FourtyTwo

GEARs: Silent Line [Anthro, Sci-Fi Mecha Roleplay]

Everyone still going on here? It seems like things are escalating nicely :)

GEARs: Silent Line [Anthro, Sci-Fi Mecha Roleplay]

Rishun and Max
@Esailia

Spotting the pair of unmanned GEARs, the hostile jogged across the cleared space, and turned to face the only intact cabin, covering the doorway with its weaponry. The PA system crackled to life as the pilot spoke.
"Come out of the cabin and throw down your weapons!"

@Silverwind Blade

Rishun kept working, strangely calm. She was focused on her task of hacking the console, but she did spare a glance back at Max, commenting "Big eye was closed, I guess."

Max looked to Rishun in annoyance, then down at the cat again, who had a wry smile. How the fuck his UAV hadn’t pinged he didn’t know, but right now, he didn’t want to think on that. They had company. A serious deal out there, and well, the cat had something to say about it.

“Not so cocky are you now, eh? You better do what he says, eh?” Elias remarked, Max looking to Rishun and cursing, not physically reacting as the lion looked deep in thought.

“Well, we’ve been caught with our pants down. I’ve got a plan, but it’s really stupid. There’s only one GEAR out there..or else he’d have breached already or blown us apart. That and ...your friend wouldn’t allow you to be blown apart, Elias. Like he knew you’d be here, on your lonesome. Looks like you scumbags are actually more honourable than I thought.” Max said to both of the other occupants of the cabin, shaking his head as he saw the cat squirm to the door, Max pushing him down onto the wall and aiming his rifle squarely at Elias’s forehead.

"GOT IT!" The otter yelped to no one in particular, unplugging her gear with practiced ease, packing up quickly and efficiently. Who ever said hardwire was outdated? Rishun locked her small toolkit closed and latched it securely to her belt before she hopped over to Max, calling "Scrap! Qyii'radey!" The lion saw the otter hop over, excited as ever but remained focussed directly on the cat.

“Not so fast, Elias. Make another move, and I won’t hesitate to dump your leverage. I’m fucking crazy, remember. RIshun, keep a gun to his head…..I’ve got something in mind. We’re gonna need to face the music with our feline friend...just follow my lead. Reckon you’ve got a ball in our court?” The lion asked, checking a few things on his carrier vest, forming a wry smile of his own. He saw her unplug her equipment, the excited otter now inside their system.

Rishun followed orders as Scrap scurried over to slip into his home pod, locking his own hatch closed. The Otter tugged her pistol from its holster, grabbing Elias by wrapping her arm around his neck. The cat squirmed a bit, but given Max was still there with his rifle in the vague direction, he made a mental note not to push too hard, especially given the lion was especially unpredictable. Even with the odds in the cat’s favour, he was scared, and didn’t want to push his captors, not when there might be an outcome where everyone might live. The lion on the other hand, didn’t really see that being a situation where himself and Rishun would be able to continue their mission.

After all, this was a shitty idea. Max had done what he was thinking just once before, only once. And that ended with about two months in hospital and Max’s CO struggling to even buy the story. Staring down a GEAR with no weapons at point blank range, you were sure as hell dead, and running from a fight from this range wasn’t going to work when something like that had an arsenal at its disposal- even on an improvised platform. But Max guessed it was likely poor in tech just like the other IFV- the sound of it was something he could tell was much older, more civilian in operation than a military-type GEAR. So he would take his chances. And hoped, just hoped Rishun had something up her sleeve to go with his mark.

Moving outside, Max held his rifle up over his head, walking outside and placing it down gently in front of him.The GEAR was about six feet away from the cabin, armed up with a pair of MMGs and a single 40 mil grenade launcher. Well, it was packing heat, but it wasn’t crazily armed. His suspicions that it was improvised were confirmed, as he saw the operator half-exposed in the bloody thing. If that cabin had windows, he might have tried his luck to shoot him out with his rifle, but well, that was just too risky now they were in the open. So it was Plan A as per usual. Max kept his hands raised, looking back at Rishun who was standing just at the door holding Elias in front of her, then up at the GEAR.

“Not so fast! We’ve got one of yours ...let's all slow down, shall we?” Max said, the GEAR operator a little shocked at what he saw, hands up again.

“Get on the ground, now! Elias, get over here!” The militant GEAR operator yelled, as Max looked at Rishun sternly. She gave the slightest nod to him as they made eye contact. She tightened her grip around the tiger's neck, causing him to wheeze.

“Oh no you don’t! He’s not going anywhere until you get out of that thing and we talk like gentlemen!” Max replied, knowing just what he was doing, and how absolutely stupid this was gonna sound to everyone there. The GEAR operator got frustrated, moving closer, weapons raised at Max, clearly angry as he spoke through his PA.

“I wasn’t asking I was telling, all of you, get on the ground, or else I’ll turn you inside out! I’m serious! ” The operator yelled, Max seeing one of his MMGs now a little more up close. It was like staring down a tank, but if that tank was 12 feet tall and could easily stamp on you rather than run you over. That said..Max felt his odds of success were going up, as he eyeballed it. Yeah, this pan could work. Max looked up, still confident as ever, yelling back in the direction of the GEAR.

“That isn’t very gentlemanly of you then! Alright ...we'll get on the floor. You gonna sit there and point guns at us till your friends come to restrain us? What about Elias...he’s not very military, you’ll get his uniform dirty!” Max said rather chirpily, the lion looking on with a gleeful look. Way, way more confident than he ever should have been when facing down someone with a piece of equipment like this.

“Silence! Shut the fuck up….I’ll blow you apart, you hear!?” The GEAR operator yelled, Max taking the GEAR yelling to use his helmet’s mic, set to a more sensitive setting than beforehand. As he had checked his plate carrier earlier, it was one of the very few things he’d done- setting it from a loud setting to a whisper, the mic now highly sensitive yet catching Max’s quieter tone.

“Rishun, in about ten seconds, seal your eyes shut and bury your head. Just watch Elias. Trust me on this.” Max said, taking a knee, as he knew this was it. Go time. There was no reply from his partner, but behind him Rishun hunkered down a little more, preparing for the next fifteen seconds of hell about to engulf the little area. Scared, but the Solernia military doesn't train incompetent soldiers…

The other thing the lion had checked his plate carrier for, Max reminded himself in this moment, and the reason he always carried it, was a flashbang, a couple of explosive charges and his UAV’s recall tag. And right now, Max knew the former was about to get used in a way he’d never planned it to. The optical package of the GEAR was good, but not good enough to either see it masked and hanging by the pin on the back of Max’s left gloved hand, nor was it flash-resistant. The optics were built with civilian construction use in mind, not refocussing to intense explosives or bright light. Even then, Max knew it wouldn’t be long- maybe a few seconds at most, and that would be barely enough to close the distance, plant and run. As for the UAV? Well, that was an additional treat.

But it was something. And right now, Max had run out of any other ideas.
As Max put himself from his knees and onto the floor, the buzz of a UAV could be heard, Max’s UAV, the quadrotor suddenly coming into sight a few feet to the left hand side of the trio in the mud, the GEAR refocussing his attention. And it was just enough, literally just enough for Max to toss the flashbang off his hand and right beneath the GEAR’s front. In the brow of it’s optical eye, in fact. Just as the operator focussed his sight on Max once again, the lion had buried his eyes into the mud, Rishun tucking her head and hiding her eyes behind Elias' shoulder, and the seconds turned to eternity.

One, two, THREE!

The noise was deafening, it was ringing and horrid, because Max, Rishun and Elias had been a few feet away from the flashbang’s final resting place, the flash grenade going off nine times in a second and filling the immediate area with noise and light. If anyone was seeing it directly from this distance they would have been blind for at least a good minute, and damaged of hearing for at least ten. Unlike a stun grenade it wouldn’t disorient you, but being suddenly blind and deaf would make it a bit more tricky to figure out which way is up. Nevertheless, the wider impacts of hearing damage weren't on Max’s mind, as he didn’t even care if the GEAR had been okay or not, his mind focussed as the adrenaline coursed through his bloodstream, knowing there was minimal time to fuck this up. There was only time to get this right.

The lion charged, sprinting at full pelt from a prone position and taking in oxygen at an athlete’s pace, sliding on the mud beneath the GEAR that had miraculously been knocked back, weapon facing slightly offset to where they were from the blinding flash. His M23 was in his left hand, picked up as he ran, the lion maybe stupid enough to miss the ping of his UAV but not to forget his service weapon. The GEAR hadn’t fired, which meant at the very least, he understood if a 40mm was fired this close it’d do damage to everyone, or something worse. It wasn’t to be analysed, Max mused, as he slid behind and planted the charges, the sticky composition binding the GEAR’s upper leg chassis, the crotch of the mech, in fact. And now the GEAR was coming back to his senses, he had to just run, run, run, past it and towards his own....

“Rishun, GET DOWN!” Max yelled, ripping the clacker off his plate carrier and into his hands, as he didn’t care about how far he was, what direction the GEAR was facing, or what was going on. Maybe Rishun had bought him some time, maybe he was about to die, maybe it was all gonna end with that GEAR putting a lot of lead into him.

The otter had kept her pistol on Elias, despite wanting so badly to offer her crazy companion fire support, and yanked herself back into the building with her prisoner, knowing full well the details of what shrapnel could do to a head.

Maxwell Bastion, fully aware of that fact, pulled the lever tight and hoped whatever deity there was might spare him today. If not for him, at the very least, for the otter that he wanted to keep alive more than anyone right now because of his fucking stupidity.

The militia GEAR erupted, the underside legs first falling apart as the fuel cell caught light and detonated spectacularly, throwing Max off his feet and at least a good 10 feet away, the force of the hydrogen cell going up at this range incredible. The GEAR collapsed entirely, a burning wreck with the charges lit and molten metal now dripping off it’s sides. There was no way anyone could survive that if they were piloting it, no doubt.

The few seconds between the initial explosion and after all the bigger chunks of metal hit the ground were the worst for Rishun. She was fighting her own fear of making a mistake while keeping a now dazed and just as scared prisoner under control "Damn you, want a bullet?! Keep struggling and it might go off by mistake, Now MOVE!"

Elias did as he was told, the cat not covering his eyes and squirming but ultimately not choosing to run given Rishun was still there and the lion could be about.

“Alright, alright!” He yelled in an off tone, his hands still bound so he wasn’t going to go anywhere with Rishun keeping a gun to his head. This hadn’t gone to plan...so right now, he wasn’t gonna try and run, given the fact his only help had just gone up in flames.

The otter forced Elias out the door and shoved him in the direction of the GEARs, the distance looking like thirty miles instead of thirty yards. Hopefully the explosion knocked out or outright killed all of the enemy infantry, and she wasn't about to get shot in the back, ending this little shred of insanity that was Max's plan…

Stop thinking, focus on running!

The lion brushed the mud off his eyes and face, Max hearing the noise of infantry in the distance, beyond the ringing in his ears. He felt like he’d just been in a bar fight, the worst bar fight ever. He wiggled his toes and fingers, looking down his torso at any immediate signs of injury, impalement, the worst injuries basically. Nothing in particular, apart from a lump of what looked like armour plate had barely missed his head by a meter, and a few bits of what looked like loose scrap had buried its way into his chest rig. Nothing had pierced it entirely but some of it had scraped him badly, he could tell that much, even with the adrenaline flowing- the lion had just been ridiculously lucky not to die, let alone not suffer a serious injury. Some cuts to his arms, legs and core from small shrapnel was pretty much a miracle.

Sitting up, he took his M23, clearing the filthy mag out of it, tapping his head. There was a significant crack across his visor, so he took it out entirely, his helmet scratched and covered in a shower of mud, small particulate shrapnel and other bits. He looked over seeing a few more infantry come over the hill, and pulled himself along to a more prone position, the holographic on his M23 still live as he slid a magazine back in, clearing the bolt.

“Rishun…..are you still breathing? Please tell me you’re alright…that was insane.” Max said, no longer seeing the sight of Elias nor Rishun by the cabin, which had been mostly shielded from GEAR’s explosion.
Max showed a genuine concern, beyond just a professional care in this line of work for the otter who had been brought into this. He felt regret, he just felt so stupid….being bold was all well and good, but right now, he’d risked his partner and brought her headfirst into his world, and into the very worst of it. Rishun was a tech, not someone who’d been in the line of special forces work to his style, which to most wasn’t exactly ordinary. She didn’t have that mindset he did, she had a warmth, playfulness and not ...what Max had been demonstrating. She had a soul, and going through that kind of hell that was instant intensity and risk in a warzone was never anything Max wanted anyone to experience. But he just had to hope she’d get clear, that at least would make what he just did worth something. He felt guilt, but right now, had to push that down, keep it suppressed. This wasn’t a time to think, it was just a time to survive this, and ask questions later.

"Yes I am still alive!" Rishun called over her radio, her ears still ringing from the explosion, trying her best to avoid tripping over her prisoner "Elias is good too, heading for our GEARs!"

“Thank fuck….I’m relieved to hear that, Rishun! Get yourself inside your GEAR, and get ready to defend. We’ve got infantry inbound, about five militants or so ...I'll try and pick them off with my rifle from my position, it’s too risky for me to get to my GEAR from here straight away. I’ve got some shrapnel wounds too...nothing serious though. I can still fight, don’t you worry.” Max added, scanning and looking for Rishun, whilst watching the infantry coming in. They were at a distance on their left hand flank, and Max knew the two of them would ordinarily be able to clean this up. Max knew however, their current situation wasn’t very ordinary. He took his M23 into both hands and calmed his breathing, his rifle low and his overall profile flat lying down, ready to start defending. It was beginning to hurt a bit more now, his armour shredded but at least it had done its job and stopped anything more.

""Copy that! I'll give you cover once I have secured the prisoner!" Rishun kept shoving the tiger in front of her, and an eternity of sprinting through mud they reached the leg of her GEAR. Panting hard, she shoved Elias down onto his knees, ordering "Stay here and you stay alive." Before holstering her pistol and grabbing at the ladder rungs to climb up the leg, getting the hatch open in short work and slipping inside.

Max nodded, even though he knew Rishun wouldn’t have seen it at all. He moved his hand back and rolled a little through the mud, hiding his silhouette a little more in the outpost’s hilltop. The militants looked confused, but on high alert, looking and searching for everything.

“Understood, Rishun….we haven’t got a lot of time though. They’re getting very close.” He replied, his comms back to hyper-sensitive as he chatted quietly, so as to not catch the attention of the soldiers. One of them had an AT launcher on his back, and as such, was Max’s first target, the second of the scattered group in the sights of his canted holographic. Breathing in, the lion took a gulp of oxygen and pulled his finger on the exhale.

“Clink!” The rifle seemed to exclaim, the silenced M23 finding its mark in the militant’s skull, knocking him down quick. Max readjusted his aim on the second man, taking the last of his exhalation and double-tapped, aiming for centre mass and guessing it would be enough to down the labrador with the shots. He took another breather, looking for the others, the lion’s mind still running on the surge of adrenaline from what he’d done to the improvised GEAR. The other three were getting closer, and Max knew it’d be risky to take another one of them out from here, or at least without getting fired on himself now.

The GEAR responded to Rishun's return, purring to life from idle mode as the engines revved up. The otter quickly threw aside a multitude of virtual screens to clear a wider area of view for her external cameras, punching in her key code to lock in her security clearance at the same time. Nothing compared to an adrenaline rush to speed up your words per minute. Rishun grabbed her joysticks and yanked hard, unceremoniously scooping up Elias in one massive left hand while the other gripped her rifle. This wasing going to be pretty, and Z'awwkh was going to be LIVID about the damage the right hand was going to take from what she was about to do. She pulled the Aqua Goddess around and barreled towards Max's position, using her thermals to count up the infantry advancing on her partner. While he had gotten two, there were a trio rounding a corner off to his left.

"MAX DOWN!" Rishun yelled, and with a maneuver that would probably get her written up for endangering a friendly, kicked her wheels out and slid while leaning back onto her GEAR's ass, just as she was bringing up her rifle to steady it on her left forearm, tight against the shield. The mech stopped just a few feet from Max's left, putting herself between the lion and the enemy soldiers. Rishun didn't bother to aim manually, letting the computer make micro adjustments to her arm's position "Cover ears!"

Max’s already ringing ears rang out even more, as she heard Rishun’s GEAR slide, rifle rested and fired from an incredibly improper position. He buried his head down, even with the tactical ear protection that his helmet provided, getting close to a high-caliber rifle firing was always gonna hurt as he knew she would get the others with her aquatic rifle. The hostiles in front quickly were blasted apart, as Max watched Rishun’s GEAR tear them asunder, leaving small craters where they’d been in front. It had worked, somehow. Not very accurately, but the fire had at the very least dissipated them, and cleared them out.

The lion looked back up at Rishun’s GEAR as he stood up from his prone position, giving a thumbs up. If Rishun would look closely, he’d see that Max was covered head to toe in mud, from his wild mane to his boots, definitely not looking like the usual suave self he had been. He seemed to look a little weaker, as he was very winded and hurting now, Max seeing the sight of Elias in the Aqua Goddess’s hand and the rifle in the other.

“Much appreciated! That was a hell of a maneuver you pulled there! Looks like we’re clear, for now at least. All hostiles eliminated it looks like.” The lion chirped, as he reloaded his magazine, and looked ahead, before looking back at the Aqua Goddess. As for himself...he’s probably pull through. Get some painkillers, and get back to the Lion Rampant.

Rishun was panting inside the mech, but as the smoke cleared from her firing line, all that remained of the trio were faintly glowing chunks of things Rishun no longer wanted to look at. She turned the torso and leg it flop onto it's back for a moment, her rifle resting at an angle on her leg "Yeah...but it will be worth the write up if you get to see me cleaning the engineers' tools for a week.."

She lifted her right hand, and Max could see the palm's metal plates were dented inward in the shape of the rifle grip, and even a few pistons were ruptured. She had held it in such a way that the butt of the rifle had been away from her shoulder. So the hand had taken all the recoil.

Max chuckled, hearing her reply, shrugging.

“I think we should just keep what happened between us, yeah? I mean ...you'll get a write up for that, what I just did might get me a fast-track out of the service and into a brig. I won’t tell if you don’t!” Max replied wittily, knowing that yes, it would be likely kept between them but hey, it was probably for the best.

Almost forgotten in Rishun's left hand, Elias was limp, unconscious from being so close to a firing mech rifle. The otter sat up slowly to look him over as she answered "Problem is most of that was caught by external cameras, Max. Also this guy will not be happy when he wakes up…"

She got up, her right arm creaking audibly to Max, and retracted her wheels before facing her partner in crime "Let's get you back in one piece."

Max nodded, as he gently started to hobble, moving across the muddy and wrecked remains of the comms post towards his own GEAR, the Lion Rampant standing tall as usual.

“Yup….let’s get back to Silverwind, pronto. I’ll live...cheers, Rishun. We’ll deal with the fallout from this later. I’m sure he’ll understand we did what we had to. He seems to think like me. I think so, at least.” Max replied on their private comms, stern but aware that well, the two of them had nearly both died and needed to get the fuck out of here.

Putting his M23 and equipment back into his GEAR’s weapons compartment, he took his first aid kit from the left leg, sealing both compartments before clambering into the pilot’s seat once more. He popped a few more painkillers and took off his plate carrier, leaning back into the seat with a painful sigh. He jabbed the syringe of the IFAK into his wrist, and looked a little closer at the wound, knowing he wasn’t gonna be able to fiddle with any of this himself. Oh, Vonys was gonna have a field day with him, right after what they talked about on the corvette. Brilliant.

The lion fired up his GEAR, the Lion Rampant whirring into life, the 30mm loaded and prepped to go. He exhaled, wheeling it over on the mud, but stopping to take heavier stomps towards the Aqua Goddess’s side.

“Same for you I suppose with getting your GEAR home, Rishun- let’s make sure you don’t do any more damage to it. That hand mechanism doesn’t sound healthy. If we run into any more contacts, I can take point- you’ve got my drone and other systems on your tab so feel free to prioritise those. Apart from that, my stuff seem to be all good...apart from me lacking my visor, it’s ship-shape here. With Elias, I suppose just make sure he stays out- we’ll give him to Silverwind and the rest of the forces joining us here later on, and they can deal with him as appropriate..” Max added, looking down the hillside and towards the sight of the airfield, shaking his head. The state of him wasn’t great, but hey, at the very least, his GEAR was intact..

Without his visor he had a little less combat awareness and had to rely upon his GEAR’s display systems inside the cockpit, but he could make that work for him, configuring his thermal imagery and UAV to link up once again. With a gentle swipe, the UAV was sent ahead and high up, buzzing off from the landing it had taken near the comms post, as the Lion Rampant stood tall in position, rifle ready and sheltering the injured lion. He seemed ready to move out, and now the adrenaline was dropping away, he was gonna have to hope the painkillers picked up their role and got him through this operation.

"Agreed. Yours has more firepower anyway. We are just lucky I haven't needed to take on anything big." Rishun pulled up a system health overview, and winced. She had burned out the two out of five pistons in her palm, rendering her index finger and thumb inoperable. The only thing holding the rifle in the hand was the metal bent around the grip and the index finger stuck inside the trigger. She quickly set their prisoner down and slowly extracted the rifle grip from her right hand, locking it onto its back hip handprint and picking Elias up again.

“Hunter Actual, this is Recon...we’ve secured our prisoner and eliminated all hostile threats at the comms centre. We got jumped on by some reinforcements but it's ...uhh, well....it’s a story to tell over a beer, Captain. I’ve got no direct line of sight to the runway from this position...need us to reposition and get a bead on that aircraft?” Max asked through the group comms, knowing that while they were a far distance out, getting a shot on with his 30mm might take down an engine or a wing.

It might be enough to stop it, even if they were too slow to get down to the airfield, to at least stop it when it got airborne. The GEAR’s weapons systems weren’t exactly designed for AA, but when you’ve got a 30mm rifle questions like that become more of a marksman’s, rather than an analyst, as the Lion Rampant and Aqua Goddess were ready to move.

GEARs: Silent Line [Anthro, Sci-Fi Mecha Roleplay]

@Silverwind Blade

Ah, I see you threw Max and Rishun into the blender.....time to figure out how to make our characters badass motherfuckers destroy/disable a GEAR with the Macgyver setup of one hostage, a PTSD-having lion and an otter with hackerman*-levels of hacking skills.

Glad to hear Silver! Mine was fairly quiet- not much going on but rest from work!

*Bonus points for reference

GEARs: Silent Line [Anthro, Sci-Fi Mecha Roleplay]

Rishun and Max
A Collab with @Esailia

The scene that was emerging in front was becoming clearer, as the 30-mil wielding mechanised marksman saw what Rishun herself couldn't understand. It was a hell of a piece of work the otter had accomplished, but even Max could see the fear through all the layers of metal and composite armour, it was....well, a shock to her. But it happened. The lucky thing about a GEAR, Max reminded himself, was that while the damage you caused was far more destructive, there usually wasn't anything left afterward or you didn't have as physical connection to the chaos you just raised. It felt perhaps more....disconnected than anything else to what you had, like it dehumanised it all. Through a thermal imaging optic, the enemy on the other side didn't look as scary. And as existentially terrifying as that was, Max guessed Rishun had probably felt what it was like to feel recoil that would irreversibly change someone's life for far worse, and necessary as it was, it was a new experience.

Moving up the hillslope, Max joined her at the crest of the hill, scanning around for any other threats beyond the ones left that she'd blasted apart.

Rishun blinked slowly, her mind racing to figure out how she got there as she flicked her finger onto Max's video feed at the same time calling on the comms "Raoka'dieachuwaz'ounka... Ney'sien'Max."

@Esailia

The lion didn't entirely understand her garbled accent, but it seemed almost panicked, perhaps switching to her native dialect in a panic of sorts. The lion knew that he couldn't be too harsh, well, not when she'd managed to go guns blazing like this, tearing this site apart. It was fluid, almost as if she was in harmony with the machine, but Max guessed she was probably taking in what was going on now.

"Sorry...what'd you mean, Rishun? You did a hell of a number here...just relax, take a breather. You did well under fire….just take a minute." Max asked, his comms coming through clean as he scanned the area around, swinging the 30mm rifle as he took a look at the comms post, one of the cabins blasted apart by fire and pretty much derelict, as the other stood there alongside a small radar bubble. The other cabin was intact, in fact, it was completely fine, compared to the rest of the fixtures and walls of the comms post which had been torn apart. The Lion Rampant scanned the horizon, Max aware that while they might have cleaned out the most immediate threat here, there could still be more who picked up the recent firefight here.
Rishun had stopped herself from jerking her GEAR around fully to face Max at the sound of his voice, and what he said made her recall a moment in her bootcamp "Yessir, breathing and relaxing, having a martini on the beach...I said I had no more enemy signs of life."
The lion silently affirmed Rishun’s comment, glad at least she was back to a more common tongue. Or it was just Rishun being Rishun. Either way, the lion had another suggestion on his mind.

"Think we should go have a peek inside that cabin, on foot? There might still be someone hiding in there, or a network we can look at quickly before we head on down. After all, we're here for intel and we might have a moment before we can join the others down the hill." Max asked, aiming to get Rishun thinking about something else, namely her technical expertise.
Max wasn't an expert with people, but if there was one thing he knew about shock was that keeping someone's mind away from dwelling on all of this too much and pushing forward was better than stopping and coming to a halt. The reconnaissance operative waited, looking across through his GEAR's optics to Rishun's Aqua Goddess.

"Sounds good. Might be nice to stretch my tail, Sir." She replied with a light tremor. She checked that her GEAR would continue to feed jamming signals in her absence, then pushed her manual exit button, setting in motion a series of locks on the front hatch before it slowly swung open, breaking the seal it had. She climbed down slowly and gingerly, making certain to avoid bloodstains on her GEAR's legs. She quickly skittered around to her personal compartments in the backs. She grabbed her drone pack from one leg, double checking the wireless charge was working, then moving over to the other leg to strap on her modified pistol with blunt bullets, as well as an extra battery for her stun baton, which she slipped into its loop on her belt. Finally she grabbed the omni-tool she had custom made just for helping her access hackable things.

The lion followed suit with his own GEAR, dropping gently out of his GEAR and drawing his pistol with one hand, whilst heading to his GEAR’s leg to grab his weapons stash. Opening the store, he drew his M23 once again, putting his pistol away with a smooth motion as a magazine entered the designated marksman rifle, with a solid but sturdy click. He also took his charges, just in case they had to detonate anything inside, leaving about half of the spare rifle ammunition inside. The side-mounted holographic optic on the M23 came to life, as Max looked across to the cabin, then to Rishun.

The Otter, now strapped with her gear and hands free, slid a pair of simple gloves on and bounded across the short distance to follow behind Max, acutely aware her survival now depended on how close she stuck with the lion.

“Nothing quite like getting some fresh air.” Max replied cooly, to which Rishun nodded in response, the operatives tactically moving across the muddy hilltop of the comms post and past the burning wreck of his handiwork, and from there to the side of the destroyed cabin. Max’s UAV hadn’t pinged any new movement in their close proximity, so for the very least there wasn’t anyone in the open to worry about. Rifle in gloved paw, the lion clutched it tightly by the foregrip, turning the corner of the destroyed cabin with an observant gaze, Rishun sticking to his six. He didn’t have his NVGs down, not at the moment given the fire from the IFV nearby, but he had them sitting atop his helmet, ready to go.

“On my lead, Rishun. Weapons ready, keep your eyes peeled.” Max sounded stoic through their personal comms- gone was the relaxed and rebellious lion and here out of his GEAR was someone altogether different, aware that there wasn’t a layer of armour between him and the outside world anymore, but his reactions, reflexes and capabilities. The lion towered over the otter as he stood tall, but it wouldn’t count for much in a close-quarters environment- a bullet was a bullet, no matter how big you were and Max knew disembarking was always a risk, as he led the two towards the cabin, weapon raised, tilted to 45 degrees and ready to fire on anyone who might emerge.

Rishun pulled her pistol from its holster yet still hobbled on three paws, wanting to stay low while keeping her potential speed high. Her brain was still pumping out the signal for adrenaline, and her senses were riding high in that moment. She kept glancing all around them as they neared the building, more jittery than a jute box.

The lion slowed as he approached the building’s side, the main building of the comms post clearly battered not just by the fact it was assaulted by a pair of GEARs, but by just the erosion from rain and time itself. It felt dated, old and neglected, but nonetheless, a functioning building for running the towers that were located adjacent on the hill. With a push against the side, Max looked back to Rishun, making sure she was still close. He just hoped this wasn’t too hairy, that they wouldn’t run into five people around this door- part of him was ready to expect anything, so if that was how it was going to go down, that would be what they got today. Still, it was so far, so good, Max thought to himself. Before he moved any further, he switched on the flashlight on his rifle, the laser-light module emitting a powerful light from the underside of the DMR by the foregrip, utterly blinding if looked at directly. And well, something Max preferred in close quarters.

Rishun watched him turn his barrel light on, and she shivered. Something about breaching an unknown, dark, enemy building without backup or much plan didn't sit well with her. This felt akin to a horror movie… she was going to get a flashlight attachment for her pistol after this mission.

Pushing the door open, Max gave a hand signal, that of “Move!” towards the left hand side of the door, Max pushing against the door and sweeping his flank while Rishun swept hers with her pistol. It was clear on initial inspection, the computer terminal on the far side not manned.

"Clear." Rishun called after checking her side and confirming there were no doors or open windows, her eyes falling on the console practically calling for her.

“Clear here.” Max commented through the comms, the lion still sweeping his corners, walking over papers and the general mess that had been created here, thinking just how rushed it all felt. It seemed rather strange that it was unmanned, but even so, the mess here said someone had gone through here recently, despite the poor visibility Max had in the dark.

Well, that was at least until he went closer towards the main communication console and saw the shadow of a flickering tail underneath a computer desk, making out something there. He pointed his rifle at the underside of the desk, the light beaming down at the unsuspecting cat, the petrified look not one masked by the dark. Max was looking for a weapon on the technician’s person through his optic, his own finger gripped tightly around the trigger, ready to end this poor sod in a second. It would be easy, quick even, the safest option to do. But Max was faster than that. And not as cold as that, even if he very easily could have been.

Max charged forward, the lion roaring in a manner that Rishun likely hadn’t heard and dragged the technician out from under the desk with his paw and pinned him to the floor with his boot head facing up, faster than could be reacted to by words alone. Despite his size, the lion was fast to react and move, quicker than the cat could be in trying to bring Max down to the floor by grabbing Max’s leg. As a result of his fast reactions, Max had his foot right against the cat’s right shoulder and jammed it down hard, looking down and seeing no knives or pistols on the black cat…. which at least was a relief.

Still, there wasn’t a doubt in his mind- this wasn’t someone innocent who had ended up here, not with the ROE that they had been given. He made it seem effortless as the cat scratched and tried to kick out, but Max’s foot was on him like a piece of lead, trapping him down still. He wasn’t going anywhere, not without Max’s foot going places.

Rishun jumped at the roar, having no prior warning as Max engaged the unknown opponent. She quickly rushed into his room and aimed at the scuffle, ready to lend a bullet to Max's aid. A person was in here this whole time and they didnt know… seeing he had the enemy handled, she moved around the two rooms again to double check for hostiles more thoroughly, finally calling "Clear." Again, before looking back to Max, holding her pistol back on the cat.

“Fucking ‘ell. We’ve got a live one.” Max said, shaking his head as he looked back at Rishun, knowing full well she’d witnessed it all. He looked back at the terrified cat, the silenced marksman rifle with a beaming light still pointed square at his top half.

“Give me a reason not to put a bullet in your head…..and you better make it quick.” The lion coldly said, Max devoid of emotion in that moment, apart from the overriding one that he’d missed this poor bastard here and could have risked Rishun. And well, everyone in that room had felt his roar right there, right then.
"I-I'm just a code monkey! I d-don't shoot Anyone! Please don't h-h-hurt me! I c-can help you, w-what do y-you want? I w-will do anyt-thing!" The cat stuttered out, and the pair of pilots would be hard pressed to determine if it was because of being threatened or a stutter from birth.

Max sighed, lowering the rifle’s gaze from the cat’s eyes which were fully open to Max’s foot, at least not blinding him as much. Max could only guess as much that the techie was utterly shitscared, but again, he was in a place he really, really shouldn’t have been.
“Well, that is useful to hear. Glad to hear you’re gonna cooperate.. I’ll sort out this fella. Rishun, get us some lighting.” Max said, his tone not changing still but now at least quieter than it was before. With a gentle release, the lion scooped his foot under the cat’s side and pushed him over, throwing his knee onto his lower back and bringing his hands together, M23 now stowed on Max’s side. Taking zip-tie from his plate carrier, he swiftly tied the cat’s hands, keeping him down against the floor.
“What’s your name, matey? And tell me, how aren’t you dead right now?”

Rishun nodded and looked around the walls for a switch or some sort of breaker. As she did, their prisoner talked "M-my name is Elias. I've b-been a technician all my life. When I was told I could help my country with my skills, I didn't question it...I wish I did now."

Max’s stare changed, when he heard that, no longer pressing against Elias’s back as he took a knee by his side. Country? He was clearly panicking, but Max knew better than to push for information relentlessly. He wasn’t completely cold, but knew he had to push the cat a little now for the comms post at least. At the very least, to get that sorted and deal with the other aspects later. No doubt with some proper interrogation he’d spill all the beans.

“No doubt about it. Alright, so here’s how it’ll work. I need you to tell my friend over there the state of the jamming network, and the comms here, as it sounds like you work on it. Right now, it sounds like your best shot at not joining your friends outside.” Max said, cold as ever, as he knelt down, the cat nodding as he looked over to the otter, the only person Elias could assume Max was talking about.
“Alright, alright….it’s….it’s a simple array! All based here. It’s stopping everything going out, second-tier encryption. There’s an additional layer for our comms channel, that’s all I know, honest!. Please, don’t hurt me….I don’t know anything, my commanding officer just told us to come here, I’m begging you, I don’t want this…” The cat begged, as Max looked across, seeing Rishun get to work.

The Otter flicked a switch she found flat against a wall, the four lights on the ceiling flickering to life. With that task done, she looked over her shoulder, calling "Scrap, shoulder." And the little mechanical squirrel climbed up a moment later. She brought her pebble up and shook it a few times, activating the screen and wirelessly connecting to Scrap. She set up a live feed between the squirrel and both their helmets, then sent some orders wirelessly to scrap. She walked over to where the prisoner was, allowing the metal critter to climb down her arm to settle in front of Elias, Scrap's little head and eyes watching his every jitter. She spoke as she worked all this out on her pebble "All I need to know from you is if you built the system. Said you have been a techie all your life, I don't want to get locked out because you're duping us…"

Max looked back at Elias, the cat swallowing a lump in his throat, the fatigues hard to make out now the lights were on inside the cabin. The walls were all insulated he could now see, with no windows that faced outside. The cat was still terrified, even if Max’s silenced DMR wasn’t in his face anymore, because now the cat understood just how intimidating the lion was.
“I’d answer her if I were you. Don’t fucking stutter.” Max barked, fully aware that if this was bad-cop, good cop with a captured techie, Max was certainly living up to the former.

“It’s not my system, it’s….I don’t know, I don’t get told anything. I think it might be Margothian, it’s all plug and play, simele stuff. I don’t know who gave it to us, that’s just the tech we’re using.” Elias winced, looking up at Max, and in a rare bit of courage, wanted his own back. Perhaps in curiosity more than anything, the shock subsiding to confusion.
”Who the hell even are you? What the fuck’s even going on….you can’t be ANL, can you?” Elias asked with a certain fearful curiosity.

Rishun smirked with her back to the techie. Not his system? She walked over to the console and sat, pulling out her omni-tool and pebble and setting them on the table's edge. The Otter got to work activating the console, flicking expertly through a few screens to get a feel for it. Nothing high tech, but it was smooth so definitely in-house somewhere. Margothian electro-bros focuses on chips and hardware. Did this guy think they were both jocks? "Let's see…" she mused, tapping her pebble awake and interfacing with the console after setting up a hefty firewall or three. Things checked out for communications handling. There wasn't anything fishy about the other fi- "Mm? What do we have here…?"

Max tutted, staring straight into the fellow feline’s eyes. “You seem to forget we’re the ones asking the questions, not you, Elias. Right now, I’d have bigger things to worry about. Like if I should cut my losses with you.” Max said, pushing his arm up against the cat’s throat as the cat began to almost yell in a muffled fashion with his throat pushed, before Max backed off. He was exhaling hard as he took his rifle back into hands again, leaving the cat against the side wall, limp, terrified and bound.

In times like this, Max understood that doing what he did in any civil court would have been considered close to a violation of the common rules of war. Yet he reminded himself, that was part and parcel in this world of theirs. If he didn’t do it, someone else would, or someone else would get hurt down the line. All impossible to see, a butterfly effect of sorts, but Max knew it was better that they got what they needed and at the very least, reduced the risk that his friends and fellow pilots would be going into. A lesser evil, and one Max just accepted. No doubt Silverwind had seen the same deal, and given how off-the-books this all was, the playbook was long gone.

“How’s it getting on? I hope he’s been truthful, for his sake.”

Rishun glanced up to the Scrap display for a moment, then refocused on the task at hand "Hope our new friend is still awake. Wanted to ask him about a few encrypted files I just f- crap!" She stopped herself, flicked at her pebble a few times, then grabbed her omni-tool and slipped under the console's lip to start power drilling a few screws out of the metal sheet.

In response, Max looked back at the cat, aware he was handling their new captive whilst Rishun was at work.
“Same again, Elias. What about the files?” Max asked, his UAV not pinging any movement into the comms post as of yet, as the lion looked back down at the captive cat. But this time Elias wasn't as forthcoming, now aware he had a counterpart in Rishun. To the two, the moment Rishun said 'encrypted files', the game was on.
"I don't know anything about encrypted files."

Rishun chuckled at that, pulling and tossing aside a piece of sheet metal "Yeah? How about the folder labeled 'transactions' filled with some unsavory erotic material I found? Unencrypted and with your 'electric fingerprints all over them?"

She yanked her drone case off her back and set it on her left, then pushed into the hole she made under the console, omni-tool in hand.

The black cat turned almost a bright red, as Max realised he didn’t even have to do a thing…..it was impressive. A level even he hadn’t really thought of, as the cat now was very keen to talk.
“Okay. okay, there’s some encrypted files. There’s nothing in them….okay, well there’s the keys for the comms validation. That’s it though!” Elias replied, as Max walked over, towering over.
“You sure about that?” Max asked,
“I mean….there’s some others in there. Code is 1234# to access any of them.” Elias added, sheepish as ever.
“You’re fucking joking. Try it, Rishun. Maybe he's speaking some sense.” Max couldn’t believe it for a second, and was very, very ready to kick the shit out of Elias if that was a lie, knowing just how utterly stupid it sounded. But nonetheless, he’d said it, repeated it, taking a punt Elias was terrified and it really was as dumb as it sounded. Max wasn’t just being stupid, yet he knew well...it sounded just that way…..

"Max, punch him in the jaw. That's a reference to an old satire movie!" Rishun said over their comm, splicing into a seemingly random wire. Elias gave a nervous chuckle as he looked up at Max, a bead of sweat forming on his brow.

Max didn’t punch him in the jaw. That would have been easy, but when you have an enraged lion, easy stops being so easy. Max simply used the butt of his M23 instead, and slammed it into the side of the cat’s head, drawing blood and probably going much further than he should have. But as stupid as it was, Max wasn’t taking shit, as he roared at the cat, knowing it had certainly reminded him not to get on his bad side.
“You think you’re fucking funny?! Let’s see how fucking funny you are now, eh?!” Max could be heard from the other side of the room loud and clear, probably even a little outside as he yelled. There wasn’t anything beyond it- pure and unfiltered rage, yet Max had restrained himself from going any further against their captive.

Rishun had just pulled her body out of the hole, trailing a pair of wires with her and just in time to hear the crack of the rifle but into a skull. She whirled her gaze to their prisoner to see blood dripping down the cat's face "MAX! I still need him! Don't leave him unable to talk."

Looking back at Rishun, Max nodded, shrugging his shoulders and head as to what he’d done. Well, it wasn’t pretty, but then again….Max didn’t have what most would call a soft touch.
“He’ll think about it his words a bit more carefully next time. Cat’s got his tongue, Rishun. Don’t worry about that.” He simply replied, almost a little too stoically as to what he’d just done, probably as if it was just another day in the office for him.

The Otter hissed "Yienahiiek'raoka'Max. Just...Elias, I will make this simple: I don't care about getting into them right now. I will be isolating and transferring them off your server by physical line, bypassing any net security you have set up. They will not be stored on my pebble, and I will not tell you where. I do not NEED you to get into them. You need ME to save you from a life sentence of abetting terrorists." She pointed to him, adding "Blindfold him."

Max did as Rishun asked, taking a spare balaclava from his fatigues, turning it backwards and sliding it over the cat’s head, Max not afraid of the fact he was gonna have to spend more time getting his shit cleaned up after this. That was for later, right now, he wanted to keep the friendly techie happy and Elias out of sight, literally.

“Aye, Rishun. Let’s get this done and get out of here. It’s going to be hard to secure him, but he could have some very valuable information. ” Max replied, Standing tall once again, Max put hand to headset, wondering just how on earth he was gonna phrase any of this.

“Hunter Actual, this is Recon. We’ve secured the Comms post. We’re getting to work on cutting signals now and hacking their network. But we’ve got something more. We’ve captured a technician. He might have some useful intel for us.” Max said, his voice now calmed down a bit, but carrying some of the tone he’d hurled at Elias, who seemed to have gone all quiet now. Rather unsurprising, the lion thought to himself.

GEARs: Silent Line [Anthro, Sci-Fi Mecha Roleplay]

Hope everyone's having a wonderful Christmas here!

Myself and @Esailia are cooking up a collab so that will go up in the near future!

GEARs: Silent Line [Anthro, Sci-Fi Mecha Roleplay]

@Lurking Shadow

Excellent!

Yeah collabs are good ways of putting big, big chunks of content into sense (I'm open to them if anyone wants to do them!)- sometimes they're not ideal when constantly in an RP, but they work nicely I feel when done sparingly and with a focus on two characters. It's a great post! :)

GEARs: Silent Line [Anthro, Sci-Fi Mecha Roleplay]

@Esailia

"And I am an otter!" Legitimately melted my heart, made me laugh quite a bit :P

@Silverwind Blade

How are we carrying on from here? Should I post up, or wait on you/others?

GEARs: Silent Line [Anthro, Sci-Fi Mecha Roleplay]

Boom, posted :) Shortish but setting in the scene of Max doing Silver's request :)

GEARs: Silent Line [Anthro, Sci-Fi Mecha Roleplay]

Max didn't poke his head into what Rishun's hacking could be capable of, but when done properly, an EW operator could be a warrior in a world beyond the physical. That said, while Rishun was perhaps digital, Max was more....analogue. While her antics had turned their digital landscape to black and confused them, Max on the other hand was someone who could take advantage of that. It was easier to put a bullet in something sometimes than hack a system, he mused, checking his UAV feed and watching on as he listened to the otter's response.

"You may be right, but just as I coerce machines to tell me things, you can coerce those soldiers to tell you things, if we capture one. Software tends to be easier to break than hardware..."

@Esailia

"Aye...taking someone from there isn't going to be easy if we run in and kill everyone there is. Which I feel might be about to happen. Have a listen." Max said, hearing the gunshots and mortars down on their flank, the noise of the GEARs getting into engagement noisy and clattering, the sound of weaponry bigger than small arms a sure-sign that Captain Blade had begun the fight, the 20mm opening up and roaring into life, audible from even here.

He had a point, though, so she added quickly "If I had to choose, I would suggest we ask for a distraction, then we assault together after that IFV is down. No reason to split up yet, and you told me to stick to you, right?"

@Esailia

Max nodded to himself, raising his stance a little higher as he swiped away a couple of the camera feeds, keeping the thermal and overall UAV one open, with the main coming back to the Lion Rampant's camera systems.
"I think we already got our distraction. They won't help us, but these lads here are looking the wrong way. Alright...we'll assault together. We have the advantage on them here as we'll come from an unexpected angle, so maximum aggression it is. No backing down once we open up." Max said, raising his 30mm and cooly pulling out the 30mm round from the large rifle, followed by the magazine that gently dropped into his GEAR's left hand.

With a slight swipe, he replaced it with an Armour-Piercing magazine, marked with a special red and gold stripe on each mag, the round a little more specifically made at breaching armour. A 30mm round could already punch through armour, but this round was specifically designed to kill light tanks and IFVs, and with the optics setup Max had, it was quite easy. Flicking through, he found the FLIR change from white-hot to red-hot, giving him an even more impressive vision of the IFV in the distance as he raised the rifle, poking it against a tree and gently preparing himself. Zooming his optic in, he could see the engine block, and the side of the ammunition dump inside the IFV. The lion knew that a basic IFV like this wouldn't stand a chance- the round would turn the block to pieces, and the ammunition dump would just make the thing go up in flames...with any poor bastard inside.

"Got the IFV in my sights. I should make easy work of it. But after that, get ready to move up, quick. I'll snipe anyone in the open then push up to you. Ready up, Rishun. Shit is about to go off." Max said, as he tapped Rishun's GEAR with his spare hand, taking the aim nice and steady. A GEAR would appear to be a rocksteady platform for shooting, but the other factors meant to get this shot set up, Max had to take his time and make every round count from the bolt-action 30mm rifle.

"Firing in three, two, one...mark." And with that, Max clacked his joystick's trigger for the first time in a very long time, sending a 30mm round flying from the rifle, the enormous shell casing pinging off Rishun's side and making a howling noise. It sounded like a thunderclap, the recoil kicking into the GEAR's shoulder as Max rechambered, hearing the noisy metallic clang of armour being breached. The IFV was limp, as Max pushed the bolt forward, firing again. The loud ping that followed in the distance being the engine getting killed as the motors and turret of the IFV went out. Another one. This time, the bit below the turret. Shot, and quicker than Max expected, the IFV erupted, the turret blasting off as the ammo store went up, Max wooping as he patted Rishun on the side.

"Go, go go!" Max yelled, reloading a regular anti-infantry magazine back in as he shoved hard against the trees in front, almost going arse-over-tit as he skidded down the muddy bank, out into the open and in the felled forest on the incline to the comms post. All hell was let loose, as the alarm blared, the fire from the IFV disrupting Max's NVGs and IR a little, but not enough to make him turn it off, the Lion Rampant getting muddy as he thundered into the treeless forest.

--------

"Hunter One here, encountered enemy resistance, continuing to move on position. All other units; check in with progress, keep 'em on the run and don't give 'em a chance to get dug in or recover from the missile attack".

@Silverwind Blade

"Understood Hunter One, we're charging in now. IFV at the comms site is out of commission...will update on the rest shortly." Max replied, seeing a couple of infantry fire down on the GEARs charging across, Max skidding to a halt by a large tree stump and taking a shot at the infantry group at the top. He knew he was taking the attention off Rishun by doing this, as he put a couple of rounds that way, making them think twice about firing back- his 30mm rounds were like lightening bolts, and despite peppering him, he was holding his own. The group scattered, aware of the marksman's 30mm, and aware that if they were close together, they'd get turned into goo as a group, not on their own. At least they had the sense to shit themselves when they heard a 30mm round nearly hit them, the lion mused.

"Contact, top of the hill! I've got half a dozen in my sights, light em' up!" Max called out, taking out two unknown hostiles with a well placed couple of round as he finished his magazine off. He cleanly reloaded, but knew he had to push, while he had them scared and worrying now.

Moving up, he held the rifle in his right arm, raising his GEAR's left and punting a few HE grenades up into the comms post, at least suppressing it for Rishun's movement as he took the rifle back into hand, establishing another position to fire from.
"They're getting suppressed Rishun, push forward while their heads are down!" Max added into comms, emptying the rest of his mag at the top of the hill and where his thermal imaging had seen them get in position, unsure in the blur of conflict what it was like. For what it was worth, with a GEAR it felt less personal- it felt a lot more robotic, cold and removed to some degree what you were hitting. And with a 30mm rifle, it was gonna be a bad day for anyone that Max had it pointed at. He couldn't say for sure how many he'd gotten, given how fast he was having to use his rifle, that never changed- but it felt like at least 4 or 5 had been taken down by him already. The lion on that note reloaded once again, moving up towards Rishun's position and getting ready to move onto the peak of this comms post.

GEARs: Silent Line [Anthro, Sci-Fi Mecha Roleplay]

@Esailia

I like the post! Not sure how to carry it on though- is Rishun more inclined towards the latter two options? I seemed to read it that way- though correct me if I'm wrong :P

@KaiserElectric

I like that OC! I mean there's now a character to give Max's wild hair a run for it's money :P