Jacob, the first specialist, set the iron sights of his uncommon infantry rifle just below the ear of a distracted cloud breaker, took a deep breath, and went to work. The rifle stock bucked against his shoulder as he squeezed off a single round that drilled through his opponent's skull. One target down, Jacob pivoted slightly and took aim again. This time he found Huntress. He grinned. She was one of names on Mustard's list of so-called 'people to watch out for'. Keeping his grip tight on the rifle, he fingered the trigger and dropped her with two medium bullets to the chest.
At least it wasn't another funk operative, Jacob thought, having already eliminated two in this match alone.
He glanced over to the plane upon hearing a familiar grumbling and saw that the sky stalker had the engine running and was beginning to take off. Jacob knew he had to keep the vikings and aerial explorers at bay and focused more on surviving than noticing the escaping plane. It was already badly damaged, and he was afraid that if it took just a few more rounds it might explode, killing Nick in the process. He couldn't let that happen.
The first strike specialist had just lifted the iron sights of his infantry rifle back up to eye level when Smurx and Mustard came running over to him. He simply waved a hand in the direction of Nick's plane.
"That?" Smurx asked in confusion. "Man, I ain't gettin' in that."
"You got a better idea?" Jacob replied. "Mustard, go."
"On it."
The yuletide ranger broke away from the ramp they were using for cover and, protected by his teammate's covering fire, sprinted in a sporadic zig-zag all the way to the plane. It seemed like forever before he finally dived onto the tail rudder.
"He made it," Smurx reported.
Jacob gave a confirmatory nod and continued shooting.
"Good, you're next."
"You sure?"
"Yeah, I'll be right behind you."
Without further discussion, Smurx slowly crabwalked back down the ramp, counted down from three, and took off. Now only Jacob remained. In response, Jacob went all out and fought even harder, firing round after round and gaining as much of the enemy's attention as he could. He knew that if Nova was going to make it out of this, one of them had to stay behind and cover the retreat. He just hoped he'd be able to buy his allies enough time.