The A/M-12 Mortar Sentry.
An autonomous weapons emplacement, it is a stationary defensive option for providing overhead supportive fire for when another gun on hand is needed.
One of the many autonomous sentries at the Helldiver Corp's disposal, the A/M-12 provides support in a form that is unlike many of its brothers. Fitted with a mortar battery, it launches forty-millimeter High Explosive mortar rounds from high overhead, firing at a parabolic angle up and over any friendlies or cover. This allows the sentry to fire without the immediate concern of friendly fire.
Being another armament to be refitted from the First Galactic War, it is a direct upgrade from its predecessor, the A/GL-8 MK3 Launcher Turret. Though equipped with a wholly different weapon system, with it being the GL-8 'Obliterator' MK3 Rotary Grenade Launcher, it served the same purpose of launching explosive ordnance from up high at a parabolic angle.
In its stead, the A/M-12 is equipped with a dedicated mortar system and autoloader. With an effective lock-on range of one-hundred-twenty-five meters, the A/M-12 is well equipped to eliminate foes from afar, and with a four-round burst, it can effectively cover large areas with ordnance.
Though lacking the variable payloads provided by the A/GL-8, such as its trademark phosphorous rounds that ignites most surfaces in white-hot fire upon impact, the A/M-12 more than makes up for that with its large ammunition reserves and larger effective range, taking out targets outside of direct line of sight and providing prolonged effective fire from behind cover.
With such a powerful defensive option at the Helldiver's disposal, it is no wonder that it finds itself on a multitude of different fronts, providing supportive fire and shoring up positions where the Heroic Helldiver's cannot immediately. As such, the A/M-12 is a popular option when holding a position is the key objective, finding itself in the loadouts of many Helldivers.
The A/M-12 Mortar Sentry.
"Cover Be Damned!" - 'Admiral Defense Contracting'.
Within the Abydos District.
"*Pant*, *Pant*, *Pant*, *Pant*."
With exhaustion and blood loss gripping at my legs, each stride I took gradually shortened. Taking a moment to stop and breathe, I glanced around the district for a place to hopefully hole up. With numerous abandoned store fronts and apartment complexes littering the street sides, it was just a matter of picking one out.
What tossed a wrench in that plan was the fact that I had left a blood trail to my very position. Though I had some doubts that the Helmet Gang would follow such a trail, it is still a variable I have to be aware of.
Hefting Serika to a more comfortable position over my shoulder, I grimaced as the movement caused her to groan in pain as I unintentionally rubbed my pauldron against her wounds.
"Bear with me, Cadet."
Finding a suitable store to hole up in, I crouched down next to the door, carefully setting Serika down as I sat her against the wall. With a grunt, I gripped the various two-by-fours nailed down to the door frame, preparing to remove the boards. One by one I tore them off before finally gaining access into the dilapidated building.
"Up and at 'em." I whispered as I moved to carry the unconscious student.
Instead of pulling her over my shoulder, I instead took her up in a princess carry as to not agitate her wounds further. Glancing around the barren interior, I found a table nearby for use. Carefully setting her down onto the surface, I rolled my shoulders, the now sore extremities letting me know the full extent of their wear. Gritting through the pain, I removed her rifle from my sling before setting it down next to her.
With that, I limped my way outside. The adrenaline in my body finally subsiding, I felt the weight of my wounds bear down on me from all over.
"Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwww." I groaned as I took up a strategem beacon before lifting up my terminal.
Prepping a resupply, I readied it to be tossed before pausing.
'Once I toss this, I'll be letting everyone know where I am.'
I glanced back into the store. With Serika unconscious and the Helmet Gang still on the prowl, I had to reconsider whether or not to call it in.
Just before I could though, my right leg gave out, the blood loss finally hindering my ability to stand properly. Hitting the ground, I had released my grip around the beacon, with it subsequently sending its trademark pillar of light into the sky.
Sitting myself up as much as my wounds would allow, I crawled away from the beacon towards a more suitable position as to not splatter myself across the asphalt. Just as the Hellpod breached atmosphere, several sets of footsteps stomping my way filled the air. Craning my head around, I groaned in annoyance as a sizable force of the dissidents came over the horizon.
Breaching the ground and subsequently revealing its payload, I crawled over and tore into one of the supply crates. Pulling away with a stim, I jabbed myself in the neck.
"Feels GOOD!"
With a renewed vigor, I shot up to my feet as my body hastily repaired itself, the medicine working wonders on my ravaged body. Digging further into the box, I pocketed what magazines I could before having to take cover behind the pod's elevator.
"I told you he'll be here! All we have to do is follow those light things!" One of the gang members cheered.
"Yeah yeah, here's a cookie." Another snarked.
"For real?"
A faint slap rang out. "No you idiot! Now get 'em!"
At the order, a wave of fire impacted the pod, the small arms fire gradually wearing down on it. Grabbing another beacon, I lifted up my terminal again.
'Down Up Right Left.'
Tossing the beacon to the side, I grabbed another resupply crate and tore into it before pulling away with more magazines, stims and grenades.
Fully rearmed, I broke away from the Hellpod as another broke atmosphere. Assuming cover behind a wrecked vehicle, the Hellpod cracked the ground beneath it, and with an evil grin, I watched as the multi-barreled sentry gun rose from its pod, configuring itself for dispensing Democracy at one-thousand-five-hundred-sixty rounds-per-minute.
As the dissidents watched it with jaws dropped, the facial expression fully obscured by their helmets, they pointed at the turret with varying degrees of horror.
"The hell is that!?" One of them finally spoke up.
Their question fell on deaf ears as the Gatling Sentry opened up, filling the air with 8x60mm FMJ's and tracers. Within that instant, one, two, six dissidents collapsed to the ground, their bodies crumpling to the ground as the unfeeling sentry continued firing.
With the thunderous roar of the turret filling the air, I pushed up, wary to keep a wide berth between me and the sentry. Though being able to differentiate between friendly and foe, one can't say the same for the rounds already in the air.
Fully suppressed, the dissidents found no openings to pop their head over their cover. Those behind thin walls and barriers soon found themselves shredded alongside their paltry cover, with their haloes extinguished as they hit the ground. The few that thought to think themselves clever as they dashed from cover to cover soon found themselves with a few new holes. Figuratively, of course.
Assuming a position in a blind spot in their flank, I readied more G-12's for use. Lobbing them up and over, the explosive devices found themselves planted in between their ranks, the subsequent explosions kicking them off their feet and into the sightlines of the A/G-16 sentry, which all too quickly lights them up.
Emptying its ammo reserves, the turret retreated back into its Hellpod.
'Going to have to dig that up later, can't have Super Earth armaments fall into dissident hands.'
Loading a fresh magazine into my 'Breaker', I chambered a shell as I pushed up to mop up the few remaining gang members.
Still coughing up the dust kicked up from the G-12's, I gave them no time to react as I kicked in their helmets with buckshot. Just as a round narrowly grazed my helmet, I dove to the side and turned their way whilst firing. As I hit the ground, the ensuing hail of buckshot shattered their helmet, sending their crumpled form to the ground with a thump.
Getting to my feet, I glanced around the battlefield, the immediate area littered with spent casings, craters, all matter of debris and most notably, unconscious dissidents. Locking eyes with the last trembling gang member, they tossed away their rifle before raising their hands in surrender.
"I-I-I g-give up!" The dissident stammered out.
As I stepped closer, shotgun trained on their abdomen, their trembling grew worse, causing them to collapse onto their rear end. As our visors met, I crouched down in front of the gang member just shy of a meter away.
"Normally-" I began, my voice taking an edge. "-I wouldn't be taking any prisoners."
Their shoulders dropped as they froze up.
I shook my head. "Normally, anyways." A sigh escapes me as I leaned in closer. "You and your buddies have been giving me an extremely difficult time ever since I got here."
I paused before continuing. "...What's your plan anyways?" I waved a hand around the district. "There's next to nothing here of value." I locked my eyes back onto her's. "Something's up and I want to know what and why."
"I..." She began before gulping. "I ain't ratting them out..." The dissident resisted, though in a voice small and meek.
I shook my head again, unconvinced. "You may think so right now, but I'm currently not in the mood to ask nicely." I racked my 'Breaker', ejecting a shell as it loaded another.
Wasteful, but the action was more than enough to instill fear into the gang member.
"Give me something to work with here."
They turned their head to glance at the ejected shell, then towards the barrel of my shotgun, then back into my visor.
"F-fine!" She relented with a huff. "We were after that Abydos kid back at the ramen shop!"
I leaned in closer. "Why?"
She shook her head. "Boss wanted us to nab the kid so we could ransom her against the rest of her buddies."
"Abydos is filled with debt, what makes you all think that they'd be able to fulfill the ransom?" I asked with a raised brow.
"I dunno, boss said we would get paid handsomely if we do this, so we did!" She huffed. "That's all I know."
Not much to go off of, but it's something. Looks like there might be more than a debt that needs fulfilling. With a sigh, I got to my feet, shotgun still trained on the dissident.
"Are... are you letting me go?" They asked with a hint of hope lacing their voice.
Looking back down at the gang member, I gave no answer as I pulled the trigger, the report filling the air before once more falling into silence. Letting my sling catch my 'Breaker', I made my way back towards the abandoned store.
Stim at the ready, I approached Serika as I adjusted the dosage. Setting it to dispense half of the medicine, I straightened out her arm for a clean site of injection. With a quick jab, the medicine dispersed into her body with a faint hiss, and just as quickly as it was administered, the wounds on her abdomen healed, the deep and nasty bruising fading back into her natural pigment. I internally thanked Lady Liberty that stims do in fact work on the people of this planet. Truth be told, I had some concerns with the physiology of the... student body.
And just as quickly as the wounds healed, she woke up just as fast.
Her eyes shooting open, she raised herself up awake and alert, her head jumping all over the room as she scanned the unfamiliar surroundings. Finally locking onto me, she visibly relaxed before tensing up once more as she patted herself down.
"What... what happened?" She asked as she looked back up to me.
I grinned. "Welcome back to the land of the living."
She gives me a look before dropping her jaw as she gave me a good look over. I shrugged at her reaction, as I'm not exactly the most presentable Helldiver at the moment. Giving myself my own look over, I rubbed the visibly dented and perforated portions of my armor. Anywhere my BDU's aren't shredded, blood caked the clothing. And I might not be able to see it, but you could tell I got shot in the head.
I glanced back at her. "Just another day in the Corps!"
She frowned. "You... you're hurt?" Then her eyes widened. "Blood!" She pointed at the dried blood that painted my armor. "You're bleeding!"
I shook my head. "Was bleeding, patched myself up." I looked back down at myself and frowned. "Might need a change in equipment, though."
Her expression falters as she took in my words. "...Back at the restaurant, you were the one who saved me?"
I nodded. "Of course, no Diver left behind."
"But you also got hurt because of that..." She raised her voice as she sat up on the table. "You also don't have any ties to Abydos! Why go through all the trouble? Why help us?"
I grinned as I got to a knee. "As I've said, Serika, I wasn't hired as a 'Sensei' for no reason." I looked into her eyes. "And as your Sergeant, I'd be damned if I turned tail at something like this."
"I'm a Helldiver, Serika, one of Super Earth's finest born and trained to assist and defend Humanity where it can, when it can." A smile crossed me behind my helmet. "Even if it just so happens to be across the galaxy."
She sniffled before wiping her eyes. "You're stupid."
I nodded as I got to my feet. "That I am. But if what I do works, then I'm not so stupid, right?"
She snorted as she hopped off the table, rifle in hand. "Sure." A genuine smile crossed her face. "What now?"
"Now..." I trailed off as I held up the Shittim Chest, the map displaying numerous red blips approaching us from down the street, around two-hundred meters out.
With a grimace, I continued. "Now we hope that the girls really do make it here on time... this time."
Within the Abydos Clubroom
"Wonder what Sensei's up to." Nonomi commented as she cleaned her trademark support weapon.
Shiroko looked up from her own. "He did say he went to that ramen place Serika works at." She tapped at her chin. "He's probably having a bowl?"
"Maybe we should go visit?" Hoshino chimed in, her head still buried in her arms.
"Mmmmmaybe finish up your homework, President?" Ayane cut in, her voice taking an edge just as sharp as her glare.
A hiccup escapes her as she shuffled in her seat. "U-uhee~, er... later?"
"Field Captain?"
Shiroko's ears perk up. "Yes?"
Not responding verbally, Ayane merely gave her a nod, which was enough for Shiroko to enact upon. Wordlessly, the white wolf approached the pink-haired president, who's currently looking up at her underclassman with a worried look.
"Er, Shiroko-chan?" Hoshino questioned as she slowly backed away.
"Yes, President?" Shiroko responded as she slowly closed the gap.
Her asymmetrically colored eyes glanced between the Field Captain's hands and eyes. "Could you, I don't know, put the hands down?"
Without answer and pause, Shiroko pounced, her hands grasping at Hoshino's sides, aiming to pick her up. Resisting the advance, Hoshino clasped hands against her's, the two struggling in a clash.
Just as chaos ensued in the background, Ayane continued her own work, typing away at her laptop. That is, before she had her attention redirected towards a notification pop-up from her phone, then another. At the vibration, her hand went towards her pocket before pulling away with the small device. With a raised brow, she tapped the notification, subsequently opening up Momotalk. What threw her for a loop was the odd sender of the messages.
"Who's ARONA?" The student asked aloud.
With no one to answer her, she perused the message contents, which only further fueled her confusion.
Sensei and Serika are in danger!
Please help!
- Received 2h ago.
'Slow internet speeds these days... and what's up with this message?' She pondered.
The second message, however, consisted of a string of seemingly random numbers. Her eyes narrowed as she read and re-read the messages, with something as suspicious as this coming from an even more suspicious messenger, she would undoubtedly pass the message off as spam or something.
Sensei and Serika supposedly being in danger, as well as the string of numbers more than caught her eyes though.
'Coordinates?' She thought to herself.
With a shrug, she figured it wouldn't hurt to check out what they could lead to. Turning towards her laptop, she opened up a map of the district before inputting the supposed coordinates. A real eye-brow raiser it proved to be, as it locked onto an area near-
"Shiba Seki Ramen?" Ayane stated aloud.
"They do not know when to let up!" Serika yelled in annoyance as she threw a G-12 over her cover, the subsequent explosion momentarily drowning out the battlefield.
I drop a few shells in the gang's direction before throwing myself back into cover. "If anything, they are relentless!" I added as I slammed another magazine into my 'Breaker'.
Serika locked eyes onto me as she slapped her bolt release. "Don't you have anything else up your sleeves!?"
I shook my head after ducking under a stray round. "Nothing that won't blow us up too!"
She grimaced as she held her rifle up and over her cover before proceeding to blind fire over it. I joined in alongside her, tossing in a few grenades as a little extra to give us some room to breathe.
Following Serika's reawakening, the Helmet Gang, in their unrelenting nature, sent squad after squad of dissidents towards our position. Just before the siege, I had informed her that the gang was planning to ambush and kidnap her to use as a bargaining chip against the rest of her classmates.
And before she could get a call connected to the Task Force, a sharpshooter rendered her phone eighty-sixed, leaving us without direct comms with the Task Force. That is, if I didn't have Arona with me.
"Arona!" I yelled out as I tossed another grenade into the fray.
Instead of replying from the tablet's speakers, she connected directly to my helmet's comms suite. "Yes, Sensei!"
Not in a position to ask how and why, I continued. "Think you can send the girls back at the school another message!?"
"On it!"
Though, she really never told me what form the message would take the shape of.
Just before she could set her phone down, another message popped up, the chime giving her a sort of annoyance as she lifted it back up.
As the sentiment settled in, it was soon replaced with curiosity as a voice mail appeared on screen, thirteen seconds in length. With a raised brow, she turned up her phone's volume to max before playing the message. Upon pressing play, the air was then filled with the sounds of an ensuing firefight, with explosions and gunfire sporadically popping off.
Her eyes widened as she heard two very familiar voices.
"They do not know when to let up!"
The sound of a dull thump, then a man grunting came over the speakers.
"If anything, they are relentless!"
Followed by more gunfire, the clip ended abruptly. With a shock laden face, Ayane turned back towards her classmates, who are sharing similar feelings as they listened in. Wordlessly, she took up her equipment as she inputted the same coordinates into her phone's GPS.
At her actions, the rest of the Task Force took up arms, loading up magazines, loose rounds and their support weapons before setting off for the door.
"Do you know where to go?" Hoshino asked, wide awake and her eyes sharp.
Ayane gulped as she nodded at her serious president. "I have coordinates."
"Let's move."