Retribution (The Devon Trilogy 1)

by Out of the mind

Thirty years ago, her grandfather ignited the Succession Wars. The results? Complete autonomy of Mars and the recognition of the Settlement Defense Front as a legitimate government entity. Everyone during the SDF's control was expected to do their duty against the forces of Earth. They were expected to only do their duty and generally not cause a disturbance within the Front its

3. Chapter 2

AN: So to help me, come up with parts of or an entire chapter, I use music to help. Some of these stories do have songs that kind of go with them. Sometimes it's the beat, the flow, the words, or a combination of the three.

For this chapter, "Paint It Black" by The Rolling Stones helped me. So if, you're reading this chapter you can have a bit of music going in the background. I DO NOT own the rights to "Paint It Black" or Call of Duty. I came up with neither, just this particular story and Devon herself(that was something I forgot to put on the last chapter).

Devon was thrust forward by the momentum of the impact and was jerked forward despite her iron tight grip on the railing overhead. The movement ignited a throbbing but sharp pain throughout her upper back, causing her to clench her teeth tight and grunted. The inside of the transport was filled with the sounds of sparks arching from damaged panels and severed wires and the groaning of metal as it strained to hold their weight. Outside, shattering glass echoed, filling the air as each shard clung for life above them then to the mezzanine below. Dev could faintly make out the screams of civilians through the cacophonous bangs as the AATIS continued to fire on the fleet.

Dev maintained her grip as she tried to shake the fog that had drifted into her mind. She gave her head a hard shake and looked around. Beside her on the floor, Raines coughed and grimaced, holding his side as he righted himself. Ethan, who had been flung forward and into the back of Reyes' chair, gathered himself and made his way over to help. But, in typical Raines' fashion, shook him off like nothing had ever happened. Ethan stopped and gave the admiral a "look"-if that was even possible for a one eyed bot- before rustling at one of the co-pilot's seat caught their attention. Upon impact, Reyes had been knocked unconscious when he slammed the side of his head into the panel beside him, a small gash on his temple dripping a tiny bit of blood. Devon could tell he was disoriented as he looked around the cockpit in a daze. Salter called out to him as she grabbed hold of his shoulder and gave it a good shake. Salter shook him again when she thought he still in a daze.

"Nick!" Salter yelled.

"I'm alright." he affirmed just as aWarden drop ship hovered into the building. The drop gained everyone's attention as the cannons were let loose, the sound bouncing off the walls, trying to find an escape into the open air. Devon side stepped Ethan in an effort to gain access to the Salter and Reyes as she withdrew her service pistol and knife and brought them to the ready. The down force of the ship's thrusters jimmied the Raven loose from its holdings and they dropped onto the level below. They teetered back and forth unsteadily as they balanced dangerously on the edge. Salter looked to her left and saw one of the pilots had kept their own service pistol within easy reach and handed it off to Reyes. He had taken the pistol just as two enemy troopers used their pack thrusters and launched themselves onto the nose of the bird. Their combined force was enough for the Raven to plummet nose first onto the ground floor. Devon was thrown to the side as the bird titled one way and then straightened out as it landed. She quickly picked herself up when she heard the exchange of gunfire. She found Salter struggling to turn the NV4 rifle against its operator and was quick to fire off several rounds, all of them finding their mark in the soldier's head. His head lulled back along with his his body and disappeared off the front of the the bird.

The five disembarked from the Raven and moved to cover behind the various pop-up shops and benches as they were fired on. Reyes picked up a Karma-45 off an dead soldier and returned fire. Ethan had turned and fired on SDF that had tried to get a drop on their six while Devon and Salter dragged injured civilians to cover. Devon had dragged a woman suffering from a bullet wound to her thigh to behind a headphone kiosk before leaning out and returning fire. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Raines and Ethan take cover next to her.

"Ass nuggets!" Salter screamed at the enemy as she fired back.

"Interesting choice of words, Lieutenant." Ethan responded.

"I thought you already used that one, Salt?" Dev quipped.

"Less talking, more firing!" Reyes yelled at them, as he popped out from cover to fire.

"Oh, great now you've pissed him off!" Salt laughed.

"Alright, now its my turn to tell you to fuck off." Devon glanced around the side of the pillar to see if SetDef would see her before moving forward in a crouch. She crept from pillar to pillar until she reached the first line of enemy defenses. She peaked around and found two soldiers hiding behind a kiosk. She pouncing on the closest to her as he ejected his clip, slitting his throat before turning her 44 on his companion. She turned the handgun on another pair across the aisle from her before holstering it and picking up an Erad and a few magazines. The group leap-frogged to the stairs, clearing out SDF as they went and guiding civilians to safety. More than a few times, Devon would place herself in the middle and act as a human shield as SetDef targeted civilians. Somewhere along the way, Salter had managed to pick up an EBR-800 and Devon had taken up the task to watch her six. Salter picked off the SDF crouched behind the stair rails as Ethan and Reyes moved up the first flight.

"Moving up, second floor!" Reyes had signaled, as he and Ethan began climbing the second set.

"Rog!" Dev had yelled back as she and Salter followed Raines. Dev caught movement left of the stairs and saw as a soldier tried to rush Ethan. The two struggled for a fraction of a second before Reyes came up from behind shot the soldier.

"Thank you, sir." Ethan said.

"No, problem, Ethan." Reyes responded. "Let's keep moving."

"Aye, sir." Devon brought of the rear of their little formation as they moved through one of the hallways to the emergency exit. The blast from a Warden's thrusters caught her attention as she looked to her left and saw one landing and off loading troops.

"Enemy reinforcements!" she shouted to the others.

"Copy, Dev!" Reyes shouted back from the front.

"Scramble you're fighters, Lieutenant!" Raines ordered as they headed for the building's exit. Dev listened through the comms as Reyes attempted to get SCAR teams in the air, but all they got was static. Moving through the hallway, they passed deceased UNSA soldiers and civilians, something of which had been shot execution style, their blood splattered across the wall and onto the floor. From behind, Dev could see Salter's disgust for the situation and heard the growl rising from her throat.

"Fucking assholes." she spat.

"Just keep moving Salt." Dev responded. "Nothing we can do except get back at the bastards."

"Communications must have been hit!" Ethan said, as they emerged into the open air of the battle. Overhead, Wardens continued to replenish troop and supplies, mingling the SDF warships and skelters. The air was filled with the stench of burning oil and ash mingled with jet fuel as their own warships half submerged in the river leaked oil and burned. The sky was dark like before a rain storm as huge smoke clouds billowed in the evening sky, almost blotting out the setting sun. Devon realized during a second glance at the skyline that some of the smoke was coming from the city's skyscrapers

"Would have been the second thing they hit!" Dev shouted out as she swiveled the light machine-gun around the corner. Dev looked over at where the ATTIS Control Tower stood erect and saw drop ships gunning for it.

"They're breaking for the tower!" Ethan screamed, as they moved down the alleyway.

"We need ATTIS back under our control." Raines declared. "That's all that matters."

"There will be heavy casualties, Admiral." Dev informed. "SetDef is going to fight tooth and nail to keep it under their control."

"Gun ain't cuttin' it!" Salter said.

"We need anti-personnel weapons." Reyes shouted back, as he moved to open the gate. Salter had raced up to Reyes as he pulled the gate open, unclipping a grenade from her rig and handing it to him.

"Here!" she said. "I got frags off the transport."

"Good call!" he replied, as he took the grenade and pushed out into a market. On the level below, more SDF troops jumped out of the Warden's bay and began targeting civilians. Dev skirted around to the right side of the group, finding a supply box with more grenades. She cooked one and tossed it at the bulk of the tools just as Reyes did. The resulting explosion sent them flying in every direction and causing a secondary explosion with a car. Devon leapt from cover as civilians raced towards them, using herself as a shield from the barrage of bullet. The others took notice and cooked more grenades.

"The mall's clear, move!" Salter yelled as the civilians fled past them. A round found its mark in a fleeing civilian's head as troops to Dev's right took cover behind a car. Dev yelled out their position as she ducked behind a planter. Dev flipped the front of the machine-gun open and ejected the spent mag from the housing and pushed in a fresh one before popping out and returning the fire.

"They're running!" Dev shouted as she moved around to burned out sedan.

"Let's keep it that way!" Reyes shouted as he moved up to her side. The two moved around the sedan, clearing it of any stragglers. As Dev reached the boot, a SetDef trooper popped up on her left and attempted to bash her skull in with the stock of his Volk. It was instantaneous for her to drop the Erad, grab the barrel and push it away from her as her other hand reached for her 44 and shot the man between the eyes. Reyes gave her a questioning look as they moved to the entrance of an alleyway but she shook her head.

"Airship!" Salter screamed, diving a barricade. "Take cover!"

"Its targeting civilians!" Ethan yelled, as blood spurted from the bodies as the high velocity rounds tore through them. Dev raced past them and pushed civilians into smaller alleyways until she took her cover in the alcove of a store's entrance.

"Salt!" Dev yelled, turning further into the alcove to avoid the sudden barrage of bullets.

"A little busy here!" she shouted back, trying to get a beat on the gunner.

"Still got that 800?"

"Maybe!"

"Well, then bloody snipe then!" Dev squatted and leaned out to break the gunner's concentration before ducking back in. "We'll break his sight!"

"On it!" Salter yelled.

"Ethan cover!" Raines commanded.

"Roger, Admiral." Ethan replied, moving to her side. Dev popped out of cover more more and aimed at the metal, using the bullets pinging off the sides to create a distraction. Dev smiled to herself when she saw the blood spirt out of the back of the gunner's head when Salter fired the shot, taking satisfaction in seeing his body tumble out and flop on the ground. Reyes yelled for them to move up as he tossed a grenade at approaching troops. Dev caught movement in the building and yelled out to the others.

"Tangos in the shops!" Dev out, tossing her own grenade and taking cover. She switched to the other end to fire into the small plaza ahead, breaking from it when the grenade went off and headed inside one of the buildings. She took up a spot in the doorway closer to the line. She peaked out when she heard the soldiers yell about Raines' position and saw them concentrating their fire on him. She analyzed their situation for a moment, noting the machine gun fire coming from the upper levels. She began to formulate a plan as more poured from the alley at her twelve o'clock.

"It would help if you fired back!" Salter yelled.

"Use the 800 on the nest!" Dev yelled out as she prepared to leaned out to fire back. But, she collided with a SetDef trooper as be barreled through the doorway and tumbled over the edge of the platform. The trooper was the first up and leveled the business end of his Volk at her. But, she sprang up and knocked the rifle out of his hand, sending it clattering to the floor. She tried using an elbow strike to the man's head head, but he was prepared and ducked before delivering a blow of his own to her side. Dev grunted and twisted her body to absorb most of the hit.

"You fucking traitor!" the soldier growled, his Russian accent thick molasses. The man went for an upper cut but was met with air as Dev managed to jumped out of his wide arc. She delivered a round kick that connected with his temple. The blow sent the man reeling back, dazed and disoriented. Dev didn't wait for him to gather himself as she charged him, stepping up on his kneed to get above him and wrapping her legs around his neck. She clenched her thighs tight and jackknifed her body to spin down and back. She used her legs to toss the trooper into a counter before unholstering the 44 and shot point-blank. She brought the Erad back up and emerged from the building, ignoring the dull ache in her ribs. She skirted along the edges of their sight, hiding behind the parked cars and in alcoves.

"Fever, Raider, watch your fire." she spoke in low and steady tone as she crouched low behind a van. She stowed the Erad to her side and retrieved her combat knife and pistol.

"Dev, what are you doing?" Reyes asked. She ignored him as stalked the kill and skirted from the van to the squad car, watching trio take cover behind the shattered remains of a large pot. One of them spotted her and was in the process or swiveling his rifle when she put two rounds in his chest. His buddy next to him looked over at the commotion but crumbled to the ground when a bullet found his cranium. She took out the last one in a quick fight, kicking his knee in and sinking the knife into his carotid.

"Clear!" she shouted, putting the body away from her in disdain.

"Move up!" Reyes shouted. Dev ran across the outdoor patio of the coffee shop to the others as Salt and Reyes moved to clear it out of stragglers. The shop was one of the few public spaces she attended that didn't have a military functionality to it. It was usually a place she could come to be alone and think, despite all the people and noise. It was certainly better than beating the hell of sparing dummies or another human being. The only thing she didn't like was all the stares she got from other patrons. It still bothered her, even three years later. Now, it was scorches with burn marks and bullet holes, something else SetDef had taken from her. Dev joined at the back of the group by Raines as Ethan switched out with Salt went to the second level with Reyes and cleared out.

"Use a different tact, Lieutenant." he reprimanded her.

"There's a reason we call her Satan, Admiral." Salter quipped, looking over her shoulder.

"We should be closer to the tower now." Reyes called out, checking the map on his wrist tablet.

"Not close enough." Dev muttered, her mood souring more and more by the minute.

"Civilians are everywhere check fire!" Salter called out as they emerged back onto the street once more. Dev side-stepped a civilian that almost ran into her as they tried to escape, curling her arm around the back of the their shoulder and pushed them behind her. Further up the road, they could hear AATIS still letting loose on their aircraft,

"Why are they target our civilians?" Ethan asked, returning fire.

"I don't know Ethan." Reyes replied.

"They can't take everyone. So, they're thinning them out." she answered. "Anyone they can't enslave or send off to labor camps will be killed."

"Ain't gonna happen, Dev!" Reyes yelled as they raced down the street.

"Contingency, Raider. Gotta be ready when it happens so it doesn't bite us in the arse later and we're surprised."

"What's so bad about a surprise, Lieutenant?" Ethan asked.

"I hate surprises." she spat. The ground shook beneath their feet as another round was fired from the AATIS. Ethan yelled out as they reached one of the harbors and Dev looked in time to see the Endurance crashing into the bay, creating a tidal wave and sending one of the larger yachts onto dry land, blocking a good portion of their path.

"What's our heading?" Salter asked, looking up at the displaced yacht momentarily.

"Up the street!" Ethan replied without delay. They continued up the street, clearing the way for civilians. They made quick work of the plaza and cleared out several gunner's nest before reaching a dead end.

"Its a dead end, Ethan." Reyes said, looking up at the wall.

"I can get us over the wall, sir." he replied, getting a running start and jumping to grab onto the ledge. Once he had a good anchor and was sure he wasn't going to topple over, Ethan turned to Reyes and hoisted him up and over to the other side. They went one at a time until Devon was tha last over. She had just jumped down when the Nova flew overhead, smoke and fire trailing behind her. The destroyer crashed several blocks over, sending a tidal wave of debris and dark smoke racing down the street. Above the roar of the crash and screams of terrified civilians, Dev's ears picked up the cries of a small child. She looked up the street at the encroaching plume and saw the little girl sitting in the middle, crying and looking around in terror.

"Take cover!" Raines yelled out. Dev ran full speed up the street in an attempt to reach the child before the cloud swallowed her up. Still running full throttle, she scoop the petrified child from the ground and dove into an alleyway, using her own body to shield her as they were enveloped in darkness. Devon's ears popped from the sheer force and her body repeatedly assaulted as small pieces of debris was shoved into alleyway then sucked out. Neither of them moved until everything stilled. It was eerily quiet, save for coughing and car alarms. Dev relaxed her body as she uncurled from the protective cocoon she had created as the little girl, still whimpering, began to venture out.

"Dev!" Salter called out.

"Alleyway!" Dev coughed, picking herself up and taking the little girl by the hand. It looked as if day had suddenly been switched to night as Dev squinted through the dust that had yet to settle. The only source of light was a few cars that hadn't been destroyed and a beam from Ethan's head. The two emerged onto the street just as Ethan had been given the order to move out. Dev quickly found a police office a paces up and handed the girl off before running after team. She saw Salter waiting for her at the base of the stairs.

"Nice job with the girl, Dev." she commented.

"The job we do, Fever." Dev replied as they continued up the stairs. A mechanical whirling suddenly filled the air, alerting of a possible threat ahead.

"Oh, god, what is that?" Salter moaned.

"I don't think we want to find out." Reyes replied. They emerged at the top of stairs in time to catch a glimpse of pod as it landed on the other side of a building.

"Ah, fuck." Dev breathed. "C6's!" A pod suddenly dropped in their path, knocking Reyes back. A SDF C6 emerged and went straight for him, grabbing him by neck of his rig and hoisting him into the air. Everyone else took aim at the bot in an attempt to free him when they took fire from another on the balcony behind him. Reyes freed himself by inserting his combat knife into the C6's power bank on its back and kicked it away from him as it let go, the bot falling to the ground. They moved up onto another plaza where more C6s were waiting for them in the plaza below. They cleared it, replenished their supply of grenades, and moved onto another street where a warden waited with a gunner. It was a game of leap frog as Dev and Reyes stuck to the left side and used the coffee shop for cover. They emerged onto a half-blown out balcony above the bulk of the forces. Dev looked over at Reyes who had already taken out a seeker bot and nodded to her. Dev cooked a frag and tossed it before peering over the lip of the balcony and firing down. Once cleared, they jump down and continued to move up the street. A woman's screech echoed from the restaurant ahead as they stacked up along the wall.

"Reyes, pry that door. I'll clear behind you." Salter said.

"And I'll be behind you." Dev added as they stacked up. He looked to them for confirmation before gently opening the door and sliding his barrel into the doorway. He quickly took out the tango poised to kill a civilian before kicking the door open the rest of the way and taking out his partner. Everyone filled in and took cover behind the upstairs rail guards as shots were fired from below. It was quick as the forces were few in numbers and all it took was a few well placed frags to clear them out before they moved onto the ground floor. But something on one of the bodies caught Dev's attention and she paused momentarily to inspect it. The color drained from her face and her heart pounded in her ears. Nightmares from long ago filled her ears and the trigger forced her to repeat them.

"Guys, we got a problem." she gritted.

"What is it, Lieutenant?" Raines asked, kneeling beside her. She pointed to the the round patch on the deceased shoulder, its words burning into her. "Faciam quodlibet quod nemeses est."

"'I'll do whatever it takes'." Reyes translated.

"Sounds die-hard." Salt replied. Dec inhaled to steady her heart.

"It's the motto for Intracore." she informed.

"What the hell are they doing here?" Salter asked.

"Nothing good." Dev said. A pod landing in the doorway cut their conversation short as Ethan raced over to the window used a table to cover it from a C6 attempting to break in. Dev raced over and lifted up sagging end.

"Sir, take this!" Ethan yelled, detached a rectangular gadget from his straps and held it out for Reyes to take it.

"What is it?" Reyes asked, taking the device and inspecting it.

"Its a hacking module." Ethan informed. "You can hijack a bot's view."

"Raider, hurry!" Dev yelled. "I don't know how long we can keep this bastard back!" It was a relief to Dev when the pounding on the other side stopped followed by an explosion.

"Good work, Lieutenant." Raines applauded, as Ethan and Dev lowered the table and vaulted back out into the open.

"That's good tech!" he responded and tried to hand it back to Ethan.

"Keep it sir." the bot insisted.

"Well alright then." Reyes said, clipping the gadget onto his rig and climbing through the blown out window. Salt took point as they traveled down another street.

"All station!" a voice crackled in their ear wigs. "Marines are pinned down! Gold teams cannot advance! We need immediate suppression."

"Eclipse, this is Top Cat, how copy?" Raines called out as they dodged and weaved through street, avoiding debris.

"Keep your eyes peeled!" Dev yelled out, training the Erad ever so often on the buildings around them.

"5's, Admiral." Eclipse Captain Frazier replied. "Send Traffic."

"Comms are shitty." Devon groaned as the coms crackled.

"I need your airship drawing fire at the tower for ground cover."

"Clear, sir." Frazier copied. "Inbound that." Devon and Salt screeched to a stop before a large burning blocking off the street.

"Shit." Devon cursed. "Where do we go now?" Salt looked around at the other buildings, looking to see if perhaps they could cut through one of them. She found their avenue and kneeled next to a fallen wooden beam that covered a hole leading to the building's basement.

"We can cut through here!" Salt alerted, tossing her head at the opening.

"I got it," Reyes called out, stashing his weapon and squatting low to lift it. Once he got it a good enough height, Salt stuck her rifle inside, carefully of enemy fire or friendlies. She was met with with barrel of two NV4's.

"SATO forces!" she yelled out. "Blue, blue!"

"Friendlies!" a Marine yelled out to the others in the room. "Hold your fire!" Dev held up the rear as Ethan and Salt jumped inside with Raines following behind.

"Lieutenant Reyes, get your jackals in the air for support." Raines ordered before going down into basement.

"Roget that, sir." Reyes replied, his eyes following the Admiral. He turned back out to the street and found Devon still standing guard. "Dev, we're good."

"Copy that." she said, making the few strides over to him. "Here, I got it." She grunted as she replaced him holding the log and motioned with her head to get inside. Once in, he motioned to the closest Marines to hold up the beam while he placed the call to Retribution.

"Retribution, this is 1-1." Reyes called into the coms.

"Go for Ret, 1-1." Dev let out a small smile at hearing Gator's voice.

"Gator, I need SCAR-3 airborne for interdiction, call for fire to follow." Reyes requested, as Dev ducked into the sub-level.

"Copy, Lieutenant." Gator said. "Time to target, one mike."

Top Cat to Gold-air is inbound for suppression." Raines informed as they moved through to the other side of the building. A Marines nearly collapsed to his knees as Salt caught him and moved to lay him prone on flimsy wooden table that had seen better days. "Once, they engage, we're taking this hill."

"Roger, Top Cat." Golds are in place!"

"One shitty arse day isn't it, Raider?" Dev remarked with smirk as she came up beside him.

"You aren't kidding, Dev." he replied.

"And it ain't gettin' any better." Salt said, throwing the remark over her shoulder.

"Well, you did say once that things will get worse before they get better." Dev answered.

"Ugh, don't remind me." Salt replied, as they cleared the stairs. Dev could hear the mass of gunfire, yelling, explosions and deduced they were just a few strides from the front line. Dev widened her stride considerably until it looked as if she was going to do the do the splits mid-air. They passed wounds marines and the comrades carrying them away from the battle as they raced towards it. The sight that greeted Dev upon appearing over the lip of a scrapped out trench was horrific. Parts of aircraft that had been ripped a part either by the AATIS or whatever explosion, littered the entire front lawn of the control tower and served as cover for either side. Dead bodies still leeching blood were either propped up or strewn out in the open, some missing limbs or a large portion of themselves.

"Eclipse, go weapons free!" Raines ordered to destroyer's captain.

"Let's get to the tower!" Reyes yelled out to those still waiting in the trenches. "Go, go, go!"

"For Earth!" Dev yelled, as they emerged onto the field. "Push those bastards back!" The air traffic was heavy as Wardens came and went and a few SetDef destroyers hovered around for fire support. Around them, Skelters and Jackals battled for control of the skies and did every maneuver in the book to win the fight. There were a few times Dev thought she saw unsanctioned flight maneuvers by their guys but didn't give a shit because it helped. Overhead, the Eclipse rumbled in and light up spots with heavy enemy presence. Dev looked to their left when she felt a round graze the back of her arm and saw a small squad of troops amass behind a piece of a Raven and cooked a grenade. The troops that dove out from the cover to avoid the grenade with pumped with lead.

"Split up!" Salt yelled. "Enclose them!" Dev looked over to Salt and gave a short nod before side stepping to the left. She found cover behind a crate where a Marine was bleeding out. His hand latched on tightly to Dev's rig in a death grip.

"Don't… leave me." he forced out, choking on his own blood. Dev spared a glance and saw blood spurting out of his chest where a piece of shrapnel stuck out.

"We're no son." Raines assured as he came up beside her, popping a few rounds. The Marine nodded as he struggled to get in air in. But, then in the blink of an eye, he went limp. Dev shook her head quickly and tugged the dead head off her, looking on in disgust. But, it wasn't disgust for the Marine himself or the death, but disgust at the entire situation.

"I fucking hate this." she grumbled unknowingly into the coms.

"Get in line, Dev." Salt said. Dev grumbled to herself as she leaned out and returned fire.

"We're clear, Lieutenant." Raines said.

"Copy that." she responded as the two stood and leapfrogged from cover to cover. Ahead of them, a Jackal let loose their weapons in a quick gun run on a spot. She had to duck from the large chunks of dirt sent sailing through the air. She didn't have to see that one at hit a Marine, but heard it as he yelped in surprise and was tossed to the ground. Dev dove for cover as a Skelter did his own gun run, taking out several of their guys.

"SCARs, take out the skelters!" she yelled, leaning out and returning fire. "We can't take the tower if we don't have the numbers!"

"Roger, 1-3." SCAR Team Three Leader replied. "Guns hot." The rapid fire of the guns and thinning of the jackal's engines could be heard in the air as it engaged in a dogfight.

"You're good to move, Lieutenant!" Raines shouted. She didn't waste time sprinting the short distance. She had almost made it to cover when someone tried to steam roll her. Devon twisted her upper body as she dropped her primary and thrust her knee into her attacker's goin. The man grabbed hold of his "special place" and dropped to his knees in a groan, too focus on the pair to the 44 being withdrawn. Dev fired off three founds into his chest and ejected a mag. Behind, her heard a war cry and turned in time to see a tango running towards her, the butt of his rifle raised to deliver a blow to her head. Devon spun around with her leg leg raised and hit him in the cheek with the heel of her boot, knocking him sideways. She finished replacing the mag and place a bullet in his head before holster it and bring the Erad up.

They continued clearing out the hill of any resistance, using jackal gun runs, hailing modules, and their own bullets until they reached the outer security buildings. Devon and Raines had reached the top first took out the sniper and gunners nest on their side.

"We're pinned down!" Reyes yelled out through the comms. Raines pointed to a sniper nest on the other side a small force of C6s, all firing on Reyes, Salt, and Ethan. Devon looked around for any way of getting them out and found it in the form of an EBR-800 sniper rifle.

"Admiral, cover me." she said

"Lieutenant, what are you doing?" Raines asked. Dev tossed her head to the force bearing.

"There's an 800. I'm going to use it to thin them out." she explained. Raines nodded and brought his rifle up while she ran in a crouch and replaced the nearly empty Erad with the rifle. She spared a glance over the top of a concrete plant box as she posed the kick stands out and positioned the the rifle on the edged. She carefully glanced around the balcony until she found her target, held her breath, and pulled the trigger. The 800 had a bit of kick to it as the recoil jerked Devon's shoulder back. She didn't wait for the visual confirmation that sh had taken him out as she swirled the rifle to fire on the C6s. By, this time, Reyes had managed to gain control of one of them and began unleashing hell.

"We're clear!" Salt yelled. "Move up!" It was a mad dash up the several flights of stairs to get to the security check-in building where they stalled as a pod had deposited more bots into the courtyard beyond.

"Dev!" Reyes called out. She looked in time to see him tossing a hacking module to her.

"Got it!" Dev attached the module to her wrist computer and interfaced it with her helmet. Her HUD went black and white as it tracked each of the potentially hacking targets. Dev aimed it at one of the bots, illuminating it orange and confirmed to target. The point of view from a C6 was weird, to say the least. The video she was receiving grainy and the lines where feed broke drove her nuts and made it hard to get a beat on it. The bot itself was hard to control, like it was fight back against its host. Dev tried to get it to life its rifle and fired back but the gears in its arm weren't responding. She abandoned the idea and went for a suicidal approach, forcing the bot to move towards the others before activating its self-destruct sequences and blowing them all to hell. Reyes fared better in his approach and managed to take out a few with the rifle before he activated the self-destruct. Devon and Reyes took point as they entered the plaza and fanned out to check for any stragglers.

"Clear!" Salt yelled.

"Clear!" Ethan echoed.

"Roger. set up a perimeter. SCARs are going interior." Reyes ordered to the remaining Marines as the five of them raced for the main building.

"Yes, sir!" a Marine responded before rushing off to get the area set up in case SetDef had the balls to go against them again.

"Ethan, patch into AATIS security." Raines issued, his voice rough. "I want eyes in that room!"

"Yes, sir." Ethan replied, as they entered the entered the main building. "Streaming to your HUDs now." The feed crackled to life as it showed the control room filled with a number of SetDef commandos. At the head of the group, stood a man at panel, wearing the UNSA Navy blue utilities. Dev's blood boiled at the thought of one of the supposed "on of their" selling them out and causing some much death.

"Ten ships remain. The UNSA fleet is finished." he said, his focused solely on a small computer not part of the set-up. "Moving to AATIS system destruct now. Mars aeternum." Devon growled.

"I really hate that bloody saying." she gritted, as alarms blared through out the building.

"We gotta go-now!" Reyes said, spring Devon into a full blown spring. She nearly collided with the wall as she slowed down and stacked next to the door. She looked behind her to see Salt at her six while Reyes and Raines were to her four and five o'clock. Ethan hung back a bit to get a running start to steamroll into the door. "Ethan-Go!" Ethan barreled into the door, shredding it from it hinges and even breaking it into pieces. He gunned for the traitor while Devon and others took out the SetDef guarding him. One soldier off to Devon's left tried to rush her with a knife by grabbing his wrist and twisting it hard. His grip on it loosened enough for her to pry it from his grip and turn on him, shoving it into the apex where his jaw met his throat. The soldier's hand twitched for the knife but full into a heap on the floor. She whipped around as she withdrew her the 44 in time to see Ethan grab the man and shoved away from the computer. Once all had been taken down, Reyes raced from the computer and detached the cable linking it to the control system.

"Jackpot. All stations, I say again-Jackpot!" Reyes radioed as he scooted a 44 the operative had dropped and picked it up.

"Relieve the bot, take the prisoner into custody. Petty Officer, get that AATIs back up." Raines ordered about. "We still have enemy airships in our airspace." Two Marines fixed their weapons on the prisoner as Ethan relinquished his hold on him and shoved him to the ground. Devon kept her position off to the side of the door and watched as the Marines cuffed the man's hands behind his back.

"Right away, Admiral."

"SATO forced are trenched in outside, setting up a FOB." Salt informed Reyes.

"Good." he answered, with a slight nod of the head. "LEt's get a look at this son of a bitch." A marine jerked the prisoner up into a sitting so Reyes and Salt could get a good look at him. Devon didn't care much what the bastard looked like and rather they get him out of the AO ASAP so his ass could rot somewhere and never see the light of day. Reyes reached down and yanked an ID card that had hung off of a breast pocket flap and walked over to the car reader.

"Michael Aaron Paige. Mechanical Engineering. Two year." Reyes read aloud.

"SDF sleeper cell." Salt shook her head.

"That's not my name." the prisoner called out, looking off to the side before looking back over to the two. It got their attention as they took the two strides to reach the man. "That is the moniker of an earthen fool."

"What is your name?" Reyes asked, unsure if he really wanted know. The prisoner rose with ease despite the injury.

"Commander Akeel Min Riah, of the Settlement Defense Front." he announced, the smirk audible in voice. The name sent up a red flag in Devon's mind as she scrambled through it to figure out what she knew and where she knew it from.

"The operation on Europa." Raines nearly breathed out, his mouth hanging open slightly. Reyes took a step towards him.

"You started a war." he stated.

"And I will finished that war." Riah said.

"Now I know why the name was so familiar." Devon spoke up, letting her 44 hang by her side as she walked around the Marines to face him. "One of the designated Martyrs. Trained to infiltrate behind enemy lines to send information back."

"He will comes for you." Riah threatened.

"I have lived with that threat on my back since I defected." Devon growled.

"You betrayed us!" he howled, attempting to getting in her face but was held in place by the Marines. She didn't flinch when his spittle landed on her face.

"You subjugate children to fates you wouldn't put on the lowest of classes." she spat back. She looked back over to Raines. "He's not much use to them sir. He can't reproduce to add to the Front's reserve of troops and he's shit in other duties."

"So, what? They just put him behind enemy lines?" Salt haloed laughed, not believing what she was hearing. Devon nodded.

"AATIS guns are moments away from acquiring enemy targets, Admiral." Ethan informed.

"Fast work Ethan." Raines replied as he made his way over to the console. "Well done."

"You prolong the inevitable." Riah warned.

"Get him out of here." Raines ordered with a wave of his hand. Riah smirked as the Marines began to drag him away.

"Mar aeternum." he spoke. They stood for a moment and watched him being lead away but Salter intervened.

"Stand fast Marines." she said, turning back to Reyes. "Give me five minutes with this bastard."

"Salt…" Reyes let out in a tone of warning.

"So many innocent people, Reyes!" she cried.

"Let's get out there and fight for them." he replied, redirecting her anger.

"You'll have to get through me first." Devon said as walked over to Riah and stood toe-to-toe with him. "You've been away from the Front for two years. Do you still remember what tactics Intracore uses? Hm?" She took satisfaction at the glimmer of fear that wavered in his eyes and the drop of his smirk as he was reminded of what waited for him on Mars should he completely fail his mission.

"Devon, that's enough." Reyes said. Devon smirked and moved out of the Marines' path.

"We're a go, sir." Ethan informed.

"Let's move!" Raines ordered, as made a jog for the exit. Devon waited for them to pass so she may bring up the rear but saw Reyes stall for a bit as he spared a glance at the control panel.

"Raider!" she called out. His head whipped over to the room's entrance where she stood. "Come one. We got SetDef arse to kick."

"Copy that, Dev." he responded and broke out in a jog to catch up to the others.