Futuristic Ashes and Steel - IC

[SilverDingo]

Just Outside Baku, Azerbaijan

You find yourself in a large oil refinery. The roar of fighter jets rushes above, and the sound of explosions echoes behind you. The buzzing of a Cataphract's minigun can be heard from somewhere above. You're in the vicinity of an oil refinery, large pipes and metal scaffolding surround you, and several footsoldiers weave their way in and out of the piping system, sniping each other and trying not to get crushed by the cataphracts and collapsing steel.

A feminine voice crackles over your radio. "Hyades Squad, this is Polaris. Can you read me?" She asks. "I need your position. We're about to begin a bombing run."

CBS Frost, North Atlantic, 6 Hours Earlier

The briefing room is styled like a classroom. You sit at desks facing a larger desk and a screen. The lighting is dim and the walls are grey, leading to a drab environment. The room is silent for a moment until an older gentleman and a young woman in a naval dress uniform step in. The older man stands in front of the screen and nods towards the group.

"Good afternoon, I am Colonel Leland Trumbull. I will be serving as your CO. This is Miss Emily Yan, your handler in the field. You will address her by her callsign of Polaris. Think of her as your AWACS." He says matter of factly. The young woman gives a polite bow towards the group. "You have been gathered together as the newly established Hyades Squad of the Cerberus Cataphract Corps. We have chosen you based on your past performance and your broad range of skills."

Trumbull cleared his throat and the screen turned on, showing a combat map. The colonel began speaking once again. "This contract comes from Regulus. Recently, an oil field of theirs in Azerbaijan has fallen under siege from rebel groups in the region. From initial intelligence, we believe they do not have any Cataphracts they are able to field. You can think of this as a milk run. Mostly lightly armored vehicles and infantry. AS you are Cerberus Employees, you represent the best of the best, and we expect nothing but stellar performance from you."

He stood back and crossed his arms behind his back. "Any questions?"

YsFanatic
Remembrance
americanCaeser
Clockwork_Magic
Viper Actual

​

 

[Viper Actual]

Then, CBS Frost

Dressed in her reinforced piloting fatigues, Freja Sigurdsdotter observed her CO and her handler with an icy stare fitting of her northern heritage. As Trumbull spoke she silently shifted her attention to the others assembled inside the room. It wasn't a large squad- she had commanded lances of twice the size while in service of VTS- but Cerberus was the big league for real professionals so Freja had no doubt that each and every pilot in the room were at least worth four average pilots each.

As her thoughts began to wonder Freja idly tapped the visor of her bubble-styled helmet before forcing herself to stop. Bad habit.

"Any questions?"

Freja instinctively raised her hand. "Any non-Regulus friendly forces in the AO? Do we have any additional tactical assets or high-value enemy targets that Regulus needs dealing with?"

Now, Azerbaijan

Taking a knee next to one of many entrances of the refinery's piping system, the urban camouflaged Valkyrie could almost pass as an up-scaled rifleman at a quick glance with its train-sized gauss rifle resting in a low-ready position while its mechanical 'head' peered back and forth across the refinery grounds.

Valkyrie's left shoulder was still smoldering slightly- the result of several incendiary rounds fired from a rebel heavy machine gun crew- but aside from that the Hussar-class Cataphract showed no damage beyond the ordinary wear and tear.

"Hyades Squad, this is Polaris. Can you read me?" She asks. "I need your position. We're about to begin a bombing run."

"Valkyrie to Polaris," began Freja as her eyes bounced back and forth between technical readouts and her hull cameras. "We're at the central piping system preparing to advance, over."

Freja turned, forcing Valkyrie to replicate the gesture, and nodded towards Kaminari- the second Hussar-class of Hyades Squad. "Want to take point with that sword of yours?" Asked Freja over the Hyades comms.

SilverDingo
Clockwork_Magic

 

[Clockwork_Magic]

黒森花
Hana "Lily" Kuromori
Pilot of the 'Kaminari'

Interactions: Viper Actual , SilverDingo , Everyone in general

---

CBS Frost, 6 Hours Prior
Hana let out a yawn in that drab briefing room, her eyes scanning over the other 4 people in the room. It was certainly a smaller squad than what she typically had to work with at Shinsei. All the better for her then, less people to bump heads with on the field! A few moments passed before a pair of people walked into the room: a man, who introduced himself as their commanding officer, and a woman that looked to be around Hana's age, apparently their handler. So these are the people who are gonna lecture me, huh?

The situation explained by Trumbull was seemed pretty simple. We're just lifting a siege from a bunch of rag tag rebels then? I doubt they would have any Cataphracts either, as they say. Should be pretty easy. Aside from the initial situation briefing, Hana's mind began to wander. When Trumbull asked the team if they had questions, she remained silent, as the question posed by that other pilot seemed like a good catch all question, having nothing else to add.

Azerbaijan, Present Time
Among the refinery's pipe system, the Kaminari lay in wait, observing the grounds as the sounds of combat formed a cacophony around her and her comrades' positions. The rebels encountered so far seemed to be as lightly equipped as their intel had said, especially in comparison to the Cataphracts fielded by Hyades Squad. She'd probably have jumped straight into the crucible to throw the rebels into more chaos if it weren't for Polaris informing the squad about the imminent bombing run, instead holding position while one of the others answered Polaris's.

Not long after the pilot of the Valkyrie answered Polaris's question, they turned to Hana. "Ha! You don't need to tell me to do that!" She responded, enthusiastically, over the comms before checking the Kaminari's systems statuses. Ammo stores good, boosters in good condition and ready to go. Alright! The Kaminari's booster systems were put on standby as it readied its sword. "This is Lily, ready for assault after bombing run completion." She transmitted over Hyades' comms.

 

[Remembrance]

Erdent Wilson​

---

Cataphract: Albatross
Location: Azerbaijan
Interactions: americanCaeser [Linebacker]
Mentions: SilverDingo [Roll call]

Lights flickered and flashed throughout the refinery. Gunfire echoed through the air as all variety of man turned to panic. Amidst it all, Erdent squirmed within his confining cockpit, cursing its ill fit which left him tensed. The cramped space felt like a coffin, cluttered with an array of displays, controls, and buttons with unknown abbreviations.

His mind teetered on the brink of indecision. The feeling washed over him as he gazed out over the field of crude oil tanks connected together with pipes like traces to a board. With a scratch behind his ear, he scraped a derm-patch off. Give or take an hour or two, he should be about ready for another dose. A couple light taps to cement it and the fog cleared. Everything became clear. As if it had been known all along.

It never ceased to amaze him that some science and a few choice chemicals were all that was needed to keep him enthralled.

The radio at his side buzzed to life, out came a voice familiar enough to torment him through the static. They were doing roll call. Personal freedom was a commodity in short supplies for mercenaries, especially within Cerberus. Roll calls were one thing Erdent most despised. Like clockwork reminders of his lack of autonomy. It irked him in a way he couldn't understand. Perhaps it was the voice that pained him. How it sounded so concise and unrefuted, never taken down a notch. He had grown familiar with the voice, that incessant earbashing and need for response. No matter. Erdent perseveres, even against odds such as these.

"This is Radio, heading to Linebacker's position. Didn't know you'd treat us to a firework show." Erdent's voice crackled over the radio, laced with a hint of dry amusement.

Light arms fire posed little threat to his armor, a mere annoyance easily brushed aside. But on that off-chance, that somehow the rebels scrounged together a heavy cannon or something of equal magnitude, he'd need some protection. Erdent knew better than to underestimate the resourcefulness of his foes, even rebels. And if you're ever in need of a shield, Linebacker was the obvious choice.

 

[YsFanatic]

CBS Frost, during the briefing
Leaning back in his chair as he listened to the briefing, Jaiden was struck by just how... basic it was. He was used to briefings with a lot more detail, defined plans of action, and other such details. But then again, the 20th had a lot of military trappings, perhaps Cerberus gave its pilots greater operational freedom? After mulling it over for a moment, he decided that it could be a nice change of pace, if they were able to work together. When they were asked if they had any questions, Jaiden gave a quick shake of his head before answering "No, sir." He'll try things their way, see how it goes before he worries about it.

Now, during the mission
"Thunder has no visual on the next sector, rejoining unit." Jaiden had found himself a nice perch early on, the roof of a building that creaked and groaned under the Cataphract's weight. It had provided him with a good vantage point to call in enemy movements and to make it easier to provide fire support, but all of the piping and other metal structures in the are the team was about to approach mean that he had no clear line of sight, much less open fire lanes, to support them with. Perhaps the bombing run would clear some of it out, but he wasn't willing to rely on that and figured it would be better to be with the rest of the squad so he could definitely be of help should the need arise.

Raising his machine to its full height he then had it step off the edge of the building, a skilled use of the booster rendering the landing as about as smooth as it could be. With that Typhoon was moving at a run and would meet up with the Valkyrie and Kaminari before long, following the path they had initially taken. He figured that the other two-person element already had plenty of firepower with that monster of a Vanguard-class there. As the war machine ran Jaiden flicked through different sensor types to look out for any enemy forces that may be attempting to reclaim the ground they had lost, but thankfully nothing came up and he was able to link up with the other pilots without trouble. Looking over at their shoulders, he noted that it looked like they would be getting into tighter confines. With that observation he hit a toggle on his mech's controls, causing it to load the shorter ranged, more powerful munitions from the secondary ammo bay into the missile launcher. While they were not expecting an enemy Cataphract to show up, it was better to be prepared, just in case. And he wasn't worried about collateral damage from using the more powerful missiles, with the targeting network the Typhoon automatically setup with the other two Hussar-class as soon as it had LOS with them he knew the chances of him missing would be extremely low. At least against regular enemies that would be the case.

SilverDingo Viper Actual Clockwork_Magic

 

[americanCaeser]

L. P. Hewell

Callsign:"Chuckles"

Pilot Emblem:

Interactions: Remembrance [Radio], Viper Actual [Freyja], SilverDingo [Polaris]
​

CBS Frost, 6 Hours Ago

Wait, Azer? Shit, how long had it been since he's been in that neighborhood. Though he hadn't stepped foot in Azerbaijan proper he had romped around in its big brother Kazakhstan back when he was a footslogger. Now that was a trip down memory lane, but Hewell wasn't exactly eager to dive down it either lest he disturb the dead. Instead, after scribbling down the notes on his notepad, he raised his hand in a half salute.

"Piggybacking off of the Euro, are the locals ambivalent to our operations or will they pick a fight with us?" Central Asian reception of intervention in the last decade had been lukewarm at best, and he remembered even a decade ago 'friendly fire' incidents kicking off with his Kazak 'allies'. "Secondly, while Miss Polaris is our Liasion and coordinator, who's header in the field? Or is this an 'individual initiative' operation?"

Biggest issue with new squads, especially in the mercenary world, is that there is a pecking order but no one is completely aware of what that order is yet. Some people chaff at being under the command of a stranger for one reason or another, or some people are put in command when they really ought to not be in command. Of course, the alternative to the squad format was just dropping a bundle of potentially mentally unstable idiots piloting multi-billion dollar mech-suits into an active warzone and pointing them in a general direction. More destructive and dangerous, yes. But Hewell didn't mind the chaos, so long as the chaos of his team didn't mind him.

Azerbaijan, Now

"This is Chuckles, hear you Lima Charlie, over." He clenched the trigger on one of his joysticks, and he feels a slight jitter as one of the multi-barreled chain guns attached to his right 'arm' roared to life, a stream of tracers arcing up into the air. He gave out a low chuckle as he released his grip and watched the tracers fly up and slowly arc back down, before utterly demolishing the top floor of an office building or something. "Acknowledged on the air support, sending up a positional ping. Be advised this marker is the furthest line of advance and rally for Hyades, so pretty please don't drop a fuck-ton of munitions on our heads? Thank you. Oh, and Forward Observers eliminated so we don't have to worry about those mortars for a hot minute."

Feeling content with that sit-rep, Chuckles pulled off his rather spartan headset and rolled his neck. Unlike most fancy dandy pilots who wore full on helmets, he preferred an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth and the simple radio headset. He liked to look at the screens with his eyes, not through some video game HUD. He technically didn't need to wear his mask in the pressurized cabin that sat at the heart of his massive monster of a minivan, but better safe than sorry.

Speaking of screens, Chuckles eyes saw the overlay map of Radio's icon approaching the refinery and he grinned. Sliding the headphones on, he flicked his thumb to the squad channel.

"'Sup, Radio star. What's wrong, 'fraid of catching a little steel rain?"

 

[SilverDingo]

Remembrance americanCaeser YsFanatic Clockwork_Magic Viper Actual

CBS Frost

“There are two Regulus Group Cataphracts already on site. They will be marked as friendlies. All civilians have been evacuated pending the siege.” He cleared his throat. "As for the local population, Azerbaijan is firmly in disputed territory between the Western Russian Republic and Iran to the south. The rebels seem to be part of a Pro-Russian group fighting off other foreign influences."

“Regulus has stated that the infrastructure is worn down and not of importance. What's really needed is the geologic information on the site, which a Cerberus Ground Operations Team will be extracting." Trumbull said, pointing to the area on the tactical map consisting of catwalks and the administration area. "Both you and them will be dispatched from Forward Operating Base Demeter. Your Cataphracts are already at the Stable there."

He paused and took a look around the room.

"As she served as a Lance Commander, Sigurdsdottir will be your field commander when quick decisions must be made. However, due to some of you having an... independent streak," He raised his eyebrow at Hana. "You are mostly expected to take care of yourselves. Perhaps when we see how well you all work together we can discuss a true hierarchy. I trust there will be no problems."

​

---

Baku, Azerbaijan

"Positions locked." there was the quick sound of typing from Polaris. "Thank you."

Near Linebacker, there was the sound of fast moving tires on gravel followed by shouting. Upon looking, it would seem that two commandeered oil tankers were bolting towards the location, presumably to act as mobile bombs to take down the heavy tank-like Cataphract. There would be another missile fired from one of the pipe scaffoldings towards Radio.

Meanwhile, there would be a blue blip in the HUD of Thunder and The Valkyrie that seemed to move at a constant clip, indicating the ground team was moving. "Extraction Team Manticore is en route towards the main office. Please stand by." A male voice chimed in on the radio. "Several SAM Sites noted on Western that will make exfil difficult."

"Air support ETA is T-Minus 30 seconds." Polaris spoke again. "Hold the line."

​

 

[Viper Actual]

Then, CBS Frost

"Secondly, while Miss Polaris is our Liasion and coordinator, who's header in the field? Or is this an 'individual initiative' operation?"

"You are mostly expected to take care of yourselves. Perhaps when we see how well you all work together we can discuss a true hierarchy. I trust there will be no problems."

Freja listened closely, glancing briefly towards one of her fellow pilots as he spoke up. When Trumbull responded- informing them all that none other than Freja herself would be in command- she nodded before quickly following up with yet another curt nod aimed towards her squad. "While I have previous command experience I'm sure we will all complement eachother quite well in the field," she stated.

Turning back to face Trumbull and Yan, Freja continued; "I'm quite confident we can all handle ourselves quite well in the field so I'd rather not assume the role of a chaperone unless I absolutely need to." The last words were finished off with a quick wink and a smirk.

Now, Azerbaijan

"Ha! You don't need to tell me to do that!"

Freja smiled and shrugged, causing Valkyrie to mimic the gesture, albeit in a much more stiff and robotic fashion. "You never know, had to make sure weren't daydreaming about the juicy post-mission paycheck." As Polaris informed the entire squad of the imminent strike- which Freja silently acknowledged with a ping over the command channel- Valkyrie turned towards Typhoon as the Hussar-class Cataphract rejoined Valkyrie and Kaminari.

"Anything on your scopes?" Freja asked Davidson as he approached the other two Hussars. "Or are we ready to move once the strike has finished?"

When the Ground Operations Team reported on the SAM-sites Freja grimaced and quietly cursed to herself. "Valkyrie to Polaris, be advised that friendly infantry elements have identified hostile triple-A. Requesting permission to move in and disable prior to air support, over."

As she waited for a response Freja hailed Manticore on a shared channel between all three Hussars; "Manticore, this is Valkyrie. Valkyrie, Kaminari and Typhoon standing by to assist. Have you ID'd any other hostile elements, over?"

SilverDingo Clockwork_Magic YsFanatic

 

[Remembrance]

Erdent Wilson​

---

Cataphract: Albatross
Location: Azerbaijan
Interactions: americanCaeser [Chucklenuts]
Mentions: SilverDingo (missile)

Missile. Missile. Missile.​

The automatic targeting system repeated its warning incessantly. A low beep echoed out before rising to a blaring alarm. The missile was actively tracking his position. Albatross didn't have the armor to survive a direct hit, and sacrificing an appendage was out of the question this early into the soirée.

Erdent pulled the flightsticks back, a hard left that pulled Albatross into a slide around a crude oil tank. The Cataphract rode about the circumference of one before weaving in-between another.

As he broke away from the tank array, the klaxon finally ceased. Audio sensors picked the explosion apart from the chaos in the zone, directing a video feed to the main monitor. Perhaps it was the artifacts inherent in his machine or the relief of having escaped death; that great ball of fire was the most beautiful thing he had seen in some time.

Breaking away from the engagement zone, Albatross burst their way to Linebacker's position. With a bit of time on his hands, Erdent ran a diagnostic and scan. Two flat, 2D outlines of Albatross appeared on his screen, one from a frontal perspective and the other from the rear. Armor values showed green across the frontal board, but the same could not be said for his posterior. Most of the thin armor was scorched, and he had lost a couple verniers on the left-hand side. Erdent could compensate for the lack of thrust but losing a portion of his maneuverability, even slightly, was hard to bear.

"How'd you know, Chucklenuts? Don't you worry about your pretty ol' self, I just need an umbrella."

 

[YsFanatic]

"Couldn't see any targets on the way in, but I'm uploading data on what terrain I was able to see from my perch." While the data was shared to Valkyrie and Kaminari through LOS communications, Jaiden was paying attention to the various sensors and cameras that his mech had, watching for any hostile infantry that may be trying to sneak up on them. While rare, he knew full well that there were some infantry teams in the world that were daring and capable enough to climb a Cataphract's leg and stuff explosives in the knee joint if the machine stood still for too long. He had seen first hand how effective such knee-capping attacks could be as the former 20th had employed such an infantry team.

"If we go after the SAMs first, I can try to find a perch in range of them, would just need a spotter to ensure accurate strikes. Unless you got other orders for me." Quietly he wondered how many other surprises were in store for them. If they had SAMs, would they also have mechs and/or heavy combat vehicles? If so, well, it wouldn't be the first time a supposed 'cakewalk' turned into something far more difficult. And if it did, they would just have to deal with it.

SilverDingo Viper Actual Clockwork_Magic

 

[americanCaeser]

L. P. Hewell

Callsign:"Chuckles"

Pilot Emblem:

Interactions: SilverDingo [Suicide Trucks] Remembrance [Radio] YsFanatic [Thunder] Viper Actual [Freja] Clockwork_Magic [Lily]
​

Hewell narrowed his eyes before snorting derisively.

Oh how cute, they were trying to Martyr themselves to take down the big bad robot! It would've been a novel experience if it wasn't a common occurence for Linebacker. The Cataphract was big and flashy enough to terrify the enemy into throwing their own scary toys at it in the vain hope they'd destroy the thing. Hell, that was practically the point of Linebacker, to go head to head with the most the enemy had to throw at them and grind them to dust. If that meant the rest of his team could complete their jobs unhindered, all the better.

His trigger fingers itched, to unleash a storm of bullets and tear the opposing vehicles to shreds. In a rare moment of restraint, Chuckles erred not to. Instead, he reached over and began typing on a keyboard to the side. In a flash, the two tankers became red silhouettes on his HUD as a great ball of fire ballooned not too far away and he couldn't but cackle at the explosion.

"Fucking Hell, Radio! Talk about a lightshow!"

Chuckles liked Radio, he was a ballsy bastard who wasn't afraid of getting his feet wet unlike most Blue Bloods from Oceania. Same with Lily, though hers was the type of ballsy that bordered on madness. He'd have to go out for drinks later with them. Freja wasn't bad either, pretty solid individual with a good head on their shoulders, though Thunder was a bit harder for him to get a read on. Funny, considering he was the only other person from the same branch let alone country on his team so far.

His HUD pinged, before Linebacker spoke to him in its deep, gravely robotic voice.

"TARGETS. AQUIRED. LAUNCHING."

What would've almost been misjudged for a large pauldron or shoulder shield suddenly began to shift, two of its panels sliding back before with a flash of light and a dull roar a twin pair of missiles were away.

"LAUNCH. SUCCESFUL."

He drummed his fingers on his armrest, watching the two trucks get closer and closer. Let them. Give them that sense of hope, that they'd actually make it, that they had a chance-

The first missile slammed into the lead trucks tank like a hammer, briefly breaking the thing in two before the tanker vanished in a bright flash of light as the fuel cooked off and the missile detonated. Less than a second after the first slammed home the second did as well, and the ground shook as three huge explosions roared to life. Chuckles let out a victorious "HA" and clapped his hands as Albatross slid to a stop beside Linebacker. A little scorched but not much worse for wear.

"One Hell of an umbrella, you- Wait, Chucklenuts?" Suddenly the nick naming thing didn't seem all that funny anymore.

Before he could continue his inquiry he registered talk of a few SAM sites nearby, and with a flick of his wrist his HUD was filled with a map of the refinery which updated in real time thanks to Thunder's skill.

"Hey Thunder, I can cover you're ranging issue." Tapping some more buttons and flipping some switches caused the impressively long and almost unwieldy artillery piece on Linebackers back to jerk before sliding up onto his shoulder proper, its cannon aiming upwards at an angle. "Mark 'em on a map, and I can hit one or two before the strike hits."

Linebackers head turned towards Albatross, grinning in his cabin.

"And for the record, I ain't 'pretty'. I am what you'd consider 'ruggedly handsome'!"

 

[Clockwork_Magic]

黒森花
Hana "Lily" Kuromori
Pilot of the 'Kaminari'

Interactions: Viper Actual [Freyja], SilverDingo [Polaris], YsFanatic [Typhoon], americanCaeser [Chuckles]​

---

CBS Frost, 6 Hours Prior
Ah, there it is. Hana thought to herself as their CO raised their eyebrow at her at the mention of independence. I wonder what kind of stories those Shinsei stuck-ups told these guys. While the line of work did certainly pay well most of the time enough to sustain a living and fund her habits, the command system was so stiff and suffocating at times for Hana. Case in point, they talk about independence and freedom like it's a bad thing. What's so wrong about having the leash loosened a bit?

Naturally, when they brought up discussing a "true hierarchy" Hana internally rolled her eyes at the idea. But it is as the officers said, they won't have any problems, just so long as the officers or their newly appointed field commander doesn't tighten the leash too much.

Azerbaijan, Present Time
"Not gonna say that I wasn't doing that." She replied to Freyja's remarks about their paycheck with a slight chuckle, soon after getting word that the air strike was about to begin. "A girl's gotta do something to pass the time while waiting for the show to start don't you think?"

Similar to the Valkyrie, Hana turned the Kaminari towards Typhoon as Thunder joined the party. "Hey Thunder-man, get a nice view from up there?" She greeted the Typhoon's pilot before receiving the data he gathered. "Oh, nice! Thanks for map, this'll help moving around this dump." Hana's eyes scanned over the terrain data Thunder shared as she listened to the rest of her comrade's chatter. Terrain doesn't look too difficult to navigate through. With the modifications she ordered for the Kaminari, she should be able to maneuver around the place better than most of her comrade's Cataphracts that aren't named "Albatross." She's gotta ask that Radio guy about his rig sometime, could get some ideas for what to bother Shinsei for the next time the Kaminari is due for heavy maintenance.

"If it's the SAMs you're worried about, just leave 'em to me once the fireworks are over. I'll get us that opening for an exfil." Hana responded over the shared channel between the 3 Hussar-class cataphracts. "A few well placed missile strikes before they have a chance to gather their shit together does wonders. They won't know what hit 'em." Hana began preparing and loading a few high explosive missiles into the Kaminari's missile launcher before transmitting out to the Linebacker as Chuckles offered to take out a few SAMs before the airstrike. "Just be sure to leave some for the rest of us, football guy!"

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

CBS Frost, 6 Hours Ago​

The stale coffee did its best to keep Dario awake during the briefing, but the empty look on his face doesn't change. It's not drowsiness; he'd been through briefings more tedious. However, he did log in a few extra minutes on that wellness app. He always does before assignments, before even the briefing, he has to. It's become an important routine. Two people enter the room: a man and a woman. The man introduces himself, the woman bows, Dario blinks. A map flickers onto the screen and Trumbull begins.

"This contract comes from Regulus-

Regulus.

He lifts his eyes. They return to his desk just as quickly.

"-Recently, an oil field of theirs in Azerbaijan has fallen under siege from rebel groups in the region. From initial intelligence, we believe they do not have any Cataphracts they are able to field. You can think of this as a milk run. Mostly lightly armored vehicles and infantry. AS you are Cerberus Employees, you represent the best of the best, and we expect nothing but stellar performance from you."

Though the briefing is concluded, he pauses in his seat and looks down at his coffee. He rubs his forehead and assures himself quietly that it's just a job like any other.

Outskirts of Baku, Now
​

Dario's eyes track a squadron of jets tearing through the sky overhead like avenging furies. Carefully, he slides a strip of stim-laced gum underneath his tongue and starts chewing, ignoring its bitter taste gradually overtaking his senses. A switch on the dashboard is flipped with a loud click and the machine around him starts emitting a low hum; he feels it reverberate in his teeth. The stims kick in, a kaleidoscope of colors outline the edges of his eyes as the lids are pried open, and he balls his fists tight to stop himself from shaking. He leans back in his seat and forces his eyes to snap shut, feeling the neural wire connecting his machine to the back of his skull pulse with energy. His body jolts involuntarily, but quickly subsides among the sounds of pistons and gears turning. Jacaré has come to life, and Dario slams the boosters to catch up with his squad.

"This is Trance." his dull, quiet voice echoing through the radio. "Forming on your vector."

The barrel of his railgun glows with an amber color; it's begging to open fire.

 

[SilverDingo]

ANIMAL MOTHER Viper Actual Clockwork_Magic americanCaeser YsFanatic Remembrance

“Please stand by.”

The sound of several jet fighters could be heard overhead, causing a large series of explosions near the top of the massive structure. A large bit of scaffolding would collapse, knocking into a neighboring one like a domino. Gunfire and several explosions would continue, as well as echoed Russian shouts somewhere deep in the facility. Any nearby Cataphracts would be framed in the orange glow of fire combining with rust and sand.

“Another bombing run will commence in 10 minutes. You are cleared to engage the SAM sites." Polaris said.

Meanwhile, one of the semi trucks would swerve as it exploded, right into a support strut. There was a creaking sound followed by faint Russian shouting as several ground troops ran out from beneath the scaffolding. The sound of steel creaking could be heard directly above Linebacker, as an old construction crane began to topple due to weakness at its base and the recent bombing.

“Seein’ a lotta smoke from up here. Y’all alright over down yonder?” The Texan voice of the Regulus Ground Team Captain chimed in.​

 

[Remembrance]

Erdent Wilson​

---

Cataphract: Albatross
Location: Azerbaijan
Interactions: YsFanatic [Jaiden]
Mentions: americanCaeser [Ruggedly handsome]

"Ruggedly handsome, right."

Disengaging from the combat zone, Erdent watched with mixed delight at the fireworks. Dust and sand rushed past him, stress testing Albatross' stabilizers. Debris came second, a litter of burnt metal and rounded chunks. Every explosion had its own after effect. Like dominoes falling atop one another; a cascade of secondary explosions and structural collapse.

PERFORMING COOLANT CYCLE​

Erdent had the time to do so. Although it isn't totally apparent with his skin sheath on, heat was starting to enter the cockpit. The melting point of computer systems and terminals didn't matter when the pilot gets boiled alive by his own machine.

"Ten minutes on the clock, we'll keep."

Heatsinks on the exterior flared out as the engine cycled. Albatross assumed a forward position. With the pristine roar of a now-clean engine, the Cataphract propelled upwards in flight. He felt the blood rush to his back and his eyes grew dry. This was his favorite part of piloting. Gravity tethered him to Earth. Until he made it into space, he'd be subject to the natural laws of the greater world. Erdent gathered his strength and wrestled with the forward push. With trembling fingers, the slave unit from Typhoon started up transmitting the feed from Albatross' visual sensors.

"Jaiden, mate, I put your slave unit in for a reason. Better take 'em out before I land!"

 

[Viper Actual]

"If we go after the SAMs first, I can try to find a perch in range of them, would just need a spotter to ensure accurate strikes. Unless you got other orders for me."

"A few well placed missile strikes before they have a chance to gather their shit together does wonders. They won't know what hit 'em."

Nodding, Freja listened to her two teammates while waiting on a response from both Polaris and Manticore. When no response came except for the sound of explosions caused by the airstrike- followed by the quick notice from Polaris- Freja and, by extent, Valkyrie turned towards Kaminari and Typhoon in an unnervingly human fashion.

"I suspect that the explosions as well as the refinery piping is messing up our comms. That being said, Kaminari, you're up front with me on your six. Typhoon I want you on the higher ground looking for hostiles and allies. Ping them as you go and we'll do the same on our end."

Freja narrowed her eyes before continuing; "IFF is going to be a real bitch in these conditions so try and watch your fire, yeah? We don't want to sweep any Regulus friendlies by mistake."

"This is Trance." his dull, quiet voice echoing through the radio. "Forming on your vector."

Smirking, Freja acknowledged Trance with a quick double-tap on the comms. "Good to have you, Trance. How do you feel about joining Typhoon for some sniper support?"

While waiting for a response, Freja switched to the general channel- allowing both Polaris, Linebacker and Albatross to hear her; "Assault team preparing to move internal once we've KO'd the SAMs. How's it looking on your end, guys?"

SilverDingo Clockwork_Magic YsFanatic ANIMAL MOTHER americanCaeser Remembrance

 

[YsFanatic]

Freja narrowed her eyes before continuing; "IFF is going to be a real bitch in these conditions so try and watch your fire, yeah? We don't want to sweep any Regulus friendlies by mistake."

"That's a given," is Jaiden's brief response as he taps the control that would start the swap back to the longer ranged missiles. While the ammo loading mechanism set to work he started moving towards a building that seemed promising in height and position. A sustained activation of the Typhoon's thrusters was enough to reach the top of the building, but the creaking and groaning that the audio sensors detected coming from the structure indicated that he might not want to stay up here for long. But for now he'd take advantage of this position and had his machine's computer start piping the topographical data it was able to gather from his new vantage point to the others. Meanwhile he focused on getting targeting locks on the SAMs with the help of the spotting data from Albatross when he noticed a slight problem.

"I've got solid locks on two SAMs, maybe a third if I can finesse the flight path through some debris, but there looks like there is at least one more outside of my range at this position. Trance, can you get that one?" Multitasking a bit, Jaiden linked Trance into the targeting network for the accuracy boost as he considered how to split his missile barrage. The launcher could unleash 5 missiles at a time and he wanted to donate two each to the SAMs he had a clear line of fire on and try to guide the last one to the third SAM through the debris. Knocking out multiple sites at once would be a good way to catch the enemy off guard, but if they had decent anti-missile systems setup then all the missiles would be intercepted. Knocking out one site at a time would give them time to react, but it was more likely he'd destroy his target each time.

'If they had just restored the Typhoon to its full specs instead of this bastardized version...'

Squashing that thought before it could continue, Jaiden ended up deciding to tackle the toughest target first. With the spotting data being sent to him, he could arch the missiles over most of the debris, and it would be better to do it now instead of risking being attacked and not being able to make the shot later. The launcher tilted back on the Cataphract's shoulder as the target lock was acquired and when Jaiden pulled the trigger the full flight of missiles took to the air towards their target. He didn't expect them all to reach the SAM, but it should only take one or two getting solid hits to at least cripple it.

SilverDingo Clockwork_Magic Viper Actual ANIMAL MOTHER americanCaeser Remembrance

 

[ANIMAL MOTHER]

"I've got solid locks on two SAMs, maybe a third if I can finesse the flight path through some debris, but there looks like there is at least one more outside of my range at this position. Trance, can you get that one?"

Jacaré's thrusters loudly ignite in affirmation; the only other confirmation being a ragged inhalation over comms. A light flickers on a nearby panel to indicate something from Albatross is incoming on the data stream. Dario flips a few switches to open channels and adjust the syncing process. The neural wire uncomfortably, but briefly, heats up. A sudden flash of light is felt just behind his eyes, followed by a mosaic of gradually shrinking pixels as his vision fades away into the Jacaré's main camera feed. He now sees what his head unit sees, giving him a much clearer look at his surroundings. Brackets of blue materialize in front of him before turning red; they're the SAM sites Jaiden is currently locking onto. All of them shift color except for one in the distance that defiantly remains blue. It's too far for his comrade to hit and too obstructed for him to get a clear shot. He's going to have to close the gap, and fast. Not too far away is a rather large cracking tower surrounded by a half-collapsed building. It might just provide him with the view he needs. "Going," he mutters before throttling the thrusters and launching into action.

Bullets snap and crackle past the quad-legged Cataphract as the rebels quickly mobilize to defend their SAMs. It boosts and weaves quickly in between the maze of pipes and other sorts of rubble for cover, deploying smoke to obscure the rebels’ line of sight. Despite his evasions, several well-placed shots find their target, slamming into Jacaré's arm unit with an impact that felt bone-shaking to Dario. His neck jerks to the side, his own arm involuntarily jolting upward in response to the feedback. He winces and tenses up with each hit, but at least the stims keep the pain manageable for now.

Finally, he reaches the tower, having dodged both bullets and rockets. A monitor displays the charge on his railgun. He's kept it at a low but steady level in anticipation of firing, but that last SAM site is still too distant. His railgun is going to need more power. Thumbing a button down on his joystick, he gazes up at what remains of the tower and starts ascending.

Jacaré scales the tower with haste and determination. He reaches the third floor, the railgun charge is at 56%. He continues scaling. Fifth floor, 68%. Eight floor, 90%. Top level, max. The railgun crackles with electricity, the front half enveloped by an amber glow. The lenses on the head unit close in on the remaining SAM; close enough that he's somewhat able to make out the strained faces of the rebels surrounding it. Dario aims down, he locks "eyes" with a rebel looking back through a pair of binoculars. He points Dario out to his squad mates, they start aiming back, but he fires first with precision. The railgun discharges with an almost deafening roar, releasing a bolt of energy that tears through the air like lightning. The SAM site, and the rebels defending it, are sent to hell in a blazing inferno. The targeting bracket disappears and nothing remains but embers spiraling into the sky.

"This is Trance," he speaks, slowly descending to one of the lower floors for cover. "It's done."

 

[americanCaeser]

ANIMAL MOTHER Viper Actual Clockwork_Magic americanCaeser YsFanatic Remembrance
Meanwhile, one of the semi trucks would swerve as it exploded, right into a support strut. There was a creaking sound followed by faint Russian shouting as several ground troops ran out from beneath the scaffolding. The sound of steel creaking could be heard directly above Linebacker, as an old construction crane began to topple due to weakness at its base and the recent bombing.

“Seein’ a lotta smoke from up here. Y’all alright over down yonder?” The Texan voice of the Regulus Ground Team Captain chimed in.​

L. P. Hewell

Callsign:"Chuckles"

Pilot Emblem:

Interactions: SilverDingo [Regulus/Crane/Polaris] Remembrance [Radio]
​

"Prick." Hewell snorted in amusement as Radio jetted away.

He liked the guy, but in the kind of way you like a stubborn and annoying cat. Taking his attention away from his fellow mercenary, he instead keyed the channel to the Regulus footsloggers.

"Cowboy, this is Chuckles. Lots of fireworks but no one's missing any fingers this Fourth of July!" He snickered to himself before continuing. "Next strike will be in 10 mikes, so push forward the line of advance after us-"

"CAUTION. DEBRIS."

Hewell's HUD lit up like a Christmas tree and immediately his head jerked up to witness the soviet-era fossil doing it's damndest to recreate 'Hammer and Nail' with Linebacker.

"Shit!"

A flick of a switch and both feet slamming on the tracks later and Linebacker began to reverse, but it's heavy tracks didn't exactly scream maneuver and he quickly realized he wouldn't make the distance. His next step involved immense fire power. Both arms swung upwards, spooling up as the Gatling cannons began to fire. They were designed to saw tanks in half, but the math didn't add up, arms were too slow, which only left...

"Fuck it!"

His thumb jabbed down on the big red button on his right joystick. The howitzer cannon resting on his shoulder, pointed up at an angle, let out a bright flash and a mighty boom. The shell launched out at a high velocity and slammed into the crane, though it failed to detonate due to the arming timer. Instead it ricocheted off of the hunk of metal and pinwheeled away in the air, vanishing over the rooftops and into the warzone. The force of the strike was enough to push the crane forward into the twin streams of Linebackers bullets, shredding it in half. Even still, he swore as Linebacker jostled and was jerked around as heavy bits of debris slammed into his hull. Paint scratches, but it was still uncomfortable. Afterwards, he took a minute to breath, idly pressing a series of buttons to let his cannon begin the arduous process of reloading. That had been close. Too close.

"Cowboy. Chuckles. Clean up the mess we're about to make."

Gritting his teeth, he switches channels before pressing down Linebackers accelerator, and the tracked behemoth of steel trundled forward, crushing wreckage and stone with impunity. There was an harsh edge to his tone of voice as the Super Heavy followed in Hyades wake.

"Polaris, this is Chuckles. Give me the biggest concentration of enemies you've got on the map. I need to tear something apart like wet paper."