Aero stopped near their parked stealth shuttle outside the restaurant they set up shop in and parked the vehicle, letting everyone hop out. Kazak himself went straight to the VIP room for some privacy and isolation. Everyone else, meanwhile, went about getting resupplied and to grab coffee, energy drinks, stims, whatever they needed to keep them awake.
By then, Corr had roused the rest of the team from their brief reprieve of rest. While not much, some sleep was better than none. He and his team assigned for the duration of their "hunting" rotation were assembled in the restaurant. Equipment was being secured, ammunition and supplies double and triple-checked. Vult's message was received and taken as seriously as Priority One directives should have been. Such a statement carried with it great weight. The mass retreat from a failed invasion...and now a race to stop the team tasked with turning Tallum into a smoldering, radioactive crater to spite the Empire on their final push against the Federation and the Vortian people.
The battered, beaten, and fresh plasma-bolt holes of the civilian truck thundered and clattered to a halt. Vult flung the passenger side door open, stepping up onto the side rail of the truck to pound the top a few times with his metal hand. A definitive means to get everyone's attention inside the vehicle.
"Dismount!" He barked, hopping off. "I want all of you topped off and ready for tasking in five minutes!"
Like a well-oiled machine, the team, Caz and his own among them obeyed, pouring out of the truck and trotting across the street where the supplies and stores were on display across several of the booth tables.
Volx, focusing on the task at hand as she stuffed the last of her power cells into its appropriate pouch before taking up her rifle, looked up to see Vult and the others returning. All of them appeared to run through quite the gauntlet in varying stages of beaten, battered, and battle-scarred uniforms and armor. Aero's concerned her, as did Kazak's at the sheer volume of bloodstains across their uniforms. The Lieutenant seemed pretty banged up himself, less than Aero.
"Commander," Volx clacked her heels to attention as he gave a lazy salute. "What's the word, Sir?"
"What we've been planning for, Lieutenant." He kept brief, turning around as Aero and Caz maneuvered Sula's prone body on the stretcher to carry inside. "First Sergeant"
"Sir!" Aero sounded off, maneuvering her wounded comrade's body through the entrance and inside.
"What's her status?"
Sula weakly lifted her injured arm, flashing a thumb's up.
"...Green, Commander." She weakly answered. "Just...give me a minute. Some juice. Juice would be nice. Make blood."
He nodded, looking to Aero. "Get her what she needs, I need her vertical."
"On it, Commander." The tall, pink-eyed female hopped to.
Kazak, alone in the VIP room, reached into a jacket pouch and pulled out a pack of Vortian cigarettes he took from across the street days before and lit one. A long, deep inhale followed, then a slow exhale. The rush from the smoke's tobacco helped take the edge off, better a cigarette than alcohol right now. His acquired sniper rifle rested atop the table, his eyes closed, trying to take a few minutes to sort out everything in his head of what transpired, and what from his past haunted him.
That everyone with him tended to die right around this point in an important operation…
At least that was until Sula…
His isolation was soon interrupted by Corr walking into the room. "Lieutenant," no response came from Kazak, he remained as he was. "Lieutenant."
Silence...then a response, "Fuck, off."
"Get up."
"No."
Corr approached, hands slamming down on the table. "What is your problem?"
"Can a man who's just been ragdolled by a fucking suited Vortian, suffered broken ribs, and had to perform field surgery with no prior experience get two fucking minutes to himself?!"
"You need to change, Lieutenant."
"I'm fine," he paused to take a drag on his cig, "and stop calling me that."
"Lie-" Corr stopped himself short, "Kazak, listen to me, we're going to go get these bastards. Commander needs you ready."
"I am ready. I'll be out there when I'm done with this smoke."
Corr glared and stepped back, swiftly moving to Vult to inform him of this. "Sir, the Lieutenant seems to continue being a pain in the ass."
Vult, taking the opportunity to help himself to a hearty drink before replacing his canteen, looked to Kazak. A studious moment of several seconds passed. He finally nodded, patting the Captain's shoulder as he moved past him.
"Get everyone sorted out and ready to depart. We'll follow close behind. Standby."
With that, Vult moved to where Kazak was seated in the restaurant. He didn't expect him to rise, nor demand it. Rather, he slid into the seat across from him, folding his hands on the table before him.
"Don't want to rush this, but time is of the essence." Vult opened with. "Talk to me. I take you back out there like this, you're going to get yourself killed. Whatever's bothering you, lay it out and square it away."
Kazak flicked off the ash from his smoke in a nearby ash tray on the table. "No...it's not me that's going to die...it's going to be all of you." The sniper sighed, finally opening his eyes to look at Vult. "Every mission I've been on that had the same sort of priority as this? My luck is great on my own...but with a team, this is where people started to die, especially spotters of mine. Either through them being overzealous or something else that went horribly wrong…" He paused to finish off his cig and extinguish it in the tray as he exhaled. "Better I go out and get killed than have another instance where I come back alone and the rest of you are corpses."
"Says the man I rendered much-needed first aid to because he rushed off on his own and almost paid for his mistake with his life." Vult observed, if not slightly unkind. Kazak was a grown man and clearly held no volition of demonstrating such thus far.
His tired, blue gaze shifted from the marksman to the rest of the team as they hurriedly continued to assemble. Rha assisted Haxx with securing the ludicrous amount of power cells the man needed to carry for his weapon, going as far to throw extra bandoliers around his own body to help shoulder and share the burden of his comrade.
"...your concerns for your allies are valued and valid...but we are all soldiers here. Trained from birth, programming or not, we know the score. We know what we are getting ourselves into. What we're involved in. What risks and dangers we face on a daily basis. You act as if none of us are aware of that...that...all of them, myself included, are oblivious to the fact we could all die today through some gruesome manner beyond our control."
His attention turned back to the ailing Lieutenant in mind and body.
"...the fact we are even having this conversation is testament to how much I value you in this unit. I exiled a man that was here from the beginning for a multitude of reasons, but not even the length of time and depth of understanding stopped that from happening...yet, here you are still. I want you to be here because you will keep your squadmates alive...and they you as well. You can't win this fight by yourself, none of us can. Here? On Vort? This is nothing compared to what is coming our way, Kazak...you know what the Empire is capable of. What we are capable of...and very soon...we are going to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with those who stand against us now. I need people I can count on and trust with my life if I'm going up against odds like that. You're one of them."
Another smoke emerged from its pack as Kazak took off his battered armor, transferring various items out of his jacket pockets into other pockets on his pants or pouches on the armor. Left with the ruined, blood-stained jacket devoid of any items, he threw it to the side, leaving him with a black undershirt he threw his armor back over. It was about as ready as he was going to get. He then lifted the smoke and lit it.
"You're right on one thing...this isn't something that should be rushed." He sighed before taking a short drag, "Tell you what, for now, just stop using my rank and we can finish this conversation when we get out of this...if we get out of this." He stood, cigarette in his mouth as he grabbed the Vortian sniper rifle on the table, "I still don't intend to get nuked if I can help it."
Vult watched as he stood, his brow furrowing between concern and annoyance at his behavior of abruptly coming and going. He removed his overcoat, the black-and-red of their unit. Kazak took what he needed from it to place in his existing rigging...and tossed it aside. Potch-marked from close-calls via weapons fire. Tears, rips and tatters from shrapnel and debris. The red piping stained a sickly shade and the black discolored from blood stains. Something that was common by the end of field operations every single time they came to Vort, it seemed.
"No "if", when," Vult summarized, accepting the current outcome as better than nothing. "...I'll mitigate responsibility off of you for the time being."
He paused, stepping to square up with Kazak to embrace his shoulders with his hands.
"You worry about you. Let me worry about everyone else. Just be ready to make what I need to happen, happen, alright? I'll never send someone to do something that'll get them killed. I'll go myself before that happens."
The sniper nodded, moving his hand up to hold his cigarette, "I meant what I said earlier. I consider you a friend. I'd take a plasma blast for you if I had to...not going to walk away from you right now. Not ever if I can help it until we see this through...but we definitely need to talk after all this." He put his smoke back in his mouth and extended his hand to Vult, no gloves either, one set was stained with blood and the others made useless with Sula's teeth earlier.
Relieved Kazak wasn't going to complicate matters with further resistance or potential refusal of staying with the team at this conjecture, he nodded, giving him a firm shake with his cybernetic hand.
"Talk, we will. We got work to do first." He left ambiguous, releasing his hand. "Regroup with the others, I'll be there shortly.
With that, he moved across the restaurant, passing by Caz and his Spec Ops team as they stood around, somewhat confused.
"Uhh, Commander? Sir?" He pursued.
"Yes? What is it?" Vult paused, turning to face them.
"What...are our orders?"
"You're going with us. We've been over this."
"To stop the SIS team from making it to the power plant? I thought we were to assist with the team that...you already eliminated."
"Are you getting cold feet on me, Sergeant?"
"N-no, Sir...just…" He looked to his haggard team a few men short.
"You're afraid." Vult summarized, recognizing his posture and body language. "You don't want to fight them again."
"...I...we-..." Caz stammered, breathing a heavy sigh and shaking his head. "...we couldn't kill her, Sir."
"By yourselves, no. You aren't alone now. There's sixteen of us, Sergeant. Our base of fire alone will keep them suppressed." Vult attempted to rely on stratagem alone to convince him. "...if you aren't up for this, say it now. You go with me, I expect you to pull your weight."
Caz looked to the survivors of his team. They had a wordless conversation through their eyes alone. Despite their fatigue, injuries, and all the horrors of war, none of them seemed so shaken or stricken with fear to be inactive.
Finding resolve through his subordinates, he turned back to Vult with a nod.
"We're good, Sir. Apologies, Sir, we...just needed to be reminded."
"We all do sometimes, Sergeant." Vult commented, casting a glance at Kazak as he departed through the front entrance. "...we all do. Gear up and get ready to move out."
"Yes, Sir!"
Kazak stood near the truck, indulging in his cigarette. Hesa looked to him, having traded her PRC for a GPMG, seeing that mobility may be preferable here, but also packed a rocket launcher with AT missiles. She walked over to the man, tapping him on the shoulder. "You okay?"
"No, not in the least after getting roughed up earlier," he stopped to take a drag, "I'm good enough for this. I can fight. PAK is handling things from before."
"Good...you look a sight with no gloves and no coat."
"It was covered in blood."
"Didn't you have another pair? At least the gloves."
"Sula's teeth wrecked those." He took one last drag of his cigarette and threw it aside, headed for the truck, helping Hesa into the back with her added weight.
Rha looked to Kazak and ended up laughing, "Is it me, or do you look worse than when we first met you?"
"Kazak," Volx spoke up, "what gives?"
"Blood stains, spare set of gloves ruined, I'm just making do."
"The Corporal's right though, you do look ridiculous." She extended a hand to Kazak and pulled him up, patting him on the shoulder, "I'm...glad you're back. I heard some talk from the others while you were inside. You sure you're good?"
"Yeah...as good as I can be for this. I can deal."
"All right...trusting you on this." She watched him go sit down towards the back of the trailer, deciding to sit back there with him and putting an arm around his shoulder. "I know we didn't get off to the best start, but I really am glad to have you around."
"Thanks…" He paused, closing his eyes and resting his head against the back, "you don't have to sit back here with me."
"Well, it seems like you could use the company." He looked at her and shrugged, he wasn't going to argue. All he wanted was as much relaxation as he could get before they made it to their ingress point and all hell was going to break loose.
Everyone with the exception of Aero and Sula were in the truck. Vult approached the two women. Sula was sitting up now, the color yet to fully return to her face, but she drained another juice box, crushing the empty container and tossing it aside as the First Sergeant handed her another.
"Man, you're thirsty," Aero snickered, tossing her another one. "...why juice?"
The Medical Officer pulled the attached straw off, preparing to puncture it and drain it as she had the last several. She grimaced, throwing the straw and opting for her combat knife to stab the top and make an even larger hole.
"Vitamins will help me make more blood faster," she reasoned before placing her mouth over the opening and putting the contents away in a matter of seconds. About that time, Vult came to join them.
"Aero," Vult nodded to her before looking to Sula. "Said you were green on the way in. Still green?"
"More green, Sir," She nodded, climbing to her feet. Her strength wasn't back yet, but the willpower and focus alone would have to do for the time being. They needed her. She was needed. Everyone needed her. She had to be there.
"Do whatever you have to do to get back to 100% as fast as possible, Sula." He ordered, turning to depart towards the waiting truck. "Get your kit squared away and mount up. We don't want to miss our chance at stopping them."
"Yes, Sir." They both sounded off, hopping to.
When Aero and Sula emerged, Rha helped their still recovering medic into the back. Aero made sure she was fine before hopping into the driver's seat and headed back out. More maneuvering through the streets. Things became worse as they moved closer to the ingress point. It was just as Ruk said, a river that fed the coolant water, and the smaller phasic barrier protecting the power plant couldn't extend over it. Sula parked some ways away to stay out of range of VDF riflemen. No mortar fire either; ever since Saro reorganized the defense of the valley, they haven't been able to resupply their mortars and the power plant was left without any avenue of indirect fire, save for a handful of rounds left in their heavy mortars they weren't willing to use.
Hesa looked at the ingress point and sighed heavily, seeing the only way in to be ground level checkpoints...or the water. "Well, guess Haxx and I may have to ditch the big guns. We try swimming with this, we're going to drown."
"Hesa, these things seal, remember?" Rha tapped his helmet, then took his off to look it over and see if it was still intact. Just fine, only real damage to the surface layer. The inner seal was still solid. He sighed in relief and then donned it once again. "We'll just walk across the bottom."
Kazak stepped out of the back and slung his rifle. "Guess I'll just try to hold my breath."
Volx looked to him after stepping out as well, "Yes...where is your helmet?"
"In about six different pieces back where Sula got shot earlier. Just ask Aero. Besides," he gestured to Caz and his team, "what about them?"
Wary of their surroundings and ensuring they weren't presenting too noticable a target of opportunity for snipers, Vult analyzed the situation before them. The current of the river wasn't terribly fast, but the water was potentially deep. Sure, the equipment could give them all the breathable air they needed...but that left the likes of Kazak, Caz, and the other Spec Ops with them. Most of them were laden down with extra equipment and supplies as well. Too great a risk alone to swim it.
"Captain," Vult began, looking to Corr. "Who has the highest score for swim quals in the simulator?"
Corr wrapped his brain around the question for a few moments, "I believe it was both Aero and myself that have the top scores, sir. The First Sergeant outdoes me by a bit given our height difference."
"Aero!" Vult called out.
"Sir!" She responded, trotting up to him as summoned.
"Drop your gear," He pointed to the ground. "I want you to swim across this river and run a line. Secure it so everyone can pull themselves across along it. We'll distribute your kit and bring it across with us."
The tall woman nodded once, setting her shotgun down and started unbuckling and unfastening anything secured to her person that she could shed weight-wise. "Who has enough line for me to take? The length in my pack won't reach."
"If there isn't a long enough one, start fastening them together." Vult ordered.
Kazak flipped off a day pack, throwing out his own length of rope before donning it again. Volx gestured to her own pack, Haxx digging through it and fishing out her rope, throwing it to the pile as Rha and Aero fastened them together.
Kazak withdrew a pair of small binoculars and looked up to the ramparts of the phasic barrier, seeing another Vortian looking right at him through a pair of her own. There was only one VDF soldier there, the one with the binoculars, and eight armed civilians. That would prove a problem. He walked over to Vult and gestured with his head to the ramparts. " We go under the barrier like that, they're going to raise the alarm. Though...if we're running out of time, I don't think we have much of a choice."
Vult looked back at the same Vortians his marksman pointed out. One of them was clearly a soldier in VDF regular attire, but the rest were just civilians. They all appeared to be in rough condition. He saw torn, soiled clothing. Bandages from wounds sustained. They appeared somewhat anemic even at range. Likely a shortage of supplies.
"...somehow I doubt they'd even believe us if we told them why we were trying to get in." Vult reasoned, lowering the binoculars. "I want to limit contact with anyone other than the SIS team right now. We're not here to pick on civilians and run-down soldiers."
He watched as Aero, with Vard's assistance, secured a pinion deep into the bank's edge with one end of the line. The rest was coiled up and ready to be unraveled. On the opposite end, she secured it around one of her ankles.
"How would you play this?" The Commander queried of Kazak. "Not just one of us that needs to move. Got 16 and we all need to get to the same place."
Kazak rubbed his chin and looked around, he walked around trying to get a better view of where they were going, seeing no real way in without alerting everyone inside. He shook his head and turned around, seeing a manhole on the other side of their parked vehicle. "Let me see something here…" The sniper moved out of view of the peering Vortians and opened the manhole cover, climbing down the ladder and pulling out a flashlight, shining it down the darkened sewer and finding the passage somewhat intact. Shaky, certainly...but stable enough. He climbed back out and returned to Vult in short order.
"We may not have to go the surface route. SIS could go that way without getting shot, so it makes sense to walk in the front door...underground passage here looks to be fine. So long as we don't have any heavy artillery shells fall on our head, it'll hold." He pointed to the map, down four blocks, over one, we'll come out right near the plant itself." The sniper paused as he mulled over their prospects... They needed to succeed, but six of them couldn't afford to slow down the other ten...at least...there were supposed to be six. "Did we ever pick up Zurrak?"
That was when the man in question came barreling down the street in an acquired civilian car and hopped out. "Deadeye, there you are." He ran over, "We've been trying to reach you on comms. Everyone went dark."
"Well you showed up just in time. We're about to go in."
"...Ah...that's what I wanted to warn you guys about."
"What?"
"Five minutes ago just saw another one of those big fuckers come sprinting down the street. Had escorts with him."
Kazak blinked, "What happened?"
"We nailed some of the escorts but the big guy made it through the traps. Couldn't keep him still long enough for a kill and he made it into one of the underground routes. My guess is he's going to make sure the other team gets the job done."
"Oh, well that's just fucking great." Kazak looked to Vult, "I think mission success is an imperative now. Forget the ropes...you ten walk along the bottom of the river as far as you can. If you can infiltrate the plant directly through the river, even better. I can take Zurrrak and the others, make a mad dash, and meet you at the front gate. Even if we're compromised and smashed to shit, at least you guys still have a chance at success. That's my suggestion."
The Lieutenant took a few steps in, lowering his voice, "I can handle this. I can't afford to let any of you down right now. I know this isn't ideal, but this is the best strategy I see that doesn't get us shot to hell until we can't avoid it."
Whatever doubt Vult held about the marksman's capabilities given his recent behavior and current state-of-affairs quickly evaporated. His body language. The tone of his voice. The hardened, focused look in his eyes. He was back.
The Commander gave a slight nod, adjusting his rifle across his chest before turning to address the Captain.
"Corr!"
"Sir?"
"Change of plans." He prefaced as the man joined the group. "Take Purple Team across the river and infiltrate as planned. Red Team is taking the underground. New intel suggests there is another team with one of those big ones moving in to reinforce. Take Sergeant Caz and the rest of his team with you."
The Captain began to speak, but stopped himself. Was even he second-guessing his commanding officer now? Those orders were clear and concise...but his concerns were valid. Vult seemed to pick up on his hesitance, grasping the man's shoulder for his attention.
"You read me, Captain?"
"Yes, Sir. Loud and clear...are you sure you won't need any more help down there than the six of you, Commander?"
"Tight quarters are working in our favor, Corr. We'll manage. You need the firepower more than we do with the risk of VDF interfering if you're compromised."
He couldn't argue with him there. There was always the risk of taking on more than they anticipated this deep in without any relief or support. Wouldn't be the first time. Begrudgingly he accepted with a nod.
"We'll see you inside, Sir."
"Count on it-, oh, and send Aero over here before she gets in the water. One of you will have to run that line."
"I can handle it, Commander. Only way we'll get Caz and the other Spec Ops across with all their kit in that current." He reasoned, jogging around the truck to do as Vult requested.
Kazak looked to Zurrak with a nod, "Guess this is where we part ways. You gotta go with 'em. They need your expertise."
Zurrak motioned over his shoulder to his slung shotgun, "I can handle it."
"Before you go, Cobalt, how fast were they moving?"
"Real fast pace. Sprinting. Though they can't move too fast down below thanks to all the debris and potential structural damage. I'd estimate they'll be here in maybe about…" he stopped to look at his wristwatch. "Two minutes maybe? Goats are fast."
"Gotcha," Kazak gave him a pat on the shoulder and motioned to Vult and the others as he moved back to the manhole. "We don't have a lot of time then. We should get down there, entrench ourselves as best we can, and nail these guys. Maybe rig part of the tunnel to come down on their heads if they have to. Though I'd recommend that as a last resort."
Vult took in all of this information from their other marksman on lease through General Vaukt. Seemed well-informed and competent enough. A good asset to have in their corner for what was to come. Corr would put him to good use for certain.
"If we have the ordnance to spare, certainly. Let's not cave the place in and trap ourselves though."
The blue-eyed Commander's attention returned to his team's second as Aero and the others began to gather at the Captain's relay of their commanding officer's intentions.
"Maaaaan…" Aero groaned with a sigh.
"What's wrong?" Vard queried.
"The sewers? Again? Really?"
"...we do have a habit of ending up in them everytime we come to Vort, don't we?"
"If there was another way, we'd take it." Vult reasoned with their valid complaints. "We don't have time to explore other options. Stack up, seal up, and head down the ladder. Aero, on point."
Another weary sigh.
"...yes, Sir." She begrudgingly accepted, returning her weapon to her back before moving to start down the ladder into the darkness below.
Zurrak started to head off but stopped, "Deadeye!" He opened up a leg bag and tossed Kazak a gas mask, "I think you'll need that more than I will."
"Owe you one, Cobalt!" Kazak donned the mask and made sure it was sealed before descending with the others. At least the filter kept the worst of the odor out. "Speak for yourself, you two, at least you still have some more clothing to speak of. I'm here with bare arms and no gloves." He started a jog with the others, perhaps taking it a bit harder than the others with the filter restricting air flow unlike their sealed masks. As they ran, he mulled over strategies. "Vard, you got any remote detonators we can rig up? Hesa, going to need your rockets. I think we can rig an explosive trap to trigger in the right place."
"As long as it doesn't come down on our heads, I'm game!" Hesa responded, "Got six rockets. Not much, but it's something. Seriously, though, don't let this come down on our heads. I don't want to get buried in shit."
"Me neither," Kazak replied after taking several breaths. He looked over his shoulder at the others, five of them at full strength, one injured though recovering...this would have to go off without a hitch or it'd turn into something horrible. Chances of that were low...but better than the alternative. "Anyone got flashbangs or electrical grenades? Those electrical anti-armor devices?"
"Plenty," Vard assured as he moved with his squadmates. "Standard-issue since Devastis. If anyone needs more, let me know."
Illuminating lamps from helmets and weapons revealed the way down the pitch-black tunnels full of funneled refuse. Worn, scuffed, and scraped boots splashed through the unsavory muck around them as rebreathers and filters worked overtime to keep the overwhelming stench of alien excrement and rotting organic material free from their olfactory sensory organs.
"Toss me a couple," Hesa called out, letting her machine gun rest from her sling as she held her hands up, catching a pair from Vard and stashing them before switching her vision mode to a night vision-thermal combination on her HUD.
The short-statured Sergeant did so, wary to not drop them in the slow-flowing stream of filth at their feet. As he did so, Aero on point gave pause.
"Thanks," Hesa called out and gripped her GPMG again, slowly stopping once noticing Aero stopped. Kazak soon stopped, bracing against a wall for support and shouldering his acquired Vortian sniper rifle. Though tempted to activate the laser to scan for a potential cloaked foe, he resisted the urge. Hesa shouldered her weapon as well, just in case...knowing they were walking straight into their path.
"Aero, you see something?" Kazak called out, calmly, looking down his scope with one eye while trying to keep the other open to scan around them in the interim.
"Nnnn...maybe?" She admitted with uncertainty. "Could be echoes...could be nothing…"
"Go dark. Now." Vult immediately spoke, lifting his right hand to deactivate the lamp on his helmet. "Switch to IR and EM."
He wasn't leaving anything to chance. Not this time. Not so close to the VDF's last bastion of defense against the Empire and with the likes of SIS and their augmented ilk running about in the area. Losing the element of surprise would only make their already difficult task all the more impossible.
"Hesa, rocket launcher, now," Kazak whispered, looking at his scope and finding an IR mode to activate and hit it, giving him at least limited vision as the others dampened their lights. Hesa dropped her machine gun to the sling and reached to her back, withdrawing her anti-tank rocket launcher and extending it, making everything ready. She was thankful they at least had rockets that could shoot in confined spaces, something regulars didn't have access to.
Down the tunnel, running in the open, were suited Vortians, black armor, just like those encountered above. Four of them the regular SIS troopers encountered so far. However...there was a fifth with them, and he was massive, his issued machine gun appearing almost comically small in his hands. They were running uncloaked, muscle fibers of their base layer glowing an off-white as they poured energy into enhancing their speed.
"We need to get to the power plant, now. Arokina and the others are counting on us for support to make sure this plan goes off without a hitch." The large one spoke, one of the others soon coming up in response.
"We lost Dire and Scepter back there. You sure we're not walking into an ambush?"
"They wouldn't know we're coming this way, Blaster."
Instinct paid off it would seem. Vult and the others present caught a glimpse of the rapid movement at the end of the current corridor of concrete pipe they called home. They were in an open cistern, a nexus of sewer conduits meeting into a larger drain, likely destined for the river. It was nice to have reliable, actionable intel for once...even if it was placing them squarely in the sights of what was likely the absolute worst the Vortians had left to throw at them.
"Safeties off, get switched on," The Commander opened with, checking the rear before looking to Aero with a nod and hand signal to move. "I don't need to remind you what will happen if we don't stop them. Double-time. Move it!"
Kazak fumbled with a pouch, drawing a set of goggles. He fumbled around for the switch before he found it, donning them and lowering the goggles over the gas mask, providing him a gray scene of the tunnel interior. Now he wasn't entirely blind. He moved slowly to catch up with the others. "Got you guys covered," he at least had the railgun, but it seems like it'd be of only remote use.
Hesa moved with her rocket launcher still ready to fire once she set up again, sprinting for a better position through the muck.
Tallum, hearing the sloshing and picking up something on his HUD's motion sensors raised a fist to stop the others then motioned for them to cloak. Waiting several seconds for their suit power to stabilize, the entire team disappeared from view of the naked eye. He then motioned for two of the Vortians to move out and scan the area for possible hostiles. A pair of SIS agents, armed with railgun carbines, moved forward, scanning, activating infrared vision of their visors to scan for possible hidden foes or traps. Though, in the back of their mind, they hoped it was just rats.
Though, before one of the two could finish the switch, she saw Kazak. Likewise, the sniper saw her. The two leveled their weapons to fire. Kazak proved to be faster on the draw. A loud, deafening boom filled the cistern as his slug hit home and knocked her aim off, though the armor plating prevented it from being more lethal than it should've been.
"Hostiles!" Tallum called out, "Base of fire, right there!" The other SIS agents assembled, pouring fire towards Kazak, forcing him to hide behind a pile of rubble as plasma blasts and metallic slugs hit the floor and walls around him, as well as the rubble itself.
Knowing full and well stopping in the pipe to return fire would be suicide, Vult and the others stormed the cistern under the cover of their cloaks. Only the faintest visible shimmers of air disturbance could be seen. The violent crack of supersonic rounds in confined spaces drowned out the splashing of their boots. Support pillars lined either side of the cistern and its vaulted ceiling where various pipes at different heights and elevations emptied into the catch-all drain pit at the center of the room.
"Corporal!" Vult barked into their comms as his back slammed against one of the pillars for cover. "HE rocket on that tunnel to our 12'o'clock! Don't let them escape!"
"Gotcha!" Hesa called out as she peered out with her launcher, using a mix of her HUD and the launcher's own targeting screen to aim for the roof of the tunnel. One firm squeeze of the trigger later, and ignoring the weapon's warning for a lack of target lock, the rocket motor ignited, leaving a loud thud as it accelerated out of the launcher and towards the ceiling. It was just like Kazak said, one heavy round hits it and it's done for.
The ceiling of the tunnel collapsed, forcing the SIS operatives to scatter, but not before several of them took some injuries from falling rubble. One of them was rendered unconscious from a direct hit of a heavy rock to the head and subsequently buried beneath the debris. Hesa smirked as she moved back into cover and reloaded the launcher with another HE rocket.
Kazak then took a flashbang grenade from a pouch and threw it towards the SIS agents, the bright flash blinding those with night vision on and allowing him to retreat. A slug grazed his shoulder but he was otherwise fine, growling as he let it bleed once he was much safer behind a pillar with the others.
Tallum shook his head as his visor readjusted from the flashbang. "Sound off, we all still here?'
"Took a nasty hit, but I'm good."
"Same here."
"All good, Tallum." Blaster paused with the lack of a last response, "...I think we lost one."
"Nothing we can do. Keep firing." He ordered as he quickly swapped the power cell on his machine gun and continued firing, barrel starting to glow from the volume of fire he was pouring onto the Irken.
The cistern amplified the intense firefight. Normally loud weapons were overwhelmingly assaulting antenna and ears alike. The constant chatter of automatic weapons drowned out most of the other noises, only to be taken over by the crack of higher-caliber, more powerful weapons. Streaks of plasma and hyper-accelerated slugs illuminated the darkness like a shower of sparks cast off of grinding metal. The enclosed helmets Vult and his team wore dampened most of it to a tolerable level, but their relayed information called back and forth at a constant pitch over the din of battle filled the dead air.
"Hesa!" Vult called out amidst a power cell change, the spent one dropping into the brackish water around his ankles with a steaming hiss as he slammed the fresh one home and racked the charging handle. "Put the other one in the big one's chest!"
"Right!" Hesa shouldered the launcher again, taking aim as Blaster took note and quickly turned his rifle towards her and fired, forcing her back into cover. "Shit!" The hail of bullets stopped as Kazak, gritting his teeth through the pain of his antenna ringing from the noise, fired a few slugs in Blaster's direction to draw his attention away for a brief moment.
Tallum snarled as his weapon malfunctions several times before ceasing to work entirely. Switching to armor mode, he grabbed the hot barrel and threw it towards Vult. "Covering fire!" With heavy foot falls, the massive Vortian then advanced for the sniper, forcing Kazak to drop his sniper rifle for his plasma SMG and holding the trigger down. Hesa dropped her launcher and grabbed her machine gun to suppress the other three briefly before returning to focus fire on Tallum.
Just as Vult meant to step out and take the heat off of his squadmates, the glowing-hot barrel attached to a depleted, ruined machinegun nearly took his head off. He dropped to the floor with a curse under his breath in a splash as it hit the pillar where his head was a moment ago, bending the hot metal with a creaking groan and tearing a chunk of reinforced concrete out.
As he recovered, scrambling back into cover as the water around him boiled and sizzled with incoming plasma bolts striking the surface, he saw the massive, augmented Vortian storming Kazak's position. Hesa chased after him with automatic fire from her own MG, peppering him the entire way, but it did little to give him pause. Deeply concerning.
"Damn it...Sula, Vard!"
"Sir!" Both of them answered nearly in unison amidst the firefight.
"Flush the other two out! I want frags on them, now!"
"On it!" Vard acknowledged, nodding to his squadmate as she popped up to suppress as he primed a fragmentation grenade. The safety disengaged, the fuze primed, a twist and a click later, he reared back and tossed it, releasing at the apex of his throw.
"Grenade out!"
"Sir!" She acknowledged from cover as she fed power cells into the magazine tube of her shotgun. A mental note to pick up something with range to accent her armament was made. Maybe a PDW or SMG...
"You, Hesa, focus the big one!"
"Yes, Sir!"
"Working on it!" Hesa snarled as she kept firing at Tallum, rounds connecting, as well as fire from Kazak's own PDW. The sniper kept backpedaling until he was back against a wall as the Vortian grabbed his throat, lifting him up. His SMG hit the ground, hands clutching at the man's hand. Behind the visor, a furious glare from the Vortian as he threw him into the cistern's pool. The sniper sank, trying to swim upwards and failing, his gas mask's filter clogged from the intake of water, and with no source of incoming air into his mask.
Meanwhile, Blaster and the other two Vortians abandoned cover when the grenade came in, exposing all three of them to fire. The Field Agent took several hits that burned him through his suit as his power levels depleted, forcing him behind a pillar as he tried to recover some energy. "Fucking hell…"
Tallum, meanwhile, turned his attention to his next quarry, the troublesome machine gunner. He advanced towards Hesa, moving somewhat faster once his armor mode failed for a lack of energy. He growled, burned at the legs and abdomen as he moved closer, only to rip the GPMG from her hands and break it over a knee. Before she could reach for her pistol, grasping the hot barrel, he delivered a brutal strike to her head, breaking her helmet and knocking her to the ground. "You two!" He pointed at the two out of cover and then pointed to Vult's position. "Fire on that one!" The two quickly shifted fire, focusing their mass accelerated slugs on Vult's position as Tallum then advanced towards Vard.
Vult hissed, forced back into cover as they SIS operatives refocused their efforts on him. Being the professionals they were, he expected nothing less, but it was annoying to a fault. He couldn't get a clear picture of what was going on or how to dictate his team. Something they picked up on and adapted to rather quickly much to his dismay.
"Sula, Vard, get these guys off of me!" He called out to them.
His attention focused on what was within line-of-sight. The big one stormed Hesa's position and disarmed her. His rifle rose, taking aim. Her weapon broke over his knee like a dry twig and the following strike with one of the mangled halves bashed her helmet. Its metal audible groaned and the visor shattered on impact. His heart skipped a beat and spooch plummeted as she fell backwards into the water with a splash.
"No!" The Commander exclaimed, squeezing off aimed bursts at her attacker.
Tallum growled as he picked up a rock and hurled it at Vult's reaction in retaliation for the fire, grasping his side shortly after, "You wait right there, I'll deal with you if you're not dead soon enough." His attention shifted to the two firing at him, "Stop missing, you idiots!" He continued his advance towards Vard unabated, switching his armor mode back on with some suit power regained as he reached the diminutive Irken. "Come here, you!" He reached out to grab Vard's head, intent on driving it into a nearby wall.
Though, not far from where she fell in, the disturbance of water and a fit of coughing followed as Hesa clawed her way out of the cistern. She was still there, she looked around, "Where's Kazak? I don't see him…" Unabated, and despite the lacerations to her face from some broken glass, she drew her revolver, aiming down her sights at one of the two firing at Vult, six blasts of plasma flew home as she focused on one that had his armor whittled down, the Vortian's SMG falling to the ground along with its wielder. She then quickly moved to cover to reload. Her attention turned back to Tallum. "Vard!"
The Communications and Tech Specialist found himself in a predicament. Sula, after aiding with flushing the other two SIS agents from cover, moved to assist Kazak. He hadn't come up from under the surface of the cistern's pool yet and its depth was unknown. She had cast her rifle and any other removable equipment weighing her down at Vard's feet before sprinting away from the firefight, towards where Kazak was last seen before disappearing beneath the water in a splash.
The sniper lay at the bottom of the cistern 30 feet down, unconscious from a lack of oxygen from his clogged filter. Though his mask remained sealed and in place, somewhat sunken from his furious attempts to breathe. It all transpired far too quickly for him to recover from the sudden toss. Of all the ways he could've gone out, death at the bottom of a sewer cistern never crossed his mind.
Aided by the heads-up display of her helmet in sensing elevation changes even beneath the water, the Medical Officer ran through the ankle-deep water with pounding, splashing steps before the edge of the drop-off. Pushing off, she dove into the darkened deep without a second though. Kazak's biometric readings placed him near the bottom where he had sunk. He was still alive, for now. His blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen level told another tale.
Lacking the luxury of time, Sula propelled herself deeper and deeper with each stroke of her arms and flutter of her feet. The pressure and density of the water began to increase steadily. Thankfully, her uniform's integrated systems adjusted accordingly. She would not be starved of oxygen thanks to the rebreather and section seals in the armor underlay ensured blood flowed. It wasn't a purpose-built wetsuit for diving, but it would work for the time being.
Finally, she reached the bottom, her helmet's integrated lamp fluttering on in the darkness. Kazak's body lay limp, suspended just off the bottom. No debris or refuse to be snagged or caught on. Wrapping her left arm around his midsection, she tucked him in close against her body. The still-healing gunshot wound in her shoulder burned in protest against the use of many muscle groups associated. Swimming after being shot was ill-advised, even for rapidly-healing Irken.
Wincing against the pain, she righted herself to swim upwards. Pushing off the bottom for momentum, she pulled him up. Her HUD blared biometric warnings as his pulse slowed down and oxygen levels dropped below the threshold of what was considered safe. Just a little further…
Finally, she breached the surface, immediately shutting the lamp off as a few stray plasma bolts and accelerator round came uncomfortably close. Easy target as they were, no need to help the SIS agents. Ducking briefly back under the surface to avoid getting shot, she heaved Kazak's body near the cistern's edge. Vult and Hesa's return fire kept them off her back long enough to hoist herself out of the cistern and back into the ankle-deep water.
"C'mon, up, up, up…" She muttered winded motivations to herself as she drug the unconscious marksman up by his equipment webbing.
No sooner than he was free of the cistern, she yanked the clogged respirator free of his face. Excellent at stopping airborne particulates and hazards, not so much for water. Immediately, she set to checking his vitals. Pulse was thready and weak. Breathing, difficult to tell over the din of battle raging in an enclosed space, even with audio dampening. Rather than hope he'd come to naturally, she set to chest compressions.
"One, two, three," Sula's trained mind counted off as her palms pushed on his sternum with all her weight.
Well-practiced, her left hand tipped his chin up. Rapidly disengaging her sealed mask with a touch of a button, her palm rest to his forehead as she leaned down with a deep intake of breath. Locking their lips together, she exhaled into him for a textbook example of mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
A couple repeated breaths in and his eyes shot open, a fit of coughing as he tried to regain his breath, and then the smell overcame him and he heaved, trying to keep himself from expelling his previous meal. After some moments he regained his bearings, grabbing the night vision goggles from his nearby removed gas mask and donning them once more to look Sula in the face. There was a bit of silence at first. "Thanks."
The Medical Officer, relieved as the signs of life filled her squadmate, didn't have much time to reflect on it. Another flurry of incoming fire popped and sizzled against the water dangerously close, causing her to flinch, nearly diving atop her impromptu patient.
"Don't thank me yet!" She called out over the fray, frantically reaching for her holstered sidearm before shoving it into Kazak's hands. "Here! My kit's back with Vard-" She explained, looking in the short Sergeant's last known direction.
What she saw froze her blood ice cold. Breath caught in her throat. The massive, augmented SIS operative had snatched Vard off his feet with ease. He gripped him by the front of his helmet, body dangling. Vard frantically clawed at the palm around his vision and kicked to no avail.
"Vard!" She called out in desperation, shoving off of Kazak in a scramble to get back to her feet and help.
Aero, relieved at the incoming fire lightening up thanks to Vult and Hesa's efforts, topped off her shotgun as she heard Sula's cry out. The big one didn't go unnoticed, nor did his manhandling of the short-statured Sergeant. Her carnation pink eyes behind her visor glowered with protective fury as she broke from cover, sprinting to intercept.
"I'm on it!" Aero called out, firing her weapon as she advanced. "Hey, pick on someone your own size!"
Tallum snarled as his HUD displayed the incoming fire from Aero, prompting him to drop Vard and advance on her. Taking incoming fire all the while, quickly draining his armor and causing snarls of pain as her weapons once more did some damage, forcing him to stop and grab his abdomen. "You're going to have to do better than that, Irken scum...but even if you beat me. It doesn't matter. You're all gonna die here."
Blaster, with armor mode freshly restored, peered out of cover and fired a few shots towards Hesa, forcing her into a compromising spot, potentially exposed to the Vortian shooting at Vult but screwed if she stayed put. She fired a blind shot and ran for better cover at a pillar further back, firing blindly at the Vortian suppressing Vult as she moved, ending the barrage of suppressive fire to force him back into cover. Once behind her pillar, she reloaded once more. "Yo, Kaz, cover me."
"What?!" The Lieutenant moved up to a pillar, confused, but had an idea of what she was doing, "Who you going after?!"
"The one over there." She gestured with her head towards Blaster's position, "Fire on him if you have to, otherwise shoot the other one in cover over there so Vult can move somewhere better." She motioned to the one behind cover for him to fire at.
"Right!" Peering out with Sula's sidearm while his Vortian machine pistol continued draining of filth, the sniper kept the other Vortian suppressed in his position as Hesa kept moving to flank Blaster.
Picking up on the impromptu play his team concocted, Vult leaned out of cover, checking briefly before darting back in. Hesa and Kazak intended to close in and suppress them. Flanking was out of the question given the tight quarters. They just needed to swarm and overwhelm them.
Reading the situation and thinking fast, he allowed his rifle to hang briefly over his chest before priming a flashbang from his kit.
"Polarize!" He barked, their drilled command for darkening visors in preparation. "Flash out!"
Stepping out, the Commander gave the primed grenade an ample throw, bouncing it off of the wall at the SIS agents' rear into their cover. Rolling back behind the pillar, he took up his rifle again at low-ready. A half-second or so later, a bright light briefly illuminated the cistern as if it were high noon, followed by a deafening, concussive blast.
"Go! Go! Go!" Vult barked, immediately on the trigger and laying down cover fire for his teammates to push up.
Meanwhile, Aero closed on the massive SIS operative. Whatever relief she felt at Vard being released and tossed aside like a toy was replaced by apprehension as she emptied her entire magazine tube into him and he remained standing. These guys were tough. A single blast from her weapon typically took down anything. Those that survived being incapacitated yearned for a quickened end from their suffering.
Unable to quickly reload and continue engaging, she slung the weapon around to her back mid-stride. The magnetic attachment point engaged, freeing up her hands. In the same motion, her arms fanned out to either side, engaging their trademark wrist-mounted plasma blades. The magenta jets held in a magnetic field illuminated her surroundings, the heat popping and crackling against the air.
Grunting with effort, she closed the gap, making use of her long legs as the coiled, and leapt through the air with the intent to drive her blades deep past his armor and into vulnerable flesh. Nothing could withstand plasma, not even starship armor plating.
Blaster and the other SIS agent recoiled at the blinding light, their fire ceasing. Even Tallum himself halted to recover, though their helmets did what they could to mitigate the sudden brightness. His vision recovered just in time to see Aero charging in with twin blades of plasma...dangerous. With what little suit energy recovered he shunted straight into a speed enhancement, making a dash forward to roll out of her intended path, though it would take a slide to stop before he could project himself back, grabbing one of Aero's arms after she landed, maneuvering his hands to break her forearm before throwing her towards the back of the cistern.
Hesa, meanwhile, threw a grenade towards the agent in cover on the far side as she rushed towards Blaster. He failed to recover before being tackled by the woman and knocked to the ground, his head pummeled by blows of her fist and the butt of a sidearm, forcing him to protect his head as the grenade otherwise did its job. Kazak, meanwhile, focused fire on Tallum as the last major threat in the room. It was apparently doing something as the massive Vortian fell to one knee from the increasing pain and wounds dealt from incoming fire.
Vult, seeing their combined arms and maneuver was successful in subduing the other SIS agents, rolled back into cover to change power cells once more. Operating exclusively on muscle-memory as his mind set to tasking, the transition went smoothly. Spent cell ejected, fresh one pulled from a pouch on his rigging in the same motion, and locked in to power up before the empty one hit the water with a hissing splash.
Aero's activated plasma blades in his peripheral got his attention as he turned to focus on the big one. He watched as his tallest squadmate was ensnared mid-air before the killing blow and tossed aside without a second thought. The sudden change of direction and force of inertia bent her arm unnaturally, complete with the audible, sickening snap of bone and a piercing wail of pain cut short as she impacted the concrete wall across the cistern. Thankfully she didn't fall into its center as Kazak had. That did not help the excruciating agony as she clutched her broken arm, rolling around and flailing in the shallow water against the pain.
He had his back turned to Vult and fell to a knee. The withering fire and damage sustained by his team was taking its toll. Just a little more. Sula was moving to assist Aero and Vard was stirring back onto his feet. Everyone was accounted for. All he needed to know as he bolted from cover towards the big one's back. No honor. No fighting fair. Didn't matter. This was survival and an untold number of lives hung in the balance.
As Aero had attempted prior, his right plasma blade activated, drawn back and prepared to strike. Leaping before he could react, Vult crashed into his back, left arm wrapping around beneath his helmet, locking in, and forcibly driving the glowing blade past layers of soft, flexible armor just inside his collar, down into his neck and chest. Instantly, the scent of burning flesh and boiling blood hit him. He struck true.
Blaster, in the midst of Hesa's blows, glanced over and watched as Tallum fell victim to a plasma blade. His HUD saw the man's vital signs go dead. Things suddenly changed for him...he knew exactly what was coming next. "Get the fuck off'a me!" He tried shoving Hesa off of him, succeeding only for Hesa to see the man quickly move for cover behind a column, even abandoning his weapon where he fell. It didn't take much for her to put two and two together.
"Vult! Get away from there, now!" She followed suit, tackling the remaining SIS man where he retreated to, ensuring he couldn't escape whatever followed.
Whatever relief he felt in their victory in the engagement was short-lived. Hesa's words called out to him with urgency. Get away from where? From...oh… Realizing what she was referring to and the likely outcome, the Commander quickly deactivated his sunk blade and scrambled off the towering Vortian. Sprinting as fast as his legs would carry him away from the falling augmented soldier, he dove for cover behind the nearest pillar he could reach with a splash.
"Everyone get clear!" He relayed over comms as he rolled to his back and tucked in tight against the pillar.
Tallum's suit glowed a bright white for a few moments before a violent explosion ensued. Obliterating the armor, its deceased wearer, and anything close by. It's a good thing the last one lived, otherwise that could've ended horribly for anyone nearby. Even Hesa and Blaster were hit by the ricochet of some fragments that bounced off the wall near them.
The gunner quickly worked, grabbing one of Vard's devices and slapping it on the Vortian, disabling his suit's movement and leaving him captive. He struggled, growling when he realized he was trapped. "One's neutralized, ready to interrogate!" She called out, stepping off his back but keeping her revolver trained on him.
Kazak, after a quick glance around and only hearing a shrill, constant ring, seeing an all clear, made his way over to Aero to assist Sula however he could with her broken arm, and return the borrowed pistol.
"Hold still, Aero," Sula insisted, having the First Sergeant sat up against the cistern wall as her feet kicked and splashed against the pain. "I- I need to set it, stop!"
"NNNFFFIcan't!" Aero managed through grit teeth and seething breaths with tears in her eyes beneath her visor.
The Medical Officer tapped the side of the girl's helmet, opening up the rebreather and visor to see her face. Reaching into one of her many pockets, she procured a rolled-up piece of leather.
"Open. Mouth, open up."
Already anticipating what was coming, she hesitantly did so as the bit was placed between her lips by Sula.
"Bite down. This is going to hurt."
Unfortunately, she was no stranger to setting broken bones.
"Kazak," Sula called over her shoulder to get his attention. "Hold her still. Keep her shoulder against the wall. Hold it there, I don't care how. I just need it to not move."
Kazak slipped the pistol back into its holster before she tried to speak to him. He couldn't hear a word, just ringing. Though he knew what she was trying to do, he moved all the same, pressing his hands against Aero's shoulders and pushing his weight into her. He gave Sula a quick nod after that, as ready as he could be to keep her still given the circumstances.
Once he was in place, Aero instinctively tensed against them, she moved her hands to the girl's wrist.
"Alright, on three. One...two-"
Without warning, Sula jerked her broken arm sharply straight forward from her body. The unnatural bend in it straightened out with a disturbing squelch as the bone shifted back into its natural position. Aero's body violently jerked as her eyes screwed shut with tears and a scream of agony muffled around the bit. She spat it out in Sula's face with a growl.
"NNN YOU SAID THREE!" She whined, panting.
"You would have resisted and made it worse by flinching." Sula explained, promptly working to rapidly fashion a splint from her supplies. "I'll dress this properly once we're out of here. Just try not to bend it."
"Yeah, I'll try not to use it too much, Doc." She scoffed sarcastically, her unmangled arm patting Sula's shoulder. "T-Thanks...now get me up."
"Hold on a second. Almost...there." She explained, finishing securing the splint with a final pass of gauze. "Give me your hand...no, the good one…"
Bracing herself, Sula aided her squadmate back to her feet, looking at Kazak. He seemed confused. "You alright?"
"What?!"
Both Sula and Aero winched at his echoing yell.
"Keep it down!" The Medical officer hissed, pushing the air in a downward motion with both hands, realizing his hearing and vision were both unprotected from the grenade Vult had thrown. Hand signals it was.
"Are you…" She pointed to Kazak. "...okay?" A circle made with forefinger and thumb followed. "Can you..." Another pointed finger at him. "...hear?" She tapped one of her own shielded antenna.
He gestured to his own antenna and gave her a thumbs down in reply. It was all ringing, completely deafened, though his vision was recovering from the grenade earlier. A quick look over the rest of him, he saw no blood, felt no other injuries, his neck was otherwise fine despite the earlier grab, he gave her a thumbs up on the rest of him. He could still go on, but it'd be a while before he could hear anything again.
"Is he deaf?" Aero quered, nursing her splinted arm. "Can I get something for the pain? This hurts...really bad."
"I'll fix it properly once we're somewhere sanitary. Just tough it out for now, okay?" Sula responded much to her dismay, turning her attention back to Kazak. "...and it appears so. Temporarily hopefully. Unshielded from all the fighting and the acoustics in here likely made it worse."
She thought for a moment, turning her headlamp on to illuminate both of her hands as she looked down at them. It was a stretch. Time to see how retentive he was of information. Similar to their tried and true hand signals, these were less military-inspired in nature. Rather, a form of silent communication long thought lost to the Irken. Something Corr saw fit to instill into their regime in the event auditory communication wasn't possible.
Do you remember how to sign?
The non military signals...he remembered some of them. He cleared his throat, remembering to keep his voice down closer to a normal level, even if he couldn't hear himself, maybe they could. "Rusty...I think I can pick it up again the more it's used."
Better than nothing. Keep your voice down. Echoes. We can hear you. Regroup with the others.
A little simplistic in sentence structure but formal communication wasn't a concern. The rudimentary basics to keep it simple and understood. Once she got a nod of affirmation from Kazak, she shut her lamp off.
"I need to check on Vard, make sure he's okay-"
"Oh my, Irk, Vard!" Aero remembered, immediately forgetting about her own agony as she ran around the perimeter of the cistern awkwardly. Having one of her limbs restrained and incapacitated made keeping her balance a little awkward. "Vard!"
Kazak watched her go as he brought his night vision back down again after talking with Sula. He moved around the perimeter, going over the dead agents and scavenging grenades and other useful material to include ammunition. Among them a Type 42 Vortian SMG, bullpup, mass accelerated. A suitable weapon for what may lay ahead. He made his way back to his Plasma PDW as well as his sniper rifle and retrieved them both, as well as the borrowed gas mask, before making his way over to Hesa, Vult, and the incapacitated Blaster. He stood nearby, securing his weapons and shoving the mask into a cargo pocket.
"Well that's just fucking great." Hesa looked to Vult, "If what this asshole says is right, we really gotta step it up and help the Cap and the others. If we had this much trouble with half of what they had, they must really be in trouble."
Vult, glancing over his shoulder at the approaching Kazak and Sula as Aero and Vard reunited nearby, he saw his team upright and moving. They could take stock shortly. For now, they needed information.
"What's the fastest route to intercept them?" He plainly asked of the incapacitated operative.
"And why the hell should I tell you? So you can go kill them too?" The response from Blaster came full of scorn.
The Commander squatted down, closer to eye-level with him before speaking again.
"The irony in trying to stop you from killing your people isn't lost on me right now." He reasoned aloud. "Unless you're just as soulless and devoid of compassion as you Vortians are so quick to accuse us of, something deep down inside of you knows what SIS is doing is wrong and it needs to be stopped. Help me help you."
"Yeah, say I do tell you. What then? You're probably going to kill me same as you did Tallum just now. Why should I? It's all your spec ops types seem to be good at." He paused.
"Being cooperative tends to lead to a favorable outcome," Vult cryptically answered. He wasn't lying. However, he lacked the time to explain or even willing to take the risk with an unverified unknown variable at this stage. "...but you are right about one thing, we are good at killing. Very good."
The muzzle of his rifle pressed to their captive's forehead with an insistent push.
"...unless you're volunteering for a test of those skills like your friends did, I recommend you start giving me details. Where's the other team? Fastest route? Unit strength."
"I already told you more than we had."
"Exact number, asshole," Hesa chimed in.
"All right all right, sheesh. Arokina and eight escorts."
"Arokina?"
"She's from Tallum's team. Just like him. They're already inside, walked in the front door with clearance. Should already be inside right now shutting down the cooling system and prepping the plant for overload." He stopped, heaving a sigh, he knew what Vult said was right, sacrificing themselves and everyone in Tallum just to spite the Irken invaders when they held control everywhere else was nonsensical. "Keep going, you'll come to a T crossing at the end of that tunnel. Head left, leads to a door in the maintenance room of the reactor building. Was meant to be a quick way into these tunnels for city maintenance crews."
"There a code?"
"You're probably going to have to blow the door. Code's scrambled every hour. Arokina was supposed to send it when we got there."
"Code or not, we'll find a way in." Vult reasoned aloud, looking over his shoulder. "Vard!"
The short Sergeant was currently having the life squeezed from him by Aero's good arm in a hearty embrace, worried for his well-being. A loud clearing of Vult's throat got their attention. The tall, willow female, embarrassed, quickly set Vard down with a pat on his head.
"Sir!" He responded, quickly making his way over as summoned.
Vult turned his attention back to their captive. "I want you to think carefully about what I'm about to ask you next. Your life hinges on the answer. Two parts. First, I want SIS's communications encryption protocols. You can willingly give them to me or my Tech Specialist is going to poke around in your suit's systems and extract them forcefully. He may sabotage other things while he's at it. The second, you get me that code for the door and it works, you walk free and clear."
The Vortian thought long and hard for several moments, it seemed like an eternity to himself, probably the same to the others. "I can give you her team's frequency, I don't have anything else. Command only gives us comms on a mission by mission basis and they change all the time. That's the best I can do. As for getting you in...fine, I'll make the call for you. She'd think it suspicious if there's no vital signs visible on her end when it comes."
"Hand them over and make contact with them for that code. Choose your words carefully." Vult reminded him as Vard hardlined into one of the suit's ports at the base of the neck. He already had the appropriate data cable? Curious.
That didn't escape his notice. The Vortian blinked and looked to Vult after Hesa stepped out of the way for Vard to work. "How in the blazes do you have the means to connect to these?" All the same, he pulled up the frequency for Arokina's team for Vard to take. "The only guys who use these aside from us are those Ohnmatu guys."
"I'm not at liberty to discuss it and you are negotiating from a disadvantage." Vult summarized as Vard typed away on his forearm-imbedded interface. "Maybe another time, another place."
"Fine…" Blaster looked on his display as Vard took the needed information. Huffing that he survived, but maybe better that he did...
Kazak looked to Aero and held out his plasma PDW with one hand, wanting her to take it. "You really look like you could use this to go with that shotgun."
Aero, her visage twisted in an expression of steady discomfort from her incapacitated limb, looked to the offered weapon. Little more range, higher rate of fire, and could be operated with one hand. Sure beat using her sidearm only until further notice.
"Sure. Thanks." She managed, accepting the weapon.
A few minutes passed as Vard worked, his violet-hued goggles obscuring his darting gaze. Line-by-line, he read code, typing furiously before closing the haptic interface out and its glow winking from existence.
"Well?" Vult queried as he watched Vard wrap up his work, unplugging from the SIS operative's suit.
"Communications encryptions and protocols downloaded, Sir." He answered. "Can tap into their frequencies and start listening in. Reception might not be the greatest down here though."
"All the more reason to regroup with Corr and the others and proceed as planned." The Commander summarized, looking back to their captive. "Question remains...what to do with you."
Blaster rubbed his neck, "Well, I said I would get you in with that code and all...I don't think you need to worry about me."
"Why?" Hesa asked him, "So you can go warn the guys topside?"
"No, I'm gonna disappear. Helping you? Even if I believe my superiors are wrong in this, helping you like I did? My death warrant's practically signed if I go back there."
A lull of silence overcame the group of Irken and the lone Vortian. All of them soldiers, two opposing factions for different reasons, but survival was the common denominator. Desperation bordering on madness and pure spite was going to be their combined undoing if they didn't look past the current conflict and into the future.
"Commander? Sir?" Aero hesitantly pursued, looking between him and the SIS Agent. "...not to rush here but this whole city's 'bout to become an irradiated glass bowl if we don't keep moving."
"You aren't ready to move anywhere," Sula protested, turning her attention back to Vult. "We are not combat effective, Commander-"
"Combat effective? We'll be dead if we don't stop the other team!" Aero interrupted.
"Stow it, both of you." Vult barked at them, looking to the Vortian. "...I cut you loose, you disappear. You and I both know what'll happen if you try to stop my team. You want to make it out of here alive? Let me do what I was sent here to do and stand aside. If you can't promise me that, I'll shoot you and leave your body to rot down here."
Blaster thought for a moment and sighed, "Fine, you have my word. Can I at least grab a weapon so I have a fighting chance after I get out of here?" He paused, realizing how stupid that request sounded, "One of you can hang onto it until we part ways, unloaded. You'll have plenty of warning if I try anything."
"...Vard."
"Sir?" The short-statured Sergeant straightened up upon being addressed.
"Unlock his armor."
The tension in the cistern rose as everyone collectively took a half-step back and hands tightened on their weapons in preparation.
"R-right. Yes, Sir." Vard nodded, stepping forward to interact with the ad-hoc neutralizer he crafted for such a purpose. A few key presses and a twist of the engagement primer and the magnetic attachment released.
Vult remained passive, his rifle at low-ready.
"Sula."
"Sir?"
"Your sidearm." Vult requested, holding his hand out to the Medical Officer.
Mentally concluding what he intended, she hesitated only briefly with a pursed expression of concern behind her visor before procuring the holstered weapon at her hip. She handed it to her commanding officer grip-first, who turned it around to offer it to the SIS Agent by the time he rose to his feet.
"One power cell should be plenty to get you where you need to go. Your fight isn't in Tallum. Not anymore."
The Vortian took the weapon and inspected it briefly, nodding to Vult as he shoved it into his empty holster. The relief allowed for Hesa to holster her own revolver and pick up a mass accelerated Vortian rifle where the two of them were prior to the explosion. That wasn't beyond the agent's notice. He unclipped a chest rig worn over his armor and took it off before walking over to Hesa, "Hey."
"What?" She looked over to him, seeing him reaching out with the chest rig and making room for him to hook it into place.
"That's not going to be useful without these."
She paused, confused by his sudden turn, "Thanks."
Blaster's attention then turned back to Vult, "We best get going, now. Unless your other team is as good as you are, you guys need to stop Arokina from vaporizing all of us." The team, plus one Vortian, started moving down the tunnel at the end of the cistern, coming to the crossing he mentioned and turning left. It was maybe several hundred meters before the other SIS' channel started lighting up with comms. From the volume, it sounded like Corr and Caz's teams were giving them a hell of a fight. Blaster took a breath and got on his comms, "Arokina, you read?"
There was some pause, but finally an answer, "Blaster, reading you. Where's Tallum?"
"Dead. Irkens ambushed us. We've dealt with 'em, but I'm the only one who made it out alive. Need the code to the door."
"Wait one, fucking Irken!" There was a bit more of a pause and some more chatter between the others before she responded, "Six, two, five, six, one, one, six. Get in here quick, maybe you flanking these bastards will help us out. Losing men left and right here."
"I'll see what I can do, out." He shut off his comms and punched in the code on a nearby keypad. A red light switched to green as he unlocked it. "Good luck, all of this is counting on you guys." He started walking back towards the opposite tunnel, before he was stopped.
"Hey, still need to know where to go," Hesa called out to him.
"Watch the signal strength, it'll get higher as you get closer. Control room is three levels up, down the hall, to the right behind a couple of blast doors. I bet they're in there, or at least in that hallway." With nothing else stopping him, he started off again, activating his cloak mode, and leaving the Irken to do what they needed to do
The rest of them in their injured state moved inside, the facility practically devoid of any civilians. It was probably the doing of Arokina's team. From there, it was but a quick move to the stairs and up to several levels, the gunfire evident, though dying down as soon as they approached the door. The bodies of eight SIS agents lay strewn about the floor, shot or killed by grenades. More importantly was Arokina with two members of Caz's team standing over her corpse, one of them shooting her once in the head for good measure.
"She's down, sir," one of them called out, only for her suit to glow white, "What the?" Then in an instant, Arokina and the two nearby Irken were blown to shreds, blood of the both of them splattering on nearby surfaces. Caz peeked out of cover, seemingly dazed and shook that he was all that was left of his team. He leaned back against a nearby column and slid to the ground. Corr poked his head out next, seeing the other team emerging and making his way over.
The resounding blast quickened their gait to rendezvous with Corr and the others. While a sign of likely victory given the immediate cease in gunfire that followed, the tale was not entirely a sign of good. Vult and the others burst into the room, fanning out as they had done a thousand times before like a well-oiled machine. No active targets. Signs of fighting a plenty with the smell of ozone lingering in the air from plasma weapons fire. Carbon scoring and pockmarks a plenty. Dead Vortains clad in armor like that of the impromptu prisoner they released.
"Commander, SIS team neutralized, it was a tough fight, but we stopped them from whatever they were going to do." Corr's left arm was soaked in blood from a couple of grazing wounds that drew a substantial amount of blood, but he was otherwise fine. "We've lost all of the other team except for their commander, Lieutenant Volx is unconscious, and the rest of us all took a hit or two, some worse than the others."
Vult mentally filed all of the information being fed to him. Both of the SIS teams had been stopped and they had made their way into the power plant. Casualties sustained. His head turned, scanning for their Medical Officer.
"Sula! Triage and administer! Appropriate help if you need it!"
"Yes, Sir!" She obeyed, moving to assist their wounded. Volx took priority being unconscious. Anyone else that was still upright and bleeding could tend to their own injuries until she made her rounds.
With both of his Lieutenants incapacitated in one form or another and needing a debrief from his second-in-command before proceeding forward, the chain of command dictated who was to take responsibility next.
"Aero!"
"Sir!"
"Secure this room, I want eyes on all entries. Lock it down!"
"Yes, Sir!" The First Sergeant hopped to despite her broken arm, motioning to Vard and the others. "C'mon, on me!"
Vult turned his attention back to Corr. His brow furrowed, head leaning slightly as he reached out to pluck at the blood-soaked sleeve of his arm. "How bad you hit, Captain?"
"Couple of grazing shots, but I'm all right, Commander." He looked at Kazak standing idly by with a look of confusion on his face before he slung his rifle and shrugged. "Did he take a hit to the head?"
"Who, Kazak?" Vult clarified, glancing at the man in question. He got the marksman's attention, quickly signing to him to help Aero secure the room. "...not having his helmet in the sewers made for a bad time. His hearing's shot. Not sure how severe but he can't hear a word right now."
"Oh, that's just swell," he looked as Kazak gave a thumbs up and switched to his acquired SMG to secure the area. "Can we exfil where you came in? I don't think our way out is exactly safe right now."
"Unless they found our point of entry and followed us in, it should be clear." Vult summarized, taking stock of their state of affairs. "...we should have been here sooner. I didn't expect to run directly into the other team down there like we did."
"We didn't have it any better. They just finished clearing the building when we got here. Any later and they would've been more firmly in place and working on sabotaging the facility. Given the circumstances and the technology differences between us I say we did...sufficiently…" Corr paused, looking down at his burnt and dented armor, "We really should have Sergeant Vard close that gap."
"In due time when we aren't being run ragged." Vult assured, resisting the urge to run a filthy hand down his face in exhaustion. "Been put through the wringer today...at least everyone is alive…"
Realization as he saw Sergeant Caz, the Spec Ops squad leader and lone survivor of his own team. He seemed distant. Uniform tattered, bloodstained, and armor all but ruined, he looked around at the scene of carnage. Two of his own men were vaporized before his very eyes just moments before Vult and the others arrived. Yet he was alive...somehow...
"...almost everyone."
Corr looked to Caz, his helmet hiding an evident frown. He felt for him far more since being unhooked. Though even PAK programming could only dull such a scene so much, the pain of such an event could still seep through the best of them. He didn't say a word before looking back to Vult, "I suggest once Sula finishes evaluating everyone we leave before the civilians or the Vortian guards outside come in to investigate what was going on."
Vult nodded.
"See to it she does. I want everyone topped off and patched up to step off in five." He relayed to his immediate subordinate. "We can save the after-action report for later when we aren't this deep behind enemy lines and being shot at."