Guard Duty
Time: Roughly 1:30 pm
Date:...I wanna say August 12th
Today's assignment: Solo Guard duty of Auraxis Firearms Corp.
Soldier on duty: Will McDonna. Engineer of the New Conglomerate.
This is how the suits think you should reward good performance? Sending a guy to the ass end of the battle lines to guard a weapon testing facility that's so close to our warp gate you'd be crazy to try to attack?
I mean it wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the BOREDOM that came with it and I'm not allowed booze on duty so there's goes laying in the tube room drinking….wonder if the other guys are alright up in the front lines? Said that they're hitting the network hub up north to get the jump on the TR and VS duking it out there. Gah! End log.
With the umteenth aggravated sigh that day; Will McDonna stopped his recording session. Figuring it better to do the next round through the facility he was now stationed. While the mithed engineer didn't mind a cushy job once in while he preferred just being allowed to go to his favorite resort city and drink on the beach. Especially when it meant his squad mates are fighting without him.
Hope that hotshot doesn't get Mags killed again. He thought walking by the targets with his carbine held laxly. Remembering the careless new engie that was training under them.
The day was calm so far. In fact, if he was in a better mood he'd call it lovely out. Few clouds in the sky and the sun not burning you to a crisp like it would on Indar. That and the picturesque landscape from the cliff was a nice bonus he thought. He scanned north. Partly to see if there were any returning Galaxy dropships. Ten had gone north. So far only one bullet-ridden one limped back to the warp gate. That had been an hour ago.
He hated quiet jobs like this. It put him in a reflective train of thought. Past mistakes and what he could've done. Or other choices he could've made. Could've been with the TR...Nope! Don't go there idgit!
He shook his head. Clearing that train of thinking. He needed something to do…
Walking through the storehouse he spotted a pigeon launcher, used to help shotgun toting troopers track drifter using enemies.
"Hm, I think I know what I'm doing today." He mumbled to himself, hitch the launcher outside overlooking the cliff.
Thirty minutes latter the quiet Amerish landscape was awashed with the sound of a soft swishing of an object in flight...followed by the trademark bombastic boom of an NC shotgun.
"Haha! Five outta five! PULL!" Will called out to the voice activated launcher as soon at it loaded another target in its slot.
Feeling cocky he let it fly longer than normal before shooting. However, he let it get too far and the pellets failed to make contact.
"Well, five outta six ain't ba…" A purple beam shot the pigeon out of the air. "...what?" Will asked with a dumbfounded face.
Thirty minutes earlier on the rock face north of the facility.
A Vanu infiltrator watches the bored NC trooper busy himself with what would be his break from boredom. If he knew him (and she knew him VERY well) That'd only work for fifteen minutes tops before getting bored again. Oh well. She'll enjoy the shot of him bending down, allowing a nice close up of his bum.
She watched patiently as he set up his targets and pull a shotgun off a rack inside one of the buildings. Silently cheering him on when he made his shots once, twice, thrice, quad, penta, hex-oh he missed! Uncloaking she snapped a shot off with her Phaseshift shattering the clay target farther than any shotgun could reach.
She lined up on the engineer who had dove for cover behind a wall. A glinting from the corner told her he was using his combat knife's mirror shine to look in the direction her shot came from.
Smart. Not that I'd think any less of him. She giggled to herself as she recloaked and thought. Time to pay Will a visit~.
In the time between the time for him to dive for cover and snatch up his Mercenary carbine, he briefly scanned the northern rock face with his knife.
The shot came from the north...Shit too much open ground to the tube room; they'd pop my head before I'm halfway there. He thought trying to formulate a plan of action.
It takes a bit before their cloak goes down and they can shoot..maybe if I just spray the rock face I can keep them from lining the second they decloak. Nodding to himself he braced for the extremely stupid course of action he was about to do, Setting his Mercenary to full auto.
Ok. One, two, thre- A tap on solder. "Hi!"
Three became a frightened yelp as he jumped forward and ended up emptying his carbine's mag into the air.
He turned to his unwelcome guest pulling his side arm.
"Show yourself cloaker and I promise not to shoot you in the face!" Will yell in the general direction the voice came from.
He heard an incessant giggling as he felt someone lean on his left. The distinct sound of a Vanu cloak deactivating. Revealing his company.
"Aw that how you greet a friend?" the infiltrator said. This time, he had a bead on the voice.
"Ono? That you?" He asked as she stepped away to remove her helmet while bowing. Revealing her feathered raven black hair.
"The one and only." She said with what she thought was a sweet smile. To Will, it was slightly off putting.
Deciding to check his map he saw that the fight was still way far north of their position.
"The hell are you doing here? Shouldn't you be on the front?"
" I was but when I saw that the engineer in your squad wasn't you I volunteered to scout ahead." Ono said twirling a finger in a strand of hair.
"How's the fighting?" Will asked. Legitimately curious.
"Total dead lock. Just MBTs taking potshots at range. No one wants to commit lest they get swamped by the other two."
"So the usual then?"
"Pretty much!"
Again Will gave an aggravated sigh on behalf of his squad. They hated stalemates. Being geared more toward anti-infantry they didn't like being caught out in open fields. Preferring the close quarters of biolabs and ampstations.
"Soooo…" Ono drawled out, staring at Will.
Deciding screw it. He picked up the tossed shotgun.
"Best outta five targets?"
Clapping her hands she nodded like an excited child.
"Yeah but I get to use my rifle!"
"Fair enough." Will nodded and the two got their stations."PULL!"
For the next couple hours the twosome shot clay targets over the cliff. Taking the time to make small talk which then turned into them reminiscing about the time before the war. If only the third was here to join them.
Eventually, they ran out of targets and Will decided to sit on the ledge. Staring into the landscape before them.
"Wonder how 'Cia is doin'"
"I'm sure she's tearing a new hole into whoever is in front of her." Ono said sitting next to him.
Meanwhile, east of their location. A damage Vanu Magrider was in hot pursuit of a TR Harasser, Passing by Auraxi Com substation.
"HIT THE FRAGGING BOOST!" screamed the vehicle's gunner.
"I AM SIR!" yelled back the stressed driver.
Cursing the gunner did a quick scan of the terrain hoping it'd offer any advantage.
"Get behind that rock! Two O Clock!"
"Roger!"
Back with the two.
Will heard the Harasser before he saw it scream into view doing radical maneuvers to dodge the pursuing Magrider's blasts.
"That's not good." He stated plainly.
"Why's that?" Ono asked.
"Means I have to work." Will huffed and ran inside to retrieve one of the Archer Anti-Material rifles from the weapon stock. And tosses it to her.
"C'mon get to the vehicle terminal. I gotta mine the bridge."
With a nod, she hefted the heavy weapon and made to her position. Hoping the Magrider lost the engagement. She didn't want to explain why she willingly committed friendly fire to the Legate.
Will went about mining the bridge. Keeping an eye on the fight in the valley below. The Harasser had made a drifting turn behind a large rock and the Magrider closed in. Drifting side to side trying to guess which way the fast attack vehicle will go. He noticed that the MBT's top gun wasn't moving. Must've lost its gunner.
The rear of the Harasser peaked out of one end of the rock prompting the MBT to fire at it. The Harasser hit it's boost and screamed out the other side. Turning into a drift circling the MBT. He could hear the winding of a TR favorite, the Vulcan. The hated weapon's AP rounds ripped the soft rear of the Vanu tank apart soon leaving it a burning wreck its pilot presumed killed.
Will gave an impressed whistle. Not many can outsmart a Magrider pilot. The Harasser started to head in their direction. Specifically the ramp to the bridge. He had a sudden but stupid idea. Abandoning the plan to mine the bridge he got up the terminal platform and plopped his AV turret next to Ono who gave him a confused look.
"Bet you can't shoot the wheel off that thing." He claimed. Confusing her more. He gave her a cheeky grin. And it dawns on her.
Nodding to his challenge she rested the Archer's barrel on the railing and took aim. Sticking her tongue out a little as the Harasser zoomed down the bridge. It was half way when she took the shot. Hitting the front tire the already damaged tire of the Harasser began to wobble, threatening to rip itself off the vehicle. A second later a wire guided missile from Will's turret struck the wobbly tire blowing it clean off.
"Oooh nice one."
"Heh thanks. You too."
The weight of the vehicle caused it to tumble as it shifted to the now tireless front left. It rolled violently once, twice, thrice, four, five times before coming to a halt in front of the vehicle spawning platform.
"Wait here." Will said before snatching up his carbine and hopping the rail to scope the wreck.
He could hear a muffled moaning as he forced the driver side door open. He spotted a TR engineer (who had not strapped himself in properly. Really, Professional army his foot) mangled and broken on against the steering wheel.
"I can't feel my legs!" the pitiful soldier cried out. Which Will gave an unsympathetic look to.
"Ah shaddap." He unloaded five shots into the TR trooper's chest putting him out of his misery. He turned his attention to the gunner seat and spotted (a properly strapped in) Heavy assault. Looked shaken but unconscious from the wipeout.
Hm. Female, high rank...Wait is that blonde hair?
Will ran to the other side and proceeded to rip the door open and cut the gunner out. Moving the visor up he saw a familiar sight.
"Hey, Ono help me out here!" He called out to Ono, who was fiddling with the Archer.
"Comming! What's up?"
"You wouldn't believe who we just shot! Hold her up while I get a med tool." Will darted off to the nearest infantry terminal to grab what he needed.
Ten minutes later.
Felicia Conner wasn't a stranger to pain. But right now she felt as if someone landed a Galaxy full of overweight MAXes on her.
"Hey, she's comin' to!" Called out an accented voice. Strangely familiar.
"'Cia. Wake up!" another voice called this time followed by a cold splash of water to the face.
"Gah! C-cold!" Felicia shot up only to bowl over in pain with the sudden movement. Damn her everything hurt.
"Whoa easy there. Ya just had an accident." She turned to see an NC engineer. Will, his shaggy brown hair and cocky smile greeted her. She huffed.
"An accident you caused."
"Hey, I helped!" Ono cried out not wanting to be left out.
"Well, what was I supposed to do? Let an enemy vehicle run amuck behind NC lines? The suits would cut my bonus!" Will retorted with a laugh.
"What about my driver?"
"Mangled. Nothing a five round burst from a Mercenary can't fix." Will said sticking a thumb to the wrecked Harasser.
"And you don't shoot me on sight?"
"You weren't moving. 'Sides that stunt with the Magrider back there had your brand of cunning to it."
Felicia shook her head. Mildly amused.
"Think ya can stand up?" Ono asked.
She nodded and with some help was on her feet and moving. Dusting herself off she spotted the setup launcher.
"Your idea of a date?"
Will shook his head.
"Nah. I got stuck with guard duty back here for good performance. Ono just kinda butted in." He explained. Ono shooting him a hurt puppy dog look.
"From what she said the fight up north is a deadlock. But that was hours ago."
"Still true though. I was ordered to fall back after most of my squad got caught in a Light PPA run. The Magrider started chasing us when we broke off from the main column." Felicia explained.
"Ah." Will let out. An awkward silence hung in the air before he picks up the shotgun leaning against the railing.
"A new shipment of targets just came in. You wanna go best outta five?" He asked. Ono shot a slightly begging look.
Felicia just stared at the two disbelieving of what they just asked. After a moment just shook her head and laughed and retrieved her (undamaged, surprisingly) Cycler from the wrecked Harasser. Noting her squadmates body had disappeared. Back into the tubes for him, it seemed.
"Fine. But I get to use my gun." She said. Her competitive spirit kicking in.
"Heh, You're on 'Cia!" Will laugh and they made it to the cliff face.
And so the battle to the north waged on long into the night. Between then and when the order to pullout was given to all sides. Three friends wasted much ammo and training equipment. Their cheers and jeers echoing in the valley till time came for them to return to their FOBs
End of duty report: Nothing of note happened during the shift. Rear lines were secure and no signs of enemy activity.
Engineer Will McDonna, signing off. Live Free in the NC!