sure to get more difficult.

Oliver follow his team into the foothills as the recon unit pressed to advance. The target was the main enemy base, which was not much more than an occupied farm. As the colonels orders came in the young tiger uploaded a new course to his drone and let it scout the coordinates Keningston had radioed to the team. Oliver watched the foothills slide by on the monitor until the farm compound came into sight. The whole compound was rather large with multiple buildings, some paved roads and open space where a mixture of vehicles were parked. The whole compound is surrounded by a low fence, re-enforced with barbed wire. On the 4 corners makeshift guard towers where erected. Down below on the ground there was a lot of activity as the bandits where busy reading their defenses. The soldiers where in a hurry to take up positions while others where receiving briefings from their commanders.

Based upon the data that colonel Blade shared with the entire unit Oliver quickly identified the main treats. On the south and east sides of the compound two trucks where positioned carrying multiple surface to air missiles. A 3th truck for fire control and radar tracking was positioned in the centre of the compound. Also near the 4 corners of the compound quadruple AA auto-cannons where located. They where outdated model with barrel sizes that where probably somewhere around 30mm max but would still pose a threat to Ken in his helicopter. Next target Oliver identified where the enemy GEARs. Eight modified civilian GEARs where lined up with 10 pilots in front of them receiving briefing from their CO. As the tiger zoomed in on the group of pilots a female fox and snow leopard stood out from the rest. Where the majority of pilots where dressed up and equipped like bandits both girls where wearing full combat suits, indicating that they would be piloting high tech military GEARs.

As the drone circled over the enemy base at high altitude Oliver made its camera zoom in on the group of pilots, making sure both the fox and snow leopard where in the center of the image. Even though the fox girl had a dead serious face, she was pretty good looking and the Leopard wasn't bad either. For a moment Oliver over thought the situation. It was odd that there were more pilots then GEARs. Not the mention that two of them where equipped with full military gear where the rest was wearing scruffy bandit outfits. Oliver quickly opened up his comlink to the entire unit and spoke "Blade, Myria. take a look at the drone feed". The tiger surely hoped that the fact that he had his drone zoomed in on two females would not be interpreted the wrong way.

Ten Minutes Earlier...

From inside the trailer, the brass watched as the Roughriders systematically and creatively massacred the opposition with little to show in loss or damage to their own number. The damage sustained was repairable in field, and their ammo count was good - not to mention, that had the operative been live, they likely would've had support and supplies. All the same, the high-ups held their opinions to their chests and tried not to show any sign of being impressed or disappointed either way, before General Houseman, the advocate and supporter for the scheme to create the 'riders turned to his colleagues, standing close to Winter and Venessa as he did so.
"Well, gentlemen. As you can see, Colonel Blade and his people have effectively dealt with the first group of hostiles. They have done so effectively, through the use of aggressive tactics and firepower, and a balance of the varied types of GEAR and personnel within the unit. This only forms the first part of the exercise, of course. The second will be the capture of the red force HQ, and the rescue of the personnel within, after insertion of an infantry unit for support. With that in mind, we're going to mix things up somewhat". He turned to Winter and Venessa and gave them a nod, and tilted his head toward the door.
"Now, while everything so far has been somewhat 'standard' and understandable, let's see how our team react when a couple of random elements - Our pilots here - enter the mix and the 'riders have to deal with them, as well as what they're expecting".

Now:
Blade observed the footage from Olivers' drone and then grimaced as he saw the two pilots. Not because of their appearance, or because of the tigers' antics (especially because of earlier), but instead, because the fox knew the pair: Venessa and Winter; both pilots he was familiar with and had requested as part of his group. Evidently, his friends and allies had been interfering with his orders and interpreting them creatively, and had decided to turn the pair into obstacles in their training mission - hopefully as a prelude to turning them over.
"Things just got interestin', team," he added to his previous brief. "We're gonna have two very canny and wily opponents, both with pretty dang hardcore GEARs. They're gonna be a serious factor... we're gonna wanna confuse 'em as much as we can; spam their freeqs, ghost their sensors, and dance aroun 'em and hit 'em with as much with as much as possible - try an' get 'em mission-killed even if we can't completely annihilate 'em. Lure 'em out of th' main pack, and then slam 'em down - Ken, yer our main asset in that role - once we hit those defences, target the two military-spec GEARs and get 'em in hit an' run attacks. Aim to cripple their mobility, but keep yer speed up. Right, guys - no more ta say. Let's get this plan movin. Roll out!"

Amelia listened to the briefing carefully, taking in each detail and storing it in her mind as she adapted a strategy to challenge the Roughriders. She used all her resources; studies, battle logs and even what she'd seen on the screens before being sent to take part in the training exercise. As she stood listening to what was being explained the sun glinted off the drone as it passed, catching Amelia off the corner of her eye before she turned to face it. She gave a small smile at it, bringing two fingers to the side of her head as she gave a salute before moving her fingers from her head to point right at it. She wanted them to know that she knew, after all they had clearly seen her, so why bother hiding it.

With the briefing over and the pilots moving to their GEAR's she turned and strode across the field, helmet in hand which she quickly pulled over her head. She climbed up one of the ATAM's six legs, pulling upon a hatch before slipping inside into the cockpit. Minutes latter she was fully active, her medium range radar broadcasting to every friendly GEAR. "This is Winter, I'm 'Oscar Mike and moving towards defensive position beta" she said as the six legged machine thudded towards it's position. Amelia kept a close eye on the radar as well as her focus optics, looking out for any indication of the Roughriders. As soon as she would learn their position, the game would be played and they would have to wager their teamwork against her strategy. She made a quick note of the other officer on the field, one who went by the name 'Vanessa'. Being the two officers on this side of the field they would need to be working together if they planned on turning up the heat for their opposition.

Venessa yawned once she was addressed, she had snuck in a nap while they were watching. Sometimes these things could be quite boring to watch, there was much more fun while in combat.

Once the briefing ended, she walked to her GEAR. Stopping right in front of it and looking up at it "Oi don't tink Silver expected ter bake yer." She said to the machine, as if it could respond. Then climbed up into the cockpit and sealed herself it. She put the headgear on and started it up, the machine slowly coming alive, and the sounds of parts tightening. She looked across her weapon systems, depressed at what she saw. She didn't mind that her guns were weakened, it was the system they put in place of her pile-bunker. It was a tagging system, in every meaning of the word tag, she had to make physical contact with the device on the enemy, and the target GEAR's systems would apply the proper 'virtual' damage. It was more depressing that if she miscalculated the strike, she'd be doing some damage that would be quite realistic.

After the start-up, she joined the other officer. And once she opened comms, Venessa spoke to Winter "What's the plan?" She asked, keeping it simple and to the point. She looked to Winter's GEAR. Venessa took note of the rather unique duo that they were. Then turned her attention back to the front, making up her own plan of attack, they weren't really grouped together, and since Silver no doubt knew what her GEAR could do, he would make sure they were spaced, to reduce casualties.

"Yup yup standin' by for the go." Kensington replied, smiling to himself for getting such an opportunity. Such a smile faded when Oliver's report came through. It nearly baffled the pilot to hear something being spotted in the area where he had flown by not too long ago. "What boy?! You tellin' me we got more things comin' up and about? C'mon now you can't be serious I flew by that area with thermals on an' everythin'!" The pilot protested... Unfortunately he didn't get the feed Oliver sent to Silver. When the colonel confirmed the report a long drawn out sigh came from the wolf and accidentally into the radio feed... The airman seemingly fucked up his fly by report if Oliver's discovery was true. Then again he did bug out when missiles came his way, but it still was eating at him he didn't spot military equipped GEAR in his run.

“Relax, Choppy; they probably showed up after your last run, when we weren’t looking.” It was an honest, if not lazy attempt to console the rotor pilot. Adrian had never erred in his simple tasks of shooting things, but there were always other factors beyond his control. Once or twice, his target saw something shiny and changed position just in time to dodge the bullet—but it was nothing Adrian could have stopped.

“I’ll go find a nice spot to start shooting from.” Adrian’s GEAR slowly broke from the group and began to seek out a vantage point. The L-68 spent most of its time hidden behind the crests of hills as it traveled. Eventually, it came to a stop and the barrel of its rifle peeked out from beside a large rock on a hill. “Alright. Captain! I’m all set up over here, so just say when.”

Amelia kept a close eye on her Radar, making notes of the blips that hovered at the periphery of her range. She opened her COM to Vanessa as she spoke, asking for the plan. Amelia did have something in mind and should it work as well as she thinks it will, the Roughriders would need to pull something amazing from their sleeves.

"I'm going to take an elevated position to the far right while my forces dig into a defensive blockade around the HQ, when the Roughriders assault my forces I predict they will artillery the defended positions with missile and frag, maybe and likely more. I intend to jam that attempt with my Radar's counter software which will prevent that attack from reaching my forces. I will then have my forces laser designate the Roughriders before unleashing a salvo of missiles towards them. This should flag me as a primary target and should lead to them attacking me with some heavy fire power. I will retreat behind my elevated position and keep them focused on me for a little while. This is where you come in. While they're focusing on me I want you and your forces to flank left and surprise them. When they realise their mistake and start attacking you, I will re-engage and have my forces fire a second salvo at them. Try not to engage them in too closely, it'll be 'danger close' when we fire our second salvo. But if it works, the Roughriders will be attacked from two directions which will lead to a suppression followed by a victory"

That was her plan. Of course it could change at any moment so she would have to be prepared to adapt the plan as they went. But, should she be assaulted too heavily, she would have her forces for support and Vanessa's shortly behind them. Her missiles were armed with EMP pulses, so if her missiles landed direct blows the opposing GEAR's would be rendered immobile, which also would assist Vanessa in securing them and shutting them down. Amelia sat back in her seat as she reached her position, watching her camera feed as her forces dug in behind cover. "Game on" she muttered.

"Let's get a move on, Nawlin." Raisa dashed forward of the group alongside the less enthusiastic Mike and headed along a route that had a large amount of shrubbery to the south. Speed was one of the most important factors in any operation and with this in mind, Raisa found herself practically sprinting ahead. For a moment, she worried she might be leaving her comrade in her dust and slowed down slightly to meet him. Within a few minutes, they had reached the spotting point, which was on a small hill overlooking the base, covered in enough greenery and vegetation that it made for good enough cover if the two GEARs hunkered down.

"Nawlin, I'll do most of the spotting. You just keep an eye around us, make sure we're not flanked." She gave orders to her companion as she brought her GEAR into a hiding position and she tapped on her pilot's helmet to bring up the recon interface. By squinting, she was able to zoom in and by widening her eyes, she could zoom out. It was a rather ingenious system. Not to mention her vision could be streamed in this mode and it could be used to identify GEAR types and weaponry, along with coordinates, ranges and other useful indications. Only fault was that since it used much of the GEAR's technical resources, it couldn't be used in combat or sniping, unless she was using a specially equipped rifle that would take the relay when her combat systems were offline. She immediately noted the presence of two more imposing and advanced GEARs and realized they were probably equipped with radar. "Enter stealth mode." With a chime, the cockpit lights dimmed and changed to a red tone, the engines were sent into low emissions mode and her Flanker was frozen in place. Now, all her spotting would be done with the cameras mounted on the body to minimize sounds emitted from the GEAR and her radar would be shut down to reduce emissions. "Begin passive jam." Another chime was emitted, at a much lower volume and her own position and Nawlin's were made practically invisible to the opposition.

"I'm going to need you to relay my spotting results to the rest of the group, since I'm hiding our position." She said to her partner as she zoomed in on the enemy hardware. "Coordinates and ranges will be on screen when I zoom in on them. Alright; enemy static hardware consists of six triple-A's around the base, four SAM launchers and six point defense turrets. GEARs are at least ten bandit GEARs and our two special adversaries. Special adversaries include one Sovereign-type anti-mech GEAR, and one Geometry-type "Blitzer Version" rapid assault GEAR. Coordinates and ranges are included in the feed. Will update if more are seen." With her job done, Raisa zoomed out and kept an eye on the the larger picture of the base, but gave herself a moment to rest, having sprinted all the way there. "Nawlin, any problems?" She spoke amicably as she gave her leg a stretch. As her GEAR didn't translate her movements in its stealth mode, it gave her an opportunity to move freely and she made good use of the opportunity.

Nawlin followed Raisa, his light Gear keeping up in speed, but lacking some of the agility of hers, despite this, the two made good time. he wasn't expressly happy about the Fox taking over, but there would be a time to bring this up later, if needed. all in all mike engaged optic and thermal camo. as long as he didn't move to much, there was a good chance he would remain unnoticed. sighing, he drew a knife and kept his pistol ready. a scout would be more likely then a bombardment for them anyway.

"got it, keeping watch." he muttered as he slowly shifted periodicly to check a noise or movement, checking his passives periodically. over all it was uneventful, he found the tree he rested against housed a family of feral squirrels, they were less then enthusiastic of his presence, but shut up after he waved at them with one massive hand. little else happened during her scouting, after establishing a simple relay from her radio to his to keep the team informed, he kept his head on a swivel and waited for the signal, enjoying the cool cockpit as the coolant flowed through the machine.

"Nawlin, any problems?"

<negative raisa, not that I can tell> he called, prowlers head tracking movement that mike determined to be a leaf falling.

Blade was nervous, now. His plan, formerly, had seemed solid. Now, with the addition of the military GEARs and their pilots - both of whom he was aware of - things had shifted. He didn't have a solid grasp on their capabilities. But then, that wasn't necessary for victory: All that entailed was the removal of the hostages, not the defeat of the GEARs, or their own survival. Completing the objective was the purpose of the mission - anything else was a bonus.
The key to success would be, as always, to be highly proactive and remain mobile; though in GEAR battles and operations, mobility was always a key tactic. After all, even the heaviest GEAR was nowhere near as armoured as a tracked vehicle, and a good missile shot would take it out. All GEARs punched over their own weight - it was the nature of a walking vehicle. And of course, that almost levelled the field a bit. It was a matter of who got the best shots in... though again, that was a matter of chance and tactics.
Huffing in irritation at his own second-guessing, the fox thumped the arm of his control chair, before rolling his neck, stuffing the thoughts back down.
If I were them, he reasoned, [/i]I'd split my forces. The pro-spec GEARs will be force multipliers, with their better sensors and weapons. One per group of GEARs, for two cells of five. Limiting our mobility and ability to strike at long-range will be their primary objective, but if we can secure air superiority and hold the position temporarily and keep them busy, then we'll have a window to achieve our objective. We don't need to hold the base permanently - just temporarily. Keep them busy, and keep them moving[/i]
Dancing his fingers over the touch-pad again, he rejigged his orders, working on the fly.
His units were currently split out: Shona and Adrian in their sniping position with Nawlin and Raisa close by. Oliver, Myrina and Kradis were formed up with him, and Ken orbiting a short distance away. They were outnumbered, that was an additional consideration, there were not just GEARs, but also irregular infantry forces to contend with.
Silverwinds' strength as a fighter and as a commander was his tenacity, his daring, and his unpredictable nature. His combination of this with a hard knowledge of systems and their capabilities had given him the skill he needed to succeed.
"Listen up," he said quickly and in a firm tone. "The two operators on the field are going to be expecting us to target them, and the GEAR unit. Our key is mobility, and our goal is to rescue the hostages. We don't have to take out all the hostiles, just secure the airspace and the HQ long enough to get the hostages out. So we proceed with the targeting of the air defences, and the sweep in. Following that, I predict they'll start tryin' ta hit us. Keel, Bell, Nawling, Raisa - move position at that time. Stay concealed, but move to shield your original positioning to escape counter-fire. Ken, at the same time, you move. The five of you will have the objective of overwatch: target any hostiles firing on us. Pin them down. Destroy or crippled them if you can, but primarily, keep them tied up. The rest of us will storm the base, secure the courtyard, and then move again to hit the inbound. It ain't perfect, and I reckon it's gonna change a lot as we go - but we gotta keep movin'. Go to it. We move on the first shots from Bell and Keel. Out".

Adrian took a deep breath as the targets lit up on his screen, one by one. There were more of them than he had hoped for, but it was nothing out of his reach. He counted his blessings he had a partner—their relative skill meant nothing, so long as they were a second gun. He spoke as his rifle took a long list of metrics. “Alright, the second we hit, they’re gonna start looking for us, Shona. Two guns and then you move, don’t want those mortars zeroing in on our nest. So hit hard, hit fast. I’ll start on the left and you take the right, then we’ll sweep across and meet in the middle. This is it, you ready? We’ll hit the SAMs first.” The L-68’s whole construction tensed up as it entered its fine aim mode, the assembly on its rifle gently whirring away as it worked. The GEAR, rooted down on one knee, slowly moved its arms to angle the rifle around the side of the hill. “Just need to line it up…” Adrian muttered off comms as his aim settled just above and to the left of the first missile truck.
Two shots rang out, one hot on the heels of the other. The truck took hits straight in the battery and engine. Two more shots slammed into the second truck and within the time of just a few seconds, Adrian was already on the move.

As Adrian moved out, Shona was right behind him – figuratively speaking, of course. She plotted her own course to the target site, not wanting to bunch up with the unit’s other sniper. Eventually, she set up on the next hill over from Adrian, hunkered down behind an almost-sheer rock face in the hilltop where a loop of road cut into the slope. Her own rifle barrel was resting on the grass at the top of the hill, her optics scanning the base below.

Her HUD was painted in an overlay constructed from the data coming in from the spotters and her own optics package – what she couldn’t see herself was visible as light silhouettes. Her priority targets were lit up for her – the SAM trucks and ballistic AA turrets on this side of the base. The two milspec GEARs were lit up too – they were worrying, a glitch in the plan, even as the engineer in her head admired the six-legged beauty.

“I’m set up… eyes on bad guys, ready to engage…” She had reported in over the general channel, her voice low. Even though she could have yelled and screamed inside her cockpit and not alerted the opposition, it was had to shake the instinct to keep quiet. She was actually pretty glad to have both Silver and Adrian’s calm voices in her ear. She tapped the other sniper’s channel, frowning in concentration inside her helmet. “I hear you. Hit hard, move fast, trucks on the right, roger.”

Her machine wasn’t a dedicated sniper unit, so she took a little extra time to line up her shots, swinging her gun between the two a few times. She was worried that her relatively light rifle wouldn’t pack the punch she needed to do this fast… she shook her head and forced that aside. No point second-guessing now.

She settled her crosshairs on the first SAM and, as Adrian’s rifle cracked, pulled her own trigger. Two in the battery and one right under the rear axle. The last shot had barely left the barrel before she swung the rifle around, targeted the other truck, and fired again. Three more thumps from her weapon, two more hits, smacking into the truck’s cab and missile racks. She felt a twinge of annoyance at the misses, but her systems registered two kills. It was time to get out of there.

With thumping footfalls, the Rapier ducked down behind cover and started running, its pilot already plotting out a new firing position. “SAMs down! Moving to sweep on those turrets!”

Oliver heard his CO's voice coming over the radio. Colonel blade sure sounded slightly worried about the two female pilots the tiger had spotted with his drone. According to the colonel both pilots where pretty skilled with excellent GEARs. The assault on the main base would surely not turn out as a turkey shoot. The roughriders would need to use every trick they had in their book in order to overcome the odds. Oliver took another look at the drone feed that was still showing both pilots. The young tiger was looking forward to the engagement. It was a good opportunity to show off to the ladies. Oliver spoke into the team's com "I have no problems going all hardcore on them and give their butts a proper spanking as long as there are no questions ask afterwards. This should be fun" joked the tiger as he maneuvered his GEAR into formation with colonel Blade and the others.

Oliver watched how Shona and Adrian took positions in order to snipe down the enemy. The tiger's lacked the destructive force the others brought to the field but Oliver had other specialties. His GEAR is equipped for electronic warfare and SIGINT. His role within the Roughriders is to gather information and deny the enemy their communication. Oliver started to ready his GEAR for what it was made of. With a few button presses the Saxknot antenna's started to scan the radio frequencies looking for the communication signals between the enemy forces. It wasn't before long that Oliver picked up the radio transmissions that where encrypted by the standard high-level encryption used by the LDF. Also signals from the other non-military GEARs soon filled the airwaves.

The only enemy GEARs that could possibly be using military grade encryption for their wireless communication where those of the Snow Leopard and Fox girl. Under real combat circumstances it would be impossible to crack such encryption in the timeframe of a single exercise if it wasn't for the LDF taking the easy route. For exercises the LDF had supplied a limited number of encryption keys that are used over and over again. It wasn't too difficult to build a table that would cover the fast majority of key's used for training purposes for Oliver during his one year of basic training. After all, the tiger had saved every key he had used or cracked on his PADD. Using such date could be considered against the spirit of the exercise and might get the tiger into trouble. Since they higher ups had a surprise for them it would only be fair to surprise them back. With a tab on the PADD the screen lighted up and loaded a program that would test all know keys to the intercepted data packets. Oliver could feel his heart beat in his chest as he watched how his PADD synchronized the data with the build-in code cracking computer of his GEAR. Within a minute it was all done. This exercise was also setup with one of the know keys. Oliver's computers quickly started to reconstruct the intercepted data and had soon had some clear words ready. The voice of a female seemed to issue some orders "While they're focusing on me I want you and your forces to flank left and surprise them. When they realise their mistake and start attacking you, I will re-engage and have my forces fire a second salvo at them. Try not to engage them in too closely, it'll be 'danger close' when we fire our second salvo. But if it works, the Roughriders will be attacked from two directions which will lead to a suppression followed by a victory"

Oliver could not tell who was issuing the orders but assumed it was one of the two girls. The tiger quickly relayed the intercepted transmission to his CO. It was obvious that they were planning some form of trap. The tiger quickly opened up the radio link to the Colonel and spoke. "I've intercepted a part of a transmission from the enemy and decrypted it. You'd better listen to it. By the sound of it the enemy is planning some trap or something. I can either continue to listen to their conversations or start messing their shit up real good. It won't be too difficult to interrupt their communications and blind their radar temporarily." Oliver had hardly finished his sentence when he heard the shots Shona and Adrian fired. This will start to get messy real soon.

Amelia's eyes flickered towards where the shots had been fired from as the Roughriders made their first strike. "Shots fired shot's fired. Everyone be on guard, we have contact" She announced as Sovereigns main cannon pivoted in their direction and fired six consecutive shots, the mechanical chamber recoiling with each explosive eruption before it gave an audible thud from the autoloader as it started loading more shells. Each of her shots struck close to the fleeing targets, kicking up dirt and splinting trees before Amelia's tracking systems lost sight of them. She was about to proceed with orders before she glanced to her command console, a warning sign flashing across the screen. She reached over, her fingers dancing across the touch sensitive screen as she highlighted the alert to find something was wrong with her COM link. She pressed a finger over the frequencies name, highlighting it before bringing up a menu that showed her every unit tied into it. Her brows knitted together as the name 'Saxknot' appeared, a GEAR type she knew didn't exist within her current team.

She paused and bit her lip a little, this was going to be a problem. Saxknot GEARS were specifically designed to make things more difficult and while the ATAM Sovereign did have cyber warfare capabilities, It would be outmatched by a Saxknot series. Amelia thought for a moment before she decided to use this to her advantage. Instead of killing the connection to her COM's she instead decided to use the connection to invade it's systems for information. Her fingers began to move again, closing the connection from the other units so that it was secured between her GEAR and the Saxknot's only. She then began to upload her own encrypted infection using the same frequency avenue. If it succeeded she could find out their locations and maybe even lock onto coordinates for an artillery strike.

While her encryption began to upload she opened a new broadcast channel to her units, securing the channel with more security protocols before she spoke. "I want all units on this frequency from now on, the other one may have been compromised" she said as she checked to see what those units had fired out, noticing the SAM turret was no longer operational. "Hold your ground and keep vigilant, the Roughriders have engaged but have not revealed themselves as of yet. So dig in an keep your eyes peeled" she said before moving off the COM, instead keeping a look out from her vantage point while waiting for her upload to infect the opponents systems.

As Kradis came to a halt with the rest of the Roughriders, Silver broadcasted that two other members of the group, who had previously not joined them in the exercise, would be playing the side of the bandits today. To top it off, their location was so far, unknown. With a sigh, the Jackal weighed up his options. With only two Javelins left, he would have to join the main battle team in assaulting the bulk of the hostile force at close range, something his GEAR was not specialized in. At least he had a fully loaded carbine to help harass the enemy. Also, the hostages were the primary objective, so they could high tail out of there when need be.

Once the colonel had formulated their 'plan', Kradis moved into formation with the rest of the group, again taking a position behind the others and unfolding his GEAR's stabilizers. His hand hovered over the launch button, waiting for targets to be lighted up by any LAS-DES signatures from the recon team. Kradis parted his mouth and ran his tongue across his canine tooth in anticipation, ready for the order to storm the base.

As the first shots tore into the SAM emplacements, Blade used a simple hand-signal from the GEAR to get the team moving. Bounding forward, before engaging his drive-wheels, the Harlock moved fast, zig-zagging as he headed in.
"All units," he messaged to his group via laser-com as they moved fast, "pop smoke and chaff as we move in; coupled with the ECM/ECCM then it'll confuse the sensor reflections and make visual aquisition hard. Anything that'll but us an advantage".
That said, as they approached within shooting range of the compound, the Harlock spammed out chaff, flares and smoke, as well as a quick barrage of smoke shells from the autoloading mortar and a series of EMP/Chaff shells, effectively blanketing their approach.
Leaning hard around the approach, the vulpine targeted the nearest section of troops and blitzed them with a barrage of head-mounted chaingun fire, hammering their vehicle with the carbine, and shifting targets rapidly, pinning the enemy in place with the blitz-like pace of the attack.
"Hammer 'em!" snarled the fox. "Keep up the pressure and don't let off! Stand ready to split our force to engage the GEAR unit at the first opportunity!"
The green markers of infantry and vehicles quickly - and brutally - shifted from green to represent 'active' targets to red to denote 'dead' targets. The front courtyard of the HQ was rapidly turning into a killing ground, with the triple-A turrets remaing active - until the sniper-spotter team fired again. The GEARs were the next targets though, and would prove the challenge.
"Ken, get ready to move. We'll be counting on you to hit hard, over!"

Kensington had to pull back only slightly to give his fellow GEARS the airspace they need during their advance. The moment couldn't help but cause the pilot to smile as he watched their coordination and their adaptation to circumstances, despite the fact this wasn't the real deal. They were sewing together into a tightly knit group, and Silver was leading the pack.

"Kensington, get ready to move. We'll be counting on you to hit hard, over!" The colonel's voice reached the pilot as soon as the anti air opposition was dealt with. In return the airman nodded to himself and worked the helicopter to make it's approach, his hud coming to life with a series of squares that marked opportunities for a lock-on.

"Don't waste numbers on me sir I'll get the job done." Kensington replied, aligning the camera feed's crosshairs with the closest hostile GEAR that was in his path. A red text lit up moments later saying 'LOC' signaling the computer had it's targets and was ready to lock onto any one of them upon command. "Stand by for gun run... Unless you wanna get hit by a simulated 40 boys n girls."

Moments after the reports of Adrian and Shona's guns flared in Myrina's ears, simulated flowers of smoke and fire blossomed downrange on her monitor. That was the queue to get a move on; as Blade kicked his machine into gear (heh, heh) Myrina followed suit, punching the throttle and sending her Warlock into a dash after the commander.

"All units, pop smoke and chaff as we move in; coupled with the ECM/ECCM then it'll confuse the sensor reflections and make visual acquisition hard. Anything that'll but us an advantage."
"Roger!" Myrina repeated the Colonel's order on the comm, not forgetting her temporary role as 2IC. "Get smoke and chaff up!"

*Fump, fump, fump* Canisters hissed into the air surrounding the Warlock and burst, coating the GEAR in a haze of grey smoke. While on the move, the GEARs would power right through their own clouds, unless every machine in the column kept up a steady stream on the way in. To Myrina's dismay, her GEAR had not yet been equipped a with MIL-STD ECM suite; there hadn't been enough time to fully bring it up to speed with true military specifications before the exercise. Exactly what they planned to modify and use her GEAR for in the long run was anyone's guess.

Colonel Blade's EMP and chaff blanketed the two of them nicely on the way in, and Myrina joined in, adding her own gunfire to the crescendo that was opening up. The GEAR's arms, torso and head danced wildly, each focused on different targets and sweeping for a new one after each red X that registered on the data screen. Myrina's MCU-18 skirted around the AOE like a figure skater, spinning, dashing, leaning through the simulated carnage the Roughriders were hammering into the OPFOR. The pacing of the combat, the din of gunfire, the adrenaline pumping through her body - Myrina was reminded why she had become a GEAR pilot in the first place, and she couldn't help a pearly grin from creeping onto her face.

Nawlin jammed his rifle in the crook of a tree and sighted in at the chaos of the outpost. what could damage blades group the most? me mused while his crosshairs alighted on a APC. mike's finger twitched three times, and Prower's rifle discharged three shots, the simulation rounds racing accross the screen to cause the APC to trundle into silence. before the vehicle stopped mike was already in motion. the gear skidded into its next hide, rifle braced against a mound, and its sights locating a troop carrier full of RPG welding soldiers. <Got eyes on RPG's, Left side> mike called to the assault team as he went to work. another trio of shots bound for the carrier as prowler dashed for the next nest, smirking as he watched the now "dead" troops throw their RPGs on the ground and gesture rudely, unsure of his location.

that was when he noticed a cloud of dust and hear the tell tale *whumps* of a large bore mortar. such a thing would decimate the roughriders if they hit anywhere close to them. mike immediately focused on this new threat and settled into a pre-emptive lean to manage the recoil. <High Priority Target located, engaging heavy walker> he muttered to the recon team as he fired a salvo into the dust cloud. any other time it would have been stupid to waste ammo on a concealed target, but when the target has you outgunned, you take what you can get. After emptying the last six rounds from his mag, mike dropped it, and slammed in a fresh 20 round mag of AP rounds as prowler darted for a new hide.