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

[Henrypika]

Katherine

Even with my eyes closed, it looks like a white sheet had been draped over my eyes, and the heat wave from the shockwave felt... pleasant, energizing in fact. "That certainly worked," taking the shoulder strap of the Zmija, and putting rifle over my burnt out Type-AB, "Remind me to take gun maintenance classes when we get back. But onto more serious matters; you have a blade on you?"

I yank out my katana, "Some of them could be playing dead, and we can't waste ammo firing into their heads. Plus, this is so much satisfying." I silently run over to a few Smierc Knights, charred, with 3rd degree burns, not so much as a twitch now, cutting off their heads, before rifling through their stuff.

Crystal-bolts, no but I might need these. Serum, no but I'll keep one anyway. Assault rifle, no though I'd love to keep one. Pis~ oh, there we go, a mine. Looks like a round block of C4 though with "easy to use" instructions written in an alien language. It had a tiny canister of crystals in it as well as some sort of explosive field in it, which will be good for detonation.

"Okay, I got one. I think there are some grenades on some of the Berserkers too. Better get some of those too, and I think we'll only need one of these mines."

 

[LoneSniper87]

I ripped my knife from the holster at my shoulder. "What kind of soldier doesn't bring a close quarters weapon?" I asked, walking over and kneeling down to stab a Smierc between the eyes. Ammo, rifle, and there is another mine. "Got one!" I said, sliding the mine to Katherine. I ran to a charred Beserker, it's face melted, bone showing partway, but I stabbed it anyway. I took a few grenades off it and clipped them to my belt. "Here comes the boom..." I muttered, tapping my helmet as my playlist shuffled before my eyes, Shepard of Fire starting to play, and I hummed along.

 

[Perambulation]

DM

The New Union Recovery Fleet continues to suffer heavy casualties against... itself. The Smierc Collective's computer virus is strong enough to bypass the numerous security measures set in place by the New Union, and has now managed to take control of most autonomous systems in each New Union Navy ship within the fleet.

"Commander, the NUSS Pedersen, Ninpok, Gamli, and Arinus are all down from friendly fire! We're trying to shut down all wireless communications from the Smierc Collective at Yabrao, but the virus is still in our computer systems!"

The Commander has a sullen look and looks out the video port to a grim background. Numerous New Union Navy ships are in flames and drifting in pieces, torn asunder by their own railguns and missiles. The Smierc Collective orbital defense stations are still pounding away at the vulnerable ships as well, making the situation worse.

"WHERE ARE THE SOLDIERS! WE NEED TO BRING THEM IN NOW AND ESCAPE THROUGH HYPERSPACE!", yelled out the Commander as he slammed his fist onto the command desk.

Several crew members hesitated at the sudden outburst of rage from the Commander himself, who was normally known to hold a calm demeanor even in the most intense of combat situations. The truth is, even Commander Perez is getting tired of the war. This assault on Yabrao was meant to be both a strategic strike against the heart of Smierc Collective manufacturing and to be a massive morale booster for the New Union.

Instead, the whole invasion is a failure because of a s1mple computer virus. A computer virus...


DM

The dropship, Zulu-04, is at the extract point by the time Fireteam Nexus reached it. I hurriedly motioned for the two other Corporals to head inside the dropship, as I contacted the rest of the cooperating Fireteams still nearby enemy forces.

"This is Corporal Morrison of Fireteam Nexus to friendly units. We've got the dropship Zulu-04 at our extract point, and are willing to provide a hot extract in the combat situation. Do you require air support from our dropship, over?"

 

[Henrypika]

Katherine

Perfect, but the commander... "Ugh, I fucking hate this situation." taking a few grenades off of Miller's belt, running in, securing the scavenged explosives that thankfully, were sticky, to the wall of the communications array before jumping out of a blown out window and motioning the captain over to run to the dropship.

Hopefully, they're as powerful as they're rumored to be. "Scavenge what you can and let's get the hell out of here!" I said to Miller as I dashed for the extraction area.

"This is Corporal Katherine, I'm heading for the dropship. Might want to put in some earplugs too." Upon arrival to the extraction point, I slow down to a light walk, and see the remnants of Unity and Nexus, bloodied, wearing long faces. Idiots... Everyone in this... This... 'Union'. Miller being the exception.

The inbound blips are getting closer, I'd say no more than about five minutes till now.

Flipping off my microphone, I start venting to myself, all my frustration and anger, under my breath, "That's all that stops us... A fucking computer virus. Had they been more talented, like my world, they could have identified and scrubbed that virus in a matter of minutes. Or better yet, forced manual control and manual targeting to take out the defense systems, and if they really had to, shut off the weapons array entirely..."

 

[LoneSniper87]

I shook my head more as the Commander spoke once more. Who knew a fucking virus would wipe an entire fleet into debris in minutes. A fucking virus. I'm never letting that go. "Captain Miller of Fireteam Omaha, I want everyone clear of the comms building and on this dropship ASAP." I said, grabbing a few more holobolt mags as I jogged to the dropship. Katherine seemed really capable of herself, and definately had leader material in her. I switched off my own comm as I heard Katherine muttering things. I walked and set a hand on her arm. "Look, I know it's rediculoud our support turned tail..." I paused for a moment, regretting my word choice. "...And ran but we still got the job done, thanks to you." I said, then heading over to the dropship. Those who were left were ragged and beaten, as well as my own men. Some nursed wounds like gashes or even one who was missing his lower arm, his unconscious body held up by another soldier. I sighed as I boarded, taking a seat and taking the wounded soldier of the other man's hands. "Clusterfuck, but we got it done, yeah?" I said, trying to be encouraging.

 

[Kabboom]

Joachim

Bloody hell, I never thought it would go to shit like this. First, I thought it was just a glitch in the comm devices, or my ear acting up again, but noooooo, it was a full blown virus. A virus stopped the entire New Union offensive on Yabrao. A FUCKING VIRUS! I CAN'T KILL THEM ANYMORE, BECAUSE THE JERK-OFFS AT COMMAND ORDERED A RETREAT, BECAUSE A FUCKING VIRUS KILLED THEIR ENTIRE NAVY!

I paused a bit, face flushing red because of anger, and break from the tantrum in my mind. The ringing in my ears had intensified to a deafening level, blotting out the voices of my friend, Davo. "Hey, you alright?" said the man. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine." I said. "Comet, we're pulling out. Orders from the top." I said to all my men. "Damn virus has fucked our ships in orbit. Anyone who's left in the air is coming to pick us up. On me." I said.

As I moved out, the comms piece in my ear kept ringing out messages. Connection to the orbital fleet has been severed due to the virus, but local comms still works, so that's why I can still hear them. Katherine and Miller have come up with a plan. Nexus has a dropship moving to them, designated Zulu-04. Not sure if just one ship can accommodate all of us, but we'll try. After all, we- no, most of us, we're grunts. We're used to being stuffed like sardines.

"This is Corporal Morrison of Fireteam Nexus to friendly units. We've got the dropship Zulu-04 at our extract point, and are willing to provide a hot extract in the combat situation. Do you require air support from our dropship, over?" said Morrison, the (temporary) leader of Nexus. I press my hands up to my comms and broadcast. "Negative on air support, Nexus. Katherine and Miller have the CDS covered and are pulling out. We're pulling out too, en route to you. ETA 2 minutes. Request you keep the engines running--"

My words were cut short, as I bumped into something in the complex. It was a large thing, and apparently, it was a Mortus trooper. My eyes glimpsed to the corridor where it came from, and spot about 20 others. Must be the "large group" that Katherine was talking about. They got here a bit sooner than she had predicted, apparently.

I scream at the top of my lungs, as I draw my Claymore and sliced the Mortus trooper, taking away his Bio-Field. I then empty half my Strajk magazine into the guy, dropping him instantly. I can hear Davo and the other Corporals opening fire whilst screaming down the corridor, as crystal bolts were fired back at us.

"FUCKING RUN!" I yelled to the Fireteam as I ran backwards first. "RETREAT TO THE ARMORY! ARMORY!" I yelled to the guys on the comm, as they ran with me. Crystal bolts raced past us, and the Sergeant, Davos and I alternated our covering fire back at the pursuing Mortus. I grab one of the Corporals' grenades and threw it down the corner, erupting in a big explosion, followed by Smierc screaming.

As we ran into the armory room, one of the Corporals were hit in the back. His IRESS had given out, and the crystal lit up his spine. He screamed in agony, and I fired down the armory in retaliation, killing a Mortus trooper in the process, as one of the other Corporals clutch our fallen comrade in his hands.

I spin around to see a dead man. The crystal bolt had embedded itself deep in his spine, frying his nervous system, killing the man almost instantly. "He's dead. Let him go." I said to the Corporal, before turning to Davo. "Plant explosives on that ammo dump. Time to make it go boom." I crouch down and take the deceased Corporal's ID tag, before firing another 20 rounds blind down the corridor, into the Mortus.

As the explosives were set, I ordered everyone out. My plan had backfired somewhat, as we couldn't clear the blast zone in time, and some of the Mortus were able to follow us through. But still, the explosion must've caught at least 10 of them, killing them instantly. 9 more were still following us, judging by the volume of crystal bolts coming at us. I reach to my comms, and inform the guys.

"Zulu-04, this is Fireteam Comet, we're coming out of the complex..." the transmission was interrupted by a bit static, as a crystal bolt dug into my back, depleting half of my IRESS energy. "... to your 10 o'clock. We're coming in hot. Prep for immediate dust-off. Over." I end the transmission, before turning around to empty the remainder of my MG magazine down the corridor.

We sprint out of the complex, but of course, something just had to go wrong. Our remaining Marksman, Carlison, had his sniper rifle snagged on the entrances, blocking Sgt. Parkins and another Corporal from escaping. The sniper rifle had wedged him in place. I moved to free the rifle in vain, before dis-engaging the magnetic latch, freeing the man from this trap. But of course, it was too late.

My eye, as it darted to the left, had seen a Berserker, with a block of sticky explosives charging towards the men still inside the complex. "BOMB!" I yelled, as I jumped to the ground outside the complex, dragging Carlison by the neck with me.

 

[Trappy]

Daelen

We hightailed towards our supposed EVAC, Zulu-04. I did not expect shit to go down like this. Fucking hell, it could've been a Smierc counter-attack, or an attack fleet overpowering the Winchester Fleet, which then forces us to a full retreat. Yeah nah, it's a fucking virus. And now all the efforts are being thrown overboard, 'cuz of a fucking virus. All those men died during the assault for nothing, 'cuz of a fucking virus. A fucking virus, I may have overestimated the lads at New Union Command when I signed up for this. A virus infiltrated their system and they had no bloody idea. I let out muffled swears as we ran across the complex to the dropship. I was too frustrated but I couldn't do anything about it, it felt like I would explode. At this rate, these lads aren't going anywhere in this Resistance War they started against the Smierc.

My train of negative thoughts came to a halt when Joachim suddenly stopped, staggering the whole squad. He then summoned his claymore and only then, that I noticed the Smierc. Down an alleyway, I saw more of them. It's an entire fuckin' fireteam headed for us. I screamed as loud as I could and fired my machine gun down the alleyway, as crystal bolts shredded the air, flying towards us. Joachim ran backwards first as he yelled: "RETREAT TO THE ARMOURY! ARMOURY!" He threw a grenade belt towards the pursuing Smierc and we ran towards the Armoury.

We made it to the armoury, I noticed one of the Corporals was hit in his back, the crystal bolts having penetrated his IRESS and bursting his back into blood. It was truly unfortunate that it didn't just fry his spine along with his nervous system. He would've been dead instantly, like that Corporal over there, lying face-down with his back fried. I figured he didn't have to suffer such overwhelming pain. His scream troubled me. Meanwhile, Joachim was spraying holo-bolts at the Smierc, apparently these Mortus troopers have not given up pursuing us.

"What now Cap'n?" -I said to the man, while leaning on one of the ammo crates.
"Plant explosives on that ammo dump. Time to make it go boom."- He answered, as he kneeled down to get the dead Corporal's ID tag, before firing blind down the corridor.

The whole invasion plan had gone to shit, but at least we'll get to see some stunning fireworks before we leave this beautiful paradise. I planted 5 big charges on the conveniently placed stacks of ammo crates. We then ran down another corridor, but unfortunately, bad timing. There was a large boom, just as expected. When I opened my eyes, I was lying flat on the ground and there were like billions of tiny microscopic bells ringing at once in my ears.

But there was no time for a nap, Sergeant Parkins pulled me up from the dirt. "Come on, let's get the fuck outta here!"- He said, and we sprinted out of the complex. I can't recall what happened afterward, but something went wrong. I remember Joachim yelled "BOMB!" and there was some explosion. I figured it was a Berserker, those bastards are obsessed with suicide-bombing, but it's a pretty efficient technique, I might add. I was on the ground, again, dirt and blood on my visor. I saw Sgt. Parkins lying next to me, but parts of his limbs were missing. His right leg was not there and his left arm was messed up. It was a poor excuse of a limb, it was all minced meat. Then I saw Carley, the man managed to get a Dziki's Bio-Field down and was fighting it with his bayonet. He wasn't gonna make it, I tried my best to fight back against the ringing bells in my ears, and reached for my machine gun.

 

[Perambulation]

Adrian

I can now see the other Fireteams making their way to the dropship. Looks like we didn't really need to do an hot landing for them. In the distance, I can see a massive explosion around where the CDS communications array was. At least we completed our objective I guess.

"What is going on? How did the New Union fall to a virus attack? I know for a fact that the New Union utilizes an active AI-assisted anti-electronic warfare package for all their military assets."

That's when a massive earthquake hit. A massive one for sure. The entire ground began to crack in all directions, making it more difficult for the soldiers to make it onto the dropship.

"COME ON FIRETEAMS! WE'VE GOT AN EARTHQUAKE TO DEAL WITH NOW! MOVE MOVE MOVE!", I yelled at the still incoming friendly soldiers.

Corporal Ingris and Amis are still starting at me dirty, and they've been at it for a while. Who knows what'll happen to Fireteam Nexus now.


DM

The Commander finally managed to shut down any potential gateways for any more Smierc Collective viruses to enter the ship's mainframe. The assistant AI of the NUSS Artemis III, Edward, manages to confirm that all remaining virus fragments are cleared. Just as the Commander is about to breathe a sigh of relief and hurry up the retreat procedures, a sudden warning began to pop up all around the flagship's bridge.

"WARNING WARNING! Dangerous energy levels building up from the planet's surface. WARNING WARNING!", cried out the ship's early warning system.

That usually meant an immediate barrage of the Smierc Collective's deadly barrage of anti-ship lasers, which usually drain New Union shields in no time. Considering that the entire Fleet Winchester is badly damaged, it's not even sure if most of the ships will survive.

"All ships! Immediate evasive action and brace!", the Commander yelled into the comms network.

However, the expected laser barrage never arrived. Instead, the Commander was horrified to see a massive wave of green energy hurling towards the New Union Recovery Fleet. Every ship that got caught in the wave was vaporized, completely without a chance to survive. About half the surviving ships of the Recovery Fleet Winchester got deleted in a span of seconds.

(Yeah, let's get into the dropships and leave folks. It's over for the New Union for this battle)

 

[Henrypika]

Katherine

I cringed slightly at the unintended, by Miller's face with contrite feelings about it, pun, "Thanks for sticking by me back there."

I did a double take on my team. What was a cheery group of novice strategists was now a ragged, worn down, and just plain down (emotionally) group of moping. I later learned that the Captain was KIA as well, sadly. And then I remember our jeep...

"Shit, one last thing to do." I said, running out of the dropship, in the midst of the earthquake, gathering the scavenged guns I got from my first scavenging trip, finding the armory blown to bits, before returning to the dropship, opening the cargo bay and dropping everything else in there, grenades kept on my own person. "Extra gear for me to modify some guns with.

"And Morrison, that was the armory. The communications array is still intact... For now. Get on that joystick. FT Comet, get the fuck over here, post haste! I have bombs set in he communications array, and by the amount I put in there, that whole area will go boom! Best fireworks on the house...

"IF YOU GET OUT OF THERE TO SEE IT!!!"

Then one of the surviving Unity corporals suddenly sat up straight, before asking, "How... How many did you put in there...?"

To which I replied, "Oh, 2 mines and about 10 Sticky Grenades. Plus my fire." Snapping my fingers for that spark, though not concentrating on anywhere for the fire to erupt at, so no danger in premature explosions.

 

[LoneSniper87]

I was listening to the radio chatter, looking down as I heard the screams of Fireteam Comet and the trouble they were in. I'm not much of a religious person, but then I started praying silently for thier safe return. I heard the explosion and my heart sank. "Parkins?" I asked as my flipped my comm back on, my voice quiet. When there was no response my heart sank further. "No... Comet what happened?"

 

[Perambulation]

Adrian

"Huh, the armory? Makes sense to take care of that. Oh yeah, we have a separate pilot you know, Corporal Katherine."

I signaled the pilot to start the take off sequence. Looks like all of our teams made it onboard. Just then, the pilot took on a concerned look as he received a comms message. Looking back at the rest of the Sabre Corps soldiers, the pilot rerouted the message to the dropship's PA system.

"This is Commander Perez of Recovery Fleet Winchester. The computer virus was a ruse to get the fleet distracted. About half of our surviving fleet was wiped out in some massive energy wave. All dropships, your orders are to return to a surviving New Union ship within 5 minutes. That's how much time our assistant AIs have estimated before the Smierc Collective fires that energy wave again. Commander out."

With the message, I turned a bit pale. Corporal Amis and Ingris both ended up pale as well, before taking on a more hostile demeanor.

"This is all your fault Morrison! You've dragged our Fireteam, and now the entire Fleet into this mess! You always do! Don't think that we don't know your combat records! You always had too many friendly units harmed or even killed in every team you were a part of! Now you bring it to all of us! You're cursed!!", Coporal Amis yelled out.

With that, I punched the wall of the speeding dropship once to get everyone's attention.

"You think I want this to happen? What am I even supposed to do!", I shouted back before slamming Amis up the walls of the dropship using his armor. I stared down Amis, and he stared back defiantly, wiping away a bit of blood from the corner of his mouth.

 

[LoneSniper87]

"Hey!" I shouted at the two corporals, moving the wounded man back to the other soldier as I rose. "Do you think he dragged the fleet into this battle. Do you think he sat there and begged the Commander to go attack this comm station! Do you!? No! We were dragged into this mess because we can do the job! And maybe if you wanted this to go differently you should taken charge instead of bitching about him!" I said, feeling anger rising in my throat, threatening to boil over, so I let it. I walked up to Ingris, lifted him up, and slammed him into the side of the ship. "Maybe you should assess the damn situation like you were taught, and realize this guy probably ended up saving more lives than you sorry excuse for a Sabre Corps did! You make me sick Corporal!" I finished, letting him go. "If I hear one more word out of either of you I will personally man the firing squad executing you for Insubordination. Do you understand?" I growled, keeping my eyes on them as I sat back down and took the wounded man once more. "Be glad you came out unscathed, unlike this guy who did something other than whine! Same with Morrison, you should be commending him, not damning him!" I huffed loudly, staring them down like I was burning them to death with lasers from my eyes, then looked away. I wanted to knock those two out, but I held back my anger this time. "Morrison, good job today, I think you would've made your Captain and Sergeant proud with how you had the courage to take charge.

 

[Henrypika]

Katherine

After I confirmed that the remnants of Fireteam Comet have cleared the area, I closed my eyes, taking a sharp, well-defined inhale through my nose, channeling my anger towards the two Nexus Corporals before my hand flicked off the countdown. "I would look outside if I were you. And cover your ears too."

My thumb came in contact with my middle finger, gripping hard into the skin before finally sliding off, a huge spark flying out into the ceiling, the snap, echoing through the dropship, before being followed by a enormous flash of white light from the ground, clearing to reveal a huge fireball engulfing the whole complex, and then a loud shockwave rippled through the sky and across the landscape, flattening the extensive forest and causing our dropship to buck wildly as it passed through the passenger compartment, debris flying past the windows.

That's when I finally let it all out, "Amis, Ingris, you don't know shit on your own curse is, and you say that Corporal Morrison here is cursed? Sure, we all lost a few of our friends, comrades, maybe even loved ones to a war, or a battle, an ambush perhaps, but that gives you NO right to go pinning the blame on the next fella!"

Glaring deeply into Amis's eyes, which I could almost see through and into his thoughts, finding one of the most implacable grudges I have ever 'seen' in a long time; I don't even need to see myself to know that they're glowing like red hot coals fresh from the fireplace, "Even if you don't have a curse of your own to worry about, I'll sure give you one. Say one more word to Morrison that he's cursed. I. fucking. dare. you."

I was almost to tears at this point, remembering my brother, how he was accidentally cursed by me. Me and my poor self-control when I was so young and I met him on that mountain. But... This wasn't my brother were talking about. It's just another fucker who doesn't know his place. Just another person who possesses no respect for others around him, folks who are supposed to be his comrades.

 

[Kabboom]

Joachim

I grabbed on to a Corporal, the only remaining Corporal out of that small batch of 'reinforcements' that were still alive. Nuñez, I think his name was. He was unconscious, his armor charred from the Berserker suicide bomb. I look around, struggling to see, as my visor is fogged up with dust and debris, and a thousand bells ringing in my head. I spot my friend, Davo, dragging... oh God, that guy is hurt bad.

I turn my head forward, and see Carlison fighting another Dziki-wearer with his bayonet. Brave man, but he's losing the fight, as the Dziki wearer wrests the bayonet out of his hands and starts to choke him. I reach for my Strajk, but the Mortus trooper was already gunned down in a hail of fire from Davo's Dzida. Carlison drops down, gasping for air, as Davo throws his sticky explosives into the corridor, and detonating it almost instantly, killing another Mortus trooper trying to climb out through the small gap, and, promptly, sealing that gap as well.

Carlison stands up and goes to help Davo with carrying Sgt. Parkins, while I throw Nuñez onto my back. We began hauling ass towards Zulu-04, which is hovering, preparing to take off, just 15 metres in front of us. We were running as fast as we could, when suddenly, the ground shook violently, making me drop to the ground, and the two other guys from my Fireteam stumbling, as they try to carry a Fireteam Omaha member. I got on my feet quickly, and ran as fast as a man could run, with another man on his back, in the middle of an earthquake.

I throw Nuñez onto the dropship, his back slamming against the floor, spooking some of the occupants. I jump, and land on the thing on both of my feet. To my left, I see what's left of Sgt. Parkins being hurled onboard, followed by two members climbing up the ramp, breathing heavily. The dropship has taken off the ground, as the earthquake worsened.

I spin around to face the occupants of the dropship, and, of course, there's some unnecessary tension bullshit going on. Hang on a minute. Is that... Morrison? Who's that he's holding against the wall? Wait... oh no, they're both on their own feet now. Hey, is that Katherine? Why's she got, like, 10, 20 Smierc guns around her? Ooh, pretty fireworks display, if I say so myself. Alright, now back to the argument. Oh, she's jumped in. There's Miller, too. Oh, now he is also in on the argument. That Corporal is in a loooot of shit.

I turn around, to see my buddy, Davo, panting uncontrollably on the floor. I reach a hand to him, and pull him up. "Jesus, man, you believe this shit in here, Dav? We busted our asses getting to this LZ, lost all of our Fireteam within the first minutes-" I pause to fix my sentence, as I spot Carlison in the corner, trying to wake up Corporal Nuñez. "-Almost all of our Fireteam, and yet we still cleared a complex, destroyed an ammo dump, and killed 30 plus Mortus troopers. And THEY DIDN'T EVEN TRY TO SUPPORT US, EVEN WHEN WE WERE 15 METERS FROM THEIR FUCKING SHIP!" I say, just loud enough for them to hear. I thought this was a good idea. But then again, social interactions don't mix well with me.

But I stand by what I said. If they had just... did something, anything... to help us out back there, then maybe, just maybe, more lives could've been saved. Those 2 Corporals, Jackson and Berkins, they might've lived. Sergeant Parkins... he could've made it out in one piece. Yet they did nothing. I know I'm a Twisted Wolf, a merciless, lying mercenary who fights only for the highest bidder, but that definitely does not mean I'm just a cold, emotionless machine. I know the cost of a life lost in the battlefield, too. Why didn't they help me out? Why?

 

[Trappy]

Daelen

Carley was most definitely not gonna make it. That Smierc was twice his size, now a bayonet wouldn't do him any good. I got my MG, just as the Dziki wearer wrested Carley's bayonet out of his hand and grabbed him, lifting the man up, choking him. I turned around and emptied what's left in that magazine on the Smierc, dropping him hard on the ground like a chunk of solid metal. Then I pulled my explosive belt, tossed it into the corridor and detonated it. Hopefully some Smierc were caught in that explosion, 'cuz it was a big one. The corridor collapsed fromthe explosion, so those bastards weren't chasing after us anymore. I felt out of breath, and my chest hurt so much that I wouldn't be surprised if it just popped.

I breathed heavily as Carley helped me on my feet. Hell, the man wasn't even standing straight himself. Over there I saw Parkins, or what's left of him, anyway. Unfortunately he's alive, poor lad, I couldn't imagine the pain he was going through. It might be better for himself if he had just died there. But he didn't, tough as naisl, this one. I wiped the negative thoughts off my mind, and picked him up with Carley. After all, who am I to judge what's better for him?

I saw Joachim picking up the remaining corporal. I didn't remember his name, but I figured I would ask him. He's alive somehow, although it appeared he was unconscious. We then ran through the bush towards the dropship, Zulu-04, which was hovering, preparing to take off. We hurled Parkins onto the ramp and one of the occupants of the dropship dragged him inside. When we hopped onto the dropship, something hot was going on. From the look of it, one of the corporals picked a fight with... Morrison, was it? Long story short, they were arguing. This and that, I couldn't really hear what they were talking about. Billions of tiny bells were still ringing in my ears. But I heard Joachim, well, I assume it was because he said it loud with intention to do so.

"Fucking hell man..."- I replied. It was like my chest would burst at any moment, I was struggling with myself enough. I sat down one of the empty seat, leaned back and closed my eyes.

 

[Henrypika]

Katherine

I slowly took out a hot crystal-bolt, still burning, pressing the wide side into my arm, the heat making me feel all the much better, as I listened to a guy named Joachim talking, ears sharp for anything.

"Jesus, man, you believe this shit in here, Dav?" -that would probably his friend he was pulling up- "We busted our asses getting to this LZ, lost all of our Fireteam within the first minutes~ almost all of our Fireteam, and yet we still cleared a complex, destroyed an ammo dump, and killed 30 plus Mortus troopers. And THEY DIDN'T EVEN TRY TO SUPPORT US, EVEN WHEN WE WERE 15 METERS FROM THEIR FUCKING SHIP!"

Now I just feel plain guilty now... 'I could have been sniping from the ship. I could have done... SOMETHING.' I thought, pressing the wide side of crystal-bolt still deeper into my arm, this time in anger towards myself.

My attention turned to Sergeant Parkins, several limbs missing, and still alive by what I'm seeing. The sight horrified me beyond measure.

 

[LoneSniper87]

"Well perhaps if something would have happened more would have died to your suicide bomber problem." I said quietly. "It is not on me, or Katherine, or Morrision, or anybody with what happened today. Sure we lost lives, two Fireteams, maybe more, were almost completely wiped out. But that blame or responsibility falls on nobody!" I said, starting to get angered again, my voice getting louder. I rose from my seat and glanced to a mangled Parkins, the sight of him putting me on the verge of tears.

"If we had more men, we could have had less loss of life today. Had this gone as planned, we could have eaisly taken out this comm array. But news flash, NOT EVERYTHING GOES AS YOU PLAN!" I shouted. "SO WHAT TWO FIRETEAMS ALMOST DIED, MANY ARE DEAD AND MY SERGEANT AND MY MEN I SENT WITH YOU ARE DEAD OR DYING!" My hands were going into fists, but I did not move. "I don't blame for the deaths of my team, a suicide bomber isn't planned for or expected. SO DON'T BLAME US WHEN SOMETHING UNEXPECTED HAPPENS!!! Perhaps next time something happens on your watch I will blame you, Jaochim. We will see how well you can take the blame considering to you we can all take it fine, hmm?" I said, with a cold look in my eyes. Nothing was anyone's fault, but those who throw the blame on others made me want to strangle them.

"You aren't the only person on this ship who lost someone today, keep that in mind before you starting bitching about others, got it, sir?" I asked, the last word sounded sarcastic. "Now get us out of here before we get stranded, I may end up killing a few blues if I get stuck with whiners." She said, staring down the Corporals. She understood Jaochim's anger, but dishing it out on others like that was unjustified. Nobody her could predict when they were in trouble, and they never asked for assistance. The blame is more toward command to me, they were the one's who pulled out first, leaving us S.O.L. I leaned back in my seat, glancing to the wounded at my side and to Parkins, and I unconsciously gripped his none mangled hand, praying harder than ever this tough bastard would pull through.

 

[Henrypika]

Katherine

"Could we PLEASE start treating the ones who've been injured BEFORE we get into MORE verbal bullshit and MORE people dying here?!" I start holding to Parkins. "Pass me a Med-kit." Taking off my yellow scarf and giving it to Miller, "Wrap his arm up with this."

 

[Perambulation]

DM

As the dropship moves into orbit, alongside various other dropships from the earlier ground assault, it became clear that Fleet Winchester is in a bad shape. Once clear of the atmosphere, the dropships are presented with a ravaged orbit, with multiple crushed New Union ships and debris everywhere. The Yabrao orbital defense stations immediately begin to fire their AA lasers and missiles. Several dropships do not manage to avoid the incoming enemy fire, and spiral out of control.

The NUSS Artemis III confirms the incoming dropships and begins the procedure to initiate the landing sequence. The flagship opens its hangar doors to allow the dropships to start heading in. As a precaution, the NUSS Artemis III keeps its point-defense turrets online for any enemy missiles and fighters, but the response, strangely, does not come from the orbital defense stations. The Commander quickly checks his dashboard, where he finds that the timer has only about a minute left before the energy wave begins once more.

"Come on, let's get these dropships in now! I don't care if some of them have rough landings, tell them to rush in!", the Commander ordered the Captain.

Some dropship actually did manage to crash inside the hangar, spinning uncontrollably near the ground crew and trashing a couple of repair materials. However, most of the dropships manage to land safely, as the Smierc Collective fires off its massive energy wave.

The sight was a horror to all, as the massive green wave started to emanate from one of the orbital defense stations. The NUSS Artemis III and the other surviving ships of Recovery Fleet Winchester rushed into hyperspace, leaving a couple of dropships as a result of the hasty evacuations. For the left behind dropships, their deaths are swift and silent as the energy wave engulfed them.

And thus, the New Union suffered a massive loss at Yabrao. The troops are silent on the journey back to the Core Worlds to regroup and assess the situation.

(ARC 1 END)

(Now, feel free to RP out the journey back until I start the next ARC. I can tell that our characters are not having their best days )

 

[LoneSniper87]

I nodded, taking the scarf and wrapping it around messed up arm, trying to be brave for the sake of the others, but in all honesty I was a mess. I was starting to tear up as the reality of the situation hit me. So many of us had died, and for what? The question made me really think about what happened. We should have done more scouting before our assualt, but the past is the past.

"So Katherine... What's your take on the situation?" Is said, not trying to get at anyone by being loud or being quiet so others won't hear. "With everything that happened, what is your opinion?" I asked. I glanced around to those in this dropship. Parkins, Dav and Jaochim, my impression of them is good men, but a bit on the complaining side for Jao. Amis and Ingris... Good-for-nothings, both of them. Katherine is a very good thinker and can keep her cool pretty well and Morrision, for what his track record says, seems to be a victim of circumstance.

"Alright guys and gals, do I have to buy the first round or am I drinking alone tonight?"

 

[Henrypika]

Katherine

As we landed, hardcore in the hanger of the NUSS Artemis III, I look outside the stern window to see the gigantic green energy wave right before the hyperspace jump back to the core worlds, probably to get our bearings and rebuild our forces.

"I..." I honestly don't know how to answer. "I feel I feel like we could have done more down there. Maybe tear up some more Smierc infrastructure, gather Intel on their ass. Maybe we could have cleared the whole fucking planet of the Smierc. With the right commander... With the right strategist..."

I trail off, falling to the floor, punching a padded seat, my thoughts on what my brother could have done, my vision blurring to the burning tears building up in my eyes, though short-lived as I quickly rubbed them away before taking on what I had to do right now.

"I'm going to take Parkins to the infirmary, and... some hot cocoa later would be nice, but for now, we need a stretcher to get him over there." I get up, turning my attention to Parkins, "The explosion he took luckily stopped some of the bleeding from his missing leg, but I'm not sure if he'll be back in action. He's alive, barely. Let's hope they don't put him back in without some time for him to think."

"Joachim, how's everyone on your side? I snagged a Revival Serum off of some dead Knight if you need it."

 

[LoneSniper87]

"I got him..." I muttered, shaking off the offers of help as I lifted Parkins up, then carried him in a Fireman's Carry to the infirmary. Some people gave me weird looks, but I shrugged them off, too worried about Parkins to worry about the looks I got. I walked into the infirmary and set Parkins gently down on a bed, then looked at him with a small smile. "See you on the other side." I said quietly, turning and walking toward the lounge, trying to find the nearest bottle of liquor to help me forget for a time. I then remembered Katherine and how she wanted to talk. 'Lounge, East Wing, you got 20 minutes. I will pay for you drinks." I said on a private channel with her, then took off my helmet as I walked into the bar, sitting down and motioning for the bartender to get me anything. "Something strong." I added, glancing around the room.

 

[Henrypika]

Katherine

Oh shoot, 20 minutes? I set the Revival Serum on the seat before I run over to the barracks, proceed on getting changed into a fresh vest and set of clothes, before running over to the East wing... which was a lot harder to find because there isn't really an 'east'... to find the Lounge.

I enter, finding it heavy with smoke and with the strong smell of alcohol, before getting stopped up by an older man, about 30 in age by appearance, way older than me, before he said, "Hey cutie, wanna have a night?"

"Fuck no, get away from me, you pervert," jumping up and tail slapping him in the face before trying to walk away, but he suddenly grabbed me by the arm, holding some giant revolver to my face.

"Come with me or die." He was fucking threatening me!

"No." Meeting him eye to eye, "Lower your gun." His eyes glazed over, before dropping the gun, at my order... and then his body on the floor, unconscious, probably from trying to regain control over his mind. That and he was probably reeling drunk. "Thank you."

I find Miller at the end of the bar counter, looking at the bartender before ordering, "Hot cocoa please, or strong coffee." The bartender looked at me curiously before going and fulfilling my order, with some strong encouragement from mu control, which gave me a little bit of time to talk to Miller before the bartender came back.

"So..." I started, pausing to take a moment to figure out what I'm going to ask, "What's your take on all of this?"

 

[LoneSniper87]

"Clusterfuck." I said simply. "This wasn't a hard op, but we took it too lightly, and it backfired horribly. I've got a sergeant in the infirmary, and another man as well. Comet, Unity, and Nexus are in shambles, and the New Union Fleet was decimated. I learned that some people are a bunch of complainers and that, for a Corporal, you have some real amazing talent behind you. You could lead your own Fireteam one day, if you wanted." I told her, being honest. "And my arm should be fine, may need to lay off it for a few days, but nothing major it seems." I told her, then looked at her. "So anything you wanna ask me about? You said you wanted to talk if we made it if I remember correctly." That was when I realized I was still in my armor, partially charred and bloodstained. "One sec." I said, quickly jogging off to the barracks to change from my armor to grey long-sleeve shirt, black pants and some boots, then walked back. I didn't bother to shower because you couldn't smell anything but smoke in that place, and besides I wasn't that bad off anyway. "Back, fire away Kath." I said.

 

[Perambulation]

(Just to note, everyone please follow the OoC thread, as I'll make announcements there to free the main thread from clutter)