Mass Effect Mercenaries

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Harlow had put on music in his helmet, it was an old 20th century song that was...rather perfect for the pre-combat buzz that went along with the possibility of death. The song ended as He saw Hannah enter the cargo bay, she seemed fine but the breathing and twitches he saw were enough to tell him otherwise. He put a hand on her shoulder to get her attention. "Breath in and count to five then exhale, the minutes before battle are the worst but don't worry when we hit the ground I'll be right next to you the whole way." He said to her, it would be bad for her or anyone else on the ground team if someone started to panic especially if their were civilians running about to get away from the batarians on the ground.
 
Raymond shoveled down the last mouthfuls of food on his plate once Xavier made the announcement. He headed down to his room and suited up into his armor, biotically lifting his guns toward his open hands as a warmup. Fully equipped, he took a moment to stretch and limber up, flexing his shoulders and cracking his neck before raising his barriers.

He entered the cargo bay, seeing everyone congregating around the tank. "What, nobody wants to take the Kodiak? I mean, I can fly it, but considering my landings, I don't blame you if you don't wanna join me."
 
Aelxandra brought the ship in on a hard dive, the crew bracing themselves in their seats, Xavier keeping his pace as he walked to a fro in front of his chair. The magnetic bottoms of his boots keeping him from even flinching at the sudden change in velocity and direction. Entering the atmosphere was going to be bumpy, a big grin came over the young pilots face as she flew them down into the surface of the planet. Just as quickly as they came down, they started raining hell down with the aft and starboard turrets, two ships already were neutralized, both taking hits to their engine blocks only to make sure no prisoners were harmed. Alex makes a whooping noise as she takes the frigate into a climb, two other frigates are coming after it and she curses just as loudly as she whooped. "Captain looks like we've got a couple on our tail, just batarian frigates but..."

"But they could still hurt us badly, I got it. Mako team if you're ready launch, whoever has any actual leadership experience take command of that ground team. Kodiak team you're with me, we're launching as soon as I get down there...and don't worry I can fly the shuttle." He says giving a cocky grin to no one in particular. Xavier makes his way to the elevator and get's down to the docking bay as the doors are opening up he salutes to the mako team as he enters the shuttle. "Alright everyone with me better buckle up fast, or else you won't like this ride."
 
Ardent had mostly explored the ship with his lonesome, mostly avoiding anyone and everything that would require socializing. He wasn't sure yet whether or not any of this would be worth it. It would be highly unlikely that these group of misfits could get him close to Cerberus databanks or anything like that though getting to such in the first place would require some creds and the fact that he was basically being strongarmed into this mission pretty much left him with little choice. When he would get the chance, he would find some way to get back at the blue crime bitch one way or another, preferably with her at the end of a noose if he could have any say about it. The ship wasn't in all that great of shape from what he saw but it wasn't something that would fall apart at the slightest cannon fire so it had that going for it.

Then the warning of the Batarian pirates was announced. Some action was happening already so the first thing that Ardent did was to head straight for one of the turret controls before someone of the crew could take the seat, aiming for one of the batarian frigates and let loose a volley of projectiles at the spaceship with no real concern if he was actually hit it. He did do some damage as the targeting computer did most of the work of aiming. He listened to the captain's orders of the two teams of a Mako or a Kodiak so when he heard that he got off the turret and headed for the Kodiak as he had been on a Mako before and hated every minute of it. With his helmet on, he got on the Kodiak shuttle with no words except for a small acknowledging nod towards the Captain and strapped himself in.
 
Alexandra pings every omnitool of the two ground teams with info of where they are and what was picked up as they made their rapid descent onto the planet. "Captain, everyone we've got info on the planet, and some info about the enemy attacking the colonists. Be careful everyone and stay safe." She cuts off the comm as she maneuvers Ice to make it easier for the ground teams to launch.
Target World: -Terminus Systems -> Ferris Fields (Human Colony)

-Relatively new mining/research colony, privately established, defences consist of little more than an armed militia and low-grade ground to air turrets. Atmosphere is breathable albeit slightly above-average oxygen and humidity levels. The surface is primarily made up of dense jungle,marshes and swampland, with scattered patches of stagnant lakes, mountain ranges and open fields. The colony itself consists of a single city,New Providence, situated between the unforgiving jungle and a mountain range (where the mining operation takes place). The population hovers around 800 000. Thousands of alien workers (including Batarians) also settled down here, only to be discriminated by the highly conservative human government. Dangerous wilderness, politically unstable sector of the galaxy and relatively low defences... the only reason the colony was established in the first place was is because of the existence of a large Element Zero deposit deep beneath the mountains.

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Invaders: -The colony's population is currently under siege by a contingent of Batarian slavers known as "The Sacred Glove", a malicious group equally motivated by credits as they are by their religion. This particular sect believes that, by enslaving "the blasphemous humans", they are doing an honor in the eyes of their ancestors, and will be blessed with unceasing bliss in their next life. The Batarians have brought seven frigates along with a larger cruiser escorting what appears to be a mockery of a colony ship, presumably used to gather and store the enslaved population to be. They have a large military camp situated outside of the central colony, where they make frequent raids to the city itself, the mines, as well as to the surrounding research outposts.

Objective: -Free the colonists of Ferris Fields from Batarian control, and wipe out any and all Batarian slavers in the process. 67% of colonists have already been captured/killed, the militia has been scattered, and the rest are either hiding in buildings throughout the city or deep within the mines. The drop zone is at a research outpost within the jungle, currently being ransacked by a Batarian strike team. The idea is for the ground team to come in fast and hard, secure any civilians stationed there, then proceed to plan an assault against the heart of the Batarian camp (for overtaking the camp I'm thinking something like an ambush/stealth/siege type deal).


Kodiak Unit (Biotic focus):
  • Guardian (Sentinel, Squad leader)
  • Corvus (Vanguard)
  • Cassius (Vanguard)
  • Gallows (Vanguard)

Mako Unit (Tech focus):
  • Harlow (Vanguard, Squad leader)
  • Shock (Engineer)
  • Kronos (Infiltrator)
  • Eagle eye (Infiltrator)
 
(NOTICE: [spoili]NKoD is busy today, so I'm posting this on our behalf. This is the scene at the drop site, shortly before the team arrives. The post after this is reserved for the arrival of the Ice, plus NKoD hasn't really told anyone how he wants attacks/reactions to work, so it doesn't really make sense to post right now. Despite this fact, I thought it would be good to give you guys a heads up as to what kind of forces you're dealing with on the first battle, and to start thinking about how you'll be making your attack.[/spoili])

The silence of the murky forest was beset by the engines of roving vehicles. Rays of sunlight shined in blotches, all but covered by the vast canopy of leaves above. Here in the decrepit jungle, the humble research outpost, Station 12, was making its death throes. They'd barely survived against the Batarian scouts, and now, the sound of oncoming vehicles was a signal of their final demise. Six dead and seven injured, the security team was down to four men. Four men, that is, without military training. Dr. Richards and his team of scientists rushed to gather whatever data they could save, the only words he could form being "they found us". Unfortunately, this realization came far too late. The engines roared louder, and were now accompanied by the sound of breaking branches. The security officers armed themselves with underpowered lancer assault rifles, and readied their weapons from the balcony of the station. Their shaky hands imprecisely aimed down the entrance path...

Everything seemed to slow down.

It started with a heavy transport vehicle smashing through the feeble barricade they had set up, followed by two escorts. The four brave (perhaps foolishly so) security guards stationed on the balcony opened fire on the transport... not making a single dent. Shortly after, the guard on the left was obliterated by a railgun shot. "Erikson, NO!", screamed one of the others, who then fell to her knees, and clutched onto the gooey remains of her comrade. Groups of armed Batarians exited from the backs of each war truck, gunning down another officer with submachine guns and wounding another with ruthless efficiency. The wounded officer limped back into the outpost, while the other survivor remained on her knees, petrified. The transport then rammed through the front entrance of the outpost, creating a wide berth for the Batarian strike team to pour through. They proceeded to target the fleeing scientists using non-lethal disruption shots, pole leashes, and even strangled some with their bare hands. Through the center of all of this chaos walked a single masked Batarian, clad in heavy armor. He walked deliberately, confidently towards Dr. Richards, who'd been pinned by his arms to a wall by a pair of angry Batarians. "Hideous, are they not?", asked the leader to his men with an eerily calm voice, not expecting a response. The doctor struggled and squirmed as the leader readied a punch. Just then, two shots fell dully onto the Batarian's shields from behind. It was the wounded officer, clutching his chest with one hand, and pistol in the other. The leader gritted his teeth from behind his tinted mask. With one swift motion, he drew his own shotgun, spun around and fired at the officer. The officer crumpled to the floor immediately, blood pouring from the massive hole in his helmet.

The twelve Batarian soldiers gathered their captives and began stuffing them into the back of the heavy transport vehicle outside. The leader watched over his troops sternly, while the the the two drivers of the war trucks (as well as the transport driver) sat in their vehicles waiting, almost napping. A job like this was routine for them, they carried on without much ceremony nor caution. The leader felt an abrupt and brief gust of wind, and looked around watchfully for a second, then returned his attention to his strike team... Little did he know of the vengeful band of mercenaries that would descend any second now, ready and eager to spill Batarian blood in the name of the almighty credit...
 
Alexandra turned the ship so the docking bay doors were clear of any enemy fire and gives the mako and the kodiak the green light to start the offensive, mako team launches first and hits the ground hard, shelling the closest enemy troops, making sure they were targeting raiders without any slaves near them. Next the kodiak team flies down, Xavier landing the shuttle and getting everyone off of it as he then gives the controls to his co-pilot and steps out with everyone.

Alexandra opens comms with the ground teams "Alright ground teams you are in position, you'll still have to make your way through a lot of enemy resistance, be advised some of the raider parties closer to their base camp are already taking slaves as hostages, snipers you will want to take up positions on relatively high ground if you can overlooking the base if you can. The rest of you should give covering fire for the snipers until we can get the mako and kodiak in for some heavy hitting on their base."

Xavier nods to his men "Alright gentlemen, and lady you heard her, load up, move out, I want one person staying in the mako, gunnery sergeant Gordon will handle the kodiak for us and help with bombardment. Hope you all brought your A-game today cause we're outgunned, but hell we'll show them what true mercs can do." Xavier wasn't one for overly dramatic and motivational speeches, he said his peace and turned around, locking his helmet in place and running towards the nearest cover, it was still quiet for the kodiak team as they landed a few clicks from the main battle. However the Mako teak was already shelling closer platoons of enemies and having a more difficult time of getting its troops out. Lex curses and turns Iec around, using the aft turrets to cut a swath through the enemies and getting back up to maneuvering speed, Ice took a glancing blow to the starboard hull. Two turrets were offline as well as their gunners and some crew dead. Alex cursed and brought Ice into a desperate climb "Ice is out of the game for a little bit mako, kodiak, we took a hit and need to get these other ships off of us before coming back and offering heavy bombardment support."
 
Harlow radioed Xavier. "Why don't we use the Mako as an IFV like it was meant for, small arms aren't gonna get through and it would allow us to take out any armor the Batarians got." He suggested knowing that the Mako was great for routing emplaced positions like the batarians were likely going to have.

(Longer post will be along the way but that will be of Harlow planing his teams assault.)
 
Xavier nodded and called over the comm to Harlow and his team "Sounds good but be for warned, it looks like heavy resistance near the compound I wouldn't put it past them to have a few heavy weapon troopers waiting to catch us unawares." He says changing the zoom on his helmet back to normal, he looks to his team of biotics "Stay low and move in quickly, we'll hit them hard and fast, it's what all of you are trained for anyway. If we can move in quickly and quietly that would've been preferable but we hadn't expected that extra patrol frigate, and we're already paying the price for that oversight. But let's get to it men." Xavier starts moving towards the research facility inside the jungle. He knew once they hit the trees, they and their enemies would be decently camouflaged. "We get to the trees, spread out and take cover behind them, move up quickly and carefully." He says moving into the wooded area and taking cover behind a tree, moving quickly from cover to cover.

The batarian leaders of the strike team have taken the research compound, and are sitting back enjoying a celebratory toast fora job well done. The grunts were working at keeping their newly captured slaves in the makeshift pens and cells outside the compound. All was quiet as they marveled at their easy victory, the colonists were easy pickings, their militia easily shattered and scattered to the winds, and their defenses smashed with ease. The leader of the strike team walked among his officers patting backs and congratulating on a job well done. They got comm chatter from the main base on an easy take over as well, a round of cheers again roared through the compound as slaves cringed at the sound. They heard a noise from outside the compound, a loud boom, grabbing weapons and rushing outside they see Ice in it's frantic climb back up out of the combat zone and one of their frigates lagging behind the ship, another round of whoops and cheers came from the raiders as they saw what they believed the only rescue attempt thwarted before it even reached the ground.
 
Harlow nodded to himself as he looked at his group in the Mako. "Alright were gonna use the our little tank here and roll on the Batarians until we get to their base. Eagle I want you on the Mako's gun, your sniper training will let you pick out targets of importance but if you start firing the big gun a lot we are gonna be neck deep in slavers. Shock I want you driving, keep the speed slow unless I tell you otherwise I would drive myself but I am going to be following along side the Mako to deal with any batarians that get past the gun and our forth member. Kronos I want you to take your sniper and follow us at a short distance, anything I miss or Eagle misses I want you to give a new hole to breath through but if you feel you are being pushed on by Batarians I want you to pull back to the Mako as I wont be able to make it to you without leaving the tank open to attack. Any one got a problem or concern speak them now or forever hold your peace." Harlow was rather easy to get along with and easy going until he was put in charge of others lives then he turned into the N7 he was trained to be.
 
Harlow's tips were at least somewhat reassuring... His apparent bloodlust, on the other hand, was far from comforting. She nodded slightly, trying to make sense of whatever ancient music could be heard vaguely through his helmet. It wasn't long before half of the mercs, including herself, were loaded inside the (surprisingly spacious) Mako. She then proceeded to look towards the other members around her, Harlow: Trust, Jay: Not sure, the mysterious Drell: Don't trust. Despite their very different outlooks on violence, she resolved to sit down next to Harlow. Hannah strapped herself in meticulously, taking every safety precaution. Mission details arrived on her omni-tool, she scanned through the them as fast as possible, wishing they had come sooner.

The action plan was relayed by Harlow and Xavier through the comms. The Mako's focus seemed to be on the camp... which sounded dreadfully difficult. She chimed in, trying her best to conceal her fear once more, "Right... umm. No meaning to in-interject, but I believe it would be much more advisable for both available ground teams to make the research outpost our primary target for now, maybe the teams could converge from different angles? The camp is at least 7.8 kilometres out, chances are they won't be hearing any combat through the dense wood, and definitely will not be listening for it.", and she made a final notion, hoping to drive her point through, "A-and I could disrupt their local comms! I doubt a strike team would have decent long-range communication to begin with!". Her words had sped up as she talked, went on without pausing, and probably weren't easy to understand. She sunk back into her seat on the Mako, realizing she had got too excited. Sure, her plan was inspired more by fear than anything else, but the mercs had to be alive to complete the mission, and attacking the base is probably going to require the team's (including the Ice's) full attention.

The Mako bumped around violently, signalling its fateful arrival onto the surface... Hannah looked down to her feet, and exhaled sharply. "Alright, driving the Mako, easy enough, should be fine, I can handle this...​", she mumbled to herself, crawling her way towards the driver's seat. Sitting down promptly, she looked out into the foggy unrelenting forest before mumbling again, "I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die...​".
 
Raymond felt his stomach drop as the Kodiak started dropping through the atmosphere. "No inertial dampeners? Nice." He whooped as the shuttle accelerated towards the planet, a mad grin plastered over his face. As the craft leveled out, Raymond laughed. "Oh man, that was just the rush I needed to get amped for this." Kodiak team landed. Raymond listened to Xavier's instructions and repeated them back. "Mako goes in first, smashes the entire area, we flank em quick and quiet, kill anyone with more than two eyes, I get ya." He followed Xavier's lead through the woods, centering himself for biotic combat. I am not Raymond, I am Corvus, the black bird of death. I work with my murder to murder, so that we may feast on the spoils of war.
 
Cassius held the emergency straps in the kodiak for dear life. He knew they would be fine, but this part of reentry always got to him a bit. The bouncing and jouncing, the jolting and jostling. It was like being on the galaxy's wildest roller coaster, but instead of there being all manner of crazy twists and turns, it only went straight down. Cassius tried not to think about it as the Kodiak continued its descent. When the Kodiak landed Cassius was the first one on his feet, his rifle in hand and ready. "Lets go sir, I'd rather not stay in here too long." Cassius seemed just a little bit nervous, he really wanted out of the Kodiak, he felt that the sooner they got out and got this mission finished the sooner he could relax.
 
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Giant ass collab between gms is done BACK TO POSTING MANGY CURS


KODIAK SQUAD:
Xavier, Raymond, Cassius, Ardent

The Kodiak descended into the shady woods as silently as possible, not too far from the research outpost. Xavier and his team disembarked, and made their way towards a small clearing in the massive, dense forest. Alert as ever, he used hand signals to motion his men to get into position behind trees before entering the clearing. Sunlight shined down onto the open terrain, almost invitingly, as he made his own way to cover. He motioned for Raymond to take point, then Cassius to move in at his left. Xavier and Ardent moving in on the right, they fan out, while keeping an eye out for anything suspicious. Moving through the clearing with no problem, they continue running from cover to cover as they make their way towards the compound.

Within a fraction of a second, a glowing streak of blue grazes Xavier's helmet, and tears into the tree next to him, leaving the tell-tale burn mark of a mass accelerator. The sight was accompanied by a familiar loud but low-pitch booming sound, originating from the clearing behind them.

Xavier doesn't spare a second, "Everyone get behind cover, enemy sniper from behind!" He falls back behind another tree, felt the side of his helmet for damage, then quickly looked out of cover. That "inviting" light was now thankfully reflecting off of the stealth fields of what appear to be five batarian infiltrators. He quickly get's back behind cover and touched the area the bullet had grazed, he pulls out his hand cannon and motions to the others to concentrate their fire into the clearing. So far the enemy hasn't noticed that the sun was making them more visible than they should be.

Another batarian patrol of six or seven was looking for potential stragglers from the raid when the shot was heard. They each look to each other and immediately start moving towards the area that they believe is where the shot was fired. It was only a matter of time before Kodiak squad would be threatened from both sides...

Xavier opened a secure line between him and his teammates "Listen, I'll take their attention off of you guys, try to flank them and get the drop on em." He says and moves from behind his cover, activating his omni-shield and standing firmly behind it shot the closest batarian in the chest, the batarian's tactical cloak fizzling out of life as he falls to the ground, the shot slamming into the batarian's shoulder as he falls sideways to the ground. Xavier smiles and bolts for the nearest tree as all of the raiders turn to fire on him. The raider on the ground lifting his sidearm and firing, Xavier slams unsuspectingly into three other raiders without tactical cloaks, the other patrol found them, or at least some of the other patrol had. Scrambling to his feet, cursing, and swatting a gun away from his face with his shield he starts sprinting away, the three new batarians give chase, the three raider patrol and Xavier fired haphazardly at each other as they made their way away from the others, all of them moving in and out of eyesight as they dart behind and around trees, making good distance away from the others. But the patrol was hot on his tail, and the cloaked raiders turned to fire at the mercenary's back, their cloaks deactivating revealing the enemy to the fireteam. When the Mako team began their assault against the outpost, they would be doing so without the support of Xavier's squad...

--Meanwhile--​

MAKO SQUAD:
Harlow, Hannah, Kronos, Jay

Frankly, Shock had never driven a vehicle before. She did, however, have an exceptional talent for quickly understanding how to use anything with a computer interface. While sending the Mako headlong towards the research compound, she began tweaking and typing frantically on different screens for no apparent reason. Her driving skills while multitasking were far from majestic, but she hadn't crashed, and that was more than good enough. After a few minutes, she began whispering to herself, "Right right right.....​ okay!", she erupted suddenly, stammering an explanation of her discovery, "I-I managed to create a loophole in this thing's emergency system, tampered as well as subdued the presence and overall range of the rescue function then replaced the distress call with endless feedback made through the conflict between the driver recording system and audio banks from my omni-tool". She paused and took a breather, realizing that probably didn't make sense, "well basically I turned the vehicle's communications array into a makeshift short-range signal jammer. No hostile within a half-kilometre radius will be calling for help". Unfortunately her tampering with the Mako's comm system meant that she missed the sounds of Xavier's struggle, the Mako squad didn't know they would be starting the assault alone. Fortunately, however, the Batarian strike team was caught completely off guard...

At the outpost,twelve batarian soldiers gathered their captives and began stuffing them into the back of the heavy transport vehicle outside.the leader watched over his troops sternly, while the the the two drivers of the war trucks (as well as the transport driver) sat in their vehicles waiting, almost napping. A job like this was routine for them, they carried on without much ceremony nor caution. The leader felt an abrupt and brief gust of wind, and looked around watchfully for a second, then returned his attention to his strike team... Little did he know of the vengeful band of mercenaries that would descend any second now, ready and eager to spill Batarian blood in the name of the almighty credit...

Under Harlow's direction, Hannah drove the Mako straight through a barricade and into the open area surrounding the research outpost. Whatever happened next was more of a blurr to Hannah, though she did recall the passenger door opening. Reacting faster than the others, one of the batarians stationed on the balcony quickly lifts his sniper rifle, takes careful aim, and fires at the first merc to disembark. The drell, Kronos, feels nothing as the round slams into his head and makes it pop with a visceral sound, scattering blood, skull fragments and brain matter across the side of the Mako.

Despite that one lucky sentry, the batarians were dumbstruck and wide eyed (15 x 4 = 60 that's a lot of wide eyes guys), and didn't even have their weapons at the ready. Even if they could react, a single rover and three mercs wouldn't seem like much of a threat... but they would soon be gravely mistaken. Their leader realizes too late that at least one ground team must have been dropped before the supposed rescue ship flew away, and motions two of his henchmen towards the turrets of the war trucks
 
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Harlow saw the drell go down and he did two things, one was to lean out just a bit where he saw the sniper, he used his biotic pull which was near useless at the distance but was just strong enough to knock the sniper off balance and send him tumbling off of his perch two was to issue new orders to eagle on the gun and shock. "Eagle put those bastards in the war trucks we don't want those guns being turned on us after that hit any targets of opportunity, Shock keep the mako moving I don't know if they got any anti vehicle weapons." His voice was calm and stoic. "I'll give you two cover. Don't hit the heavy transport that's were the captives are." Harlow said as he took one step out and then used his charge to get to a piece of cover near three batarians that were still in shock about what was going on, he popped up and used a biotic slash against the three as they were only feet away, he was back down before he saw the results but the smell of burnt batarian filled his nose as the friction from the slash going through armor had burnt their flesh. He hopped the captives stayed in the heavy transport as it was the safest place for them at the moment.

[Three barbarians killed/wounded by Harlow one sniper still alive but no vantage. Two trucks, one heavy transport, leader and nine infantry including sniper left.]
 
Cassius watched with baited breath as Xavier made his move. Running out of cover and distracting the infiltrator team. He raised his tempest SMG, taking aim at one of the batarians who had ambushed them. Slowly, carefully, he began to pull the trigger, Trying to be as accurate as he could with his shot. Then his concentration was broken when a shot rang out in the direction Xavier had run off in. He knew something wasn't right then, and he knew it even more when the infiltrator team began to decloak and chase something. "Screw this, I am not letting him die." Said Cassius. He put away his tempest and pulled out his scimitar shotgun, then biotic charged into the batarian who was in the back of the pack, knocking him on his ass and finishing him off with a shot to the head. "HEY!!! you assholes want a fight? Then you got one with me." He put away his shot gun, then pulled out his phalanx pistol and sword. "COME ON!!!!"
 
Mechanized infantry- hit hard and leave fast. This was a tried and true operation these batarians were running... They got here quicker than we hoped....

Then there was small arms fire coming from the opposite end of the compound's distance... Another mercenary group? Mechanized- by the sounds of it....

Dex thought, as he dropped his scope from his eye. He was laying against a trench wall looking down from atop a hill, covered with plenty of colorful flora.

"Perfect timing for them. You're fine. Keep moving, steady." He whispered into his headset. His flanged voice eerie, yet comfortable to his apparent teammates. His focus shifted from a light tank in the distance back to the compound, where two moderately armed and armored humans were helping a few other humans who appeared to be scientists out of a hole in the wall. One was outside, holding his weapon at relax in one hand, and his other lifted up and out for the scientists to grab hold of while they jumped out of the hole. The other was directing traffic inside, gently pushing the scientists out.

Dex's team was sent in as mercenaries as well. Exfiltrating a handful of the top tier brains in the facility. The operational team was on the ground, and the rest of his team was waiting to exfiltrate the ground team. Though it looks like more than one group was trying to both help, and turn a profit from these skirmishes. Seemed that these Batarians couldn't stay out of trouble.

Being a scout, Dex was outside providing reconnaissance, while his other teammates had so far successfully infiltrated the compound to try and escort as many high value targets as possible without gaining notice of the Batarians. They found a way in, and were now improvising an escape, now that tank shells were firing outside.


Through his telescopic eyepiece, he saw that there were five scientists with his team. Things were going smoothly until irritated shouting was heard through their radio. Dex cursed in his mind- and panned his vision back to his team to see that the one still inside had dropped to a knee and was firing rapidly into the building. Looks like they had contact. The alert from outside had the interior teams on alert.


Dashing to get up, Dex flung himself from a relaxed position at prone to a sprinting line toward his team down the hill. His teammate outside was shoving the scientists to run away for the hills, and was passively giving potshots and covering fire for the scientists.


completely unable to see inside, Dex still rushed down the hill, through the dense foliage. He watched again as his teammate inside the improvised doorway was chewed up by batarian small arms fire, then fall backward out of the hole. The one outside now shouting at the scientists to get clear, tossed a fragmentation grenade into the hole. A second later, smoke and a flash of fire puffed put the hole, and a heavily armed Batarian carrying a light machinegun stepped into the makeshift doorway casually. Though his armor was heavily damaged from the grenade, and previous fire. Dex stopped in his tracks, sighted him in while standing, and fired three rounds at the Batarian. Though it may have been too late, as it had already began opening fire at the humans that were fanning out- outsde.

The batarian fell backward deeper into the building, and Dex scurried through the brush to see one of his comrades KIA, and the other badly injured as he approached. His only option was to get them to the extraction point. He didn't see the automatic weapon wielding batarian emerge from the smoke again- maybe he was killed, knocked unconscious, or regrouping....

"Come on, hurry, we have to get out of here before they start coming out of the woodwork." He shouted to the five scientists that were hiding in the brush in the area. He reached down and pulled up on the back of the other human Merc's armor. "You okay?"

-"Golden" The guy groaned as he picked himself up with Dex's help.

"We will have to make do with these five-" Dex said- before being corrected by a female voice from one of the scientists, hovering over a male body-

"Four....." As the female stood up, she looked both terrified, and distraught.

"We'll be alright- we just have to go this way" The human pointed toward their extraction point "until we reach a clearing in the jungle. We have a bird waiting to pick us up and get us the hell out of here"

"We don't want to leave the rest of our people in there- Dr. Richards is-" One of the scientists began to slightly give some push-back.

"Someone else will be able to get them." Dex tried to get control, "But right now, we need to make sure you fi-.. four- are on the next flight out of here." Dex nodded- "Over this ridgeline and we're free."

Quickly, they dispersed through the treeline, but were caught in suppressing fire from a balcony on the back of the compound. Might have been the same guy who was unloading on them from earlier. Dex and his group had little choice but to take cover behind a ridge and thick brush as the bullets flew past them, and putting holes into trees, and flinging up rock and dirt as the rounds danced around their cover.



one turian, one wounded human merc, four human scientists, against a swarm of angry batarian slavers wouldn't go well. But now he may be providing a distraction for the other mercenary group to give them an easier opening. Now the Batarians' attention was going to be split.
 
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Raymond took cover as soon as the shooting started, ducking around a tree. He leaned out and started firing short controlled bursts at the shimmering figures descending upon them. They were too far away to effectively hit them with biotics, but they were closing in. He started advancing on the infiltrators, moving from cover to cover, firing busts at whatever targets he could sight. His biggest concern right now was closing with the infiltrators to destroy them with his biotics as quickly as he could before any reinforcements arrived to flank them, and with the noise they were making, that would only be a matter of time.
 
(GM collaboration post, courtesy of Archer and I)

KODIAK TEAM
Xavier, Raymond, Cassius, Ardent

Two of the first five man team of infiltrators went down, one to Cassius' shotgun and the other to a lucky shot from Raymond. However the raider left on the ground lifted his gun and shot Ardent in his arm, it was only a graze, but a graze that tore off armor and left a bleeding gash in his right arm. Cassius' insults and show of force did well to divert some of the enemy fire away from Xavier, but now their attention was on him. Two sniper rounds were fired in his direction, one hit the ground at his feet, and the other managed a glancing hit, which reduced his biotic barrier to nil. Shortly afterwards, the remaining infiltrators quickly moved out of the clearing and into cover, one taking a shot to his lower abdomen in the process, his shields and armor taking the brunt of the blow. Three more batarian raiders were taking cover along with their infiltrator companions. This group, from what the Kodiak fireteam could make out, was made up of two sentinels (their tech armor already on, giving them ample protection until it can be broken through) as well as an adept (with what appears to be lighter weapons and armor). Considering their specializations, this group may turn out to be a severe problem as well. Biotic explosions being triggered around the fireteam or directly on their persons would be disastrous.

Xavier kept on running, the three he bumped into chasing after him, he was making his way into open ground, somewhere that he would have the advantage having his own tech armor and omni-shield as protection and the enemy infiltrators would have next to nothing. The merc feels a hard slam into his back and falls face first into the ground, having the wherewithal to roll to the side just in time before the vanguard slammed into the ground, his nova attack causing the grass and dirt to explode up. Xavier uses the momentum of his roll to get to a kneeling position and fires three shots with his hand cannon and sending a warp at the vanguard. Not waiting to see if they hit, he continues his mad dash for the entrance of the forest. The other three raiders closed in. Zigzaging between trees and making extensive use of his shield, he was feeling strained from the constant running and the ceaseless enemy attack. Seeing the entrance of the forest, the only way he figured he would survive this confrontation, he digs his feet into the earth once more, and makes a hard sprint towards the cover of the dense wood. Once behind cover, he spins around, shuts his shield off to allow it to recharge then pulls out his tempest sub-machine gun, setting it to full auto and waiting for the first sign of enemy fire.

[Body count: 3 killed]
[Remaining: 2 batarian infiltrators, 2 sentinels, 1 adept, 1 vanguard and 3 basic troops from behind]


--Meanwhile--​


MAKO TEAM
Harlow, Hannah, Kronos, Jay

The raiders stationed at the compound, unsurprisingly, open fired on the mako, their small arms doing little to the tank's shields. The two of the three batarians that Harlow attacked dropped dead instantly, and the third lost his right arm and fell backwards on the ground, back-pedalling slowly, agonizing gasps escaping with every breath. Eagle Eye (we controlled him for the sake of convenience) used the machine gun to take out the spotter on the rooftop perch that the sniper had fallen from. Batarian raiders were giving the mako as well as Harlow a wide berth as the slayer was dangerous enough without the tank as back up, and fired from behind the barricades made by the militia during the initial attack.

Despite the team's temporary advantage, an unexpected batarian quickly exited the transport carrying a rocket launcher, taking aim at the already moving Mako and firing. The rocket slams into the backside of the mako, the explosive power of which damaged the furthermost wheel on the right, causing the mako to begin swerving out of control. Either by a stroke of luck or pure genius by Shock, the mako drifts sideways before coming to a stop, preventing the damaged side from being further exposed to the enemy's line of fire.

The raider's light tanks powered up their railguns and aimed towards the mako. Before they could react, however, Jay fires his own shot from the mako's main battery, taking out one of their heavy cannons without trouble, the incinerated gunner screaming and stumbling backwards off of the vehicle. The second war truck's railgun charged up without interruption and landed a direct hit onto the mako's hull, badly degrading its shields, stunning Eagle Eye and causing the vehicle to rock violently for a time.

The batarian leader, seemingly impressed by Harlow's display of strength, began walking towards him with heavy footsteps heedless of the surrounding gunfire. He then conjured an omni-fist on his right arm with a subtle motion...

[Body count: 4 killed, 1 gravely wounded]
[Remaining: 8 batarian troops, 3 drivers, 2 war trucks (one damaged), and the leader]


--In The Meantime--​


Dex et al.

The pitter-patter of gunfire against the surrounding foliage seemed to halt just before the mercs' arrival.

Unknowingly to Harlow and the others, the sacrifice of Dex's squad made the mako's assault (which came from another direction) much more difficult to anticipate. Now, it seemed, mako squad had indirectly returned the favour in the form of a massive distraction... Dex and his group of survivors were finally free from the slavers' awareness, the obvious next step would be to complete the mission and turn tail with the remaining scientists.

One of them, a biologist, slowly stood peered out from behind the ridge, curious to see what had stole the attention of his would-be captors. "Is that vehicle one of yours? We can't just let them die out there... for us", he added dismally, looking back to the meagre group of survivors. "I know you said we have to go but i-is there something, a-anything we can do to help them!?", he exclaimed, gesturing to the heavily outnumbered (and probably out-gunned) mako and its crew. "Maybe, I mean, if we're lucky, m-maybe we can rescue the others too! You'll do something right!?".

"Sounds like suicide to me...", another dazed scientist interjected in a low voice. He then let out a quivering breath, sat up against the ridge and stared blankly out into the dense forest. "God help us...", he remarked, causing a third scientist to look at him funny.
 
Hannah gripped the controls for dear life as the mako slid to a halt, wheels kicking up dirt, and leaving deep skid marks in the process. She sat dazed for a moment, hunched over slightly like a cat trying to stabilize itself while falling down a slide. Recollecting her thoughts, she dared look over to the structural integrity monitor to analyze the damage, not yet realizing that she had conveniently drifted the impacted area out of harm's way. "back right axel... right.... RIGHT! Exactly as planned!", she declared aloud. It was time for action.

"Alright... Okay... this isn't so bad, just fix the axel, repair some pistons, connect some wires, restore mobility...", she mumbled while exiting through the cramped side door of the mako. "I'll be fine", She added, hardly noticing (let alone comprehending the implications of) the peculiar slick streak of red or the odd globs of greyish stuff scattered across the hull. She dialled a few keys on her arm and primed the suit's modified omni-tool while judging the damage first-hand. Using the vehicle's auto-repair in tandem with actual power tools (for the more seriously damaged areas) her progress was surprisingly efficient, despite what her apparent nervous giggling/crying would have you believe. Although it was indiscernible whether it was hysteria or her helmet's limited view which gave her tunnel vision, this limited visibility not only provided focus, but also fortunately prevented her from noticing the dilapidated corpse of Kronos a few dozen feet to the left.

The sounds of batarians screaming, bullets flying past and general death were all around her. Kneeling next to the damaged area, Hannah purposely bumped her helmet against the mako's armor as she welded a patch, trying to wish the whole situation away. Why can't they all just stop shooting? *bump* How will we possibly survive this? *bump* Where's Harlow...? *bump* What the hell is a person my age and stature even doing here? *bump* Why is the galaxy such a cruel place? *THUD!*

The mako's hull jolted forward and hit her head in return, as if telling her incessant thoughts to shut up. "Gah!...", she fell backwards, without a helmet the impact would probably have knocked her out. "Something hit us...", being forced onto the ground gave her a better look of the battlefield from beneath the mako. It was a the turret of a light tank, probably powerful enough to do as much damage as a rocket if it manages to get through the shields. "oh no... uh... Eagle Eyes? Come in! We have to prevent that railgun from firing again, or being immobilized won't be the worst of our problems!" Between being outnumbered, outgunned and pinned down... things didn't seem to be going so well for mako squad...
 
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