Astella Garrison, Nevos
Day 1, 1400
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch. The auto jack - smart thinking, Andersen noted - seemed more like a rib separator as it pried the two halves of the door apart, slipping a few inches with each turn of the crank and spreading wider, affording the trio in the stairwell a glimpse of the loading bay beyond…
"Get in here!" Kan barked, tensely, his visor glancing back over his shoulder every few seconds to watch the firefight raging behind him.
Without hesitating to reply, the three commandoes piled through the gap, ducking under the jack and between the outstretched arms of their colleagues. Kan and Saffiya stopped cranking the moment the trio were through, and the lot of them spread out, reaching for weapons and examining the situation around them.
It wasn't what you'd call good. The asari's line to the east was crumbling, the south seemed abandoned, and from the north, around the corner:
Wham. A large claw hit the ground, a dying flail from a Brute now riddled with shots.
"Big guy's down!" Ethan yelled, a little too tense and hyped-up to sound happy about it.
"Back up!" the engineer shouted back, pistol in hand as ever. "Captain Tarenna, gang's all here!"
"Fall back!" the asari captain bellowed hoarsely, nodding to Andersen over her shoulder. "You two, drones on the barricade line!"
Two of the maidens in her platoon popped up from the loading bay, tapping at their omni-tools and producing a pair of flickering drones, which went hovering over to the east side as the asari fell back. One of them sent a fabricated rocket soaring up over the barricade, and as a baying husk attempted to scramble over a stacked crate, the other put it down with a jolt of electricity.
Andersen threw his own drone out to the north, giving Ethan and Zel and Aeryn some hint of covering fire as they backed off to join the rest of the squad, the lot of them hurrying to the trucks. Four vehicles waiting, asari piling into the front two, understandably… everyone wanted to be out the door first. Those who found no room in the front two were waved back to the third by Captain Tarenna, who was glancing nervously back to the eastern line, rifle still in hand…
"Last truck's yours, lieutenant, needs a driver!" she called.
"I got it!" Ethan shouted quickly, clapping Andersen on the shoulder and sprinting past him, rounding the front of the vehicle to hop up into the cab. Zel was hot on his heels, climbing into the passenger seat, and the rest of the squad clambered into the truck's bed. Andersen for one fell flat, pressing him low to find as much protection as he could from the bed's low walls, and his lungs were bursting with adrenaline as he glanced to one side, doing a headcount. Sam was diving in next to him, Saffiya was flat on her back, chest rising and falling rapidly. Kan was sitting up against the cab, reloading his rifle, and by the tail, Alec and Aeryn were bracing their rifles, eyes bearing down on the east barricade in case it fell.
"Get those doors open!" Tarenna barked, and there was a loud rumble of machinery as one of her men hit the controls. The huge doors onto the highway slid apart with a groan, casting bright light and a vague crimson glow over the soldiers in the loading bay.
Then, the trucks roared into life, kinetic generators whirring as they rose off the ground. The first two broke away almost before the doors opened, darting out onto the highway, and Tarenna's vehicle wasn't far behind, though they at least waited for the doors to stop grinding apart. Ethan punched the controls, adjusting quickly, and then they were soaring free, truck swinging violently. Andersen rolled onto his back, going for the radio and checking, yet again, whether his squad was all in one piece. They were, scratches and dents aside.
"This is Alpha!" he hollered, over the rush of wind. "Trucks are mobile, we're inbound on the RV!"
"Copy that," Akito replied, urgently. "Bravo's onboard, so is the cargo. Cambrai's circling. The bay area looks clearer than before, but only because enemy air's giving the capital ships room to operate. Please make it quick, Alpha."
Please. Holy shit, Akito was panicking…
"Coming as quick as we can, Cambrai. Alpha team, out."
He glanced around, examining the squad again. Not their wounds this time, but their weapons. Kan's rifle was reloaded now, ready to fire... Alec had run his Phaeston dry, but he still had the Valkyrie loaded. Saffiya had both her pistols, but there were no spare clips hanging from her belt… same story for Sam and Aeryn, both clutching rifles with ammo counters blinking, last mags half-filled. The lieutenant himself had only his Predator, fully loaded, another clip in his belt. Probably… half a dozen magazines between them. Not good, if they were ambushed on the road-
"LT?"
Andersen glanced up, only to see Alec staring back from the back of the truck bed, rifle in his arms.
"Yeah?"
"Stop worrying. Take a breather."
The engineer sighed and nodded, letting his head fall back against the bottom of the bed. That… was a mistake, as it happened. The truck's next shudder caused the steel floor to bounce, rattling his skull uncomfortably, and he grumbled in discontent.
"Bravo," Alec muttered, "how long'd it take you to reach the RV from the garrison?"
"Close to an hour," Rilum replied, not-too-encouragingly, "but, wasn't moving at full speed. Estimate… thirty, fourty if that were the case."
"Great…" the marine groaned. "Everyone catch your breath, and sit tight. Not out of the woods yet."