MS Hellhounds Saga: Children of Mars (Discontinued)

With further events progressing along with time, most went to the dinner, though a few returned to their own tasks, it was not the ice breaker the Captain had hoped for, but it was a start. Over the next couple of day's time was spent largely in transit to a communications hub in the Artimis sector within UED space, contracts were to be had, and unsurprisingly the source of the disruption was within the ISC. A loosely united collection of worlds that was prone to internal conflict and squables, next to the various rebellions in the Imperium, wild space, and the occasional revolts within the Combine it was one of the most profitable regions for "Free Privateers," Mercenaries and Pirates. So long as one was not an organized faction inside of ISC space the other members couldn't care less.

Still, that didn't much narrow down what they were doing, till bit by bit it did. Near the outskirts Argian Sector in the Gillem System a long and thought to be dormant conflict raged on the 4th planet of the system, Artanis. Overlooking the data on her PDA, Erika was slow to get to her feet, having been laying on her bed as she lazily gazed at the contents. "I like money but I also like sleep... I guess I better summon the rest."

Finally on her feet, Erika enters the commons area and sends a message to the personal PDA's of everyone in the unit, a simple message that left little leeway and was clearly in command. "Commons Room, Fifteen Minutes, drop what you are doing and get here now. We have work."

Pressing Send, it wasn't too long till Sandra found her way to the room, seemingly having been in the room she shared with Fulke. "Huh, already? Damn, good year. So what's up or uh I just piss off till time?" "Just wait around, you get to see me play the part of officer today." "Heh. Alright then."

As the minutes tick by and the rest are assembled, with or without complaint, Erika rolls straight into the briefing, making use of the multimedia displayer in the commons room to showcase the Sector, Star System and Planet.


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"Artanis, one of three habitual Worlds in the Gillem System, they had four till the Great War." Not bothering to show what had happened to the 4th planet, Erika zooms in to a continental view. "A temperate world, with a few cities, lots of hills, a few plains, woodlands, bit more comfortable than Mars, main industry seems to be mining and tourism. Population numbers around one billion, Industry is mainly geared to ground warfare of the most basic types.

Durning the Great Galactic War Gilland was wiped out via orbital bombardment and saturation with Nukes, not all of its citizens died but came to reside on the other three hab worlds of the system, some 60 million souls, as Artanis was the most developed of what remained. A majority of the politics, wealth and cultural domenince of the planet fell into the hands of the Gillandians, while the Artanesians were stuck doing most of the work and industrial occupations. Though Sister planets, this state of affairs and the rural minded nature of the Artanesians has led to various disputes and rebellions over the last three hundred years. This time around the Artanesians seem to be rather serious with their aims and goals with a few divisions of troops joining the insurrectionists. The cause of the unrest seems to be over the Central Government's land reform plan, which would have allowed more urban residents to take up land for settlements from the less profitable mines and farms on planet to encourage rural population growth, though with little compensation.

The Artanesians want the Gillandians wiped out among the more radical elements of the rebellion and the more moderate want a more even share of the pie with a democratic government set up. The Gillandians want to prevent this and to save their own necks, decrying the rebels as being unreasonable holdouts from a bygone age. Currently two contracts are being offered, one from the Insurrectionists and one from the Central Government.

Given limited industry in the system, both sides possess limited forces, only a small handful of MS units are on the whole planet and its debatable what sort of condition they are in. The bulks of armed forces are in the form of Infantry and Armored Divisions with some fixed wing and rotary air assets, either side we stand against is going to get steamrolled pretty hard till we run into another Free Privateers force. Though if you get careless they do have the means to make you bleed."

With a few button presses, a number of combined arms forces were shown, with AA, Tanks, Infantry, APCs and IFV's showcased, ancient models based on templates from some five hundred years ago that looked like somewhat modernized ancient earth designs. A pause was then to follow, before she brought up both contracts, or at least the stated pay for both jobs.

The Rebels were offering about the same rate and were in a desperate need to take a section of bases on the Northen landmass, it seemed mothballed weapons and TS's were being reactivated here by the Federal Forces, it was a priority conflict, and the Rebels were outgunned locally. The Central Government, however, was in dire straits on the central plains leading away the Capital City from a sudden mechanized rush that it was barely able to contain. They wanted support to cover evacuations at worst and to push the Rebels back into the hillands and away from the capital at best. The pay however was the same once expenses were caluclated, weapons replenished, armor replaced, and reactors fueled, five to seven thousand credits would be left over, which when one considered a basic infantryman was only getting one to two thousand, then it was still a bit.

"So, what I want from all of you is to answer any questions you have and for what is your pick of the two operations, I can't say you'll get what you want but it helps. I do have some limited information on the order of battle we can expect, also we won't be operating alone across the whole front, but we will likely be thrown at the most difficult spots."

For her part Sandra said nothing as she chewed on some meat jerky of one sort or another, she was interested in seeing how the rest would respond.
 
At last, it was finally time to get the most interesting and rewarding part of this job or at least prelude to it. The introduction of this planet's circumstances wasn't anything too special to Sev. It sounded the like usual reasons for war to happen. And of course, from comes destruction. Thankfully, this one seemed rather simple, with only two major factions involved. The rebels and central government. Sev didn't really care that much which one of the factions he was going to work with, but more so focused on which one would give the better payout, future contract opportunities and most importantly the one least likely to backstab you.

Based on the Captain's reports, it sounded like both factions were equally weak, leading to their group becoming some sort of "kingmaker", effectively deciding who becomes the new faction in charge. Shaping history, a chance to make a change in this world, for better a for worse. The armaments from both sides were lackluster, prompting Sev to look slightly disappointed. He had lost track of his vehicular kills after the first few thousand. They were nothing to him. If it wasn't for his machine's recorded footage, he would probably completely forget about the amount of them he had personally "decommissioned".

Since both factions were relatively equal in power, the deciding factor shouldn't be the size of their forces. And with that, Sev finally decided to share his opinion on the matter. "Do the Hellhounds have any history with either of these factions? More importantly, which faction is more likely to give us more contracts after we support them?" He had hoped that there would be a stronger level of opposition from whichever faction they chose to go against. He wouldn't mind adding more tally marks onto Black Glint, as long as they were noteworthy kills. As for now, he thought that it was completely overkill even for him to send this many mechs to an area that doesnt have an confirmed opposing mechs.
 
Lind was in the Commons room early, awaiting the debriefing. The aloof woman stood off to the back when the debriefing began. She watched and listened with a lazy interest. Not much had been going on in the past few days, so she supposed a mission was a good change of pace. She supposed anyway.

"Lets support the rebels," she said, speaking up from the back suddenly, her voice not really conveying any interest. Truth be told, she had no idea who to help. Some of these people sounded like they had great lives in comparison to the one she lived on Mars, but then again, how great could it be if they were at war? She didn't really know the difference between the government, or the so-called rebels. She had no idea what either stood for. It just sounded better on paper to "help the rebels". At least, that was the reason she said what she did. The rebels could've been worse people for all she knew.
 
Endel was a bit busy flicking through the data on the team's MS units, they were interesting indeed, especially the one that is super classified. It was no worry for Endel though, he'd understand what's up the moment he lays eyes on it anyways. Although he tried to make an attempt at listening to the Captain speak about...what was it again? Rebels or something? He was never one to be interested in politics and is often quite clueless on these matters, which is one of the many reasons for his current predicament in the first place, he seems to have learned nothing from the experience.

"C-conditions?" His eyes perked up when the Captain spoke about how the opponents likely did not have many MS units themselves, normally this would be seen as an analysis of enemy forces, but Endel was always focused on the unexpected things. "...Does that mean I'd get a chance to restore a vintage unit? I'd always said we need to test those things for shelf life and conditions after stagnation but you know on Mars they don't have the time to do that and apparently it's a waste but look at how their buyers are using their products, demographics! Demographics! Inertia batteries were a good idea after all especially for these forces that ignore their units until it's too late and the savings on continuous maintenance costs would eventually weight out the initial upgrades...Too bad so little have such foresight." The young man shook his head in lament for a moment while muttering before thinking about the actual question.

"Why can't we just split the team and go with which side we want, I'd love to hear Pirouetta's performance review from more intimate acquaintances...Hmm." Endel swayed back and forth while half-heartedly speaking about what might seem slightly insane, although he seems unaware of it for a moment. "Oh right oh right, I understand, there's bureaucratic roadblocks to that, right? I get it I get it." He added before giving the question some serious consideration.

"Which side would struggle more?" He asked rather eagerly and cheerfully. "That type of struggle does wonders for data, you don't get to stress test anything in a lab to that degree. Haha! I knew it! This universe was full of opportunity!"
 
Ico had been relaxing in his room playing solitaire when the announcement went off. It seemed it was finally time to earn their new keep as it were. The Jet black pilot hummed a soft tune as he made it to the briefing room. Thankfully Captain Erika kept it rather short, and to the point. They either defended high society mixed with an unwillingness to accept prior crimes and mistreatments. The alternative? Side with those wronged in lower society looking to settle the score, and make the board equal. However, it was more complex than that as well this was in fact their first outing as a unit. This choice and success would place out a bigger effect in the long run.

"Influential a toll this decision will hold no doubt. Given the information at hand, I think we should hit the Artanesians" Ico proposed giving some thought to it.

"Support of an evacuation op and a defense op will give us a good experience in multitasking as a group. Also allows us future hero reps that will spread from those we rescue into their societal history giving us a positive name to start within the area. Also opens us up to potential asset claims from them in the future as a favor for what we do for them today. As they are already the preset faction we will get results faster from them since their economically on track minus this excursion," Ico explained his thoughts from a militaristic standpoint.

"True, but like Endel expressed if we hit the Gillandians there will be a more structured resistance. Better a ready battlefield to test the mettle of a new team. Allows the team to work in unison," Fulke expressed having followed Sandra with a small mossy over.

"Supporting an uprise will also place merit of worth to higher contracts from desperate contracts. Of course, that will lead to higher odds, but higher risk gives higher rewards," the privateer expressed nonchalantly rubbing his chin as he looked over all the mecha scrap.

"If we put the request in now Endel we might get command to green light snatching up some vintage parts," he mused with a smile as sometimes one could find unique parts in older units that could correlate to new methods in currently used models.

"That and while it would take longer we would see a long-term investment opportunity with the new structure economically," Fulke proposed.
 
Receiving the summons to the Commons Room in the midst of a friendly conversation with a cute red headed officer. James soon found himself getting his daily cardio in early as he broke into a jog in order to cover the long distance between him and the team's living quarters. Luckily he had a knack of memorizing pathing, no doubt in part developed from his early years of getting lost while exploring the immense Lochmann estate. Squeezing into the room just as the briefing began, he casually joined the group before wordlessly raising his PDA to follow along through the briefing documents, as the Captain gave the team a condensed summary. Focused on absorbing every detail as he caught his breath, at the mention of insurrectionists, James was acutely reminded of his last expedition against such opponents.

Raising a hand to wipe a bit of sweat from his cheek, the sudden sight of blood on the back of his hand gave cause to a momentary pause on his part. Closing his eyes and breathing a light sigh to himself. When he reopened them, the blood was replaced with the beads of sweat that he had been expecting to see. Repressing a set of memories his mind seemed to favor rehearsing, there was little question that he would be in favor of supporting the central government. The possibility of running into another Free Privateer force was something he had anticipated with each additional contract ever since joining the 15th. It always presented the opportunity of encountering the rogue MS units who had slaughtered his old unit, and constituted the whole reason he had joined up in the first place.

However, choosing to reserve his choice, his gaze shifted around the room as each member chimed in with their own personal opinions. Upon realizing that the majority of the team were considering their choices from the standpoint of unit gain, and not simply personal motive, he was firmly reminded what it meant to be a Free Privateer. Burying the rising sense of shame he felt worming its way into his chest, James thumbed through his PDA once more before chiming in.

"I- have to agree with the Corporeal's assessment. Furthermore, the ensuing instability of a successful coup d'état would last generations, and require stringent political suppression in its wake. Hardly productive or rewarding in light of the alternative, which is allowing a simple land reform to take place. Politically and culturally Artanis is a Gillandian society, and that concentration of wealth and political influence cannot be wrestled away without immense bloodshed, which all but forfeits the long standing loyalty of the capital's citizens..."

Turning to Fulke as he spoke, the young Lt. clearly presented his own position on the topic.

James had studied history, in particular that of his own family, and could readily predict to a degree the possible shortcomings of such an idealistic "long-term investment". He grew for a loss of words as he further skimmed the mission files, and his milled over the numerous social, economic, and political considerations that would need to be accounted for. He knew from experience, that in order to generate great wealth one needed wealth to begin with. Agrarian societies, like the one Artanesians fashioned for themselves, historically and presently hardly proved themselves to be profitable beyond a certain threshold. In part due to the fact they lacked the necessary industry to support large scale production, and were dependent on the cycles of nature to regulate supply and demand. One could aid nature with fertilizers, irrigation, and genetic modification of plant species but ultimately she was the one to decide things.

In contrast, a heavily industrialized planet could dictated supply and demand within itself on the basis of fabrication. Putting aside the possibility of Artanis one day meeting the growing food demands of Martian citizens. Without the necessary industry to be self sufficient, they would be heavily reliant on Martian production in order to even have the capacity to offshore their agrarian surplus to begin with. Thus mitigating the overall benefit that Martians one day might could even enjoy. This wasn't even considering the mass of civilian deaths that would ensue if the insurgents were successful in their raid on the capital. No matter how mistreated the Artanesians had been the last three centuries, it didn't justify the wholesale murder of noncombatants in a war that had little to do with them.

"Ultimately, in the long term, maintaining the current order and systems will be more profitable than rebuilding them from the ground up. And at any rate, until we see that we can operate as a cohesive team it would be wise not to take any chances. A defensive operation with the possibility of evacuations would demand more team cooperation than a purely frontal assault... In spite of how much I enjoy the latter."

Looking between Sandra and Lind at the mention of operating cohesively, the faint smile that had been noticeably absent from James face for the entire brief, returned with his final word. Shifting his gaze around the room, once he gauged everybody's initial reactions to his words, James reluctantly moved to address his initial suspicions.

"Captain. I'm curious as to whether or not there have been other Free Privateer ships spotted docking in orbit within the last twenty-four hours. You seemed somewhat confident that we'll be encountering opposing Mobile Suits."

James had little doubt after all that simply because they didn't take one contract over the other, that someone else wouldn't be taking their place.
 
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As they all one by one voiced their opinions, two, well technically three had not, each had their own opinions or questions, from the reasonable to the absurd. Still, they all had some say in this and points to be addressed, or opinions she could not address herself as the captain. But for now, there were ones Erika could and would give a response.

"Hmm. Well, history wise, both sides were traitors to the Dominion. We however never fought in this system. As in Mars. The long story short is Gillandians revolted against a faction that revolted against us and got pounded into space dust with the whole system joining them in the revolt till that came to pass. Being a backwater it was then left alone, the Artanesians are mostly upset given the new arrangement and the fact a chunk of the population is now Gillandians. Personally, it would be better if they could all just see themselves as fellow humans, but if that were the case the Terran Dominion would not have fallen in the first place. Point is neither are allies and they aren't hiring us as they like us. Just as we can do what they cannot." Shifting her attention to Endel, the senior officer scoffs a bit before speaking;

"Your suggestions on friendly fire and making our reputation very shifty and unreliable aside, no, I highly doubt either faction will allow you to work on their machines, plus logistical work is not what we War Worlds are known for. They hire us for very specific reasons, and I would not say most forces care much to have us, so much as needing us. The only way you'll get to study any other machines is if we capture one and only then till a recovery crew is sent for it. Otherwise, I would suggest getting enough of an injury so that you are pressed out of frontline combat so you can work in a support position."

It was then that Sandra chimed in, the hostile glare mixed with a confused expression on her face. "The fuck? Yeah, like the people that want him dead are going to fuck'n allow that. They'll just make sure he has another accident. And nah chuckle fuck, we don't fight our own. And the hell is wrong with some of you, long term objectives and shit, which one is better optics. Case you chuckle fucks didn't notice, both are sending us at the places they are having trouble with, not the places they are winning, the more of us that die the better for them. We pick one horse and then bid on it and hope it keeps us around without a double cross, if or when they double cross us we kill em all." Crossing her arms under her chest, she grins a bit.

"I don't give a shit who we help, the rebels take the capital they'll have some good people, but there will be some asshats that want to make shit network music videos as they slaughter a few civies, we don't help the rebels in the north then the Planetary Defense Force will meet us with MS units the next go around when they come out at the rebels for revenge. I like killing sons of bitches and both sides are gonna have a lot. Hell, if we reverse the situation then the Rebels will hit us with armor, at the end of the day neither are on our side, they just need help cause the can't do shit on their own."

With that, and the other words that were spoken between her outburst, the Captain nods, speaking in turn. "We should keep that in mind, both will likely look for ways to put us in danger as they can use our deaths or failures to negotiate a lower price and it is not like either faction will join the UED short of a third coup. So, it's more of a question to what we can live with, ignore or help."

Turning her attention towards James, she nods at that. "We got this through the pipeline and there is a whole other side of the planet. Least our fleet can keep orbital dominance there will be some other force to come as they are out for a payday too. We also have to contend with the political objectives of the fleet leadership and our enemies will seek to counter those."

And then there was one...
 
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As the Captain droned on, Stef tried to separate the facts that were relevant to what they wanted or needed to know. Often times, they were called upon to act in competing interests, and very rarely was there a side she would call the "good" one. On top of that, getting involved with the moral aspects of who was doing what, or dwelling on it rather, was an easy way to stir confliction within oneself. She counted herself as not too shit of a person. However, she still had her own to watch out for, and didn't need sympathy getting in the way of her job.

One of the Lieutenants spoke up first. Good question. The convict next, giving an answer. Stef raised a brow in her direction, wondering if there was any meaning behind that, or it was just disinterest and wanting to get this over with. The spire kid spoke up with an incredibly poor suggestion, causing the red-head to sigh a bit. Fulke and Ico both gave decent ideas with the perspective of improving team cohesion.

Letting the Sergeant and Captain respond in another round, Stef finally shrugged a bit. "Gillandians. I ain't getting invested in their politics, and the status quo is more likely to actually be able to pay us at the end of the day... And if they don't, there's always Sandra's approach 'n we take what we're owed."
 
"I see." And now it was time to review everyone's response. Lind's response was..shallow, it really seemed like she was really disinterested in the topic and simply gave an answer for the sake of giving an answer. Disappointing. If only she was as witty as she was pretty. Endel's response was...worrying. He seemed fully convinced and willing to fight people on his side. But then again perhaps no one was truly on "his" side. As always, he seemed a lot more interested in the prospect of finding mechs instead of fighting them. Sev hoped that he last long on the field. Teammates like these were nice to have around to keep things interesting.

And then there was the protag, Ico. He wanted seemed to have sympathy toward the rebels for an unknown reason and chimed in on the possibility of leveraging a heroic reputation. Hilarious. "The "heroes" or "good guys" are whichever faction that wins the war. If the rebels win, we call them freedom fighters, if they lose they are terrorists, end of story." He chimed in on the cyborg, reminding him that perception can easily be twisted by the victors once all is said and done. Fulke's reasoning for picking one side was infinitely more feasible than the previous person who spoke, seeing it as an opportunity test the team's cohesiveness more than anything else. And then there was James, who gave the question a bit more thought, listing a few factors that were important in picking which side to support, but ultimately, he chose to help maintain the status quo.

The Captain spoke up, answering Sev's questions as well as the other pilots'. "No matter how vast the galaxy is, as long as there are two humans left somewhere, someone is gonna want someone dead." Sev sighed upon hearing the reluctance of people to settle things peacefully. He wasn't opposed to war, in fact, he loved to be involved in one, but at least give him a good reason to fight for, not the usual greed or power-hungry motives which got really stale really fast. "Not the way I see it Blondie. We dont bid on the horse. We choose a horse and we make it win." He didn't particularly like the lack of urgency in the allegory she made.

Listening to the captain's reasoning, Sev decided that she was the smartest person in the room and defaulted to her orders. "I have a feeling supporting the status quo would be the way to go. That said, I'll go along with whatever choice you make, Captain. Just point me in the direction of the enemy and I'll make sure to give them hell." Upon hearing that they might meet other enemies, Sev couldn't help but smile a bit, hoping that whichever opposing was going to make it entertaining for him. "Well, do we know anything about the possible MS teams we would face? Any big names out there?"
 
"Well well, I don't think the Captain would let me it appears," Endel responded to Fulke as he heard what the Captain said, "Well well, I'm used to it really getting denied your funding is really just par for the course now and besides I believe more opportunity will come up as long as I can stay around. That can't be said for my former position so I am quite grateful for what can be provided in every encounter, experiences are experiences after all." His voice was rather calm as usual, but it was hard to not sense a sharp disappointment within.

"Ah I see I see, that's quite enlightening, and reassuring! I must thank you for bringing that to my attention." As if he ignored the anger in Sandra's voice Endel thanked the blonde enthusiastically. "I have worked in support and logistics in the past but I decided it was far too dangerous I once was disappointed in the standard practices of the revered military forces but it became quite clear that the danger was more or less targeted at me soon, in fact I once had a colleague corner me in a locker room and attempt to gorge my eye out with a soldering iron! Though it's also good that I no longer need to deal with those smooth and marbled brained imbeciles that require 35 corrections in a half-hour maintenance session who can't even operate a soldering iron properly. Anyways I am honoured to know that at least no one here would do such a thing to me. I hope so indeed, indeed." He nodded to no one in particular as he reflected on the 'not fighting our own' comment. It was rather unbelievable, he has spent his entire life seeing different groups fight their own constantly, although he was not keen at all on politics, he has been in enough backstabbing attempts to know that statement isn't exactly true. Perhaps things were...different around here, the people disliked the spire and even their direct superiors at times. As a person unable to sense hypocrisy, the directness confused Endel, it was not a good or bad thing, it simply is, confusing as it was.

"Well well, as this isn't my area of expertise I must do the responsible thing and reserve my judgment until sufficient data and understanding can be processed although I suppose we do not have the luxury of gaining that information with our current time and resources. It would be prudent to listen to those who have proven their arbitration to be reliable in such situations." Endel added while seemingly lost in thought.
 
"I uh... Yeah, I don't think that was part of why they wanted you dead." Sandra adds at last, while the Captain takes her PDA in hand and heads for the doorway out into the ship halls, leaving Sandra and the rest to their own devices, as she speaks up once more. "Return to what you were doing, FTL Jump beacons will have us there in three days." There was nothing else to do. All of the other elements that would be fighting here or elsewhere on the planet would cast their own votes, or the cruiser may simply deploy elsewhere in the system or beyond. Not all elements could be placed into one area alone.

The next three days was a beehive of activity as orders were given, machines were checked, double checked and checked again. The final decision came 24 hours before the jump in system, with a further in system cruise of another day was spent traveling in system and several hours of the next were spent diving up the fleet and ground units for duties on Artanis and the other planets in the System that were involved in one sort of conflict or another with the Cruiser planning to head out of system to other points in the sector, before returning in fourteen days.

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For that long they would be on their own, fortunately, provided not too much damage was sustained, this was within the confines of the dropship and then some. Over her Comm system, Erika communicated with the other units in the party, a general broadcast that should only be picked up by them. "Alright, as you all know and as a reminder, command has decided to support the local system government, the deciding factor for this was, it is better to have pay for sure than promised pay later. The Rebels also are not likely to take kindly to outsiders period given they've had two hundred years to settle matters on the planet.

Its considered bad business to deal in credit. We'll head out once the dropship has landed, roughly 90 kilometers from our drop site will be elements of an armored Brigade with other divisional elements close behind."

Letting that sink in she deploys a map 50 Kilometers in depth that showcased a single main highway that looked to be 6 lanes wide, with a rolling hillscape, forests and sections of bare plains, all in all the terrain could support and hinder the Armored Brigade and the MS team.

"From what we know there are 70 tanks and 100 Armored Infantry Carriers and in the area of 800 infantrymen in the advanced force, they likely have rotary, AA and Artillery support. First, we'll have Sandra find the enemy Brigade, then we devastate them, we need not kill them all. Just enough till they break and run, if we can blunt the initial advance there will be a follow up strike from other units landing with us on the division. Though if the enemy continues to advance we keep up the attack. Formations wise, we'll take up a staggard line, Sandra to the front, make use of the local area."

"Landing in 60..... 30... 10, four, three, two, one!" A voiced called over the shuttle system, with the THUD of hitting ground and the dim thumps of autocannons shooting at unknown aerial threats as a roar of a missile booster could be heard after the side ramps slam down, opening the group to the green planet before them. For some if may have been the first time seeing such as Sandra quickly picks up speed, her scout unit quickly and nimbly running off.

"I give us about 20 minutes till Sandra gives off a report, spread out and advance, keep your eyes open."

With those words said the Captain advances in her own unit using its flight bursts to get clear of the dropship. The paint job and details clearly seen and marking who she was.

"If we have to fallback take it slow, we need to buy time for them to evacuate the city, more than just one Division will be enroute."
 
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Upon the Captain's departure from the briefly room, James was somewhat disappointed to find there was little more to be said regarding their future mission prospects. It seemed that with their votes or lack there of tallied and out of the way, the need for discussion among the group all but dissolved as they went their own separate ways once more.

In the following days, try as he might, James was simply unable to encounter the red headed officer he had happily chatted to the day prior. As a result, his time spent in transit was for the most part, like many others, spent idling. Attending a few briefs on the intended battleplans for the MS division as well as other components of the embarking force. In between these somewhat lengthy lectures, and his equally lengthy breaks enjoying the Silent Night's diverse cuisine. James largely kept to himself, outside of his evening conversations with Lieutenant Sev about his daily events, upon the two returning to bunk for the night. It also wasn't all too uncommon that he could hear a few of the unit returning late at night, after a lengthy evening of drinking.

_______

"I guess command doesn't like waiting for payday anymore than us."

James chimed in over his Comms system after the Captain's initial words. While not visible from outside of the bleached white exterior of the Zero, his tone of voice carried with it his trademark grin.

"Understood Captain. This should be a rather soft landing then." He added soon afterward.

Making a mental note on the fact that 90 kilometers within insertion they would be meeting armor, James composed himself for their approaching landing. Viewing the map of the surrounding area as it appeared, he surveyed the highway and its multiple diverging lanes, given that it would likely be the preferred route of travel compared with the surrounding, rugged landscape. However, he knew it presented its own hazards such as it's vulnerability to threats from above, so didn't expect that rebel forces would allow themselves to be caught out for a leisurely drive along the countryside.

Listening intently as the numbers and possible enemy formations were mentioned, once the Captain specified AA and Artillery James considered suggesting that he could be designated to handle them. But, with a moment's pause and considering this was merely their initial landing and no further information was available, he chose to hold his tongue. Looking to the front as Sandra assumed her position at the fore of the group within the dropship, it was the wiser decision to allow the woman to obtain her recon on the advancing forces before assuming any positions.

As the dropship plummeted through the skies and ever closer to the ground, accelerating toward their destination, James briefly gazed to the right and left of the ship at the other units within. Unlike his fellow pilots, James was not personally burdened with the cramped space of the advanced metal roll cages that constituted pilot seats. Nor was he forced to take in the world around him through the fragile and at times unreliable view transmitted via electronics displays. To the observant, his movements lacked the subtle yet noticeable delay between control and movement that the others had to suffer, yet had come to know almost instinctively. Indeed to James's perspective, it was as if he was standing within the hanger himself, in place of the Zero, among the ranks of his fellow MS.

As the signal to depart came, and the drop ramp slammed open, he patiently waited for his turn to exit the dropship in due orderly fashion. Striding down the ramp after the Captain ahead of him, once he was clear of the craft and everyone within his prereferral, the back thrusters of the Zero sparked into action. Propelling the Zero forward in bursts at first, before thrusting it ahead of the captain and the rest of the team. The MS effortlessly hovered along the ground as it distanced itself from everyone else. Orienting himself so as to provide ample space for his own maneuverability, James immediately took up position on the far left flank of the staggered line formation.

"I'll take the furthest left wing. The Zero will allow me to scout the far flank and still sweep around if need be."

With a few short bursts the Zero gained altitude to allow James to survey their surroundings a bit more, while avoiding allowing himself to be spotted from miles around. Taking in the area's lush green trees and forest, a part of him wanted to merely take in the natural beauty around them as the Zero effortlessly floated back down toward the ground. Maintaining a steady and controlled rate of decline, James ignored his impulse for site seeing and began scanning his side of the line for any indications of armored movement, such as smoke or possibly the echo of AA or Artillery
 
As placid as Lind was at this, even she raised an eyebrow to the kid who suggested they join opposite sides and fight one another. Was the guy actually an idiot? That was an awful idea. How would it be beneficial to their group to kill each other? Furthermore, his sense of ethics must've been real screwed if it interested him in killing allies. Kid had a screw loose, that was for sure.

One thing was for sure, she was pretty big on loyalty, and he seemed to only be loyal to his machines. When he mentioned soldering his eyes out, she chuckled, and pointed at her own. "That's no big deal, just get new ones," she said in a half-joking-good-natured tone.

Huh, captain left. Guess they had their time to themselves after all that. "Welp, laterzz.." Lind muttered lazily to the others, pocketing her hands and strolling away until they would reconvene for their mission. A few days all to her lonesome.. Oh joy. What a time to be alive for a formerish convict.

~~

Days later, listening to the message over the comms, Lind cocked her head with a slight frown. Talking to herself, she muttered aloud, "That just sounds like they'd never support anyone other than the government.." So why ever bring up choices? Well, whatever, it wasn't her prerogative to judge. At least, she hoped it was to herself. Her own mic wasn't on right? Sometimes she forgot all the smaller, minute controls.

She shrugged it off and awaited her turn as the dropship descended. Finally she exited after a few of the others, hanging a bit near the back in her own unit, which was made for taking up a sniping-position to fire covering shots for her allies. That was well. It was her preferred position. Lind frowned somewhat. Everyone else was a bit too gung-ho for this mission stuff. She brushed some of her hair, and frowned. The cockpit of her ms was too cramped. She'd prefer to just go back to the Silent Night. The end of this mission couldn't come soon enough.
 
About time. All this waiting and planning, Sev was starting to think he was never going to see a deployment. That captain gave him a brief overview of why command had decided to support the local government over the rebels. Their reasoning was...logical. Sev himself would have made the same choice had he been given the authority to make the decision. "I know it doesnt matter that much, but I think they made the right choice." He briefly replied while checking through his systems one last time as he dropped down into the battlefield. Ideals and morality alone doesn't win wars and anyone that thought otherwise would be a fool.

Upon landing, Sev wasted no time in exiting the dropship. His HUD immediately picking up all sorts of information from the battlefield. While for most people this would be absolute information overload, Sev was able to immediately absorb each and every detail before pushing forward at a reasonable pace. Instinctively, he would lift his rail and pointed upwards at a specific angle. He knew exactly what angle it should pointed at as well as how much before he needed to put behind each shot to travel specific distances. From there, patiently waited for any word from the scout as well as the captain. Chances are, the moment he fires a barrage is the moment their location will be revealed.

His mech was as recognizable as ever, with it's stunning matte black paint job which was accompanied by a staggering amount of tally marks, indicating just how many enemies he had killed throughout his years of service. Aside from mobile suits, it strangely even included a good number of ships, likely thanks to his anti-ship cannon. The rest of the suit looked almost nothing like it's stock configuration, having been customized countless of times throughout it's time with numerous pilots.

"Awaiting orders, Captain." The Black Shrikes lightly hovered over the ground as it made it was forward, eveready to unleash a barrage of projectiles towards the frontline at a moment's notice. He heed the command of his superior, staying spread out while also moving forward. he was in middle of the formation, making himself the tip of the spear on purpose. Afterall, who else would be a better candidate for such a dangerous position. "Just give the word and I'll rain death on all of them. After blondie is out of the strike zone of course." The kinetic energy that his railgun produced was nothing to laugh at, easily able to decimate the hulls of warships or level mountains with a single well-placed shot.
 
"Endel. Join Sandra in the scouting, be mindful of the size of your unit and drones. I'll be taking to far right, I'll move in and out as battle dictates." Moving her position to the far right and keeping back a little, sweeping around the dropship as its rain of fire was joined by a couple more elsewhere in the distance, everything was going to plan and artillery fire was yet raining down upon them. Though thankfully this planet had a .9 gravity force, so unlike on Mars artillery could not raid down from a grid 170km's away.

She then opened a private line to Lind with a bit of a chuckle. "So you know, our conversations tend to be recorded, but in your case your unit broadcasts and records anything you say to me or the recorder. We also do not always work for the lawful authority. Afterall we do like to kick dirt into the eyes of the Imperium. If you wish to speak to another unit with some privacy, then use the optical beam transmission... Though I don't think anyone will care about what you just said." With that out of the way she returns to the battle and tasks at hand, waiting for the last couple of units to report in.

And for Sandra to report her scouting results...
 
Sitting in the cockpit of the Corvus, Stef stretched her shoulders as the Captain spoke over the comms. The objective was to break them rather than eliminate them, meaning striking at key targets would be the quickest. Rotary, AA, and the artillery were key targets. The armor as well, though it was less of a threat to her own. The infantry carriers and infantry themselves would break and flee once their support did.

Exhaling, Stef leaned back in her seat as her fingers laced around the controls. The familiar sounds of orbital defenses firing and the roar of the drop pods hurdling toward the drop site was something she had grown accustomed to. Upon landing, Sandra skidded off and the Captain gave orders to move.

"Roger," Stef replied, taking up a position to the right and some distance of the Captain. "Taking up center right."

It was then that the giant made his eagerness to use that railgun of his known, followed by the convict's complaints. "Heavy armament boys are always so eager," She commented, not speaking directly to anyone in particular before responding to Lind. "Not always... Whether we like politics or not, it's always there."
 
"Anything to get out in the air, I needed some nice time with Pirouetta in the skies anyways. You all feel the same right? Right? Right?" Endel sounded more excited than usual as he hooked up the IV system to his veins in the Pirouetta's cockpit. "I just hope these rebels are good at recordkeeping, I'd love to strip them of some data...mhm, after we kill them of course, I get it I get it that's what you- we do! Rebels, government, they're all the same if we melt their bones into steel, right? So don't be so down about it~" He responded rather cheerfully to Lind's comment, he seems to be trying to cheer her up.

After the basic commands were given Endel seemed rather enthusiastic. "Haha! I knew you would understand Captain! Just leave it to us, all systems green, ready for battlefield support!" His hand swished over some sort of control panel, it was difficult to even capture his finger's movements, so it seemed like a half graze half button press with a blur. "Deploying Starmarkers and Prism 002, it's a pleasure to be working with you today Miss Sandra! Ahem, I mean, Sergent Sandra."

Two small drones and a slightly larger one detached from the Pirouetta's main frame and began circling around Sandra's unit inconspicuously, although they made a few flourishing circles first as an indicator of their presence. Endel's hands quickly glazed over the control panels back in Pirouetta's main frame. The humanoid main frame quickly folded up and flipped itself into a jet-like flying unit. "Starmarkers 50% capacity! Just let us know when you need us and we'll always be at your side, aim assist and cover fire, anytime anywhere!" Endel said with the energy of an enthusiastic salesman, perhaps he was trying to sell something ultimately.
 
"Heh. Sandra is fine. Still keep an eye on your drones, any AA systems will be keeping an eye out for them and you. Anyways, time to kill comms, least you want to optical or use the tactical." Killing her own comms, the Yellow suit proves surprisingly able at vanishing in the trees, as Endel took to the air in his hybird machine he piloted, would from time to time pick up threat interceptor radars be they active or passive were picked up, nothing just yet solid but exposure would only compute that time to shorter and shorter intervals for at least 12 Air Defense vehicles of unknown type. On the other hand, it gave him some general idea of where the AA platforms were.

Sandra communicated over the tactical set, bouncing off a secure relay from low orbit satellites, left behind in the initial drops, just simple UHF and VHF communications, which given the sheer number of channels would frustrate most attempts to tap into them. With her quicker rate of speed and smaller profile, Sandra is quick to report back within 15 minutes, it seemed the enemy was slightly ahead of schedule.

"I can't get a good look at all of the fuckers, but they seem to be in a hurry, maybe the pencil neck can get a deeper view, looks like the line is stretched 10 kilometers back. Infantry are in or on top of their carriers, intermixed with the tanks, they all are just going as fast as they can down the roads... Well some of them are breaking off to the sides, I think they have some idea we are here but don't know for sure we are, Looks like the command tanks are in the back with mobile AA, SPG's behind them. Trees here aren't too tall but maybe just enough, they'll know we're here very soon. Fuckers full of em selves. The leading scouts are near me, can I kill em now boss?"

Relaying the conversation to the other units, Erika was a bit silent for a bit before speaking. "Endel get a drone fixed on the central formations or the Self-Propelled Guns. I'm going to hit them with my missiles, the leading formations, wait till they are close then engage as you see fit. Remember though we have better mobility than they do, they do have 70 Tanks, a few companies of Infantry and at least a battery or two of Artillery with 12 AA's... though those look like Close-range, automatic cannons, a few missiles. I'll head in after my cluster missiles impact."

Several Kilometers stood between them and the leading enemy formations, but with the speed of both forces it was only a matter of seconds before they could see the other least her's were hidden rather well. Waiting for the assistance of Endel's drones, the 308mm Missiles left their shoulder racks as they spread out, the AA units trying to shootdown the drone, the missiles out of sight till they were far too close, dozens of miniature warheads rained down upon the central formation, at least five tanks and 17 APC's were ablaze or heavily damaged, as Sandra's manical laughter followed up with "GET SOME! YEAH! GET SOME! HAHAHA!" Could be heard as movement could be seen in the trees from the conflict, the leading infantry and tank formations dispersed to the sides, sighting in on the missile launch location, turrets sweeping side-to-side to sight the enemy, the advanced slowed to a crawl.
 
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At last, it was time to strike. Multiple blips began appearing in Sev's radar, thanks to the information relayed from the scouts and Endel's little helpers. Pressing a few buttons in his cockpit, the Blackshrike's auxiliary would extend upwards, revealing two armatures with multiple beam cannons attached to them, with each barrel prepping itself for an attack. With his radar revealing more and more enemies, the blonde finally decided it was time to strike. Unleashing the full might of its thrusters, the black machine would charge forward at three times its normal speed as Sev spoke up. "I'll draw their fire."

Without a further delay, Sev shifted his thrusters upwards, pushing the large mech skywards at breakneck speeds. Normal pilots wouldn't be able to execute such a maneuver without experiencing whiplash, but Sev was different. Each of the fingers would begin individual beams from the barrels. The shots came in rapid succession, with the fingers on the armature making minute adjustments in matter of milliseconds before firing again at new targets. The onslaught of beams was quick and unrelenting, taking out multiple vehicles every few seconds. While several missiles were shot towards the black mech, they were quickly shot down by the same beams, showing that they were more than capable of being used as point defence weapons.

Continuing its initial barrage, the machined move forward at normal speed, keeping itself in the air for a bit longer, intentionally making itself look like big target, so that the others could pin point where the enemy's attacks where coming from. Turning his railgun towards a large collection of artillery installations, Sev aimed at the cluster that was further from Sandra's position and the large magnetically propelled payload towards it at supersonic speeds. If the enemy didn't know where he was, they did now. The impact of such an attack would leave a crater comparable to that of an orbital bombardment round. After his onslaught, he lower his machine back to ground level, continuing to gain ground at his usual speeds, making sure destroy any unlucky vehicle that crossed his path with extreme prejudice.
 
"And the Valkyrie kicks in," Fulke mused as he watched Sandra take initiative laying hell fire onto their unexpecting enemies faces the vehicle formation immediately broke showing a instant reaction of fear which was not all to uncommon as forces like these never really knew how to react to a sudden MS jumping into the fray. Fulkes mobile suit was currently stationed inside near the base of operation hidden a bit among the hills near by Sniper rifle lens slowly moving between all ally units to get a scope of how they were acting. He was as still as could be just like his MS waiting for anything worth while, or needing of a unexpecting end.

"Gotcha," Fulke smiled taking on shot that would sing out in silence past most of the terrain straight to where Sandra, and Sev were deep in as a single sniper round tore through 10 of the APC's along with four of the tanks setting off a chain reaction of explosion's that impressively displayed the direct route of the bullet that had foolishly stayed in formation lining them up like ducks in a row. The bullet would even whiz by some of Sev's, and Sandra's shots before imploding on the last tank that it made its mark on.

"There prepping movement the element of surprise is past get ready for concentrated enemy attacks there making multiple formations arounds you both," he called out eyeing out the parts of the battlefield that only his straight angle would be able to see feeding information to the group that the enemy was no longer a sitting duck, and would now start ramping up their counter defense. Once informing those on the frontline of the changing demeanor he went radio silent lining up the next big shot.

Ico himself was positioned with Erika waiting to charge in with her as his shoulder mount cannisters opened up in sequence with Erika's Missiles unleashing a round of titanium ball bearing that shot off into the sky after her volley these would come in closer to the tanks starting to shred them more on the sides trapping those enemy unit in the center in a carnage of tanks being ripped apart along with the environment forcing the rebel units in the center to a bottleneck death trap for those on the field.

"Shall we charge in captain," Ico mused with his part of the mid range assault done.
 
Lind was kind of surprised to hear the captain start speaking directly to her, so the woman listened. She snickered. "Optical beam transmission, got it, cap'n." She replied lackadaisically, then chuckled, "No one cares, that's for sure, heh."

"Hmp, right, Stef," she answered, then quipped. "Like politics? I don't like any of this." Lind furrowed her brow a bit. Overeager boys, huh? Some actually liked all of this? She wondered what was going through the head of someone like that.

Speaking of someone who was overeager.. The weirdo kid began to talk to her. And if, well, he was trying to cheer her up, then he more or less failed. "All the same? Phht, yup, right." Is that what the kid thought? Everyone was the same? Well, this was the kid that suggested they join opposite sides and fight each other, so that checked out. Understanding the way his mind worked was impossible. After that realization, she decided to throw him a bone, if only to stop any of this dialogue from going further. "But yeah, got it, thanks."

The head of her MS tilted slightly upwards. She watched through the visor as bits and pieces of his machine began to pop off and, well, look like it was breaking apart. Then it essentially shape-shifted somehow into a fighter jet. With a toy like that, no wonder the kid was excited. And a little mentally loose. She scoffed and chuckled, "The wonders of technology."

Her own machine was kind of an old clunker. It really didn't have any of the new thingamigs or anything fancy about it. Tried and true, she supposed. Still, even the aloof Lind couldn't help but feel a bit envious seeing the capabilities of her allies. Like the one who was causing havoc up on the frontlines. Ah, there was another who was apparently extremely eager to get into battle. The corner of her lip curled, well, at least he was drawing their attention. That's what she preferred about all this, staying out of the way, hidden, where she wasn't a target. No scary gunfire or raining shells coming her way. It was almost quaint. Thanks for showboating, she secretly said to the rowdy ms up front as she lined up a shot.

A shot rang out before hers. She watched through her scope as it ripped through many vehicles and blew them up in some sort of chain reaction. She whistled, impressed. Then fired her own shot from her Raxion LR-12. A laser struck anti-air artilleries. The laser first melted it quite quickly with an orange-hot glow of metal as the beam's heat got to it first. Then the beam tore through it. And the entire thing, sure enough, like many other shots, exploded. It wasn't as flashy as Mr. Sniper's, but well, it was good nonetheless. Had to help out the weirdo up in the skies above, right? Wouldn't want his fancy toy being shot out of the sky.
 
"Aye aye, aye aye." Endel's hand swiped over some panel on the side and then upwards to another one after hearing the Captain's request, "Starmarkers activate!" He yelled rather gleefully as he took individual manual control of both of the small Starmarker drones with one hand. With a few slides and button presses the small and inconspicuous devices used the sound and fury of the battlefield to make their way to their targets. "Center formation...check! And self-propelling weapons...check! Update complete, signals' clear Captain! All data has been sent to you, have you tried the integrated Starmarker UI yet? You can even adjust the gamma and menu colour scheme if you want it's important to choose something easy on the eyes if you're going to be fighting for a long while. I think the dark blue theme fits you." He quickly added.

"That goes for anyone else too not just the Captain! Hehe!" Endel sounded rather proud, as out of place as it may be right now, it didn't matter to him. Although most of them seemed to be doing fine on their own, there are certainly those that preferred older MS models, but "older" is a rather vague term as newly uncovered technologies are technically older, even if they are more advanced. It was a stranger era they lived in indeed, Endel was always slightly upset about that, if whatever big discovery he makes has already been found by people centuries ago already, it would be quite discouraging. "Oh yeah yeah, don't you worry about compatibility since I always make sure my support is backwards-no! Universally compatible."

Endel stared at what looked like a small mountain of various holoscreens within Pirouetta and the data that the remaining active Starmarks as well as Sandra returned. It would be best to avoid areas where there is potential anti-air, at least in travel form. Various symbols and circles began rapidly appearing and disappearing on the various screens as Endel narrowed down the areas where threats are likely to present. From highest priority to lowest, from most certain to least, a spectrum of gradients danced and swished around in multicoloured lights. "Mhmmm there's anti-air present I'm going to mark down their areas and potential range of fire based on the data we have and also mark the accuracy and confidence I have in any particular area's intel and then assign a priority system and then a branching categorization based on the type of weap...Mhm, do you guys need that much information?" Endel tilted his head and thought about the other MS units that charged out before him, they didn't seem like they needed any intel to be doing what they want to do. On second thought, he didn't really need this much intel either, he just found the data spread of how the opponents set up their defenses relative to the terrain rather interesting.

"I don't want to overburden the communication channels so how about just the basic package, if it doesn't show up try turning it on and off again." Endel shrugged to no one in particular, maybe to himself, but sounded rather defeated out of nowhere.
 
Listening to the cacophony that the team's array of weapon systems produced from the center of the line. It was clear that the beginning of hostilities had finally begun, and in no short order as plumes of smoke from downed armored vehicles soon filled the air and relayed their sudden offensive for miles around. Remaining to the furthest left of the formation, in a somewhat uncharacteristic fashion, James kept to his position in the line, in place of rushing off towards the center where most of the action was seemingly taking place. With the possibility of an enemy MS unit that had yet to show itself still in the back of his mind, he chose the path of caution initially in place of heated action that Sandra and a few others seemed to prefer.

Scanning the team's flank still from a comfortable altitude. In spite of his MS's design, he kept the Zero mostly out of the skies and below Sev's Blackshrike to avoid catching any opposing fire directed toward the man's attempt at being bait. Bringing both 36mm and 100mm rifles forward to bare, he began shooting into the trees and hillside in bursts. Directing his assault rifle's rounds towards the approaching infantry while simultaneously punching crippling pinpoint holes into the armored vehicles they supported with his other rifle. Being overall conservative in his tactics and ammunition usage, engaging the armored division was hardly something to get excited about. While they possessed the capacity to be a hazard, it was only in select situations. There was also the fact to consider that they were merely here to force the enemy into a stalemate and if that failed to execute a delayed retreat.

With the show of force in their initial encounter, and the subsequent losses that were continuing to pile up within minutes instead of hours, which was to be expected in their enemies case. James predicted it wouldn't be long before their attack halted all together and started to slowly resemble a withdrawal.

"They're flanking wide. We've got them spread thin."
 
Stef remained calm and steadfast in her position in the formation. As Sandra called in the approaching battalion, the Corvus' posture changed, leveling its rifle at the tree line. It wasn't too long before the chaos began, sounded off by their overly eager scout. Stef kept her visuals in front, ready to advance and pepper the enemy upon being ordered.

Suddenly, one of the others sped off, claiming to draw the fire of the enemy. "Good grief..." She murmured to herself, giving the command to her own unit to take up the vanguard. "Advancing."

The thrusters in her machine picked up, pushing it slightly ahead of the formation. Her rifled aimed at the enemy formation methodically before firing. Plasma fired in bursts of three at the line, first aiming for the tanks and armored vehicles toward the front. The Corvus lowered to a knee as it closed in range, the bulky grieves of its legs acting as cover for the lankier limbs and body to an extent. As it entrenched itself, the long barrel atop the mech's right shoulder raised and rotated to point forward. The empty shaft lit up with a yellow glow and buzzing sound that intensified with the seconds that passed as it charged, before it released a shockwave of sound that reverberated across the landscape as the shot itself rocketed toward the backline of vehicles. The projectile not only eviscerated the vehicles, but the ground beneath them as well, blocking in the rest of the convoy or making it more difficult for them to retreat.

From there, Stef focused on picking off the remaining vehicles. Enough of the infantry with the right equipment could do damage, but the collateral damage from shelling the armor was likely effective at pinning if not eliminating much of the infantry as well.
 
As the battle progressed the Enemy formation had its SPG line eradicated down to two vehicles, a total of 20 tanks were burning, some in the front and rear, mostly the rear. Elsewhere the enemy AA had done it's best to swipe the missiles from the sky, as they come under a hail of missile, kenetic and energy based weapons fire they too take to what efforts they could to defend themselves. Firing a full range of missiles and 30mm cannon shells at Sev's unit, they began to scatter, knowing full well now as they switched to active search radars that they were being lasered and tracked, they desperately search for new targets as the oncoming hits reduces the formation to just three mobile AA systems.

Responding to the chatter, Erika mostly ignored it all with the exception of a couple, Endel chiefly. "No, don't beam that data to all of them, just what is a command unit, stubbornly standing up, something real problematic... Or ah, just send the key data to my unit, I have a command interface, better if I just sweep over the data, I can then feed it over the communications relay to their GPS maps." Looking at was left she briefly soured as other attacks struck home or were in the process of it, the enemy command group was chiefly intact, while 27 APC's and 20 tanks were burning that still left over 70 APC's, 50 Tanks, 3 AA and 2 SPG's hundreds of Infantrymen were running into the trees or setting up ATGM launchers with various levels of skill and co-ordination. The APC's were already aiming 50mm guns and turret mounted missiles at various other units in the formation.

Whoever was in command, be it as the back door was slammed shut or that he or she had over 3/4ths of their forces left, did not account for the fact that their command was more than decimated in the initial two minutes of the engagement by only a handful of Mechs. The SPG's seemed to operate under no ones command as the massive 203mm breaches on them shift focus, one gun was aimed squarely upon where Erika herself was and another was aimed at where Lind's sniper shot had came from. Massive flashes of smoke and fire come away from the guns as the massive shells arced down in an almost direct fire trajectory at the two. While neither would take out an MS in one hit, the presence of either weapon would become quickly well known. Erika for her part was already on the move as she switch from her missiles to her machinegun, firing the same shells that the tanks were using, but at a rate of fire that could not be equaled by the 50 tanks of the brigade, even though she missed more than half of her shots as she raked the frontline, at least 17 tanks and APC's were brewing up or took multiple hits and exploding.

The three AA guns caught sight of one of Endel's drones as 30mm shells spray out towards it and missiles streak off into the distance, the APC's and tanks had fields of fire over a wide area as they desperately pushed in three directions to make a wedge formation, Fulke, Sev and Stef all were the immediate targets as the cannons belched fire an grey and red glows marked missiles firing off, wire guidance or IR systems seeking them out, reaching out for vengeance, from what few units still had them.

For the rest of them, Sandra stormed off laughing as she did so as she let out a low whistle as a small section of the forest burned from her energy weapons, given she was a scout, she did have some ability to talk to the rest of the units simultaneously, though in this case there were only two she had to talk with. "Those infantry really fucking hate the other blonde, James that is. They are trying to set up AT teams to go in and deal with him, handheld, shoulder fired shit, dunno if they'll hurt him, but they will me, so I'm sitting it out, gonna go up a hill out around the rear, see what those other two Brigades are up to."

"Roger that, let me know.. I don't think they'll survive a 2nd exchange before getting routed. All units that can press in on armored wedge, break the nose off. Rest of you otherwise engaged, as you were, two field SPG's and.." A loud deafening roar could be heard as a solid THUNK followed by rain on a tin roof as the 203mm landed where she was, kicking up a hill of debris. "...Three mobile AA guns, Deal with them if you can."
 
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