Juno hated helicopter flight. It should have been glamorous, flying through the air and dropping hell on the enemies below before dropping soldiers to finish the remnants. Yknow, like the stories that she heard while training from all the instructors. THe ones who had apparently been in a Darter air transport.
It...wasnt. It was tightly packed, loud, didnt smell very good and was extremely cold. Really, even under her protective gear she was trying hard not to shiver.
Oh well, when they landed, the exercise they were about to get would warm them up just fine.
"Squad, this is your pilot speaking! We are two kilometres from the target, get ready!"
Juno got up, holding a nearby wall bar as she unslung her rifle, checking to make sure there was a grenade loaded, then making sure the magazine actually had bullets in. This continued. Ammo, check. Explosives, check. Blades, check. Sidearm, check. Healthy dose of fear/respect from her men?
She looked over at the others, who were preparing the same way she was. The closest ones flinched slightly, although, to their credit, they hid it quite well. Satisfied, Juno got up and stood behind the pilot.
"Anything on the roof?" she yelled, trying to be heard over the rotor blades.
The pilot yelled back. "Two hostiles, both armed, neither with anti air or armour capability. Orders?"
Juno looked out of the forward window. The transport had stopped, but she could clearly see two small specks on the roof of the club, even despite the copious amounts of smoke that was coming from the battle below.
She smiled. "Dont give them a chance to take any of my men down. Use the frontal minigun. Cut them to pieces."
She grabbed another wall bar as the transport lurched forward, as the pilot began to aim. A pleasant whirring sound went into Juno's ears, followed by the sound of hundreds of rounds blasting from the minigun. The two resistance soldiers didnt stand a chance, being torn apart a dozen times over before they even realised they were being shot at, with the remains being splattered over the roof and off the side.
Quick. Violent. Efficent. Three words that summed up the New Order Special Ops units perfectly. Juno smiled as the transport sailed over the roof and began to slowly lower. She didnt let any of her men see the smile though.
Before the transport had reached the recommanded disembark height, Juno hd pulled the door open and leaped out, landing on both her feet like a cat. Her men followed suit, but she was already heading down the stairs to the lower levels. As she did so, she spoke into her comm bead.
"You saw the briefing. This is bandit country." She said, as she drew one of her knives. "Kill everything that moves."
____________
Andrew got up, coughing, wondering if the blood he tasted was his own, or someone elses. He wondered which one would have been worse. His gun had remained in its holster, and he pulled it out with shaking hands without even getting up.
New order. It had to be. Dead man shows up, is killed by assailant, who in turn is also killed. But this was...a full military operation. Not just a raid. How the hell did something like that warrant all this? And against a target as high-profile as nexus?
"What the FUCK did that guy know?"
In the few seconds that he used to get over the shock, and another few seconds that he used to survey the situation, the outcome was clear.
Nexus was finished. Their few trained personnel were being mown down like animals, along with just about anyone else who wasnt even a part of the resistance. The only option now was to...strategically withdraw. But where? The front and back doors were obviously controlled by the New Order, the roof was almost certainly controlled too and even if it wasnt, he would have nowhere to go short of jumping off the roof.
"If only i had one of those suits used by the flock..."
That left...the basement. Wonderful. With any luck, Kerrat was heading there too.
Slowly, Andrew began to move, his gun at the ready. Step by step, towards the basement staircase.
____________________________
"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN YOU CANT SEND HELP!?!??!?"
The voice on the other end of the line sighed, as if it was a shop owner dealing with a unsatisfied customer.
"We cannot send any forces. Your location is risky to head to, and even if we did, the New Order almost certainly has several gunships. We have even detected an emperor class heading for your location. its fairly far, but its certainly heading for you."
Kerrat went pale. An emperor? Why would they need one of those for an operation, even one like this...
"...But that is not our most pressing concern. We need to talk about the man that we heard ended up as a corpse near your front door."
The voice on the phone had changed. Instead of a womans accent, it now sounded like a mans, with a southern united states twang to it.
"He was carrying a computer disk on his person. Do you have it?"
Kerrat checked his pockets desperately. Even in his furious state, he felt almost unable to disobey a cabal member. He didnt have it. Who had it? Who had he given that wallet to? Was it in there? Oh god...
"i...dont think i have it...i think i know who..."
The phone gave a deep sigh. "Then we must go without it. This is going to be considerably more difficult than i previously thought..." The phone gave another sigh. It was doing that a lot.
"You have our greatest sympathies, Mr Kerrat. We all with you luck for the future, and we all sincerely hope that you have at least one bullet left in your sidearm."
The phone went dead. Kerrat stared at it, his eyes wide with horror. His fist slowly closed around it, crushing it to splinters. He sat down.
Alexei Kerrat, one of the most dangerous resistance leaders in existence, former aide to the cabal and former New Order Major, held his head in his left hand.
"What the hell have i done?" He sobbed, raising his handgun to his head as the sounds of the destruction of his life's work sounded all around him.