"We trained for this!"
"We're all going to die!" C51 gripped his grakata tighter, the cramped space inside the dropship preventing him from waving it around.
"No way! Those corpus kubrows won't stand a chance! They'll be scared out of their wits! When they see a formorian they'll go running all the way back to the board!" AC14 wasn't so sure that a single ship, no matter how powerful, would be able to send an entire active warzone running but arguing with C51 was always pointless.
"I just hope we don't get deployed straight to the front lines." The ship suddenly sunk, the marines crammed into it jostling one another as they tried to keep their footing. The speaker mounted at the top of the troop carrying compartment crackled to life, Vey Hek's voice echoing through the tiny space holding twenty Grineer marines.
"Marines! You are being deployed to the front of the fight against the corpus scum! They have over stepped their boundaries! You will scour them from this galaxy! For the Queens!" AC14's groaning was drowned in the endless cheering of the other nineteen marines.
"Feel better?" A satisfied moan slipped from Stalker's lips, Mesa chuckling quietly. "Yeah, that's what most people say." She leaned back, a smile on her face as she watched the feared Tenno hunter melting into his chair. Shooting wasn't the only thing she was known for. Tenno in her clan would pay almost anything for Mesa's massages. Normally she charged quite a bit in resources, mods, and credits but the story she could tell was more than enough. That and a bargaining chip against the Tenno's single deadliest foe wouldn't hurt her. Stalker suddenly bolted upright.
"Do you have access to Grineer deployment records? Never mind." He rammed on his helmet, the armor on his back pulling itself back together. "Ship, search Grineer deployment records for Charlie Battalion. Pull up results when I get back." The AI chortled in his helmet, its calm, monotonous voice responding in the affirmative before inquiring about the Tenno he was with. Stalker bit back a spiteful response, Mesa following him out the door of the small room above the bar.
"Where are you going? I'm not done with you just yet~" Stalker strode up to his liset, the hatch opening at his command.
"My soldiers need me." Mesa didn't ask, the Stalker leaping into the black liset with a crooked grin on his face.
Dera fire ripped across the arid wastes of Mars, the energy blasts finding a full response in the form of grakata fire from the Grineer lancers as they pushed towards the corpus outpost. C51 rolled his shoulder, the charred armor clicking as he swore. The small canyon most of the fighting had been taking place in was little more than a death trap, corpus proxies along with crewmen sending a blue hail down range. The more experienced hellions that were supposed to be covering the advance had named it a clone grinder, one remarking that the body pile would eventually become so high the marines could simply walk over the corpus barricades. AC14 was nursing a broken leg, the eximus having taken a railgun round to the shin. CG22 had 'consoled' him with a heavy slap to the back before a medic began sawing off his leg. At the hip. Grineer didn't have doctors. They had barely qualified robotics attachment personnel. AC14 tested his new leg. It would hurt but he could walk. And if he could walk, command would expect him to shoot. That was all a clone was for. At least he could, how did C51 put it? That's right, die well. Apparently the only proper death for a Grineer was leading a near suicidal charge, his armor riddled with holes as he shouted the famous battle cry popularized by Captain Vor. AC14 shot a look at C51, the marine tightening his grip on his rifle before looking to CG22, the heavy gunner finishing reloading as AC14 leapt the rock formation they had been hiding behind, the arson eximus bellowing as Corpus shots ate into his armor. "For the Queens!"
The crewman peered over the edge of the metal barrier separating him from the ravenous horde of clones. "Holding this position will increase profit. Do not let the dogs gain a centimeter. For great profit." He nodded, the box-like helmet reducing the motion to a slight change in view. He repositioned his dera, hundreds of targets suddenly appearing in his field of view the elite crewman leading the defense of the canyon's panicked voice crackling over the comms. "This position is rapidly declining in profit. We must reverse this trend. For great profit!"
Dera fire raked the charging Grineer. They didn't care. As a newer battalion his was a glory hungry one and AC14 wanted it every bit as much as the man running alongside him. Well maybe a bit less. C51 had already discarded his grakata in favor of a shock baton, the lancer swinging his weapon wildly as he leapt the barricades, AC14 igniting his friend's weapon as C51 caved in a corpus helmet. AC14 didn't bother with the other side of the corpus fortifications, CG22 laughing manically as she tore apart another fleeing crewman with a hail of lead. Instead he dropped a railgun MOA as C51 began to dual with a prod crewman, the green suited box head roaring as a viper was forced into his gut. The marine grinned before squeezing the trigger, the last few shots piercing the crewman's back. After a few moments of blood and confusion the corpus battle line was all but obliterated, the few remaining crewmen picked off by an excessive amount of vulkar fire, the ballista that fired off the killing shot on the last crewman bragging about it for the next week. Or she would have if the massive proxy hadn't unleashed a coordinated strike on the sniper positions within the canyon. C51 turned just as the dust from the jackal's assault cleared, his smile fading to a stunned gape. Martian sunlight flashed over its armor as the robot raised its front leg. C51 barely got out of the way, the shockwave sending him flying as the machine was pelted with fire from the hellions above it. Clones began to scatter as three bombards took aim at the massive proxy, the resulting blast once again cloaking the machine in Martian dust. The dust cloud began to shift, dark patterns highlighted by explosions from within the cloud. As the dust cleared the Grineer guns fell silent, a dark clad man standing atop the shuddering frame of the ruined jackal. Stalker ripped Hate from the jackal's head, the weapon clamping onto his back as the Grineer began cheering.
"Damn straight."