AW [OPFOR BLUE] ENTER THE HYENAS'

[A_Bibor_Farkas]

Atlas Shipyard

Alphaeus

The commotion of rushing out of the bus, came as no surprise. The man had been filed in and out of transports most of his life. Keeping his eyes scanning the pitiful defenses of the shipyard, it seemed strange there was not more work done. However it made sense why they were defrosted. The cool nature of the dark planet still seemed to crawl in and under the skin, whilst the eyes took longer to adjust. Astarte's droning meant little to the former Mercenary, as he continued to Survey the grounds. What exactly try were they planning? His answer came as the flares lit up the sky, the seven suits meeting the ground shortly after, his mind began to race, wondering if any of the 44th had also survived that hell. Keeping his footing Alphaeus watched the team carefully, Laughing out loud for a moment at the reveal of the Lieutenant." With all due respect sir, welcome back to the living." His response was cut short by the others in the group. Now understanding his purpose." We are to bolster military numbers as it stands. Same desperate fight, different planet."

-four months later--

The tunnels

Filling out again, over the course of four months the Scout was finally feeling at home. A light sleep took hold as the crunching of boots under soil woke him as he was being kicked." Final gear check and then we should be ready corporal." His words came faster than his hands. As he replaced the magazine in his Caliburn carbine, checking over any buckles or webbing. The Gladius seemed to to need a good cleaning, however, little time was allowed with their constant scouting of the tunnels. Taking a clothfrom his pack, Nasica took a moment to clean the dirt from the frame. The weapon still working flawlessly. Content he stood up, offering a hand to his Qadeshi team member, before thoughtlessly responding to the man praying to the Lady. " it was the lady's will for us to be down in these shit tunnels, it would seem our lady is no more than a goddes of war. If you believe her to be such a thing."

 

[Char]

Tunnels

Their kit together and the sleep broken from them the team slowly followed the pace of their corporal up the winding dug-out tunnels. Those who checked their chronometers would see it was still early morning at 5AM; Not that any of them had been outside to see their new homes red sun at all in the past few days.

The only lights they did have to relate to was shoulder-mounted spotlights, a few chest-mounted low-lumen lights that let out a soft red glow, and the battery-powered lights attached to their rifles. The first day in the tunnels some of them had carried bulky lights instead of rifles but had quickly discarded them as the hecktic fighting in the early days of the tunnel fighting had required every man to carry a rifle as the barrow fiends swarmed them on the walls, the ceiling, the floor, and side tunnels hidden in the darkness.

Now, spikes were hammered into the wall every few dozen feet and let out a soft purple-blue oscillating glow from the phosphorescent algae inside the globe on the head of the guide that illuminated just enough of the smaller tunnels to see their feet at the best of times. The team followed these guides for well over an hour with no sign of either friendlies or feinds until just after they neared the last few markers when the tunnels rumbled beneath their feet.

"Better not have just collapsed the path on themselves." Their corporal cursed before continuing on, not the first time any of them had heard of a team running into a swarm so large they had fallen back to using explosives to clear it or save their asses.

Finally, however, they reached the end of their guides and ventured into the unknown.

Two hours later.

While only a couple of hours had passed, it had felt like an eternity. Every time they ended up just barely within view of a guide the team would have to stop as one of them pulled out a fresh guide marker from a quiver, agitated the algae to activate it, and hammer it into the wall. The path had been a straight and narrow, but luckily everyone was able to fit through even the most snug of passes with little more than scrapes before the path opened up and before them was only darkness.

Before them was a massive cavern so large that none of the spotlights fell across a wall or even the ceiling as the floor dipped and rose in some places creating the illusion of pools of darkness before them. The amount of awful, plant matters, desecrated biomass, and claw marks on the ground that it almost made it impossible not to put together what the place was.

That was if the thousands of gnawed bones scattered all about the place wasn't making it obvious.

"Shit." Corporal Tiamara hissed, causing the shrill hiss to echo twice; Making the cavern that much more dense in its size enough to catch it. Without missing a beat, she pulled one of her last high-intensity glowsticks from a pocket, snapped it, and threw it at the entrance to the cavern where they had come from.

"If shit goes down, fall back here. Dont risk a fight in the open. We pull back and make it back to the other team and if worst comes to worst we blow the tunnel behind us and hope we dont get caught in it, keen?"

Without waiting for an answer the audible click of her caliburns fire-selector from safe to a more reasonable firemode made her intentions clear as she shuffled forwards, kicking bones out of the way and scanning her weapon light from side to side as her shoulder-light lit up the path before her.

Other than a few desecrated and half-canibalized barrow fiends here and there, the cavern was remarkably anti-climactic. The first sign that there had been late to some kind of show was a scattering of loose plastic casings from their caseless ammunition they used.

The second was the massive, bloated corpse...

Easily as large as the bus they had rode in on all those months ago; A massive hill of flesh lay unmoving, surounded by piles of dead fiends, bullet casings, spent flares and dead glowsticks, and blood enough to paint a warehouse.

And the smell!

The centerpiece corpse; The largest. Was so obese it couldnt possibly have moved, and was covered in enough rent flesh from explosives and bullets despite the thick fat of its body that its original form was undiscernable. It had what might have been four legs, too small to move its bulk, a head large enough for a full-sized man in OST armor to crawl through and out the other side where half its skull and brains where exposed, a stomach lines with hundreds of nipples still occasionally dripping white-red fluid, and...

From where a stillborn barrow fiend was still hanging out of it was obvious what that was...

"Think its some kind of queen?" Tiamara wondered out loud, though more at Sherry as the residential Science type. The Qadesh had not been regulated to simple field duty like the others but still had enough merit on her contract she had an office shared with a few other BTS types and were called on from time to time to adress matters ranging from simple IT support to digging through an archive of reactivated materials and personnel lists to no apparent end. The limited access to archived research materials had been insightful for her on a few subjects she was short on, but only to the end of prioritizing research group members to thaw out before others, and how viable their research was to the ongoing colonization.

Eventually, the mystery stopped unfolding, and no fiends came to avenge their fallen brood mother and no further clues popped up until the corporal had frozen in place and started looking about. The source of her attention became apparent to the others rather obtusely as the horrid smell and humid temperature in the cavern was cut for just a moment by an actual breeze!

Following the smell of fresh air they eventually came across another teams marker and followed it up a path where it had been obscured. After a terrifying jumpstart when they almost ran head-first into a scout with his rifle aimed directly at them from the noise of their rapid advance did everything finally fall into place.

"And after we nade'd the studs, the fat bitch just flailed about trying to drag itself at us while we shot it full of holes!" He chuckled as he lead them down a path lit with his teams markers, recounting the tale of how his team had stumbled into the nest same as them but how it had been filled with almost a hundred fiends and their broodmother, and how it had taken them and another squad hours to funnel them all into a killbox.

"We're camped just up there, just wait till you get the view; You can see all the way to Khandar!" He pointed further down the path before shrugging past them and taking back up his post.

Following the path only took about a minute before a muffled challenge greeted them and a few more jovial marines greeted them at a lip directly above their heads just big enough for a single person to fit though. Helping them up one at a time they were greeted by a cold and wet breeze as their first taste of the outside world greeted them as they joined a team of four marines on a wide shelf large enough to land a griffin transport on.

And sure enough, as they basked in the fresh air, just out beyond and into the still-night beyond was a distant cluster of lights in the distance.

In the dim light of the twin-moons, and the rare clear night the more astute of them finally took notice of what the other team had not.

The Atlas shipyards were not close enough to the mountains, or nearly as large in scale as what they were looking at what one might judge as possibly sixty miles distant.

And it lacked the massive oscillating mega-lighthouse of the Khandar military base.

Whats more, taking one look at any of their compasses would let them know they were looking north and east. Khandar was south and west, and Atlas was south and east. They were on the other side of the Kigal mountain range.

And something wasnt right...

 

[LavaLung]

Khandar Military Base - Workshop

No immediate response to Artemis, until it was too late; Morgan was baffled by the sudden cut-off of Ares' connections, and kind of just sat staring into space for a minute. A shame. She thinks she likes them.

"Sir? Sir?" A minute later, and they were sitting with their old CO's head in their mismatched arms, shutting down all of her own connections that weren't mandatory. They had to communicate in meatspace. Her metallic rattling voice seemed to contain more annoyance and confusion than outright worry, but it was still perturbing. "...Unit Ares, please don't dig too deep... Spare parts are at a premium right now... Data suggests we are even more expendable than we used to be..."

No immediate response, so they just clutched the head tighter to their chest, and wondered what kind of reprimand this would warrant. Probably a mindlock sequence that denied access to certain censored thought patterns. Hopefully not anything as bad as being scrapped for parts.

Was it time to actually put effort into proving their worth? Did they even care about dying still? If they used this refit time as an excuse to get a more cartoonish doll-form facial structure, would that freak the humans out less or more?

There was an emotion was in there, somewhere. Didn't have a stomach no more, so it felt like a blanket, clouding downwards onto their cold mind.

Did they desire some self-worth in order to protect Ares, and what few acquaintances they had left? Or was it some other survivalist urge?

Thought back to the technician looking under their clothes, and it made them feel kinda stupid for even wearing them.

A deep breath. Of course they didn't need it, but it felt human.

New internal schematics were drawn up; A modification itinerary that was reasonable materials-wise, but should up their combat focus by a margin. Submitted it the minute they reconnected, and then accepted whatever new hostile patch was coming to them.

>>Self Assessment Feedback Report #000521A. Swap arm and leg modules (L) to (R), better weight distribution with internal components.
>>Request increase calibre of arm rifle (L) at least 20%. No greater than -50% magazine capacity recommended.
>>Omit arm rifle (L) hand manipulator (tg1x). Add arm rifle (L) underslung axe (tg5-a). Add leg (R) knee/shin chainsaw handle for physical extraction from muddy materials.
>>Request eye unit (L) with superior scope and/or heat detection abilities.
>>Upgrade skin coating PGF to GHD type. Lacerations from animals currently more likely than thermal damage.

...

A minute passed, and then they finally let that fake breath back out of their lungs again. Not forced into defrag mode yet?

Kind of sad they didn't go for broke and suggest chainsaw ears and double chainsaw legs. If they were gonna get fragged, might as well aim higher with the requests.

"Mister Woodsman?" A grumbling retort, though they doubted he was actually listening. "If some scientists come and put me in a box, you still can't have my ears."

 

[Soresu]

Čehrāzād groused about their using explosives. In a cave system of all places. Did these daft fools even know the meaning of cave-in? It had, had the Qadeshi on edge to the point she'd begun inspecting here and there. From cracks to pulverized rock dust. Oh, the scientist had tried to impress on them just what it was like to live in a giant underground city. The dangers of what could happen if someone got too liberal with the grenades.

But at the putrid stench and reverberating hiss of the corporal and following instructions. Was the woman crazed? She thought as they seemed to edge along.

The mountain of a corpse, what hung out of it, and the fluids leaking plus the question directed at her in particular received a response. Which had been Sherry producing sample containers. "Samples, log them and call in retrieval teams if any can be spared." for her to say as such it was her version of 'Maybe?' but of enough significance to make the suggestion.

The scientist had a few contraptions about her person for analysis of materials. But nothing along the lines of a laboratory. And knew not enough time to run what she managed to gather through all her instruments.

Satisfied with just a little collection here and there. And what seemed like what passed for good old grey matter. Along with a snapshot or two using low-light filters and subvocalized note-taking.

A short while later after a scout's weapon had not been pointed in their direction and his retelling did she include it in her records. But it was what came next that drew her attention. Enough for the tall woman to look behind her. There were the others on the team of course. The cave entrance or rather an exit. Looking skyward and finally back to the oddity.

The sound of velcro broke whatever silence there may have been as she opened a pocket and pulled a lensatic compass, the little tritium micro-lights allowing her to see the points properly. She performed the whole routine and some mental math. Even going so far as to draw on the mental exercises she'd learned as a child to sift through some of the data her photographic memory could handle. Alphaeus received a look as if asking him to confirm just what she thought.

"I will be recommending him to an Ophthalmologist."

 

[Gunhand4171]

Tunnels

It took everything Typhon had to not wretch at the smell. Taking an extra piece of cloth, he wrapped in around his nose and mouth. Wasn't a perfect solution, but was better than nothing at all.

He used his low light filter on his cybernetic to scan the path ahead, his gun held at the ready.

After making it out and into fresh air he sighed in relief, until he looked out towards the base. It wasn't right, and shouldn't have been in that direction. He clenched his rifle a little tighter, body tensing. He looked to his corporal and gestured to the far off base, mouthing "It's wrong."

 

[Char]

"You dont fucking say?" The corporal mumbled as she tried to peer through a day-night monocular to little luck with its own 3x variable zoom function.

"That's definitely not us." She stated sagely, getting the interest of the first team.

"How do you mean, corporal?" One of them asked nonplussed, clearly feeling the whole thing above his paygrade.

"Its still early in the morning, but dark enough i can tell that with that much light and distance its twice, no, three times bigger than khandar. And the layout as far as i can tell is not military. But nothing seems to be tall enough for me to think its Chaldea since the goons in engineering there pretty much started building prefab scrapers' before anything else."

It was a couple hours later when the dim red of the sun tinted the landscape slightly more visible. From up-high the terrain didnt look nearly as dark and one could make out more variety in the landscape, but even then the distance was too great to make out any details. Holding rank and deciding the first team clearly had enough rest she sent them back down in the tunnels to no small degree of protest to report their findings while their team enjoyed the rest and relaxation.

It was more than half the day later when someone else managed to reach them from the first team, having known the way, and lead another senior NCO to their position to double-check the claim. Being dismissed the team was forced to reluctantly back-track back into the tunnels to their old rendevous and await further orders where they burned the time with the other teams in their cozy-corner.

Three days and one month later.

It was almost four days to recall all the teams back orderly from the tunnels and consolidate the numbers. In the tunnel fighting there was only two fatalities, but over thirty casualties which made the evac take woefully long to make sure no man had been left behind. When they left it was the sappers and engineers left to the job of placing charges in the tunnels and collapsing them without creating a landslide or toppling a portion of the mountain on themselves.

Lieutenant Alexandar recovered his men neatly back to the shipyards and had been awaiting orders from Khandar to the west on the finding which allowed the marines over one month of R&R after their ordeal in the tight confines of the Kigal mountains. Sherry, Alphaes, caelus, and typhon were called forth along with the other team numerous times to debrief on the finding both in person to the Lieutenant and over the radio to Khandar propper as if hearing it the first few times wasn't enough.

"And so, the major has decided to have our company recon in force beyond the mountain range ahead of friendship battalion under the command of Captain Diego who is being sent ahead with a light-lance and heavy ground." The lieutenant had finished the company briefing over a month after the discovery as some two hundred plus marines stood in neat orderly lines with their gear strewn about and being inspected by NCO's.

"Our objective is to establish the location, disposition, and intent of any unknown settlements beyond the Kigal mountain range and if applicable make contact. If our neighbors are deemed to be in dispute or hostile we are to avoid engagement at all costs and await reinforcements from Diego and friendship and avoid provoking them at all costs. Fro what limited long-range intelligence has found supports electricity and modern infrastructure means they are advanced enough to have access to combustion weaponry and are at least in a neo-industrial age for the estimated size of the settlement if not close to our own level of industry and infastructure.

Peaceful communication and relations only come from a good first contact. And we're showing up with guns and mechs; So the deck is stacked against us from the start. Due to this one of the members of the Board of Directors who isnt still hungover from Cryo will be meeting us at the Rendevous and will be joining the command element of our company. She is to be shown the utmost respect and not approached unless prompted, and her presence should in no way distract you from your duties, clear?"

From the stores of the armory no expense was spared as even the mountain assault had been limited in its scope of equipment. Long range weaponry, explosives, tactical devices, armor, everything was issued beyond base loadouts and each marine was issued a set of moderately-used but still well-kept maneuver gear harnesses they had been trained in allowing the company to fully deploy as a shock-unit despite the fact only alexander and a few of his hand-picked NCO's from the former-recruits first introduction had the imposing OST armor.

To sherry, alphaeus, caelus, typhon, and their squad they had been attached to the command element with simple duties as protection, aide de'camp duties, message running, communications, and services to the staff. The deciding factor had oddly enough been Sherry and her background in BTS flagging her as a priority above some other marines; Making her squad be attached rear-line.

Right alongside Astarte Dubrant. Who greeted them like old friends as she introduced them to the controlled Chaos of command-life...

Rendevous - Hassans Pass

The rendevous with the mechanized cavalry force and their heavy-ground transports was a lesson in chaos as the squad was billeted. A small town of tents and prefab buildings had been erected in a large savannah of a field as the various groups within the company warred over supplies in a bazzar of begging, borrowing, stealing, and trading in the oldest of military traditions.

At the far end of the camp by the impromptu motor pool, a few scout-mechs even stood above some of the vehicles but lacked the usual sight of anything larger when the word passed about that the 2nd Shock had yet to scrounge together enough parts to build more than the two MK-I and the single MK-II 'heavy' Cabbit scout mechs. There was even rumors that the sole survivor of the twelve-knights; The woodsman, was present with a task force of squires for no other reason than the man had pulled his political weight to join the expedition due to boredom.

In this endeavor, however, the squad had finally found the time to reconnoiter the company armory and had finally reached the front of the line. The time had finally come to claim more than simple Caliburn rifles if they so desired...

=====

Amongst the massive carnival tent that was the armory, the lone Golem tasked to the recon-company sat in a corner and perused her options. While Morgan was a hunter-killer type and not an Assault-type golem she still had the functionality to use all kinds of weapons and had the training to do so. Disposable weapons, infantry-issued rifles, grenades, explosives, and anti-tank weaponry, knives, combat axes, secondary equipment, etc. was all available to her to complement her new upgrades.

"I would recommend a phantom-cloak to break up your macro-micro pattens and dispel your natural heat signature, N-14." Ares disembodied head offered where it hung from the hook at her hip the armorer had fashioned. Oddly enough when the call had gone out for a Golem for the expedition, only Morgan had been considered active due to a technicality from her weapons being put online when her upgrades were installed and had been ordered to immediately report for duty. This had not included Ares, but the duty officer had considered him a trinket or trophy at the time due to his inactive state that Morgan had no doubt claimed during the war and the head had been more or less with her the past month.

"A spare gasket for your war mask, and a decoy-rattler would aid in that extent as well due to the recognizance nature of the mission too."

Nearby, a new group had approached the weary armorer and had yet to see her in the dark corner of the tent.

"What'll it be?" He asked the squad. "And no, before you ask dont have OST, even if you're trained for it. You get maneuver gears and light kit, be happy you even get jumpkits."

 

[LavaLung]

Tent Of Dreams, But Also Explosives

Morgan was snapping their fingers, arms crossed before them, hips and rectangular metal ears swaying to an internal beat that only they could hear. As cynical as it might seem, Morgan had rather settled into the concept of being a deployable humanoid weapon.

It wasn't like other humans here really had that many more rights. At least she got to be outside. At least she wasn't fighting other Golems anymore... So why not enjoy being the titanium-boned demon child a little?

"Affirmative, a spare gasket, a phantom cloak- Gimme a ballistics vest too. And sunglasses to hide my eyes. It is apt I look like a person at first glance, yes?" They were still gyrating, mechanical and tireless. "Guess a pair of frag grenades would be pleasant- Unless you still provide the acid gas or pyrophoric kinds. Are those outlawed? How about napalm?"

Took a moment for them to even realise the meat-humans walking in, interrupting their torrent of requests for toys of violence.

The dancing stopped, mid-stride. Doll-like face scrutinized them blankly.

"...We have met..." The cyborg registered, looking at Sherry, Alphaeus and Caelus in turn. "...But I was not provided your name at the time."

"I am N-14 Morgan. This is Ares..."

After a pause, a slight angling of the head.

"...He... is.. just a head right now."

Another pause.

...Then, a smile. About five minutes too late...

 

[Soresu]

The debriefings had caused Sherry no small annoyance at the numerous retellings and thorough questioning. And every time she had shared her recollections. All of it compounded by their present circumstances at now being in this expeditionary force. The Qadeshi took some small solace in being in the rear echelon gave her a few small opportunities to pursue her own ends. Flora and Fauna were to be cataloged for study, threat levels determined and possible countermeasures developed and deployed.

Sherry's reverie was disrupted by the blunt question and statements coming from the armorer. Before she could voice a response, another voice, odd sounding to her caused a shift in her attention. MOrgan had gone unnoticed as she had been so intent on the armorer. But now focusing on the speaker, eyes widening a little in recognition slowing coming to the surface.

"You're... the Gol from the Tower..." her voice small at the statement. Was it just happenstance? Or did they have so few of the Gol left?

"You saved us from the Yue Gol," followed another proof of remembrance. The mostly cybernetic beings were a prickly, unpredictable lot. "I hope you accept my appreciation, Morgan, my sisters and I would have died if not for your intervention." her words of thanks followed a small smile, not large but a smile all the same. And if the bags under her eyes were any indication she had been sleeping poorly for a number of days.

The head of Ares received much the same in gratitude if a little more restrained. Sherry had never met the Gol before.

 

[LavaLung]

"I am the Gol from the tower." N-14 answered, forgetting to smile again as they did so. You could almost see the pale doll's inner workings clicking like clockwork, it's humanity slipping with ease whenever a big enough mystery to eat up processing power was given. "This unit was ordered to carry out an extermination mission, and another assault by enemy weaponised cyborgs could not be ruled out. That is likely the only reason this unit was placed on the lift."

The concept that there weren't many of them left, well, that was rather too true. They were supposed to be throw-away weapons. The war was supposed to be over.

Flat-panel ears twitching and twisted, the metallic rabbit scooted over on much-too-thin legs, and examined the Qadeshi woman's fatigues like a bloodhound retrieving scent.

"It seems Sherry Čehrāzād has been conscripted regardless." You could practically hear the hard-drives whirring, somewhere inside that moppet of fake pinkish hair. "Civilians requisitioned... Suggests larger military actions planned?..."

Then, an immediate snap upright- They smiled like a gameshow host (or perhaps a 'magical girl' protagonist), and held out their glossy black left hand in offer of a polite handshake.

"At least we are needed, right? I am glad you and your various body parts are safe, Miss Sherry! Let's work to keep it that way~! Haha!~"

 

[Gunhand4171]

The debriefing was an arduous affair. With his cybernetic eyes, he was forced to share the share the footage with analysts over and over again. Once they were finally given an assignment again Typhon could only thank the Lady that he wouldn't be sat across a desk from another agent for awhile.

Typhon was quietly cleaning his sniper rifle meticulously as the others finished choosing their kits.

The rifle was complemented with a compact SMG for close quarter engagements, along with a spotter scope.

He nodded to the Golem. "Typhon. Nice to meet you." The sniper replied.

 

[Char]

Armory

"This aint no library, got others waiting in the rain if you please, my lady." The armorer barked before softening the last statement with an edge of clear annoyance and sarcasm before placing a fullsize caliburn rifle on the armorer's table and a handful of helical magazines for it before using both hands to heft a much larger weapon onto the table.

At almost fifteen pounds with the drum magazine the massive OST issue pump-action grenade shotgun was easily as long as sherrys' leg.

"The lady Dubrant said you lot would be along. Bring the boy his stick on your way."

With that, sherry and the others were dismissed. The armorer moved to turn and visibly flinched when he turned and came face to face with Morgan only inches away from his face.

"Damn, ought to put some bells on you~" He barked before looking down at Ares and then back up to morgan. "You aint no assault-type, what you need all that kit for?" he demanded.

"We are no longer required to underperform due to maintenance concerns and can now be properly outfitted and utilized," Ares responded from her hip, earning the two of them a long glance before the armorer nodded with a grunt.

"I'll see about getting you some javelins," He stated, referring to the class of throwable rocket-propelled impact detonated explosives most assault-types favored due to their ability to remotely interface with and guide them partially onto a target much like a short-range guided explosive. "For now go with that lot back to command, boy will be wanting the second-line like you there; Though im sure Ares coulda told you that."

With that, Morgan too was put out of the mans' mind as he called in the next marines from out of the rain...


North of the Kigal Mountain range

It had taken some weeks to break trail and move a convoy of some sub-2,000 marines the several hundred kilometers, and even longer to slowly get them arduously through the road hastily blown through the mountainside. But eventually the four companies had made it passed and where unleashed into open terrain once more.

The three main companies, designated friendship under one captain Diego had fortified the pass; Now labeled Hassans Pass after one of the heroes of the war, and were already creating a makeshift fort with their backs to the mountain until the engineers at the back of the collumn took over and would follow the alpha company they belonged to once their recon was done.

The Alpha company lead by Lieutenant Alexandar was made of some 200 men and women, all fighting BAMF marines, 50 support personnel tasked with the vehicles such as drivers, gunners, loaders, squires, etc. And an additional 100 men and women of the logistics train and command staff. They had spread out in a line of flying columns of light tracked vehicles several miles apart and had traveled some forty-miles north of the mountain range and in the direction the other settlement had been seen. A lack of air support had made the trip one of orienteering in nature as finding such a place from the ground was rather difficult.

At this particular moment one such team composed of the command-elements rating-guard including Sherry, Alphaeus, Caelus, Typhon, and some five other marines and now including Morgan and Ares after the Lieutenant tasked the Golem to them after their findings lay prone on the other side of a small hill providing defilade as they examined what couldn't be described as anything other than a road.

Travelling from north to east it was wide enough for vehicles to pass each other on either side and was gravel-laid implying it was well used and maintained. The reason for the lay-low was that some distance away a set of clearly distinguishable lights was slowly ambling their way as a vehicle that couldnt belong to their company was slowly approaching a possible first contact.

"Aye, Affirm." The Sergeant tasked with them; Mott, put down the field radio and looked to the squad and the Golem accompanying them.

"LT says our guest wants a snatch and grab," He remarked, referring to the mysterious board member accompanying the expedition and was in constant contact with the forward company from the rear echelon despite the fact nobody had seen her, only knowing her gender due to the context clues of Astarte and the Lieutenant who had been mostly the only ones in contact with her.

"N-14," He nodded to the space of darkness the Gol took up, all of their day-night goggles finding it particularly hard to make out the shape and pattern of the Golem in the near true-dark of night despite the fact she could see them rather easily at such close proximity. "try to stop the vic without being seen, get creative if you can. But if not rip an axel from behind. The rest of you be ready, Typhon you're on overwatch; I don't want anything sneaking up on us and I want a gun on high if our new friends aren't open to shotgun diplomacy. The rest of you spread out and get ready to intercept when Morgan stops them; I want everyone in that Vic detained but alive."

A couple miles away the vehicle continued to rumble on. From her elevation Morgan could see it easier than they could as it was a large cargo-style truck with massive studded wheels as compared to the tracked vehicles BAMF was using, and had a hard-top over the back obscuring any cargo as it came from the east. Two bright headlights illuminated ahead of it for a couple hundred feet while a much brighter light bar on the roof lit up the sides and ahead of it in a closer but brighter span. At some point it would need to slow down to take the bend in the road that the team had positioned itself at, and the road was more than elevated enough for a sleek and dark Golem to go pretty much unnoticed unless she stood directly in the oncoming path of the vehicle...

 

[LavaLung]

"Affirmative, Sarge!" The Golem saluted with their left arm, in lieu of putting their gun-arm directly at their own head. They sounded super relaxed, but that kind of just made it obvious that any emotion they outwardly expressed was for the benefit of allied humans...

Clasping their glossy blue clamshell helmet on, however, resulted in an immediate transformation of demeanour.

N-14 appeared clumsy because their body was designed for high speeds- Here, unleashed, those awkward skeletal limbs cut through the air like blades. Bunny-like ears stabilized their tremendously rapid gait, suddenly not running but jumping along the ground, metallic blur of a body practically parallel with the dirt.

The silent weapon swiftly dodged between sporadic trees, over gullies, leapt over clumps of black ashen bracken and flowing streams.

Strange, the feeling of being in nature again after all these years, yet somewhere so alien... being something so alien...

The method of stopping the target was processed on route. Holding the target up would be difficult without giving the game away... Even snapping the back axel, really, when they could not confirm the back didn't contain additional enemy infantry. They knew nothing about this foe. That was not opportune.

Finding a boulder that was alongside the road, and just big enough to go above the truck's cone of illumination, they bounded up it, flattened themselves out, and waited for their chance in the gloomy upper reaches...

Engine noise. The cumbersome thing approached.

Their landing was subtle, a brisk flinging of their lower half onto the roof of the rear section. Just a small scraping sound, as they continued to crouch and cope with the change in inertia.

<"In close contact. I'm going to blind him."> A small communication was sent across to the squad's command net. Advantages of a digital voice box. <"Please be ready to storm the position.">

The truck started to turn the corner- The golem kicked the cabin's upper light bar just hard enough to snap the back rivets, so that the dislodged frame fell forwards- still connected to the power supply, shining directly into the driver's face-

Next step depended on what the target did. If they reversed or accelerated, it was time to cause a landslide, if they could... If they came out with a gun, well, then it was time to start holding them up?...

 

[Gunhand4171]

"Aye aye." Typhon replied moving forward on the hill. Unslinging his pack, he set it on the ground and went prone. Pulling his extra magazines he arranged them in a row next to his rifle.

Resting the sniper rifle against the pack he sighed in the vehicle. "I'm in position to provide overwatch." He said over the squad channel. He ejected the current magazine and loaded armor piercing rounds. If he needed to shoot out the axel, this should get the job done.

 

[Char]

Road

While Morgan was able to more or less go unnoticed on her scaling of the truck the last action was less than stealthy. While she was a Golem and had thew ability to make more fluid movements than any mortal she was still a Hunter Killer type and not a scout-type that specialized in such operations. The fact she weighed twice as much as a scout-type and her chainleg made it less than ideal as almost a thousand pounds dented the roof of the cab and required her to dig her fingers into the soft metal to make her considerable weight to pull her over the hood.

The soft metal of the roof of the cab parted like a tin can as she dislodged the lightbar as the truck squealed to a halt and threw her forwards slightly. The lack of resistance under her fingers made it apparent she had passed completely through. When the vehicle finally skid to a stop and the hiss of hydraulics was almost as lound as a the rain there was the briefest of moments of pause as the light bar clicked off clearly by the actions of someone inside.

And then six rounds punched through the roof of the cap nowhere near Morgan in a line that led towards her but stopped short. In near unison doors on both sides swung open with ease enough to show the vehicle was less than armored as two figures slid from the passenger's side; Their backs to the hill the marines waited on, while one slid from the driver's side; The commotion of vibrations inside implying at least one more was still inside and behind the drivers side and was trying to crawl out behind his comrades.

Before she could react three loud barks of sound erupted in the rain as Morgans optics registered the muzzle flashes from the driver-side dismount as a hand-held pistol of some kind flashed thrice; The rounds not even staggering the golem.

There was the slightest register of vocal audio from what was clearly a man and much to some lingering thought on everyone's mind a human one at that, but was cut off and distorted by the pistol which was already adjusting up Morgans body length towards her warmask.

Hill

From their overwatch on the hill Sherry, Caelus, Typhon, and Alphaeus saw the vehicle slide to a halt in the mud and the two men on their side dismount. There were a few shots from the other side of the vehicle; Likely at Morgan. But the two other men didnt have the same vantage and were trying to back peddle practically right into the base of the same hill the marines were occupying to get eyes on the terror on top of their vehicle. From their posture one of them was cradling a pistol of some kind while another had the short and stocky frame of some kind of shotgun.

It became more visible when the pistol was raised straight into the air and a barely noticeable light zipped into the air in the form of a dud-flare. The flarepistol-bearing man fumbled about under the same leather-poncho they both wore for another shell that he began trying to put in the flaregun and then raised once again straight up into the air.

"LT made it clear, full deniability; Drop him." Came sergeant Motts' order in an icy tone over the squad net. "We only need one."

 

[Soresu]

Čehrāzād had been wary at first in shaking the hand of a Gol. But in the end, did so. Her grip firm, her father had always taught that showing a lack thereof was a sign of not only weakness, but an insult to one's self, and mockery of the other. So her own had been firm for a human, not so, but one of respect.

That had been some time ago. And now, on their hill with the rest of her squad, the scientist watched with almost bated breath at what was happening below. With the flash of gunfire, the almost quiet retort, Sherry had strained her ears and began ticking off the time spent between the speck of pistol fire and the sound for gauging the distance.

As always, she had not gone for heavy weaponry. The carbine she favored and the gladius as well. Besides the body armor, and other kit, which mostly consisted of some medical supplies, her usual suspects of analytical hand-helds and now a form of wearable optics. The tall woman imagined the whur as they tried to zoom in.

She did offer a warning, "One of the two closest to us have a close-combat weapon of some kind,"

 

[LavaLung]

Road

The manner in which the vehicle's metal simply crumpled rather startled N-14, betrayed by her muscle memory, from a time when such materials didn't behave like warm butter in her grasp. Immediately afterwards, the feeling of coin-sized impulse control units buzzing around inside the the soft flesh of their brain. It made them feel like a passenger in what happened next.

A coil of composites that expands, that throws itself into the air with artistic grace- The gunfire blew horrid chunks out of their new pseudo-skin on their way over the bonnet, just a few bullets striking through and pinging off the black hydraulic skeleton underneath- A split second later, they were below the natural arc of fire, spinning on the ground on one heel with the chainsaw leg screeching to life- The inertia was redirected into a lethal forward lunge towards the man firing the pistol on the far side of the cabin, moving to snip the offending hand away with one lethal grasp, whilst simultaneously firing her rifle-arm into his chest at point blank- The next attack came without even waiting, an upward slice-kick of their menacing leg weapon.

The sheer comical brutality of it made her inner self laugh, and feel utterly nauseated, in equal measure.

 

[Gunhand4171]

Typhon, from his vantage point, leveled his rifle onto the attacker and let his breath out slowly. Factoring in wind, bullet drop, humidity, and a few other odds and ends he dialed in his scope.

"AP round incoming." He said calmly into the squad channel as he slowly pressed the trigger until the weapon discharged.

The armor piercing round flew from the barrel of Typhon's gun, on a collision course with the target's chest.

 

[Char]

Road

In the aftermath there was no luck in securing a capture when the squad descended to take control of the scene. Despite the best possible actions taken, the final target was put down for redundancy sake and a fast-paced dismantling of the area was taking place as the bodies of the men were stripped and shoved inside mylar-lined waterproof bags to preserve them from the rain.

Papers of indiscernible writings due to plastic-sealed bags were shoved alongside random pocket debris, electric torches, pocket debris, loose tools from the vehicle compartments on the side and an additional flaregun from an indoor compartment alongside what was likely basic survival and weather gear not too unlike their own. Of their weapons, a couple sidearms were hastily shoved into secure bags while the longer weapon was lost somewhere in the dark and mud and was written off.

The back of the truck was empty. A clear cargo hauler of some kind the compartment was devoid of everything but used tarps, poles, and some basic hand tools like the universal shape of spade-headed shovels and madiks.

The truck itself, still idling, was managed to be forced into low gear with some fiddling with the foreign pedals and shifting mechanism but was allowed to lumber off the road and into a deep gulley where it was collapsed onto its side and covered with several of its own tarp inventory to hide it in the dark.

The bodies of the men were dragged and carried over a mile offroad back to the squad two vehicles where they were sealed in weatherproof bodybags and stored in the backs as the two vehicles lumbered off at a steady pace the almost hours drive back to their units rendevous.


Camp

The temporary camp of the night was silent even in the rain and practically unseen from most distances as light discipline was enforced. In the center a large tent made up of several circled armored personnel carriers with tarps strewn above and between them acted as a defacto command center that Sherry, Alphaeus, Caelus, Typhon, and Morgan found themselves at alongside the rest of the squad for their debreifing.

"Explain, this." Alexanders face creased in clear concern slapped a large and familiar 45. caliber handgun on a table in front of him before the squad to much of their confusion. It had been taken out of one of the sealed bags they had stuffed full of the intelligence gathering information and was clearly the very same model many of them had used in their training if not having been issued one themselves.

"All weapons are accounted for, sir." Sergeant Mott affirmed, sharing the same concerned look as his superior as a second, identical pistol was taken out of the same bag and then lined up with the flare pistol which Astarte; Hovering behind the lieuteneant adjusted her gaze to read off the gray-white lettering on the flareguns barrel.

"40-caliber flarepistol; Signalling device, single shot. BAMF issue only - Made in Bromachor... Its ours alright, all of it."

Before much more could be revealed, the squad was dismissed as the command staff conversed silently as they retreated. Tired for some despite the clear excitement, others needing repairs to pass damage to their unit, they slunk off to perform an marines post-mission checklist of eating when they could and sleeping when able.

Over the course of the next days and nights the camp exploded with hushed rumors, conspiracy, and gossip.

Autopsies were performed on the bodies of the killed men with identifiable old-world tattoos were cataloged, documents; While encrypted were clearly written out in the common tongue and Astarte was busy trying to decipher them. Maps captured were combed over and cross-referenced with their own made by the units pathfinders. And finally, the unit dedicated pathfinder team was deployed in the dead of the night.

Three Days Later - Road.

The squad once again under sergeant Mott passed by a familiar road they had seen not even a week earlier as they carefully skirted the hills moving to the west. The cargo truck was still there, undiscovered. And not an hour earlier some four more of its kind passed under them without notice heading east at a sedate pace as clearly the first truck had yet to be located but whatever they were transporting took precedence over a missing vehicle and four men.

"Clear, keep moving." Mott ordered over the radio as the squad got up from their prone position in the mud and started rucking west again following the road.

The order was simple; Discover what they were transporting and where and report back. It came from above the lieutenant from the distant Captain Diego who was still moving along at a snails pace with a much heavier company several days south of them.

Collect intel, disseminate, and deice how to proceed was the objective on making contact with what was a possible splinter of their people likely from a prior colony ship the popular rumor was germinating. But more intel was needed before approaching them it was decided.

So the squad traveled for over three hours off the road and never on it despite the clear advantage it would have given them before it started to slope upwards and cut off their view from ahead.

The road stopped up there, they knew from watching from a distance miles away that the trucks would stop at whatever was up there for a few hours at a time and do something as was evident by the distant unmoving static lights and duration before departing back the way they came.

"Heads on a swivel, be ready for anything. Morgan, you're up." Mott ordered the squad as he deployed the golem to carefully scout ahead before getting the report minutes later that... Nothing...

Nothing was up there. At least not of any import as they crested the ridge and found themselves on a flat plato roughly the size of a sports field.

Nothing...

"Spread out, see what you can find. The LT wants to know what's so important out here they're driving almost two hours from their settlement to this place."

There was slim pickings on just what to search and what could be found all of them knew. A series of outbuildings the size of storage sheds and a couple larger garages on one side of the field, there was a ridge on one side with the outlines of spotlights facing them and clearly made to illuminate the area with what was likely a generator shed, what looked like a more official but small office a foreman might use, and then finally there was the length of the field itself that simply led to the other end of the plato where it would slope down again but was as of yet unsearched as well.

 

[LavaLung]

Morgan's expression had become more and more distant as the march progressed, becoming burnt out by the monotony of grey soil and pallid, empty lands. There wasn't much to talk about. Without chumming up to the humans, or pulling an enemy apart like yarn from a knitted sweater, there wasn't really much to feel either way.

It became readily apparent that the gunshot damage they had taken to their plastic casing during the vehicle raid was indeed superficial, but the new ventilation was beginning weather her hydraulic parts, evaporating the lubrication and breaking down seals. Just moving their torso or legs began to make squeaking and clicking noises.

N-14 persisted, regardless, only stopping once to apply some duct-tape, before the worsening nails-on-chalkboard effect drove her insane.

~~~~~

"This is an airfield, isn't it?" Was their remark to sergeant Mott, almost immediately upon arriving at the small plateau. "Just what this planet needed, more nothing."

Making tracks through the mud and gravel, they followed orders regardless, choosing to deal with the far side of the airfield personally. If the other squad members found any stragglers, they weren't going to surrender to a golem. She was getting pretty sure about that, theses days.

Kept her eyes open, flashing briefly as they changed into infra-red vision mode. Maybe there was a fuel dump around here somewhere, that could prove their theory correct?

 

[Gunhand4171]

Typhon was rewarded for his efforts when the last target dropped like a stone. Picking up his kit he rejoined the others to assist with clean up.

---

As everyone split up to search the area, he moved to the lip of the plateau and set up his rifle. "I'm set up to provide overwatch." He said into his throat comm. The lip provided him with a small degree of cover. More over it provided him with a stable platform to fire from. Panning from side to side he observed the area for any movement. Anything that might be of intrest or danger to the squad.