Their metal boots smacked the dirt hard, leaving traces of IMC boot prints of pilots and grunts on the battlefield. "Keep Up." Maren spoke into the comm for each pilot, and grunt, to hear. The colonel kept his Hemlock raised, pointed forward to ensure nothing in their way would survive, and relying on others to safe guard all other angles. The squad was nearly at the building that was between Bravo and Charlie, once they were in, they would need to secure that first.
"Form up, flash and clear." In one swift action, each pilot found a place on the wall next to the large open door to the building facing Bravo. Maren had hoped that the distraction had worked, and his squad and himself hadn't been discovered on the way over. "Caleb." Maren called. Caleb poked his head out from behind Sorin and Jackson to respond, "Sir." Maren motioned him over with a series of hand motions. "Toss a flash. Make it quick, take point once you do so." Caleb simply nodded and put his back to the wall, reaching into a pouch to locate his grenade inventory. Luckily, he located a flash grenade and primed it, quickly looking to the squad and giving a nod. "Right, let's do this." He spun around the door way, lobbing the steel ball into the room as he did. Once he hit the other side of the door, he cocked his R101C and awaited the loud BANG from the blinding and disorientating grenade, "MOVE IN" Maren gave the group the order to clear the room. Caleb darted in and raised his rifle, acquiring any targets he could find. As Maren had guessed,there were indeed Militia forces inside; a squad of grunts and two pilots. The pilots appeared un-affected by the flash due to their advanced helmets. They prepared their weapons to meet their attackers.
The un-effected pilots made an obvious target since they held the greatest threat as of that moment. Caleb raised the muzzle of his weapon and squeezed the trigger. Ten 5.56 caliber rounds swarmed towards the first pilot, who used his jump kit to thrust into the air, evading the barrage Caleb had fired. "Oh shit!" Caleb muttered, as the pilot soared closer, raising his rifle into the air to fire. The rest of the team swarmed into the builiding, killing some grunts before the remaineder became oriented again. "Return fire!" One of the Militia pilots commanded their troops. Gun fire ravaged the building, no side gaining any ground.
Eventually, as planned, IMC grunts from second and third squad moved into the building to assist. Though it was not without loss, grunt dropped dead to the floor as the Militia returned fire. "KEEP FIRING." Maren commanded his team to target heavy pockets of Militia soldiers. The pilot which Caleb was firing at finally landed from his thrust. He landed in front of Caleb, attempting to disarm the soldier. The pilot gripped Caleb's rifle, banked it forward so the muzzle faced the floor. The stock hit Caleb in the jaw, staggering him a little to the pilots advantage. The pilot attempted to twist the rifle around, go for a another stock hit, but Caleb recovered too fast. Caleb grabbed the rifle's sling and spun it the opposite way, getting the pilots hand stuck by the magazine. He then brought the muzzle up in an attempt to quickly fire. But once again,to no avail. The pilot kept his other hand at the forward grip, and moved his stuck wrist ever so slightly to the trigger guard and discharged all the rounds into the ceiling. All hope of using the rifle to quickly end their opponent came to a close.
At this point, Caleb didn't believe he could hold out in hand to hand combat against a pilot. With ideas dwindling, Caleb thrusted forward, trying to over power the pilot. In retaliation, the pilot swung to his side and lobbed the grunt into a wall and tried to combine that move with a jump kick. "Oh fuck!" Caleb shouted, seeing the kick coming. He dropped to the ground like a rag doll to dodge the impact. To counter the attack, Caleb tackled the pilot from below, sweeping the pilots legs. Both men grunted as they hit the ground hard. Caleb quickly rose to his feet and reached for the Hammond P2011 that hung suspended from his holster. 'Shit shit shit shit!' Caleb made haste attempting to un-strap the pistol from his leg.
Captain Sorin lept into the air and sent a hostile grunt flying back further into the room with a kick before grasping another by the neck and slamming the soldier into the ground. "Holy fuck! Back up! Back up!" The grunts screamed as the IMC pilots began overwhelming the position. Sorin eyed around the room, looking for Caleb, only to find him engaged in hand to hand combat with a pilot. Colonel Maren had also spotted the situation during the fire fight, but couldn't get a clear shot without possibly injuring Caleb. "Sorin!" He called "Assist! You two can handle it! We'll handle the rest as they retreat up stairs!" Sorin simply nodded and turned towards the fighting soldiers. "God damn it Caleb..." She muttered briefly as she watched the scene unfold.
The IMC grunt drew his side arm and prepared to discharge a series of rounds into the briefly stunned pilot, only to be thwarted by the pilot using his jump kit to literally crash into Caleb, sending them both down. This time, the pilot recovered faster, and yanked the grunt off the floor, followed by a brutal punch to the gut. Caleb winced as the fist impacted his abdomen. Caleb hunched over, falling to one knee. The pilot clasped both his fists together to bash the grunt violently. During the move, Caleb raised his left arm, catching the fists with his wrist. After successfully maintaining the block, Caleb brought his right fist up to meet the pilots chin. The pilot staggered, but continued on. Caleb threw a series of punches, expecting to wait his enemy out and deplete his stamina. What the grunt didn't expect, was the pilot grabbing the grunt by the neck with his left hand, and his wrist with his right hand...the pilot swung the pilot over head and smashed him into the ground. "Aaargh...cheap shot...asshole..." Caleb writhed on the ground, his back in a great deal of pain from the slam.
The Militia pilot kicked Caleb's ribs while he was down, only making the pain, and Caleb's groans, worse. Once the pilot grew tired of increasing the pain, he bent over and grabbed Caleb's P2011. "Not gonna waste time monologuing, kid." The Milita pilot muttered as he loaded a clip into the pistol. "You chose the wrong side." The pilot kicked off Caleb's helmet to minimize any chance of it preventing the bullet killing him. "Go fuck yourself..." Caleb retorted. The pilot cocked he weapon and began moving the muzzle to Caleb, until faltered by a female pilot tackling the Militia soldier to the ground. Despite the pain, Caleb managed to grimace. 'I so owe her after this...'
Sorin provided the Militia pilot with a series of kicks, knocking the enemy around like a soccer ball. Eventually, just like what had happened during the fight with Caleb, the pilot had managed to grab hold of the attackers limbs. Though this time was different. Sorin bent her knee, bringing the pilot closer to her, which was just what she wanted. Captain Sorin brought her elbow down on the pilots neck, the pain causing him to drop to the floor. Caleb watched the whole battle take place in under thirty seconds, and un-surprisingly, Sorin was winning. The grunt attempted to move again, his back aching badly, but still managing to balance a stand. While Caleb tried standing, Sorin walked towards the downed pilot, intending to finish the bastard off. The militia pilot slowly crept his hand to his leg...what Caleb nor Sorin had noticed was...he still had his side arm.
Sorin drew her knife as she grew less than five meters away. Swiftly, the Militia pilot sat up and took aim. A muzzle flash filled Caleb's vision, and the loud crack of gunfire. Sorin stood briefly, her hand on her abdomen. She raised her hand and to no surprise, red liquid covered the surface of her glove. She staggered. Backing up slightly as she did. A wall met her back. She looked to her right to see Caleb...or...Atleast she thought she did...she couldn't tell "C..Caleb?" She slid down the wall, still holding the wound as the Militia pilot rose to his feet. Caleb shook, hearing his own name never sounded so wrong.
"Persistent Bitch." The Militia pilot raised the pistol once more, aiming for Sorin's head. Pilots always seemed so...invincible...yet here Caleb stood about to watch that theory be tossed in the trash...and NOT at Sorin's expense. "NO!" The grunt screamed and in a split second, pounced the pilot to the ground. The weapon discharged, missing Sorin's head by mere centimetres. Caleb ignored the pain of his previous injuries...the adrenaline was all he needed to kill the bastard. He knocked the pistol from the pilots hand and relentlessly began thrashing the pilots helmet until the pilot kicked Caleb off, sending the ground skidding across the floor. Both men paused and eyed Sorin's knife that sat on the ground.
Caleb dove for the knife, as did the Militia pilot. Caleb gripped the knife with all his might, and attempted to stab the pilot as they wrestled for the knife. The pilot twisted Caleb's arm and brought his arm down on his spine again, knocking Caleb to the floor, but crazy enough, he kept getting back up. The pilot had possesion of the weapon...which meant Caleb would be on the defensive. "JUST." The pilot thrusted the knife. "FUCKING." A series of stab attempts. "DIE!" The pilot slashed the knife, missing Caleb's neck, but slashing a long, deep cut on his cheek, instantly staining his face with blood. Caleb grunted and yelled in pain, he couldn't take much more. One final assault was all he had in him. Caleb sprinted at the man and slid on his knees, punching the pilot in the gut as he did. In rapid succession, Caleb lept to his feet and grappled the Militia pilot from behind and managed to dislocate his arm and take the knife. "You first!" Caleb spun the man around and plunged the knife into the Pilots heart.
The pilot clumped to the floor. Finally dead. Caleb breathed short, shallow breaths as he exhausted all his energy on the fight. His face was cut, his back was in great pain, some ribs may have been broken, and more injuries probably piled up. As he thought, he quickly remembered Sorin. He swore and sprinted over to the wounded pilot. She was still breathing, keeping her hand over the gun shot wound. Caleb dropped to his knees to asses the wound. "Sorin?!" He removed the pilots hood and mask to see if she was awake. Thankfully, she was. "C..Caleb...it..really...h..hurts.." She wimpered. Caleb panicked and slowly moved her hand away from the wound. "Let me see it! Let me see it." Caleb couldn't see the wound with the uniform and red liquid surrounding it completely. "Listen...Listen to me. You're gonna be okay...I..I just need to see it." Caleb removed the sniper shemaigh wrapped around Sorin's neck and placed it with the other items, followed by the removal of all the pouches and holsters. His hands trembled as he began to unzip the Sniper uniform, a mixture of worry and pain. As the uniform was now out of the way, Caleb could see easily where the blood was seeping from. The bullet made it's mark below her left breast. Caleb grabbed a cloth from his utility pouch and wiped the area around the wound, revealing her white skin beneath the red surface. She yelled in pain and swore as contact came around the bullet hole. "GOD DAMN IT!" Allison yelled again, actual tears of pain welling at the corner of her eyes. "I know! I'm sorry, I'm sorry...!" Luckily, Caleb thought, the bullet hadn't traveled very far. Or else it would've made contact with some very important things..."C..C...Caleb!" Sorin gripped Caleb's wrist tightly, earning some discomfort from Caleb. "You're gonna be okay! I promise!"
As Caleb assumed, the bullet hadn't traveled far..in fact, he could see the back of the brass a little further beneath her breast. He quickly grabbed Sorin's med kit and searched for morphine to help stop the pain for Allison. "MEDIC! WHERE THE FUCK IS A MEDIC?!" Caleb screamed out. He tried his radio, several times, no response. He yelled more times too...no response, he was on his own to help Sorin...
Roughly Twenty minutes had passed. Caleb sat against the wall, his hands bloodied, his body injured, and just plain exhuasted. Allison was asleep next to him. Alive and well. Caleb had managed to remove the bullet with a pair of tweezers in the medical kit, as well as stitch the wound after stopping the bleeding. It was mostly trial and error-without room for error. The experience was tormenting, he'd felt sorry for medics before, but now he actually under stood. His 'patient' cried the whole time. Screaming of pain, thinking she was going to die. It served as a fresh reminder that pilots were human too...
Eventually, Allison awoke slowly...adjusting to the pain killers and other various actions Caleb had to take. she had passed out shortly after Caleb located the wound. She looked around, seeing the grunt next to her staring off into space. She felt cold air pass over her. Sorin looked down to notice her uniform un-zipped, exposing her skin to the cold air. She blushed slightly and tried to zip up the uniform but groaned in pain. She now remembered. She'd been shot. She could feel the bandages below her breast. The groan alerted Caleb to her consciousness, he turned to his right and saw Sorin staring back. "Hi.." Sorin managed to say. "Hey...you feeling any better?" Caleb was pale when he asked, once again a mixture of the pain and nervousness. "It still hurts...but...I guess...I'm alright..." Caleb nodded, "good. good." He exhaled and relaxed against the wall. Sorin cleared her throat, gaining Caleb's attention again. "Do you think...you could get that?" She pointed at the zipper. Caleb's eyes widened as he had forgotten..."o-oh right. Sorry." He moved to the zip that hung below below her stomach, and zipped it up to her neck as it was before. "Sorry...I..needed to see the wound..." He moved to sit back against the wall until Sorin stopped him. "What happened...to your face?" She lifted her other hand to inspect the massive cut across his cheek. "It's nothing. Sunshine over there got a lucky hit...it's not that bad." He pointed to the Militia pilot's corpse across the room "Caleb, you're quite pale...why haven't you patched that up?" Sorin tried grabbing a cloth and wiping his face, but Caleb gently grabbed her wrist and placed it back at her side. He took the cloth for himself and wiped the side of his face. The white cloth quickly became blood red. "Well." He started, "that can't be good." He shrugged and reached for his radio again.
He turned the radio on once more and spoke into the frequency that Colonel Maren should've been on. "Zulu Actual, Zulu Actual, Zulu Seven to Zulu actual." He'd said the phrase about a dozen times by now...roughly half an hour had passed since he tossed the flash bang into the room and began the fire fight with the Militia. The lack of IMC or Militia forces was odd...as was the lack of gunfire. Now, the gunfire was isolated to one spot, rather than the entire complex. However, it was quickly drowned out by the roaring engine of a frigate exiting atmosphere and drop ships leaving as well. "...That can't be good either..." Caleb muttered. Finally, a voice responded on the radio; Colonel Maren. "Caleb? Where the FUCK are you?" Caleb scrambled to pick up his radio again. "Sir! I'm with Sorin. We're in the building we previously cleared. Sorin's been hit sir. I've done what I can, b-but I don't know if it's enough!" Maren listened to Caleb explain the situation before speaking again. "Sorin. Sound off" Sorin briefly looked to Caleb before shouting "here sir...fucked up...but I'm here.." Maren nooded, if only for self conformation. "Right, we're on our way...we've got a drop ship on the way too...the battle's over...the militia got their fuel...sit tight..." The radio fell silent and Caleb cursed. Once again the Militia found a way to best the IMC forces.
"That's twice." Sorin said. Caleb turned with an eye brow raised, "what?" Sorin couldn't help but chuckle. "Twice I've saved your ass." Caleb opened his mouth to retort before Sorin cut him off. "But...you did kill two pilots today...and saved my ass...so I guess we're even..." She looked at Caleb as he stared back, "I guess so." He said quietly.
Caleb sat back against the wall, running a hand through his hair before grabbing the cloth again to clean his cheek from the fresh blood that poured from the cut. "So you asked me...so I'll ask. Are YOU okay?" Sorin asked. Caleb paused to think about the question before coming up with an answer. "...No..."
So we've finally come to the end of mission one. Finally. Like good lord. XD To recap: the IMC re-Fuelling base was assaulted by militia forces, and the Militia successfully stole enough fuel to keep the Militia first fleet operational. All of Echo six spare Sergeant Keller, Sergeant Speer and Lance Corporal Orion were wiped out. Caleb was re tasked to a squad of pilots to siege the Charlie objective, which ultimately failed and resulted in Allison Sorin being shot, Caleb sustaining multiple injuries and other Grunt casualties.
ill try not to drag on the other missions as much as this one. My bad. Again.