Futuristic ℋ℮їґṧ: SIGMA (Sci-Fi/Powers/Interstellar Warfare RP)

[Kabboom]

Joachim

"How's that transport coming around, old-timer? Gonna be cuttin' it real close here." I talked into the comms, about the esteemed gentleman who's our ticket out. He gives back the time. 2 minutes. 2 minutes. My AI notifies me of the blob, and where it's headed.

I turn to my squad. "John, Parkins, you stay here, watch this entrance just in case. Danny, Dav, you're with me. We're going to cover that blob. Carlie, move to cover us." I said, and did so accordingly, taking cover behind a heat shield of some sort. "Got news from the old man. 2 minutes. Then he'll be ready for extraction."

I also dropped from view, keeping a peek on the entrance, on Miller's orders. My ears are now primed, my body still, my movements ceased, waiting for the clang of the bolt hitting the cold hard surface of the floor. Things will be fun.

 

[Perambulation]

(bump for Henrypika )

 

[Henrypika]

Katherine

I took out my mag and lit the bolts on fire in preparation for the inbound enemies, ears alert for the signal. I was about 50 meters above the entranceway, in near complete darkness. I silently slid the bolt of my gun to load in the first bolt for action, catching the normal unspent one and pocketing it.

An almost natural silence settled into the room, nothing but the hum of the operational reactor, but now, its days are numbered, as well as every other Smierc fighter here. Shit. What about our own allies still aboard...?

I can hear footsteps and murmurs somewhere under me, and I slowly moved to the rail to position my gun facing downward.

 

[Perambulation]

DM

The Smierc Collective attack fleet's Fleet Lord, Kowalik, quickly became notified of the New Union's attempts at sabotaging the hyperspace reactor of the fleet's flagship, the Duma Smierc. Not intending on letting the Sabre Corps get away with it, the Fleet Lord summoned numerous Mortus Trooper Knights and Berserkers to shut down the enemy forces onboard the ship. The battle in the Duma Smierc's hangar is still raging on, although the intensity has certainly died down as both Smeirc and New Union forces dwindle from fire.

The Fleet Lord, Kowalik, also calls for the help of the newly developed shock units, the Szlam Warkot, slime-like colonial creatures that can combine themselves into massive golems of destruction.

One of the first battalions of Mortus Knights spots a strangely fox-like New Union soldier, and fires on the soldier's position. The Szlam Warkot is released from one of the Mortus Trooper's deployment kits, combining into a creature called a Slime Hulk by Fireteam Nexus' leader, Captain Adrian T. Morrison


Adrian

Phew. Looks like I managed to set up all the explosive charges where they should be. We should be good to evacuate now. I have Noa call in the NUSS Artemis III and let Battle Command know that the Sabre Corps should start to leave the flagship. That's when I noticed a frantic call from Sergeant Amis.

"Morrison, we've got company! Several Mortus Knights and one of those Slime Hulks from before are blocking our way back to the hangar!"
"Roger that. Fireteam Nexus, you're free to use your abilities. Let's pave a path through!"

With that said, I used the Booster Pack to quickly dash to my Fireteam's location, setting up my HoloRifle and firing pot-shots to try and get the crowd cleared. As for my Silentian abilities, they have not been fully charged yet, so I'm stuck with traditional weapons for now.

 

[Perambulation]

(bump)

 

[Perambulation]

(bump x2)

 

[LoneSniper87]

I watched silently as the first few Smierc walked past the catwalk Katherine and I were perched in. I glanced at Katherine and mouthed to her "Ready?" He signed out three, two, then one as I flashed the round and dropped it into the midst of the troopers, quickly confusing them as I leaned over the rail and fired the first round into the top of a Beserker's head.

 

[Henrypika]

Katherine

A thunderclap-like sound resonated through the vast room as I fired an APHE round into the Slime where the round exploded across the face mask before piercing it and through the soft slime. I put another round into a mid-rank Mortus Trooper, blowing out his brains and sending his nearby colleagues screeching in pain from intense burns.

Joachim rose from his hiding place to the sound of the bolt hitting the floor, shooting a flare of magma-like flames from his left hand into the crowd and awkwardly firing his damaged LMG with his right, mowing down several Knights before they all retreated to cover, behind the very few barricades. Most were unable to find cover and their limbs were torn off by the joints or jerked around by the impact of the bolts before falling dead.

The Berserkers that found partial cover were headshot and fried from above by our recons. Their survivors fired blindly into the ceiling above us, clearly shaken by our ambush and some retreated back into the corridor.

"That went well." I whispered, right when my drone reappeared and repackaged itself into its tiny briefcase home in the palm of my hand.

 

[Perambulation]

DM

The Mortus Troopers quickly snapped to the source of the multiple holo-bolts, firing off their assortment of crystal-bolt based rifles to keep the Sabre Corps under cover. The Slime Hulk's skull mask is torn off and sustains heavy damage from Katherine's blast, but the Slime Hulk itself merely reforms into a bit smaller form, releasing a loud roar to keep the Sabre Corps and Twisted Wolves on their toes.

Despite the focused fire of the surviving Mortus Troopers, they could not ignore the fact that several of their party are now dead or heavily injured from an unexpected ambush. The Fleet Lord receives news of the surprise attack and decides to send more forces to ensure that the hyperspace reactor is secured.


Adrian

Oh wow, did not expect that many Mortus Troopers to go down by that ambush. Looks like Fireteam Omaha, Fireteam Comet, and Corporal Katherine all set up a perfect ambush to cut down the enemy forces by almost half. Even so, I can already tell that making our way down to the hangar is going to be tough. There is no doubt that the Smiercs are going to send even more Mortus Troopers and possibly Slime Hulks to try and safeguard their precious hyperspace reactor.

Too bad that I'm not planning on letting that happen.

Just in time, my HUD notifies me that my abilities are charged, and I unleash a deadly Boulder Mortar, using even the dead Mortus Trooper corpses and their SKANDIA armor pieces to send down a flurry of meteor attacks. The Boulder Mortar is enough to force many of the Mortus Troopers away from our position, allowing us to gain some ground.

Sergeant Amis leads a separate detachment down to my right side, firing away precise shots of holo-bolts from his own HoloRifle. It looks like things are getting a bit better for Fireteam Nexus.

"Nice shot Fireteam Comet, Fireteam Omaha, and Corporal Katherine. Still, we need to hurry up and gain more ground in order to get to our extract point. We're not going to last that long with more Mortus Troopers incoming, over.", I echo over the comms.

 

[Kabboom]

Joachim

"WHOO! EAT SHIT!" I yelled enthusiastically as the entire room erupted into gunfire. Fireteam Comet sprung the trap flawlessly, with each and every member hidden in cover, and firing with everything they've got. In my case, the "firing" was literal. Caught a few with the spray, although my LMG's getting a bit hot. I press my hand in the corroded opening, as I absorb the heat from behind cover, as I recover myself.

Dav is using his LMG to pin the Mortus Troopers. Danny and John are using grenades to flush them out of cover and/or blow them the hell up. A Slime Hulk soon appears, although it was given a warm welcome with an APHE round directly in the face mask from lovely Katherine up top.

Adrian popped up on my comms. My AI brought him up, but put him on hold, as I came up and sprayed at least 20 rounds downrange, killing one Mortus Trooper, although his fellow Knights dragged him behind cover and gave him a handy Revival Serum. "Comet here, we copy! We're gonna tank their shots, you guys up top," I said as I looked up, to Katherine and Miller, doing a fine job picking off the Smierc from the catwalks, "... take 'em down. We move up fast, don't let them regroup! Executing now!" I said, before signing off.

"It's show time!" I yelled to the rest of Fireteam Comet, barely audible underneath the gunfire. Sgt. Parkins nodded, and began putting large amounts of holo-bolts downrange. So did John and Danny. Dav and I nodded in mutual understanding, and we sprung into action. He grabbed hold of a piece of the ship's hull that he pulled off from behind him thanks to his strength, and hopped forward, forming a shield in front of me. I jumped behind him, and charged up my left hand. As it glows red, I let loose, a bigger, brighter flame torching the Smierc, as their crystal bolts clanged off of Dav's shield.

Suddenly, a few Mortus Troopers appeared behind me. Seems that these guys have found their powers. There was this one trooper, that John and Danny virtually evaporated with gunfire as soon as he appeared, who apparently had the power to teleport. And he brought friends. Two on the catwalks, where Katherine and Miller are stationed, three near the reactors, with bomb defusal kits, most likely, and five directly behind us.

I form my IRESS and began taking hits from behind, as Dav quickly spun around and threw his shield directly at a Berserker who was focusing his fire on me. The damn thing hardened himself, turned into some kind of stone fused with chitin, and the ship panel just clanged off of him. It did make him drop the gun, though.

I take my LMG and spray the rest of the magazine into the other 3 who were scrambling for cover. One, who apparently didn't have any powers that I knew of, charged directly at Parkins, giving him a nasty punch right in the jaw. Another one, who apparently thought he was a great swordsman, charged at John and Danny with Arm Blades, his Bio-Field tanking all of their shots as he got close. The three then engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

Then there was this one, a Knight, who summoned a shield made of ice that blocked all of my shots. He then reached into the shield and pulled out a nasty-looking axe made of ice. We exchanged menacing stares, before I summoned my Fire Claymore, and we both charged into each other. Ice versus Fire. Let's see who wins.

 

[Henrypika]

Katherine

"Oh, sh~," I threw my rifle into a Mortus Trooper below, where it made contact, throwing him off balance for someone to finish him off, and then drew my katana, turning around and slashing upward across a Knight's chest before running and crashing into another, shoving him off of the platform. He clutched onto the rail at the last moment, struggling to pull himself up, but fell with a slight push of his hand.

I finished off the first with a quick swipe of the blade over his neck before vaulting over the rail to a lower platform, when my rifle finished teleporting itself back into my hands, where I dialed down the magnification, manually loaded in a normal bolt, and headshot a Mortus Trooper that was tinkering with Adrian's explosives. "Defusers, I got them." I let loose another normal round into a second Knight's arm.

 

[LoneSniper87]

I pulled back the bolt to reload and heard a loud clank as Katherine threw her gun, causing me to look up and in a panic throw my knife at the stunned Mortus, fortunately landing between their eyes and killing them, I turned to see one charging me and I drop down as they lunged at me, using my rifle as a barrier and a fulcrum as I rolled back and catapulted them off of me. I heard a loud crack as I finished up and turned on the trooper, thinking their neck probably snapped, but either way I quickly whipped out my handgun to finish them off. I quickly went back for my knife and then set up again, finishing up my reload before taking aim. I swapped over to the reactor and shot the third trooper's defuser, causing it to be confused as I put my second round into his head. "Reactor's clear." I said quietly as I looked to the one on Parkins, taking a quick shot that knocked the Mortus down, which Parkins quickly took advantage off and stomped on the thing's head before glancing up and giving me a thumbs up.

 

[Perambulation]

Adrian

I can see that the reactor room is cleared now, along with a audible confirmation from Corporal Miller of Fireteam Omaha. Meanwhile, I'm trying to get Noa, my AI, to try and see if more Mortus Troopers are incoming based on captured radio comms.

Given the length of the entire Cruento War, it's only natural that the New Union has basically deciphered the Smeirc Collective's lingua franca, Smiercan, and their written scripts partially. Considering that the written script is a logographic one similar to that of Chinese scripts from Old Earth, it's not a particularly easy job trying to figure out the entirety of the enemy's written language.

"Adrian, I have a 75% read that the Fleet Lord of this ship is sending out more Mortus Troopers. They are also sending other units, but I can't exactly read what it is."
"Got it Noa. Keep the group updated via data-link."

With that in mind, I threw a well-placed Disintegration Grenade towards a stack of Mortus Hunters, who are trying to wear our IRESSs down from long range. The Disintegration Field manages to drain their own Bio-field Shields, which allows me to get clean pot shots using my HoloRifle.

"More Smierc units are incoming, keep up the pressure Sabre Corps and Twisted Wolves!", I yell into the comms network.

 

[Henrypika]

Katherine

I put my katana back and then took a quick glance off of my map just in time to see another Mortus fall to his doom from the platform above. "We're coming up to a T-section corridor up ahead, so there will be Mortus Troopers on both sides."

I dropped down to another platform, grabbing the rail as I fell, letting go again to fall onto a lower platform giving me a better angle to take out enemies with. I fired my special bolts into the Smierc crowd still backing down the corridor, igniting their front lines, with the flames spreading backwards.

Morrison's AI, Noa, relayed me information on the advancing Troopers still inbound through the corridor, and its confusion on what could the other troops be. "More Slimes?"

I could hear another Mortus Trooper behind me, elbowing it where it hurts without looking, namely the private parts, before taking one of its limbs and dragging it over the edge, using it as a landing pad, making a sickening squelch as I landed on his abdomen, leaving a deep footprint in its chest.

 

[Perambulation]

(bump for Kabboom and LoneSniper87 )

 

[Kabboom]

Joachim

I lunge, giving him my 'terrifying' war cry. It kind of confused him, as it was very weird for a grown man, a trained and experienced warrior, to screech like an ancient gas engine as it dives down from 5km up. But of course, his big-ass annoying ice shield blocked my Fire Claymore, its surface scorching from the clash. He swung his axe at me, but I used the forward momentum and enter into a roll to his left, with the icy axe scraping my back armor plates.

As I recover, I immediately swing around with my Fire Claymore, my left hand slightly shaking from the rapid use and switching of powers. His shield, once again, blocks my attack, and his axe follows through from the momentum as he turned, trying to decapitate me. He swung too high, however, and I ducked just in time, my right hand unsheathing my holo-machete.

My holo-machete swung hard and fast, slicing his exposed axe arm. His Bio-Field gives away, as he howls in pain. He shoves me backwards with his shield, swinging his axe again, from a more covered position. His ice shield forms a spike on the front, as he uses his axe to trip me backwards, and now I awkwardly slide on the ground, pushed by his shield, left hand using my Fire Claymore to block his axe swings, right hand pressing my holo-machete against the shield, especially the spike that gets closer and closer with every push. My holo-machete slowly cuts through the Ice Shield, but it won't be enough.

As I look around with adrenaline-pumped eyes, I spot Parkins, finishing off his Mortus Trooper, aided by a shot from Miller. He pulls out his sidearm, and lines up a shot with my Mortus Trooper, but he gets smacked away by... a blur. Something. John and Danny are holding out well, blocking the swordsman's slashes for each other and attacking slowly, although seems that this swordsman dodges very well. Davo is making very good work of the chitin Smierc guy, alternating his spear hands with his superior physique to block and deflect punches and smashes, although the thing's chitin is very resilient, it seems.

I finally recollect myself, when realizing no one will help with my case. I press both my feet on the shield firmly, and my Fire Claymore maneuvers itself into where the blade meets the handle, and manages to hook the axe away. As soon as the axe was flung away, I swung my Claymore again and smacked the guy with the blunt end, although now his face mask is burning. As he stops from the shock, I push both my feet on his shield, away from him, sliding on the floor.

I flip backwards into one of those superhero-poses, and immediately charged the guy, throwing my Fire Claymore at him. The Fire Claymore bounces off his shield and then vanishing, since now it's a fire without a source, making him drop his shield in the confusion to get the flames off his face. I dash in, and thrust my holo-machete directly into his belly, piercing him as he audibly chokes up.

I let him fall off my machete naturally, as Katherine and Miller and the rest of Nexus are keeping the Mortus in the front at bay, so there's no need for a meat shield. I glance to the left. Parkins is badly mauled, fighting... a small Slime Hulk that somehow sneaked through Katherine and Miller. Maybe through the pipes? I don't bother myself with the questions, seeing as his IRESS has given away, and his suit is starting to melt, especially his robotic arm.

My eyes dart to the right, and Davo is getting his ass kicked. It seems there was one kick he couldn't block, now he's been put on the defensive. John and Danny are finally getting that swordsman under control. I spot the ice shield, melting on the ground, and grab it, my right hand shriveling up from the intense cold. I summon another Fire Claymore and hurl it directly at the Slime Hulk, drawing its attention away from Parkins, as it charged full speed at me. I blocked it with my Ice Shield and threw it directly at the chitin Smierc, as Dav quickly gives it a kick to the groin and runs away.

Parkin then picked up his sidearm from the ground, and emptied the magazine into the swordsman's back, dropping his Bio-Field to 0, as John deflects one of his swords away, and Danny lunges in with a combat knife stab directly into the face mask. The Smierc swordsman then dropped, black fluid secreting from his wound.

The Slime Hulk accidentally melts through the Smierc's chitin as it recovers, roaring at me. I charge all the energy I have left, and give my all with an intense magma flame, high intensity, directly into the Slime Hulk. The sizzling sound of slime being burnt, as it screeched, pumped me up further, and I could squeeze out every last ounce of flame energy. As my vision fades, I could feel my right hand heating up. That's odd, my right hand doesn't...

Before I knew it, another faint blue flame slowly sparked out of my right hand, to my great surprise. I focus both hands on the Slime Hulk. After a solid 10-20 seconds of flaming, the Slime Hulk and the Smierc trooper were both burnt to a crisp. My hands drop down, as I fall forward and hit my head on the floor, knocking myself out. Ow... I could feel myself fading away... Gotta... stay... awake... Gotta...

Stay... awake...


Allison?

 

[LoneSniper87]

I watched the events unfold from my perch, seeing everyone busy with thier iwn problems, so I did my best to keep the free Smierc from causing anyone else problems. I noticed a more considerable heat through the helmet as I see Jao, both hands blazing as he mercilessly burned the Slime Hulk and another unlucky Mortus. I also watched him drop to the ground from overexhaustion. "Shit, Jao!" I shouted, hopping over the rail and landing with a roll. As much as we argued I still cared for the man, he was an ally, and even great fighters like him need someone watching their back. I ran by and caught an Armblade doing the same, but he had the headstart.

I slid and ripped my knife from it's sheath, flipping it backhanded and blocking the arm, the blade chipping in a good way into the knife. I quickly kicked him off, dislodging the knife and in one fluid motion stuck the knife into the things head. I then turned and scooped Jao up. "Fuck, you're heavy..." I mumbled as I now much more slowly moved to get him to safety. "Morrison, Jao is out cold, we need to move." I said, setting him down behind a cover so he would be safe. I rose and sheathed the knife, reaching for my rifle, only to realize I didn't have it. "Shit..." I said, spotting it back where Jao was before. I pulled out my handgun and quickly made my way for the rifle, grabbing it by the strap and slinging it over a shoulder as I ran back to Jao.

 

[Perambulation]

Adrian

The situation is getting hairier by the minute. And from what Corporal Katherine said over the comms, the uncertain reinforcements by the Smiercs could be more of the Slime Hulks we're all struggling to deal with right now. The problem with these Slimes is that they can't be killed with simple gun-shots, since they keep reforming their wounds or separating into two Slime Hulks. Even so, there's not much else we can do other than maybe resort to more heavy usage of our Silentian powers.

"Joachim of Fireteam Comet, status on the dropship, over?", I say over the comms.

With that said, I order Fireteam Nexus to take a position near the rear flank for some coordinated shots. Once I marked the targets on my HUD and shared the info via data-link, Sergeant Amis gave the order to fire. With precision only afforded by our individual AIs, Fireteam Nexus manages to clear a large chunk of the enemy Mortus Troopers, mostly comprised of the Knights.

"We have a window to push through the Smiercs. If we're heading to the hangar, now's a good time, over.", I yell over the comms.

 

[Henrypika]

Katherine

I watch in amazement as Joa releases a second stream of blue flame from his right, vaporizing the Slime and incinerating the Smierc, but then in horror as he fell forward on his face. "Man down!" I dashed forward, my already low IRESS deflecting glancing blows from crystal bolts from the entranceway.

I unsheath the two crystal knives I collected earlier and pitched one into a partially teleported Mortus Knight, plunging deep into its helmet, and then pitching the other at another, killing it in a similar fashion. I snatched off the serum, continuing my way towards him, jumping behind barricades.

I eventually reach his side, where he was (relatively) safe behind cover, thanks to Ashley. I took out my pistol and fired it into the crowd of Smierc struggling to hold their ground under the intense fire. "Morrison, he's unconscious. We might have to go with plan B. Miller?"

 

[Kabboom]

Joachim

I remember our time on one of the Outer Territories planets, a water planet. The nearby red star provided great sunlight, perfect for us soldiers on "shore leave", when our troop transport paused on the way to our actual destination. Captain Butch managed to pull some strings with a few of the ship's crew, and our Fireteam, along with a few others, were allowed on the beach. We had fun that day. Washington finally got over his fear of the waves, Carolina laughed her ass off at Washington, Butch and Lopez had a flexing contest, while Livingsdale and Lennard had a diving contest. But best of all, Allison taught me how to swim.

But that is just a memory now. We're not on the beaches anymore - we're in frozen hell.

"No reported Smierc activity my ass." Livingsdale said, leaning on a storage crate, his hands clutching his injured leg. The RPG shrapnel cut deep, but we had a spare medkit lying around. He's on painkillers, so it should dampen his pain. Captain Butch's face is messed up - a crystal bolt splintered into his face after it hit the piece of cover he was behind, but he can still walk and talk like nothing happened.

Washington's heavily wounded. He was the closest one to the RPG blast. Poor guy's littered with shrapnel, and... his left arm's gone. We're barely keeping him alive on painkillers and bandages, we've covered him with a tarp to protect him from the cold. Carolina's taking care of him, making sure his bandages are tight, and his painkillers administered in the right dosage. She's not looking better either. Her left eye is gone thanks to a stray crystal bolt from the ambush, covered by a simple bandage.

Lennard and Allison are on overwatch. Sarge is making more cover, in anticipation for the next attack. Frankly, we're lucky to be alive. The Smierc almost overran us that time, but Sarge kept them at bay just enough for a storm to come in, forcing them back. It's not any better for us. Our winter uniforms are barely keeping us alive.

The storm's cut down our communications to a constant static. I'm stationed at the comms station, desperately trying to contact anyone. I send a message out every 5 minutes, and it doesn't seem like anyone's picked it up. Allison's come over to check on me, since we all doubt that they're going to attack during the storm.

- This is Fireteam Alpha 1-4, we are stranded, and under attack, HQ, do you copy, over?
- Any luck?
- No, nothing so far. Seems the storm has fucked us.
- Damn weather. I kinda understand why you hate the cold now.
- Yeah. I miss seeing the sun. Don't you?
- Yeah. That time at the beach was fun.

We paused for a second. The sudden situation change has caused everyone to become weary. Things have bogged down. Suddenly, Allison spoke up. "Hey, you think we're gonna get out of this alive?"

I paused for a good while. None of us could answer that question. Her eyes droop down, her lips pressing against each other tightly, as if she regretted asking that question. I looked at her, trying to act tough, trying to present myself as courageous and stern. "We will. Of course we will. Remember that time we got ambushed by that Smierc captured cruiser? We got out of that one. This is nothing."

She looked up at me, her eyes shining like the frozen tundra that we were looking at before the attack started. A glint of hope sparked up inside her, and I could see her pupils widen ever so slightly. I could feel my left hand light up slowly, as if it's blushing. She spots it, of course, and smiles a bit. It's the first time I've seen her smile like this.

That little 'moment' ended, however, when Butch came into our hut.

"Anything?" he asked, his voice a bit hoarse from a piece of shrapnel scraping his neck. I shook my head. "Get out. Livingsdale will take over. The storm's lifting. They're probably gonna attack again. We need everyone there." He said, grabbing his rifle.

Allison and I nod, and we grab our rifles. As we went out, Caroline carried Livingsdale in, the latter cursing after every step. He sits on the chair I was sitting in, and gets to work broadcasting. We head out and get into cover. Lopez gets back to his machine gun, and prepares for war. Lennard looks through his scope, his trigger finger twitchy.

The storm slowly lifts, and the familiar shadows of the Smierc assault troops can faintly be seen. Soon enough, the shooting starts.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wake up, my vision blurry. My head hurts. I've been out for... wait, how long has it been? I try to open my eyes, but they feel so heavy. There's some talking in my ears. The comms? My name. I can hear my name. Wait, that voice, it's familiar. Adam, no... Adrian? Yeah, Adrian. Dropship? What?

As my hearing improves, I also recollect my memories. I remember. Yeah. The dropship. We're on the Smierc flagship. Right. I try my best to lift my eyelids up, and manage to open my right eye. I see... Katherine, using her sidearm to fire into the Smierc, and Miller, arriving at my side with her rifle by the strap.

I shook myself awake, opening both my eyes now. My AI opens up comms. "This is Joachim. I'm up." I get up, still behind cover, and look to my Fireteam. Everyone's exhausted, but still ready for combat. Since my LMG's basically gone at this point, I pull out my Strajk.

"Danny, John, cover fire. Parkins, Dav, assault with grenades." They do so accordingly, pushing the Smierc back. "Now's a good time to push for the hangar! Let's go!" I vault over the cover, and resort to Run & Gun tactics, my IRESS tanking a hit or two as I move from cover to cover. I look at the girls, specifically Katherine.

"C'mon, we've gotta go! Let's go, Allison! Move it!" I said, unaware of the name I blurted out, as I continued my dash.

 

[Perambulation]

(bump LoneSniper87 )

 

[LoneSniper87]

"It's Ashley, but I'm with you!" I shouted, thinking he just mistook my name, but I ran with him, my handgun raised as I fired mainly to keep heads down, let everyone else finish my work. I dropped and empty mag, it clattered to the ground as I put in a fresh one, cocking back the slide and firing again, keeping up with Jao despite how tired I felt. This mission had been going in for far longer and was far more enduring than I had thought, and it's visibly taking a toll on a lot of people.

 

[Perambulation]

Adrian

"Joachim, you there? Is the dropship ready by now? We'll need to start pushing for the hangar fast with our Booster Packs in order to get out before the New Kronan Defense Fleet arrives, over."

After that brief comms transmission, I spot several Mortus Trooper Knights heading to Fireteam Nexus' position. I aimed for some careful pot shots on the Knights' headpieces, keeping their Bio-Field Shields low and to keep their attention on me. Some of the Knights began to set up a fire line to keep my own IRESS down, but I wasn't about to let that happen.

With my inner Silentium reserves recharged, I utilized my own Combo Breaker ability, raising up the troop of Knights into the air before clumping them together into a living ball. After that, I aimed the ball towards another group of Knights, flinging the ball in order to create massive confusion among the Knights. It did manage to kill a couple of Mortus Knights, but I know that their SKANDIA armor is nothing to be joking with.

 

[Perambulation]

(bump)

 

[Henrypika]

Katherine

"Allison? Who-" I stopped to take a look around me, before settling my gaze on Joachim, who was looked at me briefly before he went for the next cover. I vault over the barricade, taking blows from crystal-bolts to the IRESS as it deflects the incoming projectiles, sliding for the next possible cover.

Right on time too. A crack pierced through the air as I heard a bolt go above my head. Hunter, around 25 meters, I thought. I got another fireball, turquoise in color like the stuff out in the halls, flinging it into the Smierc crowd, now mostly consisting of charred SKANDIA wearers recovering from Adrian's bowling ball of flesh. The fireball made contact, exploding in a brilliant blue flash, setting them on fire again.

The flames didn't go out like it was supposed to, but I guess that was a good thing, the bolts were coming in much thinner layers. "Blades out, we're going through."