Futuristic Starpath X: For All Mankind

[Breadman]

Kumcho had eyed the really big rifle that was near its smaller counterparts. Taking it home with him would be a nice boon to the clan, but alas, the realities of the battlefield made it impossible. He would have to settle for the smaller AMR he had already picked out. He grabbed a few of the coils, just in case he needed to reload the gun, but as nice pieces to trade in after the job was done for some extra credits. Upiry tech would go a long way in securing some financial aid as the plunder is starting to make its way to the gray markets. With that done, the bounty hunter boarded the APC to join the squad.

Inside, he listened to the odd chatters. Someone else was going to be joining them? Why not? Its not like they will be running out of enemy soldiers to shoot. The light show to clear out the office building was a nice distraction. He had to wonder if there were that many officers left to claim a bounty on. Would there still be any left? Or did they just leave the grunts to fend for themselves. Their stop at the school was his cue to get ready to move. As soon as he exited the vehicle, he could feel something was off. For some reason, the ground bothered him. Little dirt mounts, doting the ground in front of them 'Did they bury landmines for us to find?' the thought crossed his head, 'What else did they leave?'

He tinkered with his helmet to see if it would pick up anything and sure enough, the HUD flashed that it was picking up signals. "Didn't burry the mines deep enough. Short-range thermal scan is picking up pings. Either left in a hurry or are in a desperate state. I can see them, but I can't scan for other problems at the same time."

 

[Infab]

...This feels like a trap.

An expression of worry washed across Sam's face, as he listened to Kumcho's comments on the mines. Mines left buried more shallow than normal, lots of open space around the parking lot. However, he didn't say anything. Instead, Adam commented on things.

"Its a battle tactic." stated Adam quietly, "The mines aren't meant to stop us. They're there to just slow us down, so that tactical teams can take us out. There's probably some anti-tank mines mixed in too." His attention then shifted to the area beyond the mines. "...I'm seeing barbed wire and tank traps... My guess is this school was used as a forward outpost. They must have evacuated, falling back to be closer to the main body of upyri troops, and just left the mines here to screw with us."

Adam then looked up towards the surrounding buildings, and pointed out a trio of spots with nice overlook positions. "...I'd stick two sniper teams there and there... and anti-armor there..." he mumbled to himself. He didn't spot any movement in those locations, however. "...I'd suggest taking some of those mines with us. We could use them for traps, or fiddle with them and use them for other purposes."

 

[demytra]

Mazurek listened to Kumcho and then Adam as they spoke on the mines that were littering their way forward. There was no way of telling what else lay ahead, especially considering the Upyri forces remained on the retreat. Their lines were collapsing - who knew what they would pull just to buy a few hours? He remembered when the Upyri fled Terra that they left behind a trail of destruction in their wake, which included booby-trapping corpses of civilians and UFS servicemen alike with live grenades. "...I agree with Adam." Mazurek stated, keeping his gaze forward on the lookout for anything else of suspicion.

"Can use the mines as improvised breaching charges, with a bit of tinkering." he then suggested, following Adam's own suggestion towards using them for their own purposes. "Makes clearing buildings easier, or getting through areas we need to get to."

 

[K0mori]

"Leave them until we've got our man. There's a sidewalk right there," Krawczyk told the others, pointing to a concrete path that was halfway buried under the loose dirt. The pathway led to the side of the building, which had a damaged awning covering it and shielding it from the light. As they neared the building, the sergeant stopped them. "Flashlights on," she warned quietly. "Keep an eye out; if this was an outpost, there could still be hostiles nearby."

The team eventually reached a wall with several shattered floor-length windows, and shined their lights in to find the abandoned front office of the school. Signs of upyri occupation were everywhere, from discarded packets containing disposable items to inoperable equipment with empty batteries. They moved in and quickly swept the room, making sure that the upyri were gone, before attempting to move into the rear offices, only to find a locked door. "Hilmarrson, get that door open," Krawczyk ordered. The private stepped up, pointed his rifle at the door lock and fired before kicking the door in.

The broken lock gave way to the stresses and the door broke free from its position, only for a shotgun blast to hit it from the opposite side. Hilmarrson dropped back, lightly wounded from what litte of the shot managed to clear the gap between the metal door and the frame, and it became clear that the shotgun was a civilian model that was rigged to fire with a rudementary trap. "Fuck!" he yelled, clutching his hip. "Goddamn Micky Mouse shit..."

They pushed through the door, hearing movement from elsewhere in the building. "Someone's here," Krawczyk stated. "Move up!"

 

[Infab]

Sam got straight to it, as soon as Hilmarrson dropped back, putting his medical skills to use. Meanwhile, Adam moved up and took a quick glance at the shotgun. "They didn't even rig it properly. They were scrambling to get out of here, from the looks of things." he muttered, before moving further inside. They needed to find the source of that movement, as well as their own man.

He really wished he still had his helmet at this point. Thermal optics would have been plenty useful here. He decided to try something out as he made his way through the room, and called out to whoever was in the building with them in upyri.

"[Hey! This is 1st Lieutenant Adam Zetter of the 3rd Heavy Weapons Platoon of B Company, 3rd Battalion! We're friendlies!]" he called out, glancing back behind him at the others and holding up a finger over his lips. Maybe they could draw them out, and take them down instead of chasing them around the building.

 

[Breadman]

"Understood, boss." Kumcho nodded as he followed Krawczyk's instructions. As they entered the building, he switched off from tracking mines. He contemplated using night vision, but the flashlights would get in the way. They moved further in the building, and it didn't take long for something to go wrong. He could smell that there was someone still here, and of course they had set up traps. An ill-fitting one for trained military, but beggars can't be choosers, as the humans say.

Adam had a good idea. Lure them out. Kumcho calibrated the thermal tracker of his helmet to pick up the upiry body heat. As Adam trued to reason with the holdouts, he scanned to see what he could pick up. Silently, he pointed to the directions where heat signatures were being picked up, followed by a rough guess of how many it could be by holding his fingers up.

 

[demytra]

Mazurek took point with rifle raised as he pushed ahead on Krawczyk's command, and his mind raced for the possibility of yet another firefight. His breathing steadied as he crouched down and took a defensive stance along a wall. Adam made the obvious stated with regards to the issues plaguing the Upyri forces that had been stationed here, but also took the initiative when it came to trying to lure enemies out. The Corporal remained quiet, weapon trained to the near distance as he awaited for any sort of response from the enemy if they were nearby. His grip tightened on the rifle's grip and his trigger finger itched to squeeze at the first sign of any hostiles; he had some payback in mind for getting shot yesterday.

He also nodded silently to Kumcho as he made it clear where and how many he was picking up with his sensors. And as a result, Mazurek's anticipation for a fight grew even stronger in his mind as he steadied his breathing.

 

[K0mori]

"You see hostiles, you take the shot," Krawczyk whispered, barely loud enough for Mazurek to hear.

A moment later, there was another sound of movement. "[Yeah?]" an excited voice called back. "[I'm Cpl. Niklas Beckert, sir, 1st Rifles, C Company! I'm- I'm wounded, sir. ...Are you my evac?]" a strained voice responded from somewhere up ahead, and likely around a corner. Zetter answered in the affirmative - "[I am now]" - as he moved in closer, inquiring as to how many others were still in the building.

"[Two of my men are standing watch at the northwest corner, but I haven't heard from them since sunrise. They might be dead... or deserted, sir.]"

Zetter then inquired if Beckert had any more traps that he needed to know about, to which Beckert replied that there were claymores placed inside the windows lining the south wall of the building. He then grunted, stammering his way through explaining that they had resorted to improvised weaponry after their unit was shredded the prior night while fighting against a xeno unit. "[Kosoks?]" Zetter asked, just to keep the corporal talking.

"[No sir... or maybe...]" Beckert replied, sounding slightly delerious. "[Not the normal pissant goblins... maybe some of their puppets? They're all ugly as shit, I don't know,]" he said, fighting back the pain. "[...I think my proximity scanner's fucked, sir, you're not reading as friendly.]"

His voice seemed close as he moaned in pain, and Zetter realized that the next door on his right, the final one before the double doors which presumably led into the main student hallways, was the only place left that the corporal could be. As the Patrol came to a stop outside, Krawczyk took out a flashbang, signalling to the others that she would toss it in. After pulling the pin and throwing it, they were treated to the corporal's screaming and profanity, leaning away from the door as a looted UFS light machinegun raked blindly across the door. This continued until the weapon was out of ammo, at which point Mazurek stepped up next to Zetter and fired back into the room, only to realize that the Upyri Corporal had pulled the pin on a frag grenade and was trying to limp to the door.

"Grenade!" he shouted, and Patrol 2 wheeled backwards as the Upyri screamed some sort of final rally cry, going out in a blaze of glory that sent pieces of shrapnel through the walls.

Their ears still ringing from the blasts, Patrol 2 nonetheless heard the sound of men yelling from deeper inside the school. It seemed that Beckert wasn't as alone as he assumed. Out in the yard, amidst the remains of his dropship, Andrada spotted two upyri moving past the windows, heading toward the southwest corner of the building where Patrol 2 was fighting its way in.

 

[ImGhostly]

The scattered sounds of approaching combat perked Andrada's ears and raised him from his resting position in the wrecked dropship. He peeked through a blasted-out viewport at the school, searching visually for any sign of friendlies or the direction of the battle. At this rate, the waiting would kill him before the upyri did. At the report of a LMG, Luka winced. To think that UFS comrades might end up dead to save just one man was an uncomfortable thought - usually Andrada was the one throwing himself into the fire, sometimes literally.

There they were - just two, but there could always be more. The distraction was wiped from his mind as his eyes zeroed in on the pair of upyri fighters hustling towards the skirmish. Andrada held a bead on the pair, pressing the recoil pad into shoulder and holding the foregrip with his right hand as his left shot up and keyed his earpiece once more. "Patrol 2, be advised - I've got eyes on at least two foot mobiles moving southwest on your position. How copy, over?"

Andrada wouldn't wait for a response, not when he had the chance to do something about the threat. He took in a deep breath and fired three short bursts towards the pair of enemy combatants. Under his conditions he wasn't too confident whether or not his shots would land, but at least he might suppress them or make them think twice.

 

[Breadman]

Kumcho ducked as soon as he heard the warning for the grenade, dodging the frag pieces that shot out through the wall. Of course, that was only the start as he heard more voices from where he had picked some signals up just moments ago. They were getting closer and fast. There was no time to get fancy or to handle this with delicate finesse. The bounty hunter used his helm to figure out where the upiry soldiers were coming from. The exact number wasn't clear, but it didn't really matter. What mattered was to take them down.

He trusted his hearing to trace where they were most likely to approach from and he took his shots straight through the walls, hoping to pierce through them and to give the enemy some pause.

 

[Infab]

Adam narrowly managed to avoid getting peppered with shrapnel from the frag grenade, diving sideways away from the door just before the blast. He spat a string of curses in his native tongue, before grabbing his rifle from the floor and hoisting himself back to his feet. Sam, meanwhile, rounded the door frame behind them in a rush to reach the group. He had finished treating Hilmarrson, and was now on the move. Grenade blast? Possible casualties?

He'd arrive to find everyone mostly alright, but was soon right behind Krawczyk. "What the hell happened?" he whispered, eyes darting between the group's members before hearing the approach of the other Upyri soldiers in the building. Adam took up position next to the wall, gauss rifle shouldered and ready to fire on the hostile troops as soon as they came into view. However, he'd soon glance back to Kumcho, who was firing through the walls at the Upyri soldiers as they ran towards them. It also sounded as though their crashed friend was firing at them outside.

 

[K0mori]

"What the hell happened?" he whispered, eyes darting between the group's members before hearing the approach of the other Upyri soldiers in the building.

"Holdout fragged himself!" Krawczyk replied.

"Patrol 2, be advised - I've got eyes on at least two foot mobiles moving southwest on your position. How copy, over?"

The others were already picking themselves off the floor in a hurry to be ready to intercept the incoming hostiles when Andrada's warning came through. "Engaging, stand by! Over!" the sergeant replied as the specialist took his shots. Kumcho had already moved forward into the student halls by this point, and from where he was standing, it was clear that the building had two long parallel halls connected by smaller ones, forming a sort of rectangular shape until they reached the far corner. The enemy soldiers were running up one of the two main halls, but it wasn't the one the front office was emptying into; it was the one around two corners whose windows looked out into the schoolyard.

Aiming down the side hall to the corner around which the two men were likely to appear, he fired several shots which smashed out small chunks of the wall. The shouting from the enemy turned to cursing as they realized they were being attacked from two sides. As one reached the corner and blindly fired around it, Kumcho landed a few good shots by piercing the bricks again and striking him, but between the upyri body armor and the enemy's superhuman stamina, this only knocked him down - he quickly scrambled to get up as his squadmate helped him return some fire. They were bent over, trying to stay low in order to avoid the window.

Zetter fired off two rounds into the first man he could get a clear shot on, and then quickly ducked back, nearly taking a hit for his troubles without getting a solid hit on his foe. Mazurek moved up with Krawczyk close behind, but the difficult angles involved meant that the two humans wouldn't be able to get a decent shot unless they either pushed through Kumcho and Zetter or else stood in the wide open. "...Hilmarrson, got a smoke grenade?" Krawczyk asked.

"Right here, Sarge," he said, pulling one loose from his belt to show her.

She held out her hand and as soon as the grenade changed hands, she pulled the pin and threw it underhanded across the floor like a bowler. It skipped along the tiled floor until it hit the far wall under the windows and exploded, badly obscuring the two enemies' lines of sight. "Keep pinning 'em down!" Krawczyk called out, and the Patrol obliged by hammering the walls at the far end of the side hall and on the corner until there was a yelp and the two men started yelling in unison.

"Don't shoot!" they called out, and there was a clattering as their rifles hit the ground one after another.

Krawczyk turned to Zetter. "Ask them if there are others," she said, and he obliged.

A moment later, the surrendering upyri confirmed that they were the last in the building. A moment later, the two were crawling out on their knees, hands in the air, and it was clear what had brought about their sudden cooperation - one of the two men had suffered an impact for Zetter's gauss rifle to the helmet. It had ricocheted off at a shallow angle, but had nonetheless split the material open in a way which required so much energy that the man wearing it was probably concussed.

"Andrada, can you see me? You're clear to come inside the building," Krawczyk asked and instructed. She scanned the ruinous crater outside the building for signs of life before finally seeing movement. She waved at him before instructed Caine and Mazurek to move through the doors and retrieve him so that he could quickly get some medical attention - it was already clear that he was moving slowly.

---
​

Minutes later, the Patrol had exited the building with their new member following along behind them. The two captives, having been fully disarmed, were marched out first; Krawczyk had called up a nearby unit which volunteered to escort the POWs to a processing station while the Patrol continued its mission. After seating Andrada down inside the vehicle, Zetter and Mazurek were welcomed to gather up some of the landmines as they had previously discussed, this time with help from Atlas, since he was so keen about disarming bombs. The lumbering xeno in his water-filled pressure suit was quite a sight to Andrada, as was the wolf-like Kumcho.

"You're going to be joining us on a clean-up job at Zeta-Shimizu Works," Krawczyk explained to her new subordinate. "It's an electronics factory. The upyri were using it to produce everything from starship ECM modules to comm systems and even combat drones, and its the latter that we're having trouble with. They've got a team inside the factory controlling every drone they couldn't take with them and coordinating raids, and setting up ambushes for anyone who tries to get in. It's basically a deathtrap designed to rack up as many human casualties as they can get, now that they've lost Achenar," she grimly explained.

"We have to find a way inside, locate the team that's controlling the whole show, and shut it down," she continued. "HQ selected Patrol 2 because we do a pretty good job of finding our way through defenses. I'm sure you probably have some questions, so ask them; this is probably the only free time we're going to get until after the objective is complete."

 

[ImGhostly]

It felt good to be back in friendly hands, but as they walked away from the schoolhouse and the crash site, Andrada's mind was still stuck there - sitting amongst the body bags - the soldiers that should've been walking out with him. He had to leave them behind now, there was nothing else that could be done for them.

His injuries hadn't been too intense, but left untreated he would've been taken off the line in a day or so. Andrada took one last look back as they walked, then hurried his pace to catch up to Krawczyk. "Sergeant, if the unit coming for prisoner retrieval could recover the bodies from the crash - it would be good to know they didn't have to wait, ma'am," he said.

He listened intently through Krawczyk's rundown of the mission. As he did, he rolled his shoulders and pressed gently on the back of his neck - painkillers had yet to kick in. The mission sounded like a one-way trip, but then again, they had managed to fight their way in and rescue him with no casualties. Maybe the brass had the right idea sending Patrol 2, and if that was the case - well then, where else could Luka be more useful than clearing the industrial deathtrap.

"You guys aren't exactly rank and file, huh?" Luka said as he looked amongst the team they had assembled. A pair of aliens - mercenaries? The upyri guy was definitely a spin, but he'd fought alongside the rest of them all the same.

"I'm Andrada, I appreciate you all taking the risk to save my ass," he said genuinely, even adding a half-pained smile on the end. "If things are going to get as heavy as you say, Sarge, I'd like to get your names - or callsigns - sooner than later," Andrada asked no one in particular. It wasn't like he was owed an answer, but gauging the new squad couldn't hurt

 

[Breadman]

Kumcho grinned under his helmet as he heard the shots land from behind the wall. His little gamble paid off. He moved behind cover for a few moments as they returned fire, preparing for another salvo. The smoke grenade popped and filled the room with gas, giving the squad another edge in the fight. He trusted his equipment and instincts to line up another shot. One of them let out a yelp, forcing his comrades to surrender. He took a look at the damage, it didn't seem like the final hit was his. Next time.

The fight was over, and he felt a little bit disappointed. These soldiers put up a fight, but none of them were of a high enough rank to claim a bounty on. It was too much to ask for a catch like that from an exchange like this. Whatever minor feeling lingered was quickly swept aside as they welcomed a new addition to the squad. The solider who was stuck behind enemy lines and provided cover fire for them.

"Kumcho Vulcho, from the clan Vulchishte. I'll spare you the rest of the introduction, as it's a little dry." He introduced himself to Andrada "No call sign yet, so Kumcho should work fine, friend."