The heavy weapons expert groaned, loosening his grip from Volx and pushing himself up to a seated position. He grit his teeth through some of the worst pain he's ever felt, looking to see his right arm dangling. Dislocated shoulder. "You okay, Volx?"
The small-statured Lieutenant in his grasp winced as he jostled her about, opening her obsidian black-eyes behind her cracked visor. Her hand rose to retract it for a clear view.
"I'm alive. I'll manage." She mustered, looking up at him. "What about you?"
"Right arm's dislocated...pretty sure I cracked a few ribs."
As he spoke, Volx made to rise to her feet. Her eyes tightened in discomfort, but otherwise, she would be fine. Minor bruises and a few lacerations. Typical field-related injuries. Haxx's arm was another story.
Taking a moment to check her gear and weapons were still intact and about her person, she approached the larger, seated Sergeant. "Give me your hand...No, you're right hand, idiot."
Positioning her own footing, she lifted a foot to plant on the man's chest where his arm met his torso. He was smart enough to figure out what was coming next. "On three...one...tw-"
Volx sharply yanked Haxx's dislocated arm forward while simultaneously pushing with her foot in the opposite direction. While pure agony for a brief moment, the ball slipped back into socket with her assistance.
"There. Arm's fixed. Can't do anything about the ribs." She reasoned, releasing his wrist. "Can you walk? We need to get off this roof."
As soon as Haxx's brief scream and groan after finished, he rose to his feet, moving his right arm a bit to pull his machine gun off his back and looking it over. Dinged and dented, but everything functional looked to be intact. "Yeah, yeah I can move. Where the blazes are we going to go, though? The others? Grab the Commander? What?"
"Regroup with the rest of Purple...if there is anyone alive." Volx deduced as she drew her rifle and held it at low-ready before trying her comms. "Purple-1, Purple-2, how copy?"
Nothing but the pop of hissing static. Volx grimaced with a disgusted sigh.
"Radio's fucked...what about yours?"
"Purple Four here. Purple One, you read?" Nothing but silence. "Bolt?" Still silent. "Anyone?" Still. Haxx took off his helmet and let his machine gun rest off its sling as he took a look. A shocked look came over his face as he saw a small piece of the shuttle embedded in his helmet. Not deep enough to penetrate fully, but it severed any connection to his comms. "Uh, well, that's something."
"Even if the helmet wasn't there, your thick skull would have probably stopped it." She smirked at him before giving a sigh. "...okay...recap...shuttle was engaged by AA. Took a hit. You and I ended up here. Going to assume we fell out after the impact…"
Tapping the side of her helmet, she engaged her cracked visor again. Her HUD came up, distorted, but legible.
"...well, that is a relief...rest of the team is on the ground and alive in that direction...Rem's vitals are not looking too good though." She concluded, retracting the cracked visor once more before facing Haxx again.
"One thing at a time. You and I need to regroup with the others. From there, Corr and I will come up with a plan of action based on the hand we've been dealt...and thanks, by the way...for protecting me on the way down."
"Yeah, well, I don't think I'd be able to live with myself if I did nothing." He cracked a smile before putting his helmet back on.
"Someone has to save the damsel in distress because you aren't going to save yourself." She teased before gesturing with her head. "Come on. Find a way off this roof and make our way to them. Sure the VDF is foaming at the mouth to close in on the crash site. Sooner we get over there, the better."
Haxx looked around the roof, making his way over to a door that looked attached to a stairwell. He tried the knob, locked. Frustrated, he withdrew a vibrobladed knife and looked down the side. A few delicate moves with the tip of the knife and getting the simple mechanical lock moved aside far enough, the door opened. "We can probably get down to the ground this way. Beats the exposed fire escape or the free fall express."
"Figured as much." Volx reasoned, covering his rear as he pushed on through the door. "Beats being exposed up here. Also, until we reach the others, don't engage. No sense in attracting attention to the two of us without backup. Cloak and go quiet. You taking point or am I?"
"I'll handle it." Haxx took the lead as he sheathed his knife and began descending down the stairs. As he moved, he tapped his helmet a few times, the HUD lost a lot of the functionality from that one piece. He still had his targeting systems and a few others but a lot of it was otherwise compromised. So much for having an intact visor. "So what do we do if a bunch of them, oh, I dunno, bump into us somehow and decide they want a fight? Knowing our luck I bet someone's bound to trip over me or something."
"If we've lost the element of surprise, fight them." She deduced coldly. "Winning is an entirely different story, but we have little in the way of options right now. All the more reason why we go out of our way not to...and if we manage to make it to the others and get out of this...remind me to sock Corr in the mouth for this little detour from the plan. Whatever it was for, I hope it was worth it."
"Let me give him a one two for the both of us, hm? Or maybe kick him in the crotch. The Vorts say that hurts." Haxx grunted from the pain in his ribs as they made their way down the stairs. "I think he owes me half a year of doing nothing for all this."
"You're not getting out of your duties that easily," She semi-sternly warned, moving meticulously step-for-step at his rear with her rifle at low-ready. "...but I may be slow to respond should you feel the need to give the Captain a bit of percussive maintenance. For now, keep it tight and stay focused. Confident as we are, there are only two of us and quantity is a quality of its own. Survival now, frustrations later."
"Yeah, right, deal with that when the time comes. Damn it." Haxx stopped as he reached the ground level, rather than continue to the basement. He stopped for a few moments to catch his breath and relax to gain some comfort from his ribs before activating his cloak and moving out the exterior door to the alley adjacent to the building. Moving towards an intersection of buildings in the direction of the others. "Should keep off the streets as much as we can," he mentioned, keeping his voice down.
Volx followed suit as her physical form shimmered briefly before fading from view save for the faint distortion of the cloak's field projected. "Easier said than done when surrounded by nothing but streets, Sergeant."
She moved past him once both exited the building. Now able to move more freely, she kept appropriate distance to not endanger both of them to an errant grenade toss. Thankfully, the city remained dead for all intents and purposes. All-encompassing darkness intensified by a lack of power. No civilian activity or signs of life. Just empty blocks as far as the eye could see.
"Crash site isn't far away. We need to hurry before the search parties reach them...or us, for that matter. I'll take point. Follow my lead and keep up because I can't carry you."
The Lieutenant, a former Spec Ops assigned operative prior to Vult's initial recruitment, was the one outlier of the team. Everyone else had come from Imperial Trooper or Irken Elite units savaged by ID1's failed invasion of Praxxus 7. While she tasted bitter defeat there as well, she had always been special forces. Her training and experiences reflected as much. If there was anyone on the team with the skillset most in demand in that moment, it would be her's.
Keeping Haxx's observation, however obvious it may have been, in mind, Volx led them off of the street the first opportunity that arose. Alleyways between high-rise structures where utility access and refuse collection provided that much-needed out. Despite her short stature, she moved swiftly and silently. The sooner they closed the distance between them to the crash site, the better. It was only a matter of time before the VDF encircled them.
Meanwhile, the Navy Lieutenant had made swift progress, switching his thermal vision on intermittently to keep an eye out. He paused next to a side door leading into a high rise building to switch on his thermal vision once more. There they were, a short statured one in the lead and one with a machine gun behind her, seemed injured based on how he was moving. He thought for a few moments, deciding to let out a short whistle.
Haxx immediately stopped and looked around. He tried to flip on his visor's thermal vision, only to have it flicker to life for a few seconds before failing, but it was all he needed to see a cloaked figure ahead of them. "Volx we got one-"
"Hold your fire," Nomad cut him off as he raised a hand and uncloaked into his armor mode. "Ehrkas'Mharo, Athka Team with Ohnmatu." He stepped out from his position, an all too familiar sword to Volx hanging from his waist. A Vortian Navy vibrosword with its distinct brass trim, guard, and pearl grip. "Your commander's going to be glad to see you two."
Volx's rifle snapped into her shoulder with drilled practice, sights up at the unfamiliar whistle. Haxx's warning was unnecessary as she actively began searching their surroundings. A narrow passage between two buildings with little in the way of cover. Meters, pipes, and other manner of mechanical works providing services to the structures and the dumpsters were all that shared the space with them.
The shimmering distortion of movement gave way to a figure approaching. Volx aimed center mass, but held her fire. He spoke, identifying himself as he came into view. Vortian. Ohnmatu. The special forces teams the Commander spoke of. Ally, for lack of a better term. His presence did not give her relief, but neither did it cause immediate alarm. A constant state of alert apprehension remained.
"Haven't shot us so I'm going to assume you're friendly...for now." The Lieutenant reasoned, keeping her rifle to her shoulder but lowering its muzzle away from the recent arrival. "You sent to find us and take us to the crash si-"
Her obsidian gaze drifted to the Vortian's hip. A vibrosword sheathed, but not just any sword...the same glistening in the sunlight on Praxxus 7, wielded by the man who cut down her team and nearly did her in. Not many carried melee weapons, let alone meticulously crafted ones. This was special to its owner...the owner responsible for the scar she bore to this day.
"...you." Her tone and inflection shifted to one of scorn and venom.
Her grip trembled on her rifle, jaw clenched equally so. It took every ounce of willpower she had to call her own to not throw herself at him in fury. All she could muster was reaching up to retract her visor and mask. Eyes black as the night sky around them and an angry furrow of a scar from antenna base to cheek over her right eye. She nearly lost it that day.
"You okay Volx?" Haxx only managed to ask as he looked to the Vortian. Despite his face not being visible, his body language showed the realization of who exactly it was he was talking to. That one all those years ago when he rushed to the defense of Praxxus in a mix of armor and his service uniform. The one he nearly had, though he did dispatch her team.
"Ah...shit…" Mharo raised one hand to put a hand to his face and shake his head. This is the absolute last person he was expecting to run into. "Look, forget the past for a second. Yes, I volunteered to come grab you two and bring you in. Your leader and one other are the only perimeter your team has."
Her glare remained fixated on Mharo, disregarding his half-hearted attempt at diplomacy as she responded to Haxx.
"This is the guy that cut my team to ribbons on Praxxus 7 in ID1...the one that nearly blinded me in my right eye...and he wants me to forget that happened."
"He what?!" Haxx yelled in response.
"Will you keep your voice down?" Mharo motioned for him to keep quiet.
"No!" Haxx retorted, "In fact, I have half a mind to kick your ass myself, goat boy!"
"...Goat boy?" That just seemed the worst retort that ever came at him. "I'm serious. We really need to-"
"What? Lieutenant? Get going?" An unseen voice called out to the three of them.
Despite her simmering rage threatening to boil over and take a swipe at their impromptu ally, the unknown voice announcing its presence doused the flames with reactive training. Her focus rezoered and rifle snapped to the apparent source of the sound.
"Friend of yours?" She sneered at Mharo before redeploying her visor and mask. "Haxx, get ready to move, fast."
"Oh, I don't think so." The voice spoke again, still refusing to expose himself.
"Nope," Mharo replied to Volx, "definitely not one of mine."
All she needed to hear. To hell with both of them.
She snatched a flashbang from her equipment, the device primed and armed as it left her belt, and thrown. In the same motion, her hand came back to ensnare Haxx's sleeve and pulled. A non-verbal insistence to follow as she turned away and started sprinting for the nearest turn down another alley as the device went off with a brilliant flash of white light and deafening blast.
"Cute." The voice seemed unfazed by Volx's moves, as if the grenade missed his position entirely, though he sounded much closer than before. "My turn!" Just ahead of her, a black clad suited figure emerged, in similar armor to Nomad, though sporting silver pauldrons. A fist headed straight for Volx's already broken visor.
The diversionary tactic may not have worked to its fullest effect, but it did motivate their adversary to appear. Amidst a full sprint, through the darkness, her visor picked up the movement ahead and the outline of a deactivating cloak. Another Vortian. Black armor. Fist thrown.
The short-statured Lieutenant did not falter or slow her approach. She smoothly transitioned her rifle to her back, magnetically securing it, and drawing her vibroblade with expert practice. A snapping flourish saw it secured in her grasp as she dropped into a slide as the black-clad Vortian's fist narrowly missed.
Her diminutive size worked to her advantage as she easily passed through his legs. Her unoccupied hand ensnared his ankle, using it as an anchoring point to pivot off of and use momentum to rise back to her feet off of the ground behind him. In the same motion, her blade-wielding hand sought to drive down into the Vortian's collar.
A normally successful tactic against lesser trained soldiers, but he was anything but.
No sooner than she committed to the strike, he pivoted to face her with impressive speed, purposely rolling his back and shoulder to evade, and ensnaring her knife-wielding wrist. Their dance continued as he made to strike again, only to have Volx's boot soles rise to plant on his chest and shove off in a half-effective kick to free herself and gain distance.
She landed in a half-crouch, light as a feather, and keeping her opponent in clear sight.
"What? You think I'm that easy...Volx, was it?" Heavy footfalls behind him briefly drew a gance as he saw Haxx closing the gap to try and engage him. The Vortian delivered a back kick right to the Irken's chest, sending him back several feet and turning some of the previously cracked ribs into fractures, as well as forming some new cracks. "Your friend's an idiot by the way." He was clearly taunting her.
It took great restraint to not cloud her attention with Haxx's well-being as she witnessed this Vortian deliver a devastating snap kick to his chest. He was a grown man, figuratively and literally. She would tend to him when the opportunity presented itself. Priorities required her attention elsewhere. That didn't stop her from throwing her own verbal jabs in their second salvo traded.
"I'm aware...reminds me a lot of your ilk...SIS, right? The incompetent lot we left to rot in the sewers?...or the ones having their eyes picked out by the wildlife in the hot sun? Take your pick, really." Volx threw back at him. "That or the insufferable arrogance...no wonder why your own people don't want you here."
"Be that as it may, you're definitely not walking away from this one, neither are your treasonous friends." Pyros quipped back at her, "The augs will rip them in half, literally."
"The only thing I've seen them do is fail their missions and blow themselves up. I'm hardly impressed." She countered, mentally playing out several strategies and buying time.
Did she stay and attempt to fight him by herself? She couldn't retreat or make for the crash site, not without Haxx...and that left Mharo as well. Damn it, why did everything have to be so complicated?
"Maybe you can be the one to change my opinion about you guys...so far...the militia's put up a better fight than you have."
"I may not be an aug, but I'll show you." He charged Volx again, drawing a pair of orbs from a pouch to hurl at her face, meant to splatter on impact and blind her from what was effectively paint. It was to no avail as the orbs met the wall instead of her visor.
The runt was too nimble. Strength and agility continued in their deadly duet. His moves tend to be misses, but landing solid hits when he manages. Likewise, her counters were limited, but some managed to work.
Unknown to Pyros, Mharo made his way up and over to Haxx, hearing complaints about broken ribs and giving him a jab with a medical syrette to dull his pain. Meanwhile, he drew his blade, waiting for the perfect chance to strike; deal with Pyros in one move. He watched as they fought their way back towards a dumpster, allowing the Irken an elevated position to strike at the Vortian. Her blade sunk into his chest, taking advantage of a gap in his armor. It only elicited yells of pain from the Vortian as she missed anything vital. The only thing she did was enrage the beast she was facing. Hands found her form and threw her against the opposite wall.
Her opportunity to put an end to the endeavor turned up empty. What was intended to incapacitate through rapid blood loss only earned ire and fury. Clinging for dear life on the SIS operative's back, she was peeled off against her will with ease. Before she could extradite herself, Volx found herself painfully introduced to the opposite wall of the alley. Thrown with all his might, she crashed into it and fell to the ground, coughing with the air knocked from her spooch.
Pyros ripped the knife out and cast it aside as he straddled Volx, pinning her down as both hands gripped her throat, tightly. "You fucked up, you bitch, you fucked up bad."
The Lieutenant, forced onto her back by the SIS operative's unkind foot, grunted with pain as his full bodyweight pressed down on her abdomen and massive palms followed suit around her neck. He committed to strangulation as his grip locked in, the segmented armor of her undersuit the only thing preventing her neck from being snapped outright. That didn't stop the pressure from being applied.
Teeth grit and seething with effort, Volx bucked, twisted, and turned in vain to free herself. Her much smaller hands could not get a solid grasp around her assailant's wrists, nor could she reach anything else to coerce her freedom. She may as well had been a child at the mercy of an adult as she vainly gripped and pulled at his arms and wrists.
Her spooch began to burn, desperately needing air. Her seethes became audible, strained gasps. Muscles burned and vision darkened. Asphyxiation. Of all the ways she anticipated death - shot, blown up, spaced...being strangled in an alley was not one of them. Not exactly the most fitting of ends for the most elite the Irken had to offer.
Seeing the SIS operative rather focused, and Volx struggling, the Lieutenant quietly made his way over. Raising his blade, Pyros didn't even have a chance to look before his arm descended, the blade striking true. Some moments passed before the man's head slipped from his neck, the geyser of arterial blood bursting forth from his neck as the grip on Volx loosened, the other Vortian then unceremoniously kicking the body over and offering Volx his free hand to help her to her feet.
Volx barely registered what had happened as she slowly slipped further from consciousness. Her strength waned and struggles all but ceased...then suddenly the pressure was gone. The crushing weight atop her relented. Much-needed air rushed into her spooch with a heaving gasp racking her entire body, complete with coughing. Only after a few moments did she note the severed head of the SIS agent.
She sat up, seeing his slumped-over corpse, rubbing at her neck. He was dead...but how? Haxx? Where was he? What she had believed to be the after-effects of nearly being strangled to death with her impared vision was the sheen of violet arterial spray coating her face and chest. A weary hand wiped at the alien ichor, smearing and streaking it away in search of better visibility.
Her questions were answered as Mharo's extended hand garnered her attention. She eyed it briefly before accepting it begrudgingly. Hefted to her feet, she drew long, deep breaths. Calm. Collect. Recover.
"Where's...Haxx…" She wheezed out before another fit of coughing.
"Over there," the Vortian pointed to Haxx on the ground where he landed previously. "Whatever injuries he had before, looks like they got worse. Said his ribs were broken. I gave him something to dull the pain, but he seems okay otherwise. He's a tough guy."
Haxx groaned and sat up before pushing himself back up onto his feet. The pain from his now broken ribs, in addition to some cracked still, didn't help matters as he made his way over to Volx and Mharo. "Glad you're okay...and thanks for whatever it is you gave me, goat boy. Still hurts, but it's not terrible."
"It's Mharo, it's not that hard to pronounce. Or call me Nomad."
"Yeah, yeah," Haxx waved him off and looked at the headless corpse and looked at Volx. "You did that, with a knife? Nice."
"Uh, that was me, actually," Mharo quickly corrected him.
"Yeah, right, and I'm the King of Irk."
"It was." Volx wheezed, opening her mask to breathe uninhibited. "...your highness. Saved...my life."
"Uh...well...thanks for that again, Nomad, but, why?"
"Long story I'd have to explain over a six course meal. Here's the basics you need to know. SIS is terrible, they don't care about killing us just as much as they do you, in fact I have to wonder if we're even on the same side sometimes. I'm just looking forward to getting out of here."
"So...you're actually rooting for the Empire?" Haxx asked, confused
Mharo shook his head, "Not so much rooting for the Empire, moreso rooting against SIS. We really should get moving. He's one of an entire squad and the other eleven of them are going to know when he flatlines."
The Lieutenant listened, seeking refuge in the form of a steadying hand against the same wall she had been thrown against. A point of reference against her dizzy, swimming vision. Deep, deliberate, slow breathes against a raw, ragged throat took great fortitude to not succumb to another fit of hacking and coughing.
"...grudges...buried...priorities." She managed, echoing Nomad's plea for peace prior. "Just...give me...a minute…ikvedo bastrado…" A curse cast at the dead SIS agent.
While waiting, Haxx detached his machine gun sling and shoved it into the chest of the Vortian. "Hold this for a second." Pushing the bloodied corpse onto its back with his boot, Haxx went rummaging through various pouches after kneeling down. Taking the man's plasma cells as well as his sidearm he shoved into his belt for lack of another holster, and extra grenades shoved into the pockets of his coat.
Volx's unsupporting hand pointed to the decapitated head and helmet.
"Check...his comms. Pull...anything useful...almost ready...to move." She met out with a cough, rubbing at her neck. "...soon as I...can breathe again."
"Right," Haxx looked him over, not seeing anything obvious, "uh...where? Exactly?"
"I've got their frequency," Mharo gestured for Haxx to hold out his own comm unit as he punched it in for him. "We've been eavesdropping on them for a while now. See if they caught onto us. This bastard was on radio silence, didn't know he was here."
"Means he didn't...get word out about you." Volx deduced, steady on her feet once again despite her throat feeling aflame. "...sure they know about the headectomy by now. Original plan, crash site?"
"Yeah, still on for that," Nomad answered as he looked to Haxx, "Canteen, grab it." Haxx looked a bit confused at him before taking the canteen off the man's belt and holding it out to him, swapping it for the machine gun. Nomad promptly held it out to Volx.
The apprehension she showed before had evaporated. The Lieutenant took the offered container, wasting no time in opening it and helping herself to some mild alleviation for her ravaged esophagus...or that would have been the case had it not been full of liquored spirits.
No sooner than the bite of booze touched her tongue and burned her raw throat all the way down, she winced, throwing it at the agent's corpse with a growl. The container bounced off his dead body, spilling the contents and the scent of alcohol hitting the air. Even in death, he managed to get one last parting shot in.
"Drank on the job...explains a lot." She muttered after a sputtering cough. "Let's go."
"Yeah, no kidding." Shaking what blood he could off his blade, the Vortian sheathed his sword in exchange for his own plasma rifle. His own cloak mode switching on as they moved to the crash site. Making sure he was on the correct frequency he spoke quietly. "Two in the bag."
"Two bagged, affirm."
Despite the near-death experience, Volx refocused on the task at hand. Haxx was hurt and someone needed to keep him alive. Leaving their lives in Nomad's hands was not an ideal arrangement. Not for a lack of trust, but he hand his own hands full as it were. The burden needed to be shouldered.
Drawing her rifle at low-ready, she checked their heading in regard to the crash site. Not much further...but there was a lot of activity on her motion tracker. Likely the VDF regulars moving in to investigate the shuttle they downed...and destined to engage the others.
"How's the ribs, Haxx? You green?"
"Pain's tolerable...fuck this hurts still."
"Be glad he didn't have his strength mode on," Mharo chided.
"Yeah...I saw the Cap's leg...eugh."
"You'll be fine. One of us will look you over when we get there."
He led them through yet another series of alleys until he stopped at the side door of the restaurant. No sign of the regulars yet, must be massing to converge in force. Not that it wasn't good in the moment, but it didn't bode well. He uncloaked and opened the door as he stepped inside, gesturing for the two to follow before closing it behind them. Within, the two could hear a conversation at the front.
"And you're sure about that?" The voice was Corr's.
"Positive. Evac is in about twenty minutes. They're going to send our ships out with the remaining civilian liners. Once Gantas gives the word, we exfil." Tha answered. "Even when he gives the exfil order, I can't help you openly fight the regulars here."
"Why?"
"Simple, I don't feel like being harassed by SIS all the way to my damn extraction point. I'm sure someone like you could understand that. I know you're not in an ideal situation."
"Oh, yes, I only have four people once those two get here to form a perimeter against, what, an entire division or something? Four guys and three snipers can surely hold that back."
"Relax, we're on the same side. I'd help you more if I could, you know that."
"Present and accounted for, Captain." Volx sounded off, more hoarse than usual.
She crossed the empty restaurant to the ongoing impromptu strategy meeting. Her roughed-up uniform, cracked visor, and copious bloodstains of Vortian origin certainly made for quite the sight among present company.
"The Sergeant's nursing broken ribs. Unsure of the severity. He hasn't been complaining much about it. He'll live." Volx concluded, mentally blocking her own discomfort to focus on the greater tasks at hand. She was Corr's second and needed to fulfill those duties. "Can I get the condensed version of our situation and proceed accordingly, Sir?"
Corr seemed visibly relieved as he heaved a loud sigh. "Good to see you both. The short version? It's the four of us, our three snipers on overwatch, and a whole lot of angry Vortians headed our way." He paused, trying to think of how to bring up Rem in a delicate fashion as a seemingly angered Haxx made his way in.
As the Captain spoke, filling her in, she already took to observing the plaza. Not much in the way of cover beyond the buildings. No decorative walls. Wide open fields of fire. A proper killzone...but that worked both ways.
Her train of thought was side-tracked as Haxx brought up the rear and entered the building the same as she had. His posture and purposeful stride spoke where he did not. Agitation. Anger. Confrontation.
"Haxx." She addressed, turning to face him with an outstretched hand insisting he stop.
He stopped, for the moment, only for Corr to continue.
"Both of the medics are occupied...with Rem. She...it's...I don't know how she survived the crash in the shape she's in. She got it the worst of us."
Haxx snapped right then, pushing past Volx, making his way right up to the Captain and delivering a ferocious left hook. "She would be just fine if you hadn't changed the LZ on us! You stupid fuck!" The blow left Corr looking in a different direction, rubbing his jaw from the blow.
Tha stood in reaction but she didn't intervene, looking to Volx. "Is he going to be okay?
Diminutive size aside, Volx made up for it with a commanding presence. She was in motion to intervene but Haxx's anger overrode better judgement as he lashed out and struck Corr solidly. A shade of her former self appeared as she unkindly socked the Sergeant in his chest with the intent to cause pain and get him to cease entirely.
"Enough! We are minutes away from having half of this planet's remaining military up our c'hurta's!" She bellowed at him, straining with her ravaged throat. "We can't change what happened, only what will!"
Having his undivided attention now as he gasped for breath and clutched his chest, she thrust a finger toward the stairwell.
"Overwatch! NOW! Cover the plaza!"
More for his sake rather than her own, she thrust a finger at Corr.
"...after we extract, you and I are going to have a long discussion...Sir."
After coughing up a bit of blood, Haxx begrudgingly made his way up. Tha motioning with her head to her second. Nomad followed him up to make sure he was okay.
Corr swallowed. "It was my fault, Lieutenant, all of this."
"Yes, it was. Doesn't matter." She was quick to cut him off. "Your pity isn't going to see us through this, Captain. This is war. People get hurt. People die. Comes with the job. Whole point is to make sure it's them and not us...do I need to relieve you of command or are you going to stop feeling sorry for yourself and take command of the situation?"
"I can do this...at least with more of you here this will be a little easier."
"Good, because I am at the threshold of losing my voice." She explained in a less stern tone. "Nomad saved me from being strangled to death at the hands of an SIS operative. Means they have a team in the area."
Volx paused, taking a deep breath to calm herself with the chaos that was the rapids of dookie creek and they without a paddle.
"All we need to achieve is obstinance through superior positioning. Stand our ground, protect the crash site, and hold out until Red Team...that or until the offensive push reaches us. We will hold this plaza, Captain."
"Corr, did you check the shuttle?" Tha chimed in.
"What?" He shot a look to her confused.
"The shuttle," She clarified, "you have any stashed weapons in there to use?"
"Our team emptied out Ervaus Team's gear long ago."
"The door gun?"
"...Door gun?" Corr didn't recall anything about a door gun.
"Come with me," She stood, stopping to grab an orange soda for Volx and opening the bottle, "Here, that should help with your throat a little." She sighed as she made her way to the front door and activated her cloak mode, "Can't believe I'm doing this." Corr looked to Volx for a few moments before following across the plaza, the Vortian moving swiftly to where the ramp used to be.
A few moments of looking around the mangled interior, Tha uncloaked to activate her suit's enhanced strength as she forcibly pulled a wall panel open, exposing a heavy plasma cannon and its mount on a swivel. Several heavy plasma cells sat in the compartment with it. "If you can rig this up somewhere, that should be a big help."
"What's with all that banging?!" Zutel called out from the cockpit.
Posa leaned out around her superior, covered in Rem's blood, aiming her sidearm. Vortians?! Just as she was about to squeeze the trigger and engage, she saw Corr behind them...these were friendly Vortians? Nevertheless, she exhaled heavily, pointing the muzzle of her weapon towards the ceiling.
"It's the Captain...and he brought...friends?" She struggled, unsure if she should feel dread or relief in that moment. Doesn't matter. She had a patient to be tended to still. "Sir, what's going on out there? Are those those one guys we're working with?"
"She's a friendly, Posa. How's Rem?" Corr replied as Tha got to work freeing the heavy cannon.
"Umm…" The Medic waffled, holstering her sidearm again as she turned her attention back to Rem. "She's...here, still, Sir. Through some miracle. We've curbed most of the hemorrhaging and started wound packing, but she needs a transfusion...multiple transfusions. Down to our last saline bag and it's not going to last long. PAK regeneration alone can't keep up with this level of damage."
"Our one blood bag won't do us much either, Captain." Zutel added.
"We're going to start rotating donations between us…" Posa explained, multi-tasking as she monitored Rem's vitals, getting much-needed metrics to feed to Zutel and adjust their care accordingly. "...but I don't think we're going to keep up with how fast she's losing it, Sir. Not before both of us pass out anyway."
The Captain seemed sullen briefly before he snapped himself out of it. "I'm trusting you two to do what you can. I'm confident the Commander is going to be here as quickly as he can move. Rem's made it this far, I have a good feeling she can make it until they get here. Keep up the good work keeping her alive. I'm extremely proud of the both of you right now."
"Doing what we can, Captain...but it'll be helpful if the rest of you don't get hurt." She attempted to make light of their awful situation. "Think we are taxed to capacity right now on triage…"
Posa paused, swallowing hard with a shaky exhale as the realization began to set in.
"...you'll keep them away from us, won't you, Sir?"
"Yes, yes we will, or we'll die trying. Don't worry about injuries either, we can tough it out. Rem's important right now."
Before the medic could respond in kind and refocus on her critical duties, the still evening air was shattered with a deafening blast. One of Rha's proximity charges had went off. Panicked yells were followed by a series of flares from the surrounding streets went up in response. Distant orders were issued by squad leaders.
The VDF was on them.
Posa jumped at the sudden blast before returning her focus back to Corr.
"Sir, go! We have it under control here!"
"Damn you, Corr!" Tha cursed as a loud thud resounded as the door gun broke free. "Grab those cells and follow me!" She made her way out of the shuttle as Corr grabbed the heavy cells and followed her out. The Major bounded for a fire escape and closed the distance in a single leap before making her way to the roof. The Irken struggling to keep up with the suited Vortian.
The inevitable had finally come to pass. At least the wait was over as far as Volx was concerned. While her superior officer busied himself with acquiring more firepower and munitions to improve their chances, she took the reins in his stead. Haxx was in position high above her in the building, overlooking the plaza. Rha opposite her on the ground floor, watching one of the corners of the buildings at the edge of the plaza.
The Lieutenant had spent the past several minutes pushing the heavy tables of the restaurant closer to the windows and pushing them over for makeshift concealment. The rear door was blocked off to prevent the VDF from getting the drop on them. Making use of her auxiliary hand-held unit after powering it up and dialing in the appropriate frequency, she addressed the trio of marksmen as the flares went up.
"Bolt, Smoke, Cobalt, Purple-2," She began, her obsidian gaze illuminated with the crimson haze of the slowly-descending flares. "Talk to me. Where are they and where will they be coming from?"
"Bolt here, you got a dozen tanks headed straight down the main boulevard headed right for you. Matches up absolutely nothing in records. Things look practically like museum pieces. Few companies of infantry in support on foot."
Rha's head snapped to Volx as he overheard as much in equal parts disbelief and masked horror.
"Tanks? Companies?!"
Volx signaled with a sharp jerk of her hand laterally near her throat for him to be quiet.
"Understood. Sounds like things are going to get hectic down here. Don't wait for us to prioritize targets for you. Weapons free and use your best judgement. Comms are poor, relay updates to Red-1 on our behalf. Confirm traffic."
"Solid copy. Weapons free, discern best targets, standing by to relay any updates to Red lead."
"Confirmed. Go to work. Purple-2 out." Volx concluded, stuffing her back-up radio into a pouch on her belt before looking to Rha. "Get all of your charges planted, Corporal?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Good, we're going to need them. Any of the remote charges able to impede them?"
"Put them all over the support columns of a pair of buildings opposite each other on the main streets leading into the plaza, Ma'am. Armed and ready to detonate on your command."
Controlled demolitions. Even under stress. No wonder he was hand-selected for his skillset.
"E.T.A. from the proximity detonation?"
He checked the time on his gauntlet near his wrist.
"...assuming they're sticking to the textbook, the forwardmost elements will be on them in one-eight-zero seconds, Ma'am."
"Blow them at two-two-zero, Corporal."
"Two-two-zero, understood." Rha nodded, making mental checklists as he scanned his prepared positions. Extra powercells and ordnance within arm's reach at each position. A sickening feeling in his spooch led him to believe all of it was going to be needed.
Luna, tuned into their channel, looked down the boulevard at the oncoming tanks in the distance. "I don't believe it. I didn't think those things were still working."
"What is it?" Tha responded with a grunt as she furiously moved to set the heavy mount up at a rooftop corner.
"Those are Shendaracs...and Endarcens. Where did they even find the petrol for those things?!"
"Never underestimate the ability of SIS to pull shit out of their ass ranging from stupid to insanely stupid." Tha replied, "If you Irken are listening, those things are antiques. Conventional munitions, conventional armor from the days when we used gunpowder."
"Obsolete, antiquated, and enough withering plasma fire will put them out of commission." Volx deduced. "Hear that, Sergeant? Need you to forget your training and engage them when you have a shot."
"Wait, really? Shoot the tanks?!" Haxx sounded incredulous. "Are you joking?"
"You know me better than that, Haxx." Volx huffed. "Suppress infantry, keep them off of the shuttle. Any old armor shows up, engage it. ID your targets first."
"This night is getting weirder and weirder." Haxx replied. "All right, all right, shoot the old tanks."
"Lieutenant…" Rha interjected, keeping his eye on his timer. "...we don't have much in the way of anti-armor on hand. The charges I planted will only do so much."
"I'm aware, Corporal. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, that shuttle takes priority. Rem, Posa, and Zutel are inside of it and the two that can even return fire are likely elbow deep in spooch. Up to us to keep them alive. Got it?"
"Understood, Ma'am," He nodded, raising his finger to her as he disengaged the safety to the remote detonator in his off-hand. "Detonating charges in...five, four, three, two, one-"
The device audibly clicked as he squeezed it until engagement. No sooner than it did, the ground shook with a rumbling shockwave, followed by a pressurized cloud of dust and debris screaming through the artificial canyons into the plaza.
Above their line-of-sight, a quartet of high-rise buildings shuddered beneath their own compromised weight, two pairs some distance apart on different streets. Their exteriors cracked and crumbled before giving way in an avalanche of concrete, steel, and glass into the streets...hopefully on top of the encroaching VDF forces.
"Bolt, Purple-2, good effect?"
"Vision obscured. Smoke, Cobalt, visuals?"
"Cobalt here, good effect on...hold one." Zurrak clearly saw something. "One tank not affected, repeat, one tank not affected. Continuing forward. Infantry support minimal, three men."
Corr at that time finally spoke up, "Got a heavy plasma cannon active overlooking the shuttle from the southeast."
"Sir, looks like that tank should be coming right to you then."
"Haxx, once that thing is in view, we shred it, understood?"
"Yes, Cap," Haxx replied as he set up the bipod on his GPMG. The rumble of an engine grew louder, the creaking of treads as the lone tank moved down the main boulevard. The tank commander poked out of the top hatch, the turret and upper hull of the tank covered in small bits of rubble and dust.
"What the fuck was that?! That couldn't be SIS, could it?!" He was screaming to his units over the radio as he located the shuttle. "Target located. It's thoroughly disabled. Moving in to investigate."
The tank soon found itself under attack by both the heavy plasma cannon and Haxx's own machine gun. What normally would have been complete and utter suicide on the two Irken's behalf was anything but. Both automatic energy weapons peppered the archaic, tracked combat vehicle. Rather than witness their bolts harmlessly diffuse against super-dense, shielded alloys often contended with the VDF's cutting-edge vehicles, the armored hull of the tank popped, sizzled, and crackled with each successive hit across its surface. Metal groaned, expanding from intense heat to the point of boiling into slag.
The Commander swung his own heavy machine gun around, several old lead HMG projectiles flew past the Irken's head with loud snaps in his antennae as he poured some fire onto the commander, taking him out of action. The tank soon came to a stop as the driver met his fate, and then shortly after the crew as they abandoned their tank. The few riflemen nearby fell from unseen rounds, but the reports from mass driven rifles that followed was a clear indicator it was from their snipers
"Cap, just for you being a total asshole this evening, I'm taking credit for that tank kill." Haxx quipped over the radio.
Before further assessment of their short-lived success could be made, a new salvo of flares went up from the unseen VDF units encroaching. This time they were far closer. Not even Rha's controlled demolition of four substantial structures stayed them for long. The VDF defenders were literally starved through attrition, their backs against the wall, and faced with complete annihilation should they fail. Having wounded their prey grievously and smelling blood in the air, they were relentless in pursuit to finish their quarry.
The squad leaders and their commanding officers' voices barked additional orders. Different voices were distinct, but not quite audibly heard just yet. All that could be ascertained is their numbers were far greater than anything the bloodied team of Irken could muster. Ever-present tension grew ever more taut with apprehension and dread at either end stretching it beyond the point of failure. Something had to give and when it did, nothing good would come of it.
As the ammunition within the wrecked ancient vehicle began to cook off from an ignifted fire within the crew compartment, a multitude of hollow thumps sounded. Dozens, maybe more. Their purpose and payload were made apparent as a series of rapidly-expanding bursts of smoke began to fill the plaza in earnest. A blanketing screen to mask movement.
Volx, witnessing this, pressed into cover with her rifle leveled in preparation.
"Rha, Haxx! Look alive!" She warned, tapping the interface at the side of her visor to cycle through its modes.
Electromagnetic...IR...NV…
Thermal.
A sea of moving blobs with horns could be seen rapidly advancing through the smoke.
Some began falling within the smoke as an entire company of infantry advanced from the northeast. The snipers immediately going to work taking care of as many as they could. The tanks may have been stalled, but the infantry wasn't. Corr fired the cannon sparingly as he could, trying to conserve ammo, but found himself switching to his loaned rifle in short order.
"Rha, you got the grenade launcher, right?" Zok asked over the comms.
The Demolitions Specialist, posted in his prepared position, stood fast as the VDF closed in on their position. Dead of night, low visibility, and a thick blanket of smoke putting the heaviest of fogs to shame, complicated an already complex and challenging situation. A great deal of discipline and control was exercised to not take potshots at distance. Conserve ammo. They needed to run the marathon, not sprint and become winded.
"Affirm," He quickly answered, the first incoming rounds of enemy fire beginning to land near his position kept things short and sparse. "May be preoccupied though."
Breathing deep and slow, he kept his nerve. Taking aim at the forward most VDF soldiers nearing elements of concealment and cover, the Corporal squeezed off single, well-aimed shots. Enough to force them to relent their advance or tend to the wounded.
"Large clusters, range four hundred meters and closing in at quick time. Use that as you will. I'll scour the building you're on the roof of, see if the sweep teams missed anything in that police armory."
"Sweep's a no-go. Not leaving my position. Understaffed as it is." He concluded in short-hand between shots. "Haxx. Hose their forward element and draw them. Putting HE on them in the back."
Smoothly transitioning from his firing position back to relative safety, he opened the underslung launcher beneath his rifle to feed a grenade in. Locking it in and dialing in the range setting on his visor linked to his weapon, he returned to engage. Switching to the launcher's trigger, he steadied himself before giving it a squeeze, followed by a bloop as the launched grenade left the tube.
"HE out!"
The grenade landed in a large gathered cluster of Vortian civilians turned last minute volunteers, their lack of spacing playing against them as the grenade blew a number of them apart and injured a bulk of the cluster. A variety of rounds flew in Rha's direction ranging from lead bullets to plasma bolts, only for Haxx to hose the position.
"This is insane! Four guys against, what, three hundred or so?!" He yelled as he changed his field of fire frequently trying to suppress as many as he could.
The aggressors quickly reacted to this sudden outpouring of resistance. It was a single shuttle's worth of battered crash survivors and nothing more, right? How could they inflict such heavy losses in a short amount of time? How many of them were there? The shock and awe of the initial rebuttal stymied their advance on Corr and company. Without immediate armor support, rushing into a pre-planned killzone was suicide. Even the civilians-turned-militia members understood as much. Numerical advantage or not, playing into a prepared enemy's hand did them no favors.
Rha, caught between taking full advantage of inflicting maximum casualties on the enemy and conserving his ordnance, took deliberate aim and let off a third grenade from his launcher. Even at range, through the darkness and smoke, the flare of heat on thermal blossoming brightly and the macabre bits of still-warm viscera and gore splashing outward could be seen.
Experienced familiarity and opportunity lead to great success in standing their ground while keeping the advancing VDF forces at bay. By now, the forward most elements engaging them had lost momentum and taken to haphazard pieces of cover. Building facades, first floor windows, and both personal and commercial vehicles became impromptu ramparts of the assault.
"Just try not to slag that barrel up there!" Rha warned, ejecting the spent grenade casing from his launcher. "Really wish we had heavier hardware right 'bout now!"
"Stay off the radio! Both of you!" Volx barked amidst her own deliberate, well-aimed shots. "Conserve resources, make every charge count. Let them think there are more of us than there are. Haxx, reposition often up there and don't be predictable...and short, controlled bursts. Don't blow another primary up on Vort, not right now."
"This sucks!" Haxx said off the radio before picking up and running next door and falling down one story onto the roof of the building next to the restaurant to fire from there. He stopped to look around briefly. "Damn it, there's no ladder on either side! I'd have to fall down to the ground level to get back up to either one."
"I'll look for something in here," Zok mentioned as there was a loud crash heard over the radio as he responded.
"Sarge, you good?" Tha asked.
"Yes, Major, continuing search."
Mizak's voice broke through the comms. "Purple, Bolt, the tanks look like they're backing up and making a turn to come in from the east to support that infantry attack. Four of them are going the opposite direction."
"Cobalt confirms, one company massing to the west."
"How heavily mined is that flank, Sergeant?" Corr asked of Rha, taking down yet another VDF regular with his bolt action before using the cannon to fire at the cover used by a group of them.
"Enough to be problematic for them but far from air tight, Sir!" Rha responded, depleting his first power cell and moving to insert a fresh one in its place. "Most of the ordnance went to bringing the buildings down. Was expecting to blow up a few artillery batteries today, not an entire armored division!"
"I'll rig a few traps closer in," Nomad called out from the alley. "Grenades and tripwire, not much but it should let you guys know if they get too close."
Tha let out a loud sigh. "Athka Team, may as well make it official, support these guys as you can since we seem to be doing it as is. Spot targets, gather weapons and ammo for them secretly, do whatever you can but do not engage. Still have maybe twenty minutes until the evac word. Boss will let us know from there."
Corr thought he saw an extra blip pop up on his HUD but was otherwise too occupied to pay attention to it. "You going to keep a lookout for those SIS guys?"
"That's the plan. Need someone with some undivided attention around here. Slippery bastards."
"Uh, Volx," Haxx spoke up on the radio again, "You seeing what I'm seeing on the HUD? Is that...Sula?" That can't be right."
"What?" The Lieutenant incredulously answered in disbelief. "Where?"
Assured she wasn't about to fall victim to a stray plasma bolt, Volx turned, looking around. Sula...Sula...Sula...there! Her identifier showed up on her visor. Red-6, distance closing quickly and heart rate hammering away, coinciding with someone at a full sprint. She didn't take long to put the equation together of the how and why.
"Purple-1, Purple-2, be advised," She began, watching one of her plasma bolts hit center-mass on a VDF soldier not tucked tight enough to his chosen piece of cover. "...Red-6 is entering our A.O. Inbound and coming in hot. Unable to contact, little busy here on the ground, Sir. Over."
"Copy that," Corr replied to Volx quickly before switching channels. "Medical Officer? Where's the rest of the team." A round cracked nearby his head, causing him to pause and duck before returning fire with his rifle. "I only see your signature. What's their status, and yours for that matter?"
Sula opened her communications channel mid-stride, hot-mic and all. The pound of her boots to the pavement could be heard, as was her heavy panting within the confines of her helmet. Behind her visor felt like the surface of a star boiling away within a sauna as perspiration overrode its climate control capabilities. Maintaining a murderous pace for several miles would have that effect. None would ever call her physical conditioning to question in the future if they made it through this. A team record, for sure.
"Green...Sir…." She kept short between breaths, ducking off of the main thoroughfare as she saw the rear of the advancing Vortian forces converging on the crash site. "All...green...inbound...Purple-5's condition...shorthand...version...Sir."
"Pinned, mangled left arm, eyes gone, they've handled the worst of the bleeding, wound packing now. Going to need a lot of blood. Our medics are down to their last saline bag and only one surviving blood bag at last check."
"Affirm." Sula committed to memory, doing her best to push her own emotional welling at the state of her squadmate's affairs to focus on the task that lay before her. "Running...silent...cloaked...covering fire...welcomed though. Will announce...when closer...to crash site."
"Copy that, out." Corr switched back to his team's comms.
"I can't get off this fucking roof!" Haxx calling out immediately met his antennae. "Where's a damn ladder or something?!"
"Here," Zok called out as a roll down fire ladder came down from the roof of the precinct to meet Haxx's level.
"Thank you!" Haxx started up the ladder, "Headed up to our Grenadier's position."
"Our Medical Officer is coming in, she's cloaked. Watch your fire, provide support to her when you can." Corr sent out the word to his team.
"Understood, Pur-" The Lieutenant began, being promptly cut off and walked over on the radio.
"What?" Rha questioned incredulously amidst a relatively organized attempt at returning fire pelting his position with a myriad of plasma bolts and mass-driven slugs. "No, Haxx, keep spread out! Don't come up here! They're going to close in and the grenades will start coming in next!"
"Not if I keep 'em away they won't!"
Rha growled in annoyance as he found a break in the hail of fire to return in kind. His was slower and sporadic, but equally, if not more effective as at least a single casualty was inflicted with each salvo. Every wounded Vortian defender tied up others and their resources.
"Damn it, just...get off the roof and post up somewhere useful, away from me! Hundred different windows and a dozen floors to pick from, move around!" He called to him through their comms.
"Get the FUCK OFF THE RADIO!" Volx hoarsely yelled into her own in frustration as their situation became more tense by the moment. "...Sula is coming in, be ready to provide covering fire."
"Sula? What abo-" Rha attempted.
"Let me worry about Red Team. Focus on keeping them off of us, Rha. Make sure you're ready to get Sula into that shuttle when she gets here. Got it?"
"Yes, Ma'am." The Demolitions Specialist abided before taking a deep breath.
Stress was overriding judgement and impacting their capability to assess the situation. A surreal feeling knowing that prior with the PAK's programming, this would have been a non-issue. Even whenever they were fighting with every advantage, it was never felt so intensely as it was now. Apprehension. Desperation. Fear? Is this what was felt by their enemies?
A much-larger impact jarred his senses back to reality as the building's exterior shed a shower of pulverized concrete and broken glass. Time to change positions and not find out what was firing on him the hard way.
"Not sure what that was, Lieutenant, but that hit a lot harder than anything else they've shot at us with so far. Might want to get overwatch to ID it, over."
"Bolt, Purple-2, sitrep. Heat is intensifying down here, what's out there? Over." Volx queried, hearing the heavy thud once more and the subsequent reverberating impact on the police station's edifice.
"Bolt here. Armor approaching from your east is still about three minutes out. Cobalt, any eyes on what's hitting them?"
"Looks like a crew served weapon of some sort. Looks like-" Zurrak started to answer before Luna cut him off.
"It's a mass driver based off our old gunpowder recoilless rifles. Anti-tank crew served gun. Basically like direct fire small caliber artillery."
A third round smashed into the police station again, knocking Rha to the ground mid-stride between rooms. Pushing with his feet along the floor, he pressed himself against an interior wall to regain his bearings and the breath knocked from his spooch.
"Ma'am, if they got a shot on whatever that is, take it! They keep hitting this building like that, it'll come down on top of me!"
"Cobalt, Purple-2, hear that? Knock that crew out."
"Way ahead of you, Lieutenant." A series of three shots rang out in rapid succession, dropping the crew before a fourth rang out right through the gun itself to effectively knock it out of any further use, and a fifth for good measure. "That should do it."
"Smoke here, Sergeant Haxx, that tank to your west is almost on you. Suggest you relocate to that end of the roof."
"Yeah, thanks." Haxx responded as he ran to the other side of the roof to ambush the incoming tank. "Infantry?'
"Lots of them."
"Oh fuck me. Rha! You bastard I hope they're all going to be dead by the time they get here!" Haxx yelled as he opened fire on the tank once it came into view.
Unlike the first ancient, armored vehicle that rolled into the plaza, this one's crew was less bold. Once the first plasma bolts from Haxx's controlled bursts found purchase on their armored hull, the tank came to a full stop, lurching forward from inertia as its tracks screeched and scraped against the pavement. It promptly reversed back behind the corner of the building, out of the Heavy Weapons Specialist's sight.
"Yeah! YEAH! YOU LIKE THAT?!" Haxx called out at the retreating tanks. "YEAH! RUN BACK TO YOUR MOTHERS! YOU FUCKING COWARDS!"
"HAXX!" Avak yelled over the radio "THE TURRET'S TURNING!"
"Oh fu-"
That same realization hit Volx as she cued her own radio.
"Move! NOW!"
A moment later, the corner of the building the tank disappeared behind exploded in a roiling cloud of debris, complete with one AP round the culprit, sent screaming in the Sergeant's direction.
Haxx only made it several steps before the round tore through the building, the roof starting to give way and cause a partial collapse of where he was standing. His machine gun falling to the street below, he grasped on whatever section of roof left he could, hanging on for dear life. Only to have bolts of plasma, mass driven slugs, and the occasional lead round fly in his direction. Most missed their mark, but even volume had some level of accuracy as his specialized uniform's durability was put to the test. Several new holes were burned through his overcoat. A plasma bolt skimmed his pauldron, scorring it black with carbon, and a mass-driven slug slammed into his upper back. The flexible plating held. For now.
The Heavy Weapons specialist groaned from the shock, barely managing to hold on from the solid strike from the slug. "Oh fuck me! They're shooting at m-"
An unseen force grabbed his wrist and pulled him up, sending him sliding across the roof.
"You fucking moron," Zok's voice, a brief relief to Haxx. That was before the Vortian slid over his own plasma GPMG, stopping at his feet as he uncloaked behind an AC unit, needing to recharge his suit's energy reserves. He was out of sight of the attackers at the very least.
"I owe you." Haxx emerged from cover with his recently acquired machine gun and fired back at the Vortians what were previously shooting at him. "Captain, you got a bead on that tank?!"
"If it comes into view, yes, but I'm a bit occupied at the moment. You hit?"
"Am I hit? Of course I'm fucking hit!" Haxx facetiously called back to him. "Hey, guy, we got any ordnance in this fucking place?"
"No," Zok replied as he shook his head, "Only thing I could find in the third floor armory was a launcher and a couple dozen tear gas grenades, handful more of the handheld variety. Sweep teams combing the city for munitions must have thought them not useful enough."
"Rha, tear gas gonna help us at all?!"
"Potentially." Rha responded, relieved he didn't bear witness to one of their own being vaporized by enemy armor, "Too dark to get a clear visual but its safe to assume a good portion of them aren't equipped to deal with it. Works for dispersing crowds, will work for keeping them at bay or at the very least disrupting organized pushes. Make sure you're sealed up when you use it unless you wanna know what they're dealing with feels like."
"Haxx, calm...down…" Volx chimed in, remaining the steadfast rock amidst the chaos despite her own brush with death before. "Not the first time you've been shot at. Won't be the last. Get a grip. You need medical attention?"
Haxx stopped firing to briefly check himself over. Didn't see anything out of place, no blood gushing. "Aside from my ribs?" His mask retracted briefly to spit out some blood before retracting it. "I'm fine. I can manage."
"Good, keep it that way." She continued, a reprieve from her own frustrations with their situation. "Save your antics for the simulator. No second tries here. I-We lose you, the rest of us will follow suit. Need you alive more than ever right now."
"Right...right, just stay alive," Haxx muttered to himself as he stalled the advancing Vortian infantry. "Rha, they're uncomfortably not moving...staying in cover. I can't shift fire anywhere else until I deal with them. Left's open otherwise."
"I'm on it," Zok had long since cloaked once more and went back down to the armory, grabbing the single barrel break open grenade launcher and the tear gas grenades, as well as the hand grenades, bringing the former over to Rha. The Vortian then tossed four hand grenades to Volx, leaving a pair for Haxx when he was free and clear to hand them off. "Hope that helps you guys."
"Yeah...Smoke, what's the status on the tank?"
"Hasn't moved, turret's still trained on where you were. Intention's unclear but they may try to fire on you again."
"Lovely…" What a night to leave the AT launcher back at the field HQ.
"Sure you don't wanna go taunt it again, idiot?" Rha jabbed at him, an attempt to keep things light despite how dire it appeared. "Maybe the next one will bounce off your thick skull."
"Enough. Put more HE on them if they try to leave cover and advance. Top off and catch your breath. They're waiting for armor to reposition and back up their assault. Hard part hasn't even started yet." Volx dictated, taking the opportunity to slot a fresh power cell into her rifle.
"Yes, Ma'am." He obliged with a sigh as reality set in.
"Captain...Sula…" The Medical Officer's dry, fatigued voice strained through the communications channel. "Visual...on shuttle...near burning...tank...ready to move…"
Corr plugged away with his heavy cannon at some lingering Vortians, sending them retreating back towards the mass of others. "Team, suppress these remaining Vortians, give Sula her opening!"
"Understood, Captain," Volx acknowledged, changing her selector to full-auto. "Rha, Haxx! Suppressing fire on my mark!"
A handful of seconds ticked by, allowing the two to post up and prepare to engage in full as she drew down on the hastily-formed defensive line the VDF had formed. Some had improvised, moving vehicles into makeshift barriers across the street or taken refuge in buildings. At least their advance was slogged down for the time being. A state of attrition that both sides knew was only temporary.
"Three, two, one, mark!" The Lieutenant chimed, the team opening up in earnest compared to their prior attempts to conserve resources.
Automatic fire chattered away at the VDF aggressors, forcing a greater number of them back into cover. The accurate, effective fire from before left many of them gun-shy and unwilling to tempt fate. These weren't normal Irken they were up against.
Sula did not need to be ordered as she heard the sudden cacophony of friendly weapons opening up. Pushing off the corner of the building nearest the burning hull of the tank, she sprinted across the battle-scarred plaza.
She braved incoming VDF fire, while unfocused, was still uncomfortably close as plasma bolts splashed and sizzled the ground nearby. Mass-driven slugs and propellent-based rounds both snapped supersonically through the air and shattered pavement near her feet. The scent of burning, melting fabric told a familiar tale of freshly-cauterized holes punched through her overcoat.
Unlike Haxx, however, her cloak and speed negated anything further. The Medical Officer stumbled the last few steps over uneven terrain from the angry furrow left in the ground by the shuttle's impact. Tripping and falling forward, she fell into the rear remnants of the ruined vessel. She did not attempt to stand, but instead crawled further inside, deactivating her cloak as she did so. Her body protested, trembling from overexertion.
On quivering hands and knees, she hurriedly tore her helmet from her head and tossed it aside. Sweat visibly ran in rivulets across her emerald skin, pouring off of her visage and dripping freely as she heaved for breath. She made two reps of intake and exhale before a mighty retch followed, expelling the contents of her spooch all over the uneven, gnarled plating of the deck.
Posa, amidst filling a blood bag from her own arm, hurriedly aimed her sidearm at the raucous activity at the rear of the ship. Had the VDF made it past the rest of the team? Where they cornered and about to be finished off? Her headlamp caught a glimpse of black and red. Tracking back, she saw Sula's exposed head about the time she threw up.
"Sula?!" She incredulously called out over the din of battle outside. "Where the Irk'd you come from?!"
The Medical Officer panted, each breath body-racking as she drew deep, eyes screwed shut with the acidic aftertaste of vomit in her mouth still.
"W-wait...one...standby." She managed, rolling to a seated position and tipping her head back to open her airway fully as her pulse pounded in her temples.
An inconvenient truth settled heavy on her mind. She had arrived as fast as she could physically carry herself, but at a great cost. Her vision blurry and swaying, a terrible headache, and her skin was tacky to the touch without new sweat to cool her. Not even her uniform's climate control could overcome what she had self-inflicted.
"One of you...stick me...saline...dehydrated...now…" She uttered dryly between breaths. "Heatstroke...imminent…"
Until then, she withdrew her canteen, upending it over her face briefly before taking a hearty drink from it to stem the very real danger of overheating.
Zutel nodded to Posa to keep filling the blood bag as she dug through the medic's pack with bloodied gloves to withdraw a trio of cold compresses and then making her way aft to Sula. Her boots making a sickly noise as she stepped, the soles having been immersed in Rem's blood for some time now. The surgeon went through Sula's own pack and got to work, saline first, that was more important to getting her back up and running.
"You going to be all right?" Zutel asked of her, "We really can't be dealing with two casualties simultaneously right now, and we could really use your help." She applied one cold compress to Sula's head, the other two on her torso. "Wound packing's almost done...but the two of us have been using our own blood and we're both starting to get a bit light headed."
Sula nodded, focusing on breathing deeply and intermittently taking in hydration. She wished to triage herself and tell them to focus on Rem if it came down to choosing, but the pounding headache was nearly unbearable. The compresses offered welcome relief as she clutched the one about her body, going as far to hastily unfasten her uniform and stuff it inside, directly to her skin.
While Zutel worked on Sula, Posa kept vigilance on Rem. Her pulse, while strong still, was dangerously slow and continued to slow. Her breathing shallower than before, even with the aid of positive pressure via a sealed mask. The realization washed over her as she looked back to the other two medics.
"Wait...did you run all the way here?!"
"Y-yeah." Sula responded, relief already flooding her system as the saline fed into her body. "Red Team...needs to bring the pylons down...Purple Team needed me. I came."
"Yeah...guess we do." She sighed, shaking her head. "You coherent enough for a patient assessment?"
"No need...the Captain told me...on the way in...soon as I get my breath back...and not pass out...I'll be good." Sula assured, going as far to dig in her own medical supplies for an injector.
Tugging her own collar down, the Medical Officer jabbed it into the side of her neck with a small wince as it pierced the skin to deliver its payload. Her eyes widened as the medications and stimulants within flooded her system. The mixture of pain relievers, stimulants, and life-critical vitamins and minerals to promote accelerated healing took effect. The agony of overworked muscles began to fade away, the throb dulling until it no longer existed. Fatigue remained, but she no longer was cramped up to the point of being paralyzed.
Tossing the spent injector aside, she took the saline bag from Zutel.
"I'm good. Go back to Rem. Take my bag with you. Prep all of the bags and IV kit and have them ready. I'll be up there shortly."
"Glad to have you here," Zutel detached the bag and brought it up front, "Posa, relax, get back to packing, bought you a bit," she said as she hooked the bag up to Rem and began laying out Sula's kit, preparing the bags and other IV kits.
"Oh, good...we were running low on gauze as it were." Posa acknowledged, cueing her radio. "Captain? Sir? Did you know Sula came all the way from Red Team and is here with us now?"
"That's a negative, Posa. It was just as much a surprise to me as it was to you." Corr answered, the audible sounds of reloading his rifle in the background.
Her brow furrowed in confusion only to relax in defeat with a pursed expression. A curiosity not worth pursuing, nor an explanation. Sula was here to assist accordingly.
"Right...so...we're still alive in here so whatever you guys are doing out there is working." She acknowledged. "Soon as Sula's over acute heatstroke, we'll keep you updated. Over."
"Roger that, keep it up in there," Corr looked around, "Team, status?"
"I'm running on a-" Haxx was interrupted as Zok arrived with his fallen machine gun. "I'm good, still dealing with broken ribs, coughing up some blood here and there. Otherwise I'm good, nothing major."
Before the others could reply, Tha motioned for Corr to shut up. "We got one inside the wire right now." She whispered to him, "Check by the tank."
Corr switched to his thermals, seeing a cloaked SIS agent next to the tank. "Two, you seeing what I'm seeing? Cloaked figure in front of your building behind the tank?"
Volx's gaze narrowed behind her visor as she slowly peered around her current piece of cover. The raging fire from the burning tank maxed out the capabilities of her thermal imaging. Wincing at the shift in light level, she snapped back into cover.
"Negative. Too much bloom off of the tank on thermals. Not risking giving away my position so close. They're likely just as well-equipped as us. You have an angle to put a round on him, Sir?"
"That's a negative...Bolt, smoke either one of you have an angle on the restaurant side of the tank?"
"I do, sir," Mizak answered. "What is it?"
"Need you to put in a shot, five meters off the side maybe about half a meter off the ground."
A few moments of silence, "I don't see anything, sir."
"Trust me, put in a shot, quickly."
"Firing." Corr watched, a violent spray of violet coating the side of the tank. As the corpse fell to the ground and uncloaked the report reached them "I see it now, sir."
"Good shot, Bolt."
"Target down, Captain?" Volx inquired, not willing to expose herself so close to a very real and dangerous threat beneath the current circumstances.
"Indeed, Lieutenant, target eliminated. Any others, Major?" Corr looked over his shoulder to his Vortian counterpart.
"That's a negative, all clear of any other SIS for now."
"Somehow I doubt that," The Lieutenant scoffed. "That's the second one in the area. They have a team operating and they aren't going to let us pick them off. Stay vigilant."
"I'll keep you posted for any others," Tha responded. Meanwhile, the other two Vortians have been busy gathering weapons and ammunition for the others, bringing a collection of rifles, ammo belts, and bandoliers up to Volx, Rha, and Haxx, as well as Corr. The Captain was more relieved to sling his bolt action in exchange for something automatic that shoots plasma.
"Bolt, Purple One, relay message to command. Initial Vortian attack held off. Enemy has us encircled in force, Medical Officer arrived safely. Armor support present, give him your count of tanks. Ask him for his status."
"Copy that, sir." Mizak quickly swapped channels, "Red Lead, Bolt, status update from Purple Lead. Initial Vortian attack repulsed. Medical Officer has arrived safely. Team is encircled in force, armor support of six antiquated tanks. Requesting status of your team, over."
"Bolt, Red-1, excellent work all around." Vult responded in kind, a mixture of relief and optimism filling his voice. "Wait one…"
The Commander paused, releasing his push-to-talk to address his own team.
"Hesa, Vard, status! Those charges planted and ready yet?"
"Not yet, Sir!" Vard called back amidst the task at the base of the barrier pylon.
A massive, skyward-jutting construct appearing alien in design compared to the surrounding structures. Its intention was to amplify and distribute the barrier's effectiveness as a networked series of nodes with similar defensive spires. The demolition packs being staged around its base would see to it's demise in short order.
"E.T.A., Vard! "Not Yet" isn't an estimated time!" Vult barked back, not needing to repeat why it was imperative they moved as quickly as possible.
"Ten minutes, Commander!"
"Corr and the others don't have ten minutes, Sergeant! You have five minutes!"
"Yes, Sir!"
Vult returned to his conversation with Bolt
"Bolt, Red-1, Red Team will be completing its objective shortly. E.T.A. 5 mikes. Will regroup with Purple Team after completing primary objective to reinforce accordingly, over."
"Copy that, will relay that. Bolt out."
"Hey, Deadeye, check your eight." Gers spoke over the radio. The call prompted Kazak to withdraw a pair of binoculars and look out from his position. An artillery battery. Stocked with current issue VDF issue guns, no less...and what looked like an antiquated IFV.
"Nice work, Spike. Boss, the two of us are lagging slightly behind. Sending you coordinates." Kazak paused to send Vult the location of the battery. "They got a vehicle there. May be your best bet to get to the others. Don't worry about us. We'll blow that battery and then head over on foot."
"Vehicle? Where?" Aero perked up, excited at the prospect of not following in Sula's footsteps to run a half-marathon to reach the others.
"Understood, Deadeye. Red-1 out." Vult concluded, forwarding the incoming coordinates to the rest of his team via a waypoint marked on their HUDs. "There, Aero. After we burn the pylon, we'll appropriate it."
"And save the others?!"
"Yes, and save the others."
The willowy First Sergeant turned to Vard and Hesa, calling out to them.
"Move those tiny little legs, Vardy! I'll pick you up and throw you if I gotta!"
"Just a few more…" Hesa mumbled before the charge's computer went green. "Done, one more." She made her way to the last charge she needed to plant. "I damn well hope the others are alive when we get there."
"They will be." Vult assured, attempting to maintain morale and reinforce the sense of urgency upon them. "We didn't come this far for them not to. No one is getting off that easy after all of it." He concluded with a bit of dark humor. "Regroup on me, get clear of the blast radius. Double time."