Seth looked at Mordecai then back at the colonel. "We may know why we're having communication issues." Seth took out his knife and started pointing towards spots on the map. "We are here. Engaged with that thing and whatever crimson forces are around it. The rest of the army seems to be going here." Seth paused for a moment, took a deep breath and continued. "Turns out that there is big civilian population center down there. And HarkArk and whoever else is down there are killing everything."
"And we do mean everything." Modecai said as he paced around the map. "Whatever Saw promised, it seems to be worth enough for everyone to loose their goddamned mind over it. We are also receiving reports that those who refuse to join in the massacre are being executed. Whoever is in charge of communications must have decided to leave that information out for some chosen groups. It's probably why the more sadistic groups are there and the rest of us, up here."
Kaspar got a grim look on his face. "I see... These news are indeed very troubling." He looked at the comms officers. "Make sure our forces avoid engaging any civilians, anyone who tries to shoot a civilian is to be considered hostile."
His gaze returned to Seth and Mordecai. "I don't suppose any of you got a direct link to Saw?"
The blast from the rocket launcher created a plume of dust which reached high into the air. Virin cursed under his breath as he realized that it would likely draw more unwanted attention to their position. With the Crimson soldiers having dove to the ground to get out of the way of the incoming rocket, Gataska took the opportunity to finally dash across the open space to Rask's position, where she quickly administered aid to stop the bleeding. Yanim, throughout all of this, appeared tranquil behind a rock as she devoted all of her attention to remotely flying the Belladonna.
The ship had arrived at the air above the Daedalus and began to turn, searching for an opportunity to dive on and possibly destroy the mech. She still needed more time, however.
Virin had lost his patience. Gataska and Neasha weren't properly trained with guns, and Rask was down. If he didn't do something drastic soon, they would be overwhelmed. He pulled his plasma saber off of his beltline and activated it before going over the top, initiating a chaotic melee with his nearest opponents.
One of the normal Privateers heard someone say uplink.
"Yo! Since High Command's been inactive, we got others near a fort to patch you through." He asked.
"If we had it, I would be giving him my resignation." Seth answered."But that would probably lead to the execution of my men, so I can't. Not yet at least."
"Colonel, I don't mean to impose but outright firing on Saw's men seems unwise. Such an order would probably mark your men as more targets for them. But then again, I haven't been in the military proper for 75 years. What do I know?"
Before they could continue Noble ran up to Seth. "Seth, we got signatures on the field. Friendlies engaging Crimson rangers. Look like they could use some help."
"Anyone we know?"
"No, but they are kanads. Could be State Sec."
"Alright, grab a squad and go get them. If they are State Sec. we can put this to our advantage."
"Take Loren with you. He may not ever receive a chance to redeem himself like this again." Mordecai and Seth turned back to the colonel. "Apologies colonel. You have our full attention."
Aver and Nokhea looked disguised when they heard about the slaughtering that's happening underground, while Mavis looked slightly annoyed, but indifferent.
"And to think we were promised by HarkArk the opportunity to free 'slaves' from this planet. Disgusting.", Lagul commented angrily. "Should I tell the rest of the Wave about this?", Nokhea asked. "Yes, and make sure they avoid civilians at all costs. No, actually, if they find civilians, help them. If anyone asks, say they're slaves.", Lagul commanded, to which Nokhea replied with a nod. Nokhea began contacting the rest of the Wave.
Mavis turned to Mordecai, Seth and the Colonel, in order to join in their conversation while Lagul dealt with the fact that civilians are being killed on purpose.
The Argos ground divisions on the surface had successfully held their newly created spearhead to defend their entry point to deep within the planet that lead to the outer sectors as they held back the increasing Crimus opposition surrounding the Daedalus.
However despite their rather valiant efforts, their forces are being ever so slowly pushed back towards their drop sites as Crimus mechanized and armored forces begun to their counter attack against these relentless invaders.
Argos anti-tank walkers are too preoccupied with fighting off countless Crimus IFVs attempting to rush into their flanks while the offloaded squads take position to lay down suppressive fire on Argos troops in preparation for an expected counter attack.
While Argos entrenched infantry and assault guns fire off salvos from their nearly overheated at the Crimus heavy tanks trying to crush Argos main forces at the front and to shatter this spearhead once and for all.
But while the Argos ground and imminent air forces hold back the many counter attacks and bombardments coming the Crimus army.
Several of Argos's combat shuttles had managed to break through the various interceptors and air defensive weaponry deployed by their adversaries.
And instead of going right towards the flank of an platoon of Crimus soldiers left out at the open or towards an vulnerable piece of artillery or even an immobilized tank, they went straight towards an pined down down squad of 3rd party contractors stuck behind enemy lines.
---
Outside the makeshift encampment that the officers of the various contractors and parties stood commanding their forces and piloting their next move within this quite disastrous situation. A Argos command team arrived , riding within the security of an combat shuttle and landed nearby.
It's occupants quickly exited the craft and walked into the area while the various commanders within the blase spoke to one another. The Argos team wasn't peculiarly large or notable but nonetheless Argos rarely makes direct contact with other parties unless it's vital to their cause or interests.
"Greetings. Gentlemen." One of Argos benefactors said in an monotone, robotic voice as it and rest of the Argos team entered the room, standing across from it with rifles hosteled and weapons securely hosteled.
"Excuse us but I think you all have going to be very, very interested in what I and my collages have to say about these....Unforeseen and unfortunate predicaments."
[QUOTE=Sega Saturn;49282422]The ship had arrived at the air above the Daedalus and began to turn, searching for an opportunity to dive on and possibly destroy the mech. She still needed more time, however.
Virin had lost his patience. Gataska and Neasha weren't properly trained with guns, and Rask was down. If he didn't do something drastic soon, they would be overwhelmed. He pulled his plasma saber off of his beltline and activated it before going over the top, initiating a chaotic melee with his nearest opponents.[/QUOTE]
Mini Roll Critical Success[highlight][10][/highlight]: Virin pulled out his expensive yet unique plasma saber. This was the time to save people. As the supposedly called rangers got distracted Virin sliced one by one, preferably to the sides while salvos attempted to land hits on him.
[QUOTE=liberalllama;49281370]Pippin sighed and started tinkering with the device again, while also firing a few shots with his pistol at Folter[/QUOTE]
Mini Roll[4]: Folter casually scrolled while Pippin missed completely.
[QUOTE=Deathgrunt;49281515]Viper shrugged at his officer's rather unusual actions and attitude but simply chose to ignore it and focus with it's engagement with Folter.
Firing both of it's Rail guns simultaneously to create an explosive chain reaction in the area in where Folter stood and to his sides to trap him in quite the fireball.[/QUOTE]
Mini Roll Critical Success[highlight][10][/highlight]: Folter turned towards Viper, preparing its weapons while tilting his head. "Oh how they love to waste their ammo."
[highlight][NEGATED][/highlight] As soon as the chain reaction started. Folter jumped two stories high into the air, landing behind Viper. He shrugged.
[QUOTE=Damian0358;49281529]Dwan fired his revolver once more at Folter.[/QUOTE]
Mini Roll[7]: Folter scratched his plate, Dwan completely missing once again.
Lion: [highlight]STUNNED: 0[/highlight]
...
Folter gestured outwards, seeing the crew miss against him. He sighed and looked above, almost as if he was feeling something. Yes... Of course. It was finally time...
...
As the mechs attempted to leave the city sized Sector 4, some where too busy in attacking other Crimus soldiers. A female soldier check the corners, trying to hold out until reinforcements arrived. She turned to a little girl, breathing slowly. She pressed her finger against her lips, trying to make it as silent as possible. The mech was slow yet kept on exiting outside. Both of them tried to stay calm. The mech stopped dead in its tracks. The soldier gritted her teeth and made sure the kid was staying calm.
The soldier begged, pleaded for that machine to move out. The mech slowly turned. Both immediately ran to the opposite direction. The mech fired upon it's mini machine gun, landing a few hits on the soldier. The girl screamed in fear from the machine, even attempting to pull the soldier to get up. The soldier's back was full of holes. She struggled to get up and held the girl's hand tightly. She stared at her and nodded to run. The girl quickly hugged the soldier before escaping. The soldier turned, groaning at the overwhelming pain. The mech spotted her and fired…
The girl panted and sprinted as much as she can hold out on. The mech continued to march forward while it targeted any enemies. Footsteps from afar, a figure appeared from the distance staring at the event unfold. The [b]average[/b] citizen ran up to the frightened girl, hugging her to ensure she was safe. Yet the mech marched on and saw both of them. It was hopeless, fate won. Until the mech's top was swiped clean off, sliding off as a figure approached. The figure was revealed as Sertum walking towards both of the citizens. Sertum extended his hand out towards both. The [b]average[/b] citizen walked up to Sertum, slowly shaking his hand.
This was hope. It's finally coming into place.
...
Folter completely guffawed at the realization. He clapped his unison and finally breathed. He was finally relieved of his pain. "Ladies and gentlemen! I thank you for your service, I thank you for the time spent with you here." Folter looked at all before continuing. "This armor has a detonation to blow this entire room sky high. [b]You have two minutes before your ass get blasted.[/b] Move it!" Folter screamed, the armor already ticking. They had to move to Sector 4 now.
"I'd call you mad for wanting to kill yourself like this.", Dwan stated. "But considering the fact that I don't know what you've been through, I feel like I'm obliged to thank you for giving us time to escape.", Dwan told Folter.
He quickly rushed over to Lion and tried his best to get him up. "Mercury, grab Varn's urn!", he told him. "Everyone, let's do what the man asked us to. And that's to get the hell out of here!", Dwan yelled out at everyone.
The device finally gave out and Lion returned to normal just in time to hear Folters announcement.
He began chuckling.
"You fight with honor, Folter of the Auditors. I promise that we'll help any civilians we cross paths with."
He turned to the squad. "Move out! Viper! Iska! Take point!"
"This whole situation has been screwed up." Mercury said as he did what Dwan told him to. "Saves us the trouble at least."
---
Back on the surface.
"Well, this is turning into quite a gathering." Mordecai said with a cheerful tone in his voice. "Please, Argos, share your knoledge."
"Roger Sir! Iska take left, I'll take the right!" Viper said as it pointed out an hallway now lighted by an series faint warring lights that presumably guided the path towards sector 4.
However before the Sanghvi begin it's sprint, it turned to looked towards Folter over it's shoulder.
"I'll make sure to personally saved any of your civilian when ever possible, I can promise you that much Auditor." Viper said as it resumed it's course towards the exit.
[QUOTE=kilerabv;49282531]"If we had it, I would be giving him my resignation." Seth answered."But that would probably lead to the execution of my men, so I can't. Not yet at least."
"Colonel, I don't mean to impose but outright firing on Saw's men seems unwise. Such an order would probably mark your men as more targets for them. But then again, I haven't been in the military proper for 75 years. What do I know?"
Before they could continue Noble ran up to Seth. "Seth, we got signatures on the field. Friendlies engaging Crimson rangers. Look like they could use some help."
"Anyone we know?"
"No, but they are kanads. Could be State Sec."
"Alright, grab a squad and go get them. If they are State Sec. we can put this to our advantage."
"Take Loren with you. He may not ever receive a chance to redeem himself like this again." Mordecai and Seth turned back to the colonel. "Apologies colonel. You have our full attention."[/QUOTE]
"I'll take that into consideration however I will not sit idly while mercenaries slaughter innocents. Trust me, when you've breached a bunker on Luna during the unification only to be met by rows of human shields you'll never want to see innocents in the crossfire ever again." Said Kaspar.
He turned to the privateer who spoke about a comm line, he was accompanied by two other worn privateers sitting on a rock.
"That would be much appreciated soldier, tell your brass it is urgent that I speak with Mr Saw."
Soon two more squads of SDF soldiers joined the group on the hill, supported by a Guardian hovertank.
A sergeant approached Kaspar and saluted. "Sergeant Kendricks, 12th Shocktroopers reporting for duty."
Kaspar returned the salute. "Pleasure to have you sergeant, is everything in place?"
The sergeant nodded. "Aye sir, all armored units are rounding up to bring that mech down. Just give us the word."
In the background the newly arrived soldiers began digging themselves in around the hill while the Guardian used its hoverpods to create a semi-deep pit for it to reside in.
The colonel turned back to the other officers. "We're ready to bring that thing down, so are you in or out?"
"Answer. Certainly." The left robot answered Mordecai while the other walked up towards the SDF Colonel.
"Interjection. Pardon our interruption of your battle plans but our associates have developed quite the countermeasure with the rather impressive dreadnought class war walker has employed against both my employer's forces and your as well. If you would let us explain Colonel."
The Machine said as it and rest of the Argos command team begin to deploy an holographic projector next to their towering benefactor while it spoke.
Iska still aimed her gun at Folter, trying to keep her rage under control. But Folter was a tough nut to crack and now he was gonna blow himself up. Iska reasoned retreating to fight another day was the best.
Still, she would refrain from killing civilians but had no sympathy for the auditors.
Iska looked at Folter with her one eye, Blood dried on her face from the other socket and her mouth.
She gathered up some blood mixed with saliva and spat it at Folter, who calmly let it hit his left arm. "Promises..." Iska finished before running up on Lions left side.
In the skies a trio of small SDF frigates appeared, appearing to be performing some low-atmosphere run.
"Ready the bay doors!" Yelled one of the officers.
Hundreds of tiny doors opened up and started spitting out waves of grey objects.
Soon the ground was filled with drop pods coming in, smashing straight into the rocky ground. Some even pierced the ground and made it into the Crimus tunnels by accident.
Shortly after the first wave had landed the doors flung up, revealing five combat-ready SDF marines.
The ships began launching a second and a third wave before retreating back to space where they began assisting the fleet.
As the crew of the Belladonna watched Virin cut down rows of Crimus Rangers the ground suddenly shook as one of the SDF pods landed a short distance away from them.
The door then popped outwards, cracking up a unfortunate rock which was infront of it, followed by five marines rushing out.
They immeadiately spotted the Kanads engaging the Crimus soldiers and rushed to help them while laying down some inaccurate surpressive fire.
"Tangos located! Engage!" Yelled the squad leader who had blue stripes on his otherwise black and white armor.
He went into to cover next to Yanim and was about to say something when he noticed that she was remote controlling something which made him change his mind and continue shooting instead.
One of the marines who had a symbol of a white shield with a red circle printed on various parts of his armor made a dash towards Rask and Gataska.
"[Hold him steady!]" He said in near-perfect Kanad.
The other soldiers began shooting, hoping to buy Virin some more time to finish them off.
Pippin hurried behind the others. "Lion, what are we going to do?"
The first handful of rangers had been caught off guard by Virin's aggression, and three were slain immediately by the kanad-designed saber. The so-called blade wasn't quite solid, but was rather a fountain of white hot particles which bent and swayed when swung and splashed on contact with solid surfaces. When the first ranger was hit in the abdomen, not only was his armor cut open and his insides destroyed by the sudden blast of plasma, but shortly after he collapsed to the ground his body was engulfed by flames. Despite his best efforts, however, the dust kicked up during the fight had drawn in a larger unit of rangers just as Virin feared. As long as they continued fighting him at close range, he would still have a major advantage as the humans appeared to have a totally different approach to close-quarters combat which was ineffective at defending against his attacks.
Unfortunately, they were beginning to catch on, and so they held back the bulk of their remaining troopers in order to surround him. Virin knew that as soon as he had killed his last opponent at close range, the enemy would simply cut him down from afar. Luckily, at that moment, a drop pod full of SDF soldiers landed nearby and engaged the rangers with extreme prejudice. Not wasting any time, as Virin finished off his current opponent he deactivated the saber and shoved it back into his belt. He dropped into cover while protected by human support, pulled his OBV around and replaced the plasma cartridge.
The better-equipped humans tried to get a handle on the situation- they soon realized that only Virin and Neasha were still equipped for battle, while one other was wounded. On kanad-speaking soldier jumped in to help Gataska while the others discovered one other kanad who appeared to be meditating. As they were quickly informed by Virin, this final ally was remote-controlling something and had to be protected. There was no time to question exactly what he meant as roughly a dozen Crimson rangers were still assaulting the position. The SDF troopers did what they could to assist these amateurs.
Now in a better position, Virin began firing on the Crimson position with his rifle.
((Exams, be on later))
Noble's squad pushed forwards through the crimson lines to secure a route from the hill to the Kanads. The arrival of the SDF troops helped, but the Sun's tide didn't let up. The reaper that was assigned to them was already dead. Engulfed by flames from a flamethrower. Now they were on their own.
Noble felt a hand reach and grab his foot and was pulled down in a trench. A crimson soldier stood above him, chainsword in hand and wrath in his eyes. "You think you can just come here and do as you please?" he said as he kicked the merc in the ribs. "We didn't do anything to you and yet you come here!" he swung his sword, but Noble dodged it. The trooper wasn't finished with him. He swung the sword again and this time it was met with a riffle. Noble held it in front of him to stop the sword. "Nice try." The chainsword activated and started going through the riffle like it was made of wood. It reached his helmet and started cutting through it. "You die, so others may live. Take pride in that."
"Fuck off!" Noble yelled as he delivered a kick to the groin and pushed the trooper off himself. The chain was millimeters from his face, but it was safe. He took off the ruined helmet and threw it at the trooper's head, knocking him back a step. Noble got up and tackled him to the ground, hands on his neck. "You die so other might live, you take pride in that." He snapped the trooper's neck and stood up. "Hope you find your eternal fortune."
Noble climbed out of the trench and got back to his squad. "You fuckers didn't even check on me before you ran off. Do that one more time to me or anyone else and I'll make your lives a living hell back home." The squad managed to work their way to the Kanads and SDF position. "Take position and give them cover."
As time was ticking Folter looked at the crew and turned sideways. He sat on the floor, tapping on the floor. "Sigh, sometimes you can't expect the worse things when you've already made mistakes." Folter said. He activated the holo band, checking the time. He looked above and breathed.
"I'll be waiting for you, [b]Naiveté[/b]" Soon after, the timer ended. The entire room combusted engulfing Folter as everything around caused a chain reaction of explosions. Leaving nothing but destruction.
...
[i]2380[/i]
In a disclosed area Folter was analyzing various theories about the Conduit, observing his custom project in motion. A door suddenly opened causing him to turn and gesture a gun.
"Freeze!" The figure walked forward and revealed herself. Folter tilted his head and moved closer.
"It's me Folter." A familiar voice said, waving him off. Folter gestured outwards. "Mariahlus! Our recent Auditor! Welcome!" Folter exclaimed. Mariahlus shook her head and looked at her surroundings, noticing the wires plunged out of walls. Objects of mysterious origins. She has no idea what's she experiencing meeting Folter like this.
"What is this place?" Mariahlus asked.
"My secret clubhouse, only you know about it. That's why you're here! It's ugly and ransacked, just the way I like it." Folter looked around. Mariahlus nodded, looking at the files projected on a large screen. "Do you study?"
"Yes, I have to, Synergy is a great resource to have. It can also be unpredictable." Folter scratched his head looking at the hologram of the Conduit. "Ever since the beginning of 2379, I've volunteered to enter through its vast dimension. It worked pretty well, though you weren't there." Folter gave her a thumbs up.
Mariahlus nodded once again, she stared at him as he turned to observe the Conduit. Unfortunately no matter how much he talked about, she couldn't help but not to say much. She heard of how Folter entered through. Probably becoming the first to enter. But things happened. According to Sertum, Folter came out unharmed but became... different.
As the weeks since he entered he expressed small talk, later he expressed how he can "see all the doors and possible realities." People later got distant with him, thinking he was finally out of it and even realized he was no longer the man who outmatched Sertum in combat. He changed in other words and not particularly in great ways.
"Can I ask why you study?" Mariahlus asked. Folter turned to her and nodded. "Well, why not? Improve lives, save them maybe?" Folter said.
"Then why did you bring me here?"
"You're practically the only one that knows much about it. You're a Sync right? Can you imagine this room? I feel like I've changed the Galaxy!" Folter gestured outwards.
"True. Then I'm glad you did showed me this secret." Mariahlus brightened up.
"That's it! Don't you worry Mariahlus, someday there will always be a way, maybe a thing, maybe someone that can help us out! I'm not even making sense!" Folter exclaimed.
Both went silent, later turning into laughter.
[Wait, so is mariahlus still alive? because I've got a sinking feeling Iska might have blown her head off in a fit of rage, or was that a diffrent sync?]
[Different sync]
[QUOTE=Radley;49286624][Wait, so is mariahlus still alive? because I've got a sinking feeling Iska might have blown her head off in a fit of rage, or was that a diffrent sync?][/QUOTE]
[Auditors:
Dirge - KIA
Zane - KIA
Folter - KIA
Mariahlus - Alive
Sertum - Alive]
"Lion, what are we going to do about the civilians"
"Basic rules of engagement applies from here on now: if the person is pointing a gun at you, you either shoot him/her or disarm them. If the person is unarmed you tell them head for cover."
Said Lion as the group rushed through a corridor.
"Any more questions?"
"Yeah, where are we going?" (Also why is it snowing)
[It's a thing on FP.]
(yeah i figured, i was just kidding around, idk, i try to funny, sometimes i'm not that good at it)
[quote]Now in a better position, Virin began firing on the Crimson position with his rifle.[/quote]
Mini Roll Critical Failure[highlight][1][/highlight]
he feared it as much. As soon as he pulled the trigger the enemies already got to him first. The soldiers aimed down at his torso, piercing through his body with regular salvos.
...
The group walked to a large elevator that will take them to the last level. Ject pressed a few button. A few seconds later the elevator began to descend.
As the elevator descended, everyone quickly went silent. No one was sure what they'd see next. Dwan decided to break the ice. "So... that second power source, huh?", Dwan said.
---
Having heard the discussion, Mavis commanded Olv's and Hlad's squads to assist the others.
The two squads ran to the position of the others as fast as they could, pushing as much as they were able to push. Soon enough, they arrived at the Kanads, SDF and Boome position. "Hope we aren't late.", Olv said as they arrived. "Doesn't look like it.", Hlad replied. "I'll have the squads take position. You go see if they themselves need help.", Olv said. "Alright, bro.", Hlad said, as the two GW squads took position and he went in to check on the rest.
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