[IC] GEARS - Mecha Sci-fi with Anthro characters. RP in a detailed, story-driven world.

[Cartwright]

((Might be a bit sloppy))

Kensington sat back in his seat as orders came in, taking in every detail on his end and imprinting them in his memory. "Understood sir your CAS is taking to the skies." He retorted when the first order of business was seemingly at conclusion. The pilot looked over his meters, gauges, and monitors one more time then pulled up on a lever to the left side of his seat, causing the helicopter to lift to the sky. He could see far across the lands and could see the altitude meter rise in meters; 75 meters, 150 meters, 300 meters, 475 meters, that was where he stopped the climbing and started forward in an attempt to find a good position for the best communication quality. There, the autohover was engaged and the pilot quickly started going over the frequencies he would be hosting.

"Maxwell reporting in at 205, 116. Skies are clear from this perspective and no complications were discovered. I'm up here, sir and I am working on trying to expand the AO's reception range. Stay safe." That was his report to his CO over the comms before he started scanning the area with his feed for any dangers to him and the others, his ears folding back a bit as he went into full concentration in order to spot out anything out of the ordinary besides the typical landscape.

[Slamurai]

"...Warlock, take Bell, Stone and Kelsea as your scouting team..."

"Roger!" Myrina answered, putting a confident edge in her voice. She rolled down the ramp, confirming that her squad was indicated separately from the main unit on her HUD. The GEARs were portrayed by blue markers, while the Colonel's group was green, for easy reference. Her headset crackled before she heard Oliver's voice, followed by Shona, both of which she had not gotten a solid opportunity to know. Myrina supposed the exercise would give her that opportunity - better late than never!

"Want me to set up a telemetry-sharing channel and link us in?" the bat asked over the recon channel.
"Do it," Myrina answered. "Fan out, staggered line formation. Stone, I need you to be our eyes. Your GEAR has a drone, right? See if you can't get us a little peek at what we're up against, but don't grab their attention."

Myrina positioned herself inside the riverbed, behind a gently rolled slope at the edge that gave her a bit of cover. The recon team would have to catch their targets before they got caught themselves.

[Milkman]

Oliver listened to the orders that came over the radio. He had only gotten a glimpse of Myrina during his sort time on the Parvan's Claw. The tiger had no clue yet what kind of girl he was dealing with. He found it interesting to see how she would handle being in charge of the recon unit. Would she be bossy or a more laid back and easy going kind of leader? During his training he got regularly into fights and arguments with the commanders as the tiger was not the kind of person that would conform to addressing his superiors in a proper way and maintaining a level of professionalism over the radio. But first it was time to move into formation.

As ordered the recon unit started to move in staggered line formation. Oliver started to move his GEAR to the far right of the formation. With relative ease he made the machine climb out of the riverbed and started to zig zag through the mostly open terrain. Only some trees and an occasional small hill would retract the GEAR from the sight. As Oliver checked his radars and other sensors there was nothing to be seen except the position of the friendly units, with the recon GEAR's nicely marked in blue and the others in green. When he determined that everything was clear Oliver pressed the speak button of his radio and started to speak. "Sir, yes si.. o wait. I guess some of the drilling during training did came through" Joked Oliver as he started to execute the order.

With a few tabs on his PADD he loaded up the drone control APP. The drone is carried and launched from the back of the robot and is armed with a long range zoom camera that can make regular and infrared images. It can fly on remote controls or autonomous fly a pre-determined route. With a few presses tabs on the screen the tiger programmed a route to scout the first 10 kilometers ahead while operating the camera manually. Next task up was sharing the imagery with both his own team and colonel Blade. With a few more button presses Oliver setup another communication channel for sharing the camera feed real-time and contacted the recon team. "This is Oliver, the drone is launched and will scout ahead for 10 km. You can watch the live camera stream through channel 44. If you see anything interesting that you want to take a closer look at let me know so that I can zoom in or let the drone fly a bit closer. I'll also setup a direct link with the colonel."

Just as the young tiger has setup the link with the colonel he noticed how the drone flew over a small village. With a closer look he could see a not the shabby looking long haired female cat walking in the street with a shopping bag. With a tab on the screen the camera rotated and zoomed in on the cat. Her tight fitting hot pants and gently swinging tail didn't leave much room for imagination. Unfortunately for the young tiger, he forgot that he was already sharing the video stream with both the recon team and his CO.

[Ramzam]

“I don’t have anything fancy on me except for some audio equipment, unlike the others. I’m just good at killing things, so if you need any deeds done, I’m here.” The L-68 held its forty millimeter a little higher as if it swelled with pride at its pilot’s words. Perhaps a bit too true to his word, Adrian trekked along near to his team lead’s left, content to wait for his orders in silence. At least, until he took a look at one of his utility monitors and noticed the suspicious actions of a teammate. That’s a butt. Lots of fat, especially on females, but surprisingly little meat for being the largest muscle in the body. Not the best eating, either.

Adrian very loudly cleared his throat—although only he could hear it and the sound was only so loud to himself. “Donk on screen, Captain! Th’ professionalism levels are rapidly dropping, I fear we may have a man down out here,” he reported, with a sense of urgency that sounded very real. This is how good men get killed, he thought as his GEAR glanced at its distracted comrade. He has to learn. Somehow.

[Rhona W]

As his group came to a halt and the recon team moved ahead, Blade issued orders in concise, short snaps of dialogue.
"Spread out, take cover and watch our approaches. Passive sensors only, and direct comms - we don't know who's out there waiting. Stand ready".
He took the Harlock to one knee behind an outcropping of rock crowned with wiry shrubs, and switching his sensors to passive mode. Following this, he switched feed to the recon team, and was immediately confronted with a holo-screen image of an attractively plump female feline posterior sashaying it's way across his screen.
"What the hell is this?" he snarled into the mike. "Cut this shit out right now! Get your mind out of her ass, and onto the mission, or I will personally reach through this monitor and throttle you!"

Goddamn kids.

[Cartwright]

Kensington was busy switching between frequencies during the small conflict over the comms. He stopped only to hear the commander chewing out the one responsible for some drone incident. All the pilot could do was smile to himself as thoughts went through his head about what girl the recon team was investigating... Hopefully she was attractive enough to risk disciplinary action.

After the minor distraction the pilot cleared his throat and went back to work, apologizing to himself for getting sucked out of his professional stance. Once he was back in check the wolf went to his turret feed and scanned his surroundings in an attempt to spot out any threats ahead of the recon team.

[Rafale]

The beginning of the mission went almost perfectly as the two teams split up and headed separate ways, Blade leading those not in the recon group and the recon group heading off on their own. Sanya marched forward with a determined similar to the movements Raisa made in the cockpit, naturally moving along after the group. Calmly keeping pace, she took in the remarkable beauty of the area, with the near radio-silence allowing the microphones on the exterior of the machine to pick up a good amount of sound from the environment. Despite the presence of numerous machines of war marching through the area, it seemed that the wildlife remained relatively calm and Raisa could hear birdsong. Along with the sights and the comfortable warmth of the air, it made for a calm setting. This only lasted for a while, however, when the atmosphere was broken by the sudden growling of the CO, causing the corsac fox to jump slightly.

"What the hell is this? Cut this shit out right now! Get your mind out of her ass, and onto the mission, or I will personally reach through this monitor and throttle you!" Out of curiosity, Raisa went through various feeds until falling upon the drone's recon feed. Her slight smirk at Blade's reaction quickly disappeared as her eyes were met with the sight of what Raisa could only guess was some civvy's rear-end.

"Sick voyeur..." She muttered as she opened up comms. "Colonel Blade... threat to our mission confirmed. Identified as Triuss Heavy Industries, S-Series 'Saxknot', reconnaissance and electronic warfare GEAR. Requesting permission to engage and eliminate..." With a flat tone of animosity and with disgust bleeding off every syllable, she only half-jokingly requested permission to terminate the drone's user. As she spoke, she threateningly raised her left fist and at the end, she made the retractable blade come out and go back in, making a deadly sound.

[HopelessIncubus]

Mike swayed slightly as the gear slowed from a run, to more of a recon shuffle, then a stop in response to blades orders. Prowler spinning and dropping to a crotch, cutting active scanners and switching to passives, watching their six. confused about the word 'donk'mike decided to hit the drone feed to check on the recon team in response to Adrian's warning expecting naïvely a donkey. Suddenly feline derrier took up his screen, the unexpected show momentarily stealing his focus.
Holy! not bad....

"*cough* aha! oohkay" mike muttered switching the channel off, just as Blade tore into the unfortunate drone pilot, promising imminate demise if he didn't get himself together. mike winced sympathetically for Oliver, but the quick, brutal shakedown would hopefully bite deep. he could remember the first time he ended up with the CO's wrath, turned out the pretty lynx at the bar everyone seemed to ignore was the generals daughter, good thing he never got to take her home, he'd be in the ice fields right now. he was about to ask Kensington what he could see when Raisa spoke up, claiming Oliver a threat to the team, and requesting permission to engage.

Woah there!" mike said, prowler looking over to sanya, non shooting arm out and down. "a shake down is one thing, attacking a teammate is a little over the top." he said returning his attention to 6 o'clock. "its just a training op, if this is all it takes to loose our heads, ill be amazed if we survive the net 10 minuets" he said, glancing at his passives finding nothing.

[Kyelin]

With a low hum, Gammorah wheeled along slowly behind the majority of the squad, with Kradis' feeds wired into the recon's visual inputs. A good idea to monitor your eyes and ears, in any firefight. It was sunny, and the air was cool inside his GEAR, which was a god send int he heat of a Lavaran desert. Without taking his eyes of his main screen, Kradis slipped another tab and thought introspectively about the final destiny of these men and women. So many youths: Would they live to see their placement with the Parvan through? Did they have friends, family or lovers who would never see these soldiers again? Kradis himself had abandoned such things a long time ago, but he still couldn't help but to think how many of his comrades, by the end of all this, would turn into cold shells of their former selves like their squad mate. Perhaps, none would, for they would be stronger than that, and not turn into army dogs who live only to kill others. Such things are not healthy ways to live.

After some time, Kradis brought up his AWSS, and began to calibrate the Gammorah's weapon systems to factor in the current environment's variables. Wind speed 9 knots in a South-Westerly direction, clear line of site due to flat terrain, humidity low. Once he modified his armament suite, Kradis proceeded to check through the recon team's feeds and comms, to ascertain the strength of the LAS-DES signals he was receiving, and flicked over to a full screen view of a particular civvie's rather curvaceous ass, followed by a hearty and passionate reprimand from Blade himself piercing his ears like a precision laser beam. At least our commanding officer can instill a sense of discipline into his men, and not afraid to call out their failures. Some things in military life, regardless of faction, never change. Without comment, Kradis closed his feeds and silenced the Colonel's comms for a bried moment, to avoid his yelling, and continued to follow the others.

[Minder]

"Do it. Fan out, staggered line formation."

Shona's hands darted across her controls as she deftly set up the channel, allowing each of the scouting member's GEARs to use everyone else's telemetry for their firing solutions, streaming a collated version back to Blade and the Claw. That done, she returned her hands to her sticks and moved the Rapier into formation with the others, staggered out across the country side.

She noted with satisfaction that her machine's software automatically integrated Stone's drone feed into the rest of the stream - until she saw what he had decided to zoom in on. Balking, Shona had scrambled to cut the drone's feed out of the rest of the scout team's stream, but it had already gone out to Silver. She winced as the CO's angry voice came over the com - even if it wasn't directed at her, it wasn't a good start to the mission.

As more voices joined the chorus of annoyance, the bat just tried to keep her mind on the job, scanning the horizon with her optics package. Oliver didn't need any more berating anyway.

[Rhona W]

Ahead of the recon team, the collection of low foothills and outcrops that shielded the makeshift camp for the exercise - housed in an old farm - was the most defining feature in the otherwise generic landscape. There were gentle rolls and dips to the terrain, but no real great changes in elevation. A gently-flowing river meandered away to the south-west, crossed by a simple bridge was one of the only other notable features, with copses of small, hardy trees making up the majority of the west. In short, terrain not overly favorable to GEAR operations, due to the lack of cover.
The training area was unihabited by civilians, and was a safe environment for the exercise, with a few wrecks from previous live-fire exercises dotting the landscape, and craters being reclaimed by nature.
With this beatific waste surrounding them and no background noise, it was little surprise that the advancing recon team were quick to pick up on sensor activity, watching warily for any approaches. Lying in wait, however, the exact position, number and makeup of these forces wasn't obvious on first contact, but there was something out there.

Meanwhile, at the rally point, Silver's team lay in wait, hunkered down and securing the rear area. A few flickers of contact glimmered at the edge of the Harlock's sensor array, and Blade frowned. Switching channels, he established direct contact with Ken and Mike.
"Maxwell, Nawlin - I'm registering a sporadic contact at about half a klick out, south-south-east. I can't tie it down. Investigate the area, but fall back for support if you find anything suspicious, over."

[Milkman]

Oliver heard all the complaining voices coming over his radio and could not help to smile a bit. It was hardly 15 minutes into the training mission and the Tiger had received the first scolding of the day. It wasn't Oliver's intention to let the others know that he was messing around a bit with the drone camera. He simply forgot that he was already sharing the video feed. None the less it was a good way to find out how far the tiger could go before colonel Blade would interfere. Judging from the old fox's scolding, the colonel doesn't tolerate much while being out in the field. Also Raisa's reaction was kind of fierce. "Sick voyeur?" Oliver considered himself more of a male adult with a healthy interest in the other sex. For a moment he considered giving her a reaction but he decided not to so. The tiger was pretty sure that for the rest of the training, he would be under the colonel's magnifying glass. It was better to avoid a second scolding in the coming 15 minutes. Oliver unlocked the drone camera from the girl's rear and set out orders to let it scout ahead. With a press on the button the young tiger activated the radio and spoke. "Sorry, for the inconvenience. I kind of forgot that I was already sharing the feed" This was about as much of an apology Oliver would generally make over his actions.

As the tiger looked on the monitor that was showing the drone camera feed he noticed that his radio scanner was picking up some signals on frequencies that are generally not used by the LDF. With a few button presses the GEAR's internal computer started to analyze the content. A few moments later the messaged popped up that the signals are most likely encrypted voice communication that is using a more commonly available radio encryption algorithm then what the LDF uses. Depending on the timeframe of the operation, Oliver judged that it might be worth to try to decrypt the signals but for now he decided to focus on finding out the source. For determining the source of the transmissions the Tiger decided to calibrate his direction antenna for the right frequency range so that he could find out the general direction the transmissions where coming from. Once the direction was determined Oliver would let his drone fly a scouting route to see if anything interesting would show up on screen. "This is Stone, I am picking up encrypted radio transmissions. Most likely it is voice communication from the bad guys. Apparently they are broadcasting from somewhere south-west of my position. I am sending my drone to investigate"

As the drone changed it course Oliver watched his monitor. He could see the deserted landscapes pass by beneath the drone as it flew in south-west direction. In the distance he could see a gently flowing riverbed positioned to the south-west and as he turned his camera more southwards a collection of low foothills where spotted in the distance. As the drone closed in on the riverbed Oliver spotted 3 moving objects near a bridge. As he zoomed in on the spot it became clear that 3 GEARs where guarding the river crossing. Much to Oliver's surprise it turned out to be modified civilian GEARs. He could see the makeshift armor plating that had been build on the machines. Also the armament features where clear. All 3 where carrying standard GEAR assault rifles and also one missile tube could be easily spotted on the right shoulder of the machines. Most likely they were armed with anti-armor rockets. Something a GEAR pilot preferred not to be hit with. Oliver opened up his communications to both the recon team and colonel Blade. "Enemy spotted, 3 GEARs, roughly 8 kilometers to the south-west of my position. Shall we engage them?"

[Cartwright]

Kensington kept quiet as he looked ahead at the landscape of the AO. He took in every little detail, especially areas that could make flying difficult such at tall trees and such. It was a consolation to him, though when he discovered that there wasn't much he need to worry about aside from any hostile forces that don't like helicopters flying in their airspace. Regardless, the pilot could do his job whenever he was told to, the only question was whether the recon team could do theirs. The simple surveying wouldn't last long as it was interrupted by the senior airman's next order.

"Maxwell, Nawlin - I'm registering a sporadic contact at about half a klick out, south-south-east. I can't tie it down. Investigate the area, but fall back for support if you find anything suspicious, over." The pilot was about to make his response but stopped himself from committing one of the most common mistakes a new guy on a radio would do one time in their lives, that being jumping onto comms without thinking first. The wolf kept off the mic for a second do correct himself and quickly form a logical response instead of throwing words around the radio traffic, then took a deep breath and finally spoke.

"Orders recieved, air unit is on the move five hundred meters, south." Maxwell reported, quickly snapping his aircraft vehicle towards that direction with a mixed pitch and yaw movement. The altitude meter dropped from this twist and the pilot made the decision not to climb to the skies again, feeling very comfortable with a 150 mark even though the window for lock-on evasion was pretty wide in this open landscape. He had to spot the enemy before they spot him if he was able to, and that would be decided within the next few minutes when he came across the 500 meter way point Silver pointed out over the comms, his eyes scanning the area along with using the thermal feed to help him spot any heat signatures.

After a few seconds of searching he came across what Silver had reported to him, a small group of GEARS and vehicles alike less that three hundred meters away from his current location. The senior airman quickly shut off the thermal filter to get a better image of the group, taking in every detail as his helicopter climbed higher and higher to avoid any issues from the forces below. They seemed unequipped for a confrontation, few of them having makeshift armor in replacement of their older damaged parts but that didn't mean they weren't a threat, and the pilot himself quickly spoke into his headset while making his retreat. "Advise teams I got multiple MRAP and GEAR about eight hundred meters, south, southeast. They should be an easy one... But be advised they sure know I'm hear and are on alert." The wolf reported, returning to safety and fortunately not needing to launch any flares to ward off any missiles. It was a good run, but that didn't guarantee that Kensington got sight of all that was going down since he was soo quick to return to the main force.

Hearing the other report made the pilot chuckle under his breath and speak into his microphone, using his distinctive light rural accent. "Son you gon' make a eight thousand meter shot? You'd need some artillery batteries for that kind of hunt." The pilot advised the technical specialist, pausing for a minute before speaking up once again. "CAS is on stand by for tasking."

[HopelessIncubus]

"Maxwell, Nawlin - I'm registering a sporadic contact at about half a klick out, south-south-east. I can't tie it down. Investigate the area, but fall back for support if you find anything suspicious, over."

"understood, leaving 6 O'clock position to investigate" mike responds, Prowler twisting around to face the new objective. double checking his colors, mike sets them to shift dynamicly before setting off, moving in a half crouch to get the best speed, with the smallest silhouette. training kicked in, rifle to shoulder and scanning the area, but he couldn't help feel like something was off. shoving the feeling of unease back to make room for reason, he continued on, switching to thermal cameras on his secondary monitor, trying to find an advantage over the enemy. thankfully, having Maxwell above did make it easier to find them, lucky bastard didn't have to navigate terrain, and had farther line of sight then he had. despite the problems of being a ground pounder, mike arrived in short time.

going prone behind cover about I kilometer out, mike shifted his rifle into position, hoping any scratches in its matte paint didn't give him away as he watched the makeshift mobile armor.
"nawlin here, confirm 3 gears, seem to be repurposed civi construction models." he muttered to the team as he zoomed in on the rocket carrier, taking in its appearance and arms. "2 with only small arms, one has missile like weapon, unknown type. all armor seems to be hastily welded plate, approx. 2-5cm thick." mike continued as he frowned. not even a recruit would have set up like this, without military grade systems, all the weapons would be dumb fire only, hell the rocket might not even fire. mikes paranoia flared again. "seems to be a scout group, little to no threat in engagement, orders?" he asked as he watched the 3 scramble behind several cement barricades.

[Rhona W]

Blade drummed his fingers on the arm of his control chair, before swiftly tapping commands into his C3I system at rapid pace as the information came on.
"Received and understood, Maxwell. Keep a distance for now. Nawlin, keep an eye on them. When they come within a mile of our position, engage and then fall back; lure them into our engagement envelope, and we'll catch them in a cross-fire and draw them off of the scout team, bring some of the heat to us to keep the scouts from trouble. Harass the hostiles all the way into our optimum distance, then go to ground. The rest of us can hit them hard then."
Switching channels to the recon team, he sent a quick message.
"Recon, this is Blade - keep moving. We've got a unit here, heading our way. We're going to draw them to us, and use that to lure them toward us and keep 'em off of you."

[Slamurai]

"Roger, Colonel," was Myrina's response, who was shifting herself to anticipate the movement of the incoming unit. With the main force reeling it in, she and the harder hitters in the recon group could support them from another angle. "We'll sit tight here and keep an eye on them 'till you engage."

Myrina switched her comm to a private channel with Oliver. Blade had chastised him before she could open her mouth, and she felt as if she needed to say something herself as team leader.
"Pull another stunt like that and I will skin your hide and turn you into a rug," she said in a harsh whisper. "I will not embarrass myself as a member of this unit due to the actions of an idiot within my team." With that, she closed the channel and let out a sigh. She hoped this wouldn't reflect on her position of leadership, at least for the time being.

"Alright, Recon, you heard the Colonel. I need you to keep an eye out for additional reinforcements while the Colonel's team engages the GEARs headed this way. Kelsea, you and I are going to lend some supporting fire to the main group once they hit contact. The rest of you, keep your eyes and ears peeled." Adrian and Myrna's GEARs lacked the specialized reconnaissance equipment of the others, so they'd be suited to providing the team's muscle when the rounds started flying.

[Slamurai]

"Roger, Colonel," was Myrina's response, who was shifting herself to anticipate the movement of the incoming unit. With the main force reeling it in, she and the harder hitters in the recon group could support them from another angle. "We'll sit tight here and keep an eye on them 'till you engage."

Myrina switched her comm to a private channel with Oliver. Blade had chastised him before she could open her mouth, and she felt as if she needed to say something herself as team leader.
"Pull another stunt like that and I will skin your hide and turn you into a rug," she said in a harsh whisper. "I will not embarrass myself as a member of this unit due to the actions of an idiot within my team." With that, she closed the channel and let out a sigh. She hoped this wouldn't reflect on her position of leadership, at least for the time being.

"Alright, Recon, you heard the Colonel. I need you to keep an eye out for additional reinforcements while the Colonel's team engages the GEARs headed this way. Kelsea, you and I are going to lend some supporting fire to the main group once they hit contact. The rest of you, keep your eyes and ears peeled." Adrian and Myrna's GEARs lacked the specialized reconnaissance equipment of the others, so they'd be suited to providing the team's muscle when the rounds started flying.

[Slamurai]

"Roger, Colonel," was Myrina's response, who was shifting herself to anticipate the movement of the incoming unit. With the main force reeling it in, she and the harder hitters in the recon group could support them from another angle. "We'll sit tight here and keep an eye on them 'till you engage."

Myrina switched her comm to a private channel with Oliver. Blade had chastised him before she could open her mouth, and she felt as if she needed to say something herself as team leader.
"Pull another stunt like that and I will skin your hide and turn you into a rug," she said in a harsh whisper. "I will not embarrass myself as a member of this unit due to the actions of an idiot within my team." With that, she closed the channel and let out a sigh. She hoped this wouldn't reflect on her position of leadership, at least for the time being.

"Alright, Recon, you heard the Colonel. I need you to keep an eye out for additional reinforcements while the Colonel's team engages the GEARs headed this way. Kelsea, you and I are going to lend some supporting fire to the main group once they hit contact. The rest of you, keep your eyes and ears peeled." Adrian and Myrna's GEARs lacked the specialized reconnaissance equipment of the others, so they'd be suited to providing the team's muscle when the rounds started flying.

[Slamurai]

"Roger, Colonel," was Myrina's response, who was shifting herself to anticipate the movement of the incoming unit. With the main force reeling it in, she and the harder hitters in the recon group could support them from another angle. "We'll sit tight here and keep an eye on them 'till you engage."

Myrina switched her comm to a private channel with Oliver. Blade had chastised him before she could open her mouth, and she felt as if she needed to say something herself as team leader.
"Pull another stunt like that and I will skin your hide and turn you into a rug," she said in a harsh whisper. "I will not embarrass myself as a member of this unit due to the actions of an idiot within my team." With that, she closed the channel and let out a sigh. She hoped this wouldn't reflect on her position of leadership, at least for the time being.

"Alright, Recon, you heard the Colonel. I need you to keep an eye out for additional reinforcements while the Colonel's team engages the GEARs headed this way. Kelsea, you and I are going to lend some supporting fire to the main group once they hit contact. The rest of you, keep your eyes and ears peeled." Adrian and Myrna's GEARs lacked the specialized reconnaissance equipment of the others, so they'd be suited to providing the team's muscle when the rounds started flying.

[Slamurai]

"Roger, Colonel," was Myrina's response, who was shifting herself to anticipate the movement of the incoming unit. With the main force reeling it in, she and the harder hitters in the recon group could support them from another angle. "We'll sit tight here and keep an eye on them 'till you engage."

Myrina switched her comm to a private channel with Oliver. Blade had chastised him before she could open her mouth, and she felt as if she needed to say something herself as team leader.
"Pull another stunt like that and I will skin your hide and turn you into a rug," she said in a harsh whisper. "I will not embarrass myself as a member of this unit due to the actions of an idiot within my team." With that, she closed the channel and let out a sigh. She hoped this wouldn't reflect on her position of leadership, at least for the time being.

"Alright, Recon, you heard the Colonel. I need you to keep an eye out for additional reinforcements while the Colonel's team engages the GEARs headed this way. Kelsea, you and I are going to lend some supporting fire to the main group once they hit contact. The rest of you, keep your eyes and ears peeled." Adrian and Myrna's GEARs lacked the specialized reconnaissance equipment of the others, so they'd be suited to providing the team's muscle when the rounds started flying.