Ghosts and Glass [Commonwealth Dominion of Cerea]

[Alleycat]

Starkos, Sasha Sergeant
CST Marine Sniper
Aboard the CRS Surprise
[member="Rayce Tharelle"], [member="Kel Hamner"], [member="Jacen Konshu"], [member="The Collective"]
(5)

The enemy had swarmed the ship as it breeched the hangar bay. It was evident early on in the fight that the warriors attacking were getting the upper hand. The insect weapons they were using had complicated any response from the Commonwealth soldiers and crew aboard the Surprise. Many were taken out right away having no way to repeal the onslaught of the yellow and black wasp-like creatures released upon the breech.

When the order to abandon ship came, the young Marine sniper wasn't surprised much as the hangar was lost and the swarm was making their way towards the bridge and engine room. The sergeant turned to the CIC and pointed towards where they needed to go.

"Come on, sir… Let's get you to the escape pod," Sash said dutifully to the white-haired Tharalle, putting the father-daughter tension on the back burner for now. Surviving this ordeal was the only thing that mattered at the moment. Their new and complicated relationship could be dealt with latter... that is if they lived.

Sasha stepped out first from their defensive position, giving a spray of fire from a secondary blaster rifle she'd picked up from a dead soldier as the Commander was supposed to follow, staying behind the armored Shocktrooper for cover as they made their way across the short distance over to the nearest escape pod. The spirited Corellisi rolled her dark jade eyes as the 'old man' hesitated getting into the pod. Just then one of those stinging insects came at him. She spun the rifle around in her gloved hands and used the stock as a bat, hitting the giant wasp with it and sending the bug sailing off into the distance. The redhead might have given her father a little shove at that point sending the man into the pod unceremoniously .

"Oops, so sorry sir… " Sash said after closing the hatch behind her and quickly strapping herself in; bitting her lip to keep a smirk off her face as did the other crew members already inside.

There was no time for a retort from him as she pushed the launch button immediately and the escape pod exited the Surprise pinning them all in their seats as the group assembled in the small space sped at high G's towards the planet's surface.

 

[Darth Caecus]

Location: Cerea, near Outsider Citadel
Objective: MC-D
Sub-objective: Scout Citadel, confirm
3/20
Allies Near By: [member="Eli Brooks"] [member="Cait Falcor"]

Zee, Dark and Turing moved at a moderate pace through the forest between the Commonwealth landing zone and the Citadel. She led the trio, starting and stopping frequently- it slowed the pace, but she wasn't about to run them headlong in to something. Their job wasn't to engage- it was recon and getting that information back to the main force.

As they neared the citadel, Zee motioned for Dark and Turing to fan out slightly to either side. They slunk through the trees. Carefully, moving slowly, she withdrew a pair of macrobinoculars.

The forest ended near the citadel at the top of a ridge. Getting any closer, without being seen, was going to be a challenge for Commonwealth troops. The land between the forest edge and the outsider center was largely clear of cover and she grimaced as she visually scanned across the tableau. Fortunately, they had no intention of going in over land. It was obvious that route would be suicide.

A double click over the comm from Turing pulled her attention east. Sweeping the binoculars in that direction, she double clicked a confirmation.

The trio melted back in to the trees, Dark and Turing reforming on Zee's location. Once they were far enough back, she opened the channel to Brooks.

"Zee confirming enemy at citadel. Definitely some activity on the roof, but the angle doesn't allow confirmation of heavy weaponry from here. Outside approach too open. Heading back in your direction unless you have something else you need us to do out here, over."

 

[Vorhi Alestrani]

Location: Outsider citadel, on the ground, main bazaar
Objective: Find out what's going on, punch it if it tries to hit me
Others nearby: @Zee @Mahlzaren of the Swarm [member="Dean Letham"] [member="Neldar Poska"] [member="The Collective"]


One simple supply run. A grocery run to the citadel to pick up some wine and sell some fish. Easy. Right. But, he'd been met by evacuating civilians on the road, and a Cerean patrol. It had taken multiple flashes of his old Templar Insignia to be allowed to head towards the city, where some sort of invasion was happening. He hadn't understood most of the words. But people kept mentioning the "Bugs" and "monsters." So, he had come, iron gloves on, ready to see what could happen.


As he wandered the bazaar, he looked about, preparing for whatever dangerous thing could happen. He hadn't sen any ghosts yet, but something--something strange--could be felt in the force. He didn't know what it was, but it bothered him greatly. Still, he kept moving forward. He'd know it when he 'saw' it....

 

[The Upright Man]

Objective: MC-F
Post: 9/20
Tag: [member="Neldar Poska"] | [member="Jacen Konshu"]
________________

0907 hours, 2.1.849 (military calendar)
Crash Site, Upper City
Outsider Citadel,
Cerea, Cerean System, Samagi Sector, Mid Rim​

"Calm down," Dean barked at Neldar. There was little shared love between humans and xeno's among the Alexandrian natives of the Commonwealth. His gaze turned skyward to the remaining remnants of the Corona and what little pickets of Warpods that were still holding their own. Between the Vaagari and Swarm, there was little hopes of survival for the Gank pilots. A handful of the heavily armored aliens began to fall in behind Dean, no more than ten. His ears perked up as he continued to heed Neldar who growled in an almost incoherent manner of speech. Of course the damn alien wasn't going to come along, it was dangerous.

"Alright, I'll do what I can," Dean said. The station was his best bet of contacting the Commonwealth fleet, and his best bet of staying alive. He counted his clips and made way for the alleyways, the Ganks following in a thin line behind him. He heard blaster fire a second later and gazed over his shoulder, Neldars position was on the verge of being overrun. But not by Vaagari, by something else. They were monstrous in appearance, and the area became a free-for-all between the Ganks, Vagaari and Swarm insectoids. Dean couldn't turn back and help, but he could fight on his own, he looked to the Ganks and gave a hard shove into the shoulder of the one immediately behind him, "Go back, help Neldar."

There was a moment of aggression he felt in the air, like the Gank was about to shoot Dean in the gut, but after a moments silence the creature nodded its head and they all began to murmur something among each other in an alien dialect, they began to move back towards Neldar. Now alone, Dean walked along the alleyway and towards the main street. Gunfire could be heard, and the sound of tracks crushing metal. He hunkered into a squat and got close to the alleys edge, peering around the corner. Further up the street were Vaagari troops retreating, he shifted his gaze south, down the street was an advancing Marine Corps mechanized platoon.

"Don't shoot, that's an order," he barked before rounding the corner, "Commander Dean Letham." The marines stopped firing, a sergeant moved forward, "Good to see you in one piece, Commander," the marine saluted Dean, "Staff Sergeant Lopez, 906th." The cannon of a Commonwealth tank hunter boomed, Dean turned his head in time to see a whole squadron of Vaagari get turned into mince meat, "We've got the Vaagari on the run, Commander. Our radio got shot to hell not a second after we heard Hadiyya was taking operational command." The female sergeant motioned for the two of them to retreat behind the cover of the tank, "We're pushing towards a HoloNet broadcast station, hopefully we can get back into contact with command from there. We'll be establishing a forward base when we arrive."

 

[Neldar Poska]

Outsider Citadel, City Center
(5/20)

[member="Dean Letham"]


Of course Neldar wanted to leave, to get off this planet. Kark the power cells, the job, kark it all. His ship of three-hundred years, gone. Neldar was forced to watch as his beloved was beat down mercilessly, and there was nothing he could do about it - his game was off, which was why he was losing this battle so quick, losing this position. His body was twice the width of a human, so if he left with Dean it was either he travel in front and take every hit, or travel in the rear, and take every hit. At least here, he could make a stand and try not to get hit... But it didn't matter. As Dean left, something else came out of the shadows and it spooked the Ganks, as they hadn't expected it nor seen it before - the Swarm.

Neldar was shaken and surprised from his dulled moment, after being shot and taking a moment to recollect, he had paused during the fight from the stress and pain, and this.... Thing, was like a smack to the head with a freighter. "WHAT ARE YOU?!" he yelled as one charged for him, bashing through a Gank or two on the way. He grabbed whatever limbs he could and held it there, as long as he could with a shot-up shoulder, but thankfully not too long. The Ganks turned and lit it up, now using the anti-vehicle rounds to put them down. Not only were they ripping through enemies, but they were out of ammo for the anti-infantry, so that was all that was left. Neldar panted and shook his head, thinking of what to do. He went for another flechette from a downed Gank and started fiddling with its mechanics until he made it unstable, and if the trigger were to pull, the entire weapon and all its ammo would light up. With the other flechettes around, it was going to be pretty. "Ganks, Ganks fall back, go to human - to holonet. Neldar speak later, help [member="Dean Letham"] . The Ganks were confused, but at least now they wouldn't die in some hole. The Swarm kept coming, and they kept firing. Once they got away, Neldar was ready. He turned the humans pod over and ripped some parts out; the racks, the seat, etc until there was enough room - even if it would he tight. He rolled the pod over and was under it, and set off the gun. As the Vagaari and and Swarm... swarmed, an explosion went off. "Neldar hope human pod strong enough against explosion... Gaaaah, fething... Human..."



Before the Ganks in Deans position would reach Neldar, a great explosion was sean and hears all the way to Deans position. It was like a field of fireworks; rounds of explosive tipped ammo firing off and acting like a dozen thermal detonators, many explosions over several seconds. The Ganks that left Neldar sent along a message to the group with Dean, telling them Neldar stayed behind and they were all to push for the holonet.

If anyone went back to find Neldar, they would find nothing but rubble.

The Ganks with Dean turned to look back at him, the one closest to Dean nudged him back, giving a blank stare, trying to gesture that there was nothing to go back to. All that was left was the holonet. Later on, the other few Ganks from Neldars position would catch up to Dean, and Dean would cross paths with a few Ganks from a Corona escape pod along the route to the Holonet. Totalling under twenty Ganks to follow Dean to the Holonet.

 

[Alleycat]

Conner, Mia Commander
Gold Squadron
Cerea Space
(6)

Mia really wished she had a full squadron of twelve individual starfighters right now rather than just the four Scythe's that made up Gold Squadron. The other squadron of the CRS Surprise, Red, was in the same situation. The multi-crew state-of-the-art fighters were the staple of the Commonwealth Navy, but numbers were numbers. There were just too few of them. The skies were full of incoming enemy forces not only from the original Vagaari ships that had attacked Cerea, but now there was an additional fleet that moved in though their fighters and boarding shuttles were targeting both the Vagaari and Commonwealth alike. It was confusing, but that meant it was two against one.

[ Red Squadron… Cover the escape pods launching from the Surprise. Gold on me. We're carving a path to the flagship of the secondary fleet, then hitting her hard. ] the Acting CAG ordered over the battlenet as Conner lined up her starfighter so the rest of the four-man crew could do their jobs; targeting, shooting, and giving her optimum performance from the space craft.

Spoiler

[member="Neldar Poska"] [member="Dean Letham"] [member="Vorhi Alestrani"] [member="Zee"] [member="Sasha Starkos"] [member="Horus"] [member="Eli Brooks"] [member="Kel Hamner"] [member="Isaac Knight"] [member="The Collective"] [member="Warfield Lester"] [member="Rayce Tharelle"] [member="Cait Falcor"] [member="Allison Martha Iversson"] [member="Jacen Konshu"]

 

[Rayce Tharelle]

​Tharelle, Rayce
​Commander-in-Chief, Commonwealth Marine Corps
​Above Cerea
Post [3/20]

Tharelle had little time to react after the klaxons sounded on the ship. Immediately, Sergeant [member="Sasha Starkos"] - My daughter, he chided himself, ​I've got to acclimate to that - ​ushered him out into the hall, scooping up a blaster from a fallen comrade. Tharelle followed her as she moved deftly through the corridors, stopping only to bend down and arm himself with a sidearm pulled from the hip of a deceased officer awkwardly arrayed along one of the corridor walls. The sidearm was a standard issue for all Commonwealth officers, a small 10mm slugthrower. He did take the extra few seconds to relieve the officer of the hip holster as well, fitting it over his uniform pants as he continued through the cramped quarters. He hated allowing her to do all the fighting for him here, but it made sound tactical sense. She was armored, he wasn't. She was an enlisted officer, he was command personnel. She'd seen action far more recently than he had, and he knew that she was their best chance for survival. Still, it bit at his ego to follow her like a lost pet.

When they arrived at the pod, she motioned him in quickly. Something caught his eye, however - a flash of movement to his left. His mind was trying to put it together when he was shoved unceremoniously into the pod, Starkos' rifle coming around and striking a flying insect-like creature. Shaking off the moment, he sat and strapped into the pod, knowing that it would be the difference between life and death.

His escort came in behind him, sealing the pod before strapping in and striking the launch button, sending them spiraling down toward the planet. Tharelle's mind raced with next steps, plans formulating in his mind for when they were on the ground. His mind raced to make tactical sense of what had just happened in space. Only a moment was spared for a fleeting glance toward his daughter. Catching her eye, he nodded ever so slightly. The first of many signs of respect to come, he imagined.

 

[Progflaw99]

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---​

Location: Cerea, In Atmos​

Objective: MC-D​

In Vicinity:​

[member="Sasha Starkos"] | [member="Neldar Poska"] | [member="Dean Letham"] | [member="Isaac Knight"] | [member="Warfield Lester"]​

[member="Cait Falcor"] | [member="The Collective"] | [member="Kel Hamner"]​

Post: 3/ 20(?)​

--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---​

​

Zee had reported back with the information Eli needed to push forward. He keyed up his mic, responding to their query.

"Loop up with us..." He glanced at the small map on his helmet's HUD. "...At the high ground. I want you to provide overwatch from the small hill overlooking the maintenance tunnels, then catch up and join us once we cross the small open area, we'll cover your cross."

With a silent hand motion the rest of his troops rose from where they'd taken a knee. Still no contact. He shouldn't be complaining, no contact was a good thing, at least when you had the element of surprise on your side. They'd inserted far enough out that they shouldn't have been detected but who knew, all bets were off in combat. As they moved forward Eli grimaced. The open space between where they currently were to where the maintenance tunnels opened up was slightly larger than the display had led on. Kriff. They'd have to cross it if they were to take the objective and every moment they wasted was another dropship shot down, another pilot put into harms way. Turning over his shoulder he spoke softly to the rest.

"Falcor, On me. I need you to take half of the Marines, cover us on the cross, we'll do the same for you after we're across."

Across from the small open area was a large cave opening up wide enough to fit an MPD through, into the ground. That was their target. Gathering half of the Marines, Eli formed them up in a line and prepared to rush across the field. Once set and the thumbs up was given, he lowered the barrel of his weapon and waved his left arm high and forward.

"First Group, Go go go!"

Once across they would provide cover for Second Group, and then finally Zee's scouts. Once across, they'd be able to enter the tunnels and hopefully start hitting the Vagaari where it hurt, right below in the soft underbelly of their operation at the Outsider Citadel.

 

[Alleycat]

Starkos, Sasha Sergeant
CST Shock TrooperMarine Sniper
Ground Side Cerea
(7)

Commonwealth Shock Troopers trained to insert to ground on drop pods so one would think escape pods a piece of cake, right? Wrong… Theirs seemed to be out of control. It screamed and twirled uncontrollably down through the lower atmosphere of Cerea and crash landed into a field. It took a moment to shake off the effects of the impact, but soon enough the Marine sergeant gathered her wits and quickly undid her crash webbing.

Sasha was battered and bruised, but nothing needing immediate attention. She checked on the others that were in the escape pod with herself and her father, then gave an order for them to secure a perimeter outside the wreck, then the Corellisi reached over and gently shook [member="Rayce Tharelle"]'s shoulder to see if he was okay as his eyes were closed.

"Commander… Are you hurt? We need to get out of here as there's a fuel cell leak detected, sir." she inquired with concern etched in her voice; a mix of professional and personal caring for the white-haired CIC; the latter something difficult to get used to feeling.

Spoiler

[member="Neldar Poska"] [member="Dean Letham"] [member="Vorhi Alestrani"] [member="Zee"] [member="Sasha Starkos"] [member="Horus"] [member="Eli Brooks"] [member="Kel Hamner"] [member="Isaac Knight"] [member="The Collective"] [member="Warfield Lester"] [member="Cait Falcor"] [member="Allison Martha Iversson"] [member="Jacen Konshu"] [member="Horus"]

 

[Rayce Tharelle]

Tharelle, Rayce
​Commander-in-Chief, Commonwealth Marine Corps
​Above Cerea
Post [4/20]

His ears were ringing. Not so much ringing as screaming in the highest pitch he could imagine. Fog rolled off his mind as he pieces together where he was and what had happened. It was only a few moments, as training - deeply ingrained - took over. It had been years, decades​ even, since he'd experienced this. But once a marine, always a marine.

"Commander… Are you hurt?" [member="Sasha Starkos"]' voice stirred his consciousness. He heard it at first like an echo, as if in a dream. He recognized that feeling, as well. Shaking his head slightly, he opened his eyes to a haze of smoke and evacuating bodies. "We need to get out of here as there's a fuel cell leak detected, sir."

Yes, that made sense. Move. With a start, the aging Commander-in-Chief coughed. His chest hurt. Badly. Such was life. "I'm fine,"​ he said, unbuckling his restraints and standing through the pain. "Let's move."

Using the other seats and various rails to steady himself, he made his way out of the wrecked escape pod and into the field outside. The sun shone brightly in the sky, though plumes of smoke rose as if from funeral pyres all over the valley. Tharelle walked the hundred meters or so to where the survivors had gathered, safely outside of the range of the fallen craft. Straightening his uniform, as was his obsessive habit when uncomfortable, he cleared his throat as he ran a hand through his disheveled hair.

​"How far are we from the Citadel?" he asked a Naval lieutenant staring blankly at the downed escape pod. "You," he said, pointing out an officer with a datapad, "get me a sitrep of operations on the ground. Sergeant Starkos, do we have any nearby Commonwealth elements on local channels?"​ Rayce Tharelle was a man used to answers and command. Being in the dark and on the ground was a thing he hadn't done in a very long time.

 

[H3xle]

En Route to Cerean Ground
3/20

Jacen felt the braking rockets activate as his pod neared the ground. It slowed his descent just enough to make the landing survivable, though far from comfortable.

*slam*

The nose of the pod inserted into the ground at high velocity. Through the dense armor of the pod, he could hear distant thuds as his soldiers landed nearby. He palmed the panel that opened the pod and stumbled onto the solid ground with his rifle at the ready.

"Sound off." he said over the platoon channel. It took only a few moments for everyone to check in. "Alright, form up on Johanis. Creet, scan the channels for local Commonwealth forces. We need to meet up with the 906th, but they aren't responding to radio." He got affirmatives all around, and he moved to Johanis's position. She had just happened to land in the middle of their formation, and so became the rally point. A quick glance at everyone told him that they'd all grabbed the important gear, weapons and ammo, before jumping ship, but that the survival packs may have gotten left behind.

'We'll need resupply within three days, then. Shouldn't prove to be an issue.' he thought to himself, then listened in on his soldier trying to raise Commonwealth forces on the broadband radio.

"Hammer Three to Commonwealth forces, requesting sitrep." Creet spoke onto the radio circuit.

[member="Rayce Tharelle"] | [member="Sasha Starkos"] | [member="Eli Brooks"] | [member="Dean Letham"]

 

[Allison Martha Iversson]

Fire Control Center
CRS Twelfth Night, Battlegroup Alexandria,
Cerea, Cerean System, Samagi Sector, Mid Rim
Objective Alpha

(2/20)

"Direct hit, enemy ships now turning to engage the Twelfth Night", Echo sounded as the holographic map in front of her lit up with a direct impact notice.

"How many ships Echo?"

"All of them, Ma'am.",

The Big MAC was a crowd pleaser for sure. All of the ships had promptly turned towards the Twelfth Night to attack and broke off the engagement with the Surprise and its ships. It should at least give the battlegroup time for some quick repairs and time to engage the bugs from the rear for some pot shots. They know the Twelth Night is dangerous and will likely be focusing their forward shield strength to stop any more shots from the cannon. "All the better to attack for the battlegroup I guess." Allison remarked. At the same time it meant they would bare the brunt of all the fire power the enemy battlegroup fielded. She wasn't sure how the Admiral would get out of this.

"Ma'am, new orders from Lord Admiral Horus. Locking in firing data for anti-ship warheads."

"ETA on the Big MAC venting off?"

"Five minutes."

"Might as well be an eternity. Echo let me see the flight path."

Allison brought the path of the missiles up and quickly double checked the math on the arc, flight time, speed, and-

more. you want more.

"Not right now.", she mumbled under her breath.

"Fire the anti-ship warheads on the coordinates the Lord Admiral provided. Exploit that breach and end that ship! Admiral Horus, five minutes before the MAC fires again. Hope this ship has good defenses because they're ALL advancing on us!"

Outside the launchers lined up for a shot on The Salvor and launched a volley of missiles at it hoping to hit the breach created by the cannon and rip the hole wide open.

 

[Cait Falcor]

Cait Falcor
Loc: Cerea (Groundside)
OBJ: MC-D
IVO: [member="Eli Brooks"], [member="Zee"]
Post: 3
_______________________

Sweat dripped lazily down Cait's back. The Op had been quiet thus far, which was just fine with her. "Gomez, bring your fire team up a little bit, Acevedo seems to be lagging behind"

"On it top" was all Ygrit shot back. Four marines upped their cadence a bit to catch up with the group. Cait continued to scan her sector. Nothing had changed, but it took all of one second for that to change and if she got complacent the cost could be one of her people's lives.

No more Tattoos today. We're all going home.

Cait's comm Crackled with the chatter of 3 fire teams coordinating their movements and occasional updates from the other maneuver elements in Brook's Platoon. The entire Platoon was strung out into a large diamond, with Cait's 3rd Squad on point. MacArthur called back over the SquadCom "Sergeant, there's an opening ahead. I'm pulling my unit back a few meters from the edge."

"Good call Mac" Cait flagged that fact to Brooks, icons flashing on his HUD to inform him that they'd reached the clearing.

Over a few minutes the remainder of the platoon collapsed into a cordoned area with Brooks and Falcor in the center. He lowered his head. Cait noticed that Zee's icon had the "Talking" icon next to hit, but that she couldn't hear anything. The icon disappeared and then Brook's nodded. Cait assumed Zee was getting orders from Brooks to provide Overwatch or something similar.

"Falcor, on me. I need you to take half of the Marines, cover us on the cross, we'll do the same for you after we're across"

Cait simply nodded to Brooks before he set off. "3rd and 4th, with me." Cait called out over the PlatoonCom.

Brooks formed his line, and stormed across the field, while elements of 3 and 4 provided Overwatch, as - presumably - did Zee.

Brook's element, now in position, Cait began her maneuver which would be more akin to a leap frog. 3rd would post in the middle, in a diamond while 4th bounded past them.

"Mac, Take em out, we're be right behind you" Cait called to her junior NCO in 3rd. Allison MacArthur took the element out, they moved swiftly and comfortably, confident in their training and in the leadership of its junior NCO. 3rd reached roughly halfway across the field, and went prone in a diamond shape. They were exposed, but in a position to see flanking threats that Brook's element simply couldn't from the Cave Mouth.

Cait waved her gloved hand and 4th Squad moved out, in a dead sprint past 3rd's position.

Cait collapsed upon her unit, tapping Mac on the shoulder and sending the remainder of 3rd Squad to the relative safety of the Cave Opening.

Upon arrival 3rd and 4th posted as rearguard while Brooks almost immediately began to probe deeper into the cave w/ 1st and 2nd.

Cait slapped Mac's shoulder twice, and gave her a "good job" thumbs up before surveying the rest of the line.

Cait repeated to herself the mantra of the day No more Tattoos today.

 

[Vorhi Alestrani]

Cerean Citadel, groundside


[member="Dean Letham"] [member="Zee"] [member="Cait Falcor"] [member="The Collective"] [member="Mahlzaren of the Swarm"] [member="Jacen Konshu"]



The blind old monk coughed slightly as one of the....things, fired at him, aiming off enough to let the drunken brawled dive for cover behind a fruit cart. Heroically, of course. Well, as heroically as one man could dive bhind a fruit cart. Still, he waited for the big, ornery trooper to empty is clip, at which point, he ran, strafing and diving behind a small souvenir shack for cover. The...thing...snorted and charged, brandish a weapon. Vorhi grinned. Melee. The poor dumb sod....



Vorhi jumped as the large, angry...thing lunged at him with a vibro-blade, dancing over the beast's head and landing one blow. His visoin focused on the creature. It wasn't independent....it was tethered in force by another mind...a larger one. He sighed. "No will of your own? And yet you think to fight me?"


The oracle of ghosts swung again, this time aiming at the things head, exoskeleton and all. It made a cracking sound. "You'll need more than that," he muttered as he kicked the thing squarely in the throat, causing it to double over. A creature that new no fear...without fear of death, how could one truly fighter at their peak?He looked around, waiting from something more dangerous. A swarm, a horde, a proper monster. An opponent that could take more than one hit, at the very least.


He climbed atop one of the tents and saw a massive explosion. Trouble was headed that way. Good. He might as well run towards something worthwhile.....

 

[The Upright Man]

Objective: MC-F
Post: 10/20
Tag: [member="Neldar Poska"] | [member="Jacen Konshu"] | @Jackon Mills | [member="Gunther Creed"]
________________

0910 hours, 2.1.849 (military calendar)
Crash Site, Upper City
Outsider Citadel,
Cerea, Cerean System, Samagi Sector, Mid Rim​

Not a second after the Staff Sergeant Lopez had finished debriefing Dean was when the Ganks rounded the corner after him. The marines raised their rifles, prepared to gut them. "Hold fire!" Dean barked, they lowered their weapons, "They're with me." Dean took a step forward, "Where is Nel-" his voice cut off by an earth-rumbling explosion. Fire and smoke rose high into the sky. "Neldar," Dean murmured, "You're with me," Dean said, he pointed to a marine, "Time!" The marine craned his wrist and shouted across the street, "0910." Dean nodded his head and shouted to Lopez, "I need a formal document written up, have one of your grunts do the paperwork - Unknown alien species, name is Neldar, time of death 0910. Died saving a Jaguar."

The report would be handed down the line, the alien, while not a serving member of the Commonwealth, would receive his due medallions, posthumously. "Alright I need a rifle," Dean said, Lopez turned her head left then right until she barked down the road and a man came running towards him. Dean took the MM101 Assault Rifle, the staple of the Marine Corps, the bread and butter of combat. Dean checked the clip and took an ammunition belt that was offered, then another, then a third. It would weigh down any normal green as grass recruit, but Dean was a Jaguar. The best of the best.

His gaze averted to the drop pods and escape lifeboats in the sky that were coming down hard and fast from the CRS Surprise. Shart, he thought, They're abandoning ship. "906th, advance on the tower. I'll search for survivors. Take these guys," Dean hiked a thumb to the Ganks, "They'll serve you well." Dean began to hoof it down the street when he heard a trio of footsteps following him, Lopez shouted, "You've got Fireteam Alpha-Nine with you, look after my boys and girls, Commander. Good luck."

 

[Jackson Mills]

(1/20)

The world was black and soundless, and Sergeant Jackson Mills felt as though his mind were filled with thick cobwebs. He felt weightless, and he drifted between thoughts that were barely coherent even to him. Very slowly he began to process questions in his mind. ‘Where am I? What’s going on?’ he groggily thought to himself as he fought to clear the cobwebs in his mind. ‘I’m…asleep? No, that’s not right…is it?’ He started coming to his senses again, and he again began to feel the sense of his own weight; but even that felt off. His weight was in the wrong place it seemed.

Finally he was conscious enough to realize that he was unconscious, and he tried to force his eyes open. His vision was blurry, but it very gradually began to focus back to its normal 20/20. He was in the troop bay of an MPD-11a dropship, but something was terribly wrong. The ship was not in flight but instead seemed to have crashed inside the city. The ship was tipped upward at a nearly 30 degree angle which left Jackson (who had been sitting in the jumseat near the cockpit of the ship) hanging from his seat, restrained from falling by his safety restraints. He was quickly clearing the fog from his mind now, and he began to recall the events that had lead him there. He had been dropping into the battle with the rest of his company from the 365th Infantry Battalion when they caught a burst from an Anti-Air shell. He vaguely remembered the ship jolting violently and his head slamming into the bulkhead before his world had faded to black.

His heart sank when he saw the bodies. There were pieces of 7 bodies, some more or less intact, others were hardly recognizable. He cursed under his breath at the scene, lamenting their loss. He knew he couldn’t have done anything to prevent it, but in a way he still felt responsible. He quickly tucked the thought away to the back of his mind. There had been 12 of them on board the ship, and only 7 bodies were apparent in the crash. He had to turn his attention to getting out and finding the rest of his men.

Abruptly the muffled sound of gunfire pierced the funereal silence of the dropship. The sound of weapons fire seemed to be coming from just outside of the ship. He could make out the chatter of MM101 assault rifles and return blaster fire, along with the shouts of other humans. It seems he wouldn’t have to search too hard to find his men after all. He reached down to try and undo the fastener of his seat, but the buckle was stuck. With a frustrated sigh, the battered Sergeant pulled his combat knife from its sheath on his belt, and with a quick motion he sliced the strap holding him in place. He fell free from the seat and tried to land upright, but the slight incline of the floor and the lack of circulation in his legs from having been in such an awkward position made his legs buckle underneath him, and he collapsed onto the deck.

Jackson rose to his feet and sheathed the combat knife he had used to free himself. He walked back up the incline to his now empty seat and yanked his MM101 rifle from its slot by the chair. He then turned and headed toward the crumpled and deformed exit at the rear of the ship. He had to duck to get through the hatch which had been narrowed substantially by the collision with the ground. When he emerged from the ship, he could see that they were in a small crater in the middle of a street in the city. All 5 of the Marines who had survived the crash were spread out around the crater, using its rim as cover against an apparent ambush. He ducked as a blaster bolt whizzed by his head, and he ran to the nearest Marine and took cover by him. “Y’all thought you could have all the fun without me, Corporal Taylor?” He said. The Marine jumped at the sound of his voice, but when he recognized the Sergeant he grew visibly calmer than he had been.

“Oh thank God!” He exclaimed, “We thought you were dead, sir.”

“Takes more than a smack to the head to take me out, Corporal. What’s our status?”

“We’ve got Hansen, Jones, Abrams and MacMillan. Everyone else died on impact. We weren’t on the ground for more than thirty seconds before we started taking incoming fire. We’ve been pinned down in this crater for the last few minutes.”

“Thank you Corporal, good job keeping things together.” He said, and turned his attention to the scene around him. On all sides of their position stood three and four story buildings, and blaster fire was pouring down on them from most of them. There were no obvious routes of escape for he and his men. Most of the buildings seemed to be occupied, and all of the side streets were too far away for them to get to without being cut down en route. He swore under his breath. There wasn’t any way to get out of there without help. He keyed on his radio and called into it, “Any unit, any unit, this is Sergeant Jackson Mills, 365th IB. My dropship was downed by AA fire and my squad is pinned down at the crash site. Taking fire from all sides. Activating emergency beacon now. Need immediate support, over.” He could only hope that there was a unit close to his position that could lend assistance. Otherwise their ammo loadout wouldn’t hold out, and eventually they would be overtaken. Putting that rather grim thought behind him, the Sergeant picked a firing arc and added his own assault rifle fire to the chorus.

 

[Gunther Creed]

Objective: MC-D
Location: Cerea, Outsider Citadel, Lower City Gate
Allies: [member="Dean Letham"] | [member="Neldar Poska"] | [member="Jacen Konshu"] | [member="Jackson Mills"]
Equipment:

Spoiler

• MM-C SpecOps Kit [modified for General command and control use]
• MM-100
• MM-99
• Various grenades

Post: [1/20]

War erupted over the surface of Cerea as its surface was filled with the sound of both blaster and slug fire, a mix of explosions and fires sending clouds of black smoke into the sky. The Vagaari Empire and its Swarm ally had come to the peaceful homeworld of the cereans. These vile peoples came with one purpose in mind: tyranny. These humble people were nothing except for slaves, cattle to be bought and sold, worked to death to fuel the mighty war machine of the vagaari. Their chittering, insectoid parasitic allies the Swarm a far more mysterious entity that aligned itself with these brutal slavers. Such a dynamic pair certainly spelled doom for the people people of Cerea.

But then the Commonwealth came.

Their fleet descended upon the enemy ships with a legendary ferocity the Commonwealth military were known for while dropship transports descended by the thousands towards the surface fighting the entrenched forces of the enemy on every turn. While countless other worlds were the subject of these brutal raids by the slavers, Cerea would not become a victim on that list. Inside these outsider citadels trapped soldiers of the marine corps were cut off from the main force, fighting a three way street battle for their own survival against an overwhelming enemy force that surrounded them. Whether or not they landed there or crashed it didn't matter, the enemy had circled and cut them off.

It was just outside the main gates to the Lower City that the fighting was heaviest. A pair of towers flanked either side of the gate with mounted heavy repeater cannons between these towers a set of heavy barricades where another mounted gun sat, the entire defense filled to capacity with vagaari soldiers. There was an open plain virtually devoid of cover for about two hundred yards until a large hill rose defiantly out of the ground. This open plain, this killing field was filled with bodies of those cut down in the first assault attempt, an MARV-1a assault vehicle sat overturned not too far away from an enflamed MATT-2a transport.

The hill that now acted as the cover for the assaulting marine forces was the subject of an intense barrage by the heavy turrets that scythed down any infantry who approached. It was behind here that Colonel Adam Greene crouched, fire strafing over his head as he looked back at the suppressed invading force. The force while substantial in size would be quickly torn apart before they even got close to these guns. The colonel looked up toward the hill peering over the edge at the intense barrage. Just as he looked back he found General Gunther Creed kneeling right beside him. Startled the man threw up a salute "General sir we didn't expe-" The man began only to have the general cut him off, swiftly returning the salute.

"Colonel give me a sitrep how bad is it?"

"Bad sir, the enemy were far more deeply entrenched than we thought. Those guns are cutting our people to pieces and we can't get close enough without getting scythed down over the exposed plain its a killing field." The colonel replied. As the nickname predicted it was precisely this atmosphere that earned the Iceman his moniker. Gunther remained as calm and cold as the frozen wastes of Hoth. "I brought just the thing to solve our problem Colonel, have your men charge the defenses on my signal." Gunther said looking up towards the sky. The roar of engines erupted over the area as a pair of aerial transports dropped a duo of CTH-A1 tanks, rocking the earth with a crash. An ear piercing pair of booms followed as the towers went up in an cloud of smoke and fire, sending the vagaari soaring through the air in every direction in a surge of gore. Gunther raised his arm up into the air and swiftly dropped it to signal the charge, another thunderous boom following as the entire attacking force swept over the top of the hill in one unified roar.

 

[Darth Caecus]

Location: Cerea, near Outsider Citadel
Objective: MC-D
Sub-objective: Scout Citadel, confirm
4/20
Allies Near By: [member="Cait Falcor"] [member="Eli Brooks"]

"Loop up with us....At the high ground. I want you to provide overwatch from the small hill overlooking the maintenance tunnels, then catch up and join us once we cross the small open area, we'll cover your cross."

"Copy that. Catch you on the other side. Zee out."

She looked up, slinging the rifle over her shoulder, then frowned.

"Dark? Where's Turing?"

"He was here a second ago...."

Her step faltered for half a heartbeat as she scanned the forest around them. He had literally been there, right there. But now there was no trace. Something dropped in the pit of Zee's stomach, a deep unease. She should head back with Dark, rendezvous. Either Turing would meet up with them, or he wouldn't.

She never got the chance, however.

****

*crackle* Falc- *hzzzt bzzt* surrounded by- *zzzzzcrackle* looked like our men- *hzt* karking Turing *crackle* not safe- keep on mission, don't *hssssst*


****

With Brooks and Cait on the other side of the divide, they waited for Zee and her small team to rendezvous, ready to cover their cross. But there was no movement on the other side.

Of their trackers, there was no trace. And when they tried to raise them on the radios, all they received in return was silence.

 

[Alleycat]

Location: Cerea
Escape pod crash site in a field outside city
(8)

"How far are we from the Citadel?" he asked a Naval lieutenant staring blankly at the downed escape pod. "You," he said, pointing out an officer with a datapad, "get me a sitrep of operations on the ground. Sergeant Starkos, do we have any nearby Commonwealth elements on local channels?"​ Rayce Tharelle was a man used to answers and command. Being in the dark and on the ground was a thing he hadn't done in a very long time.

Sasha didn't know her father very well, but did know when someone was trying hard to hide that they were hurt more than just being shaken up. [member="Rayce Tharelle"] was splinting his side subtly… broken ribs, internal injuries? She would have to stay close to the CIC, and not because they were related either. He was a high ranking officer in the Commonwealth. It was her duty to watch his six.

"Sir… Seems we are having comm issues. I did make out the 906th is making an offensive on the Citadel. I also heard Sergeant [member="Jackson Mills"] of the 365th calling for aide as they are pinned down where their MPD crashed in the city. They are about 10 clicks away north-northwest of here," Starkos reported.

 

[The Upright Man]

Objective: Search & Rescue
Post: 11/20
Tag: [member="Neldar Poska"] | [member="Jacen Konshu"] | [member="Jackson Mills"] | [member="Gunther Creed"]
________________


The door gave way. Commander Dean Letham took a step back. It had only taken a swift kick to knock the shanty entrance down. As he settled back the small fireteam breached the room and sounded the 'all clear.' Dean walked into the shack, it was a single-room shanty where a family of three had lived, mother, father and a young girl. They were all dead, corpses strewn across the floor. Blaster rounds had pocketed their chests, clothes scorched by plasma. The Vaagari were brutal in their conquering.

Dean huddled close to the windowsill. While the house may be small it offered a fantastic view over the Outsider Citadel. "Bino's," Dean asked, offering a hand out as one of the marines quickly placed a pair of binoculars in the Jaguar's hand. His eyes danced over the landscape, and what the binoculars failed to magnify his cybernetic eyes did. He had an unhindered view of the battlefield, it was chaos. The Vaagari and an unknown enemy contact were engaged, while Commonwealth forces were making a push, driving a wedge between the two armies.

His eyes followed the trails of smokes. The landscape was now dotted with lifeboats from Neldar's vessel and the CRS Surprise. Dean could spot marines and navy crew emerging from the lifeboats, some others didn't move, their doors remaining closed. Tombs for the dead. His eyes drifted to a black smoke that plumed high into the atmosphere and arcing bolts from blaster rifles pinned down a location. It was a crashed MPD, and from his spot he could see a couple of marines making a last stand.

He'd have to get to the lifeboats next. "Move it, boys," Dean barked, "We've got a downed transport, grid kilo-two-three." The marines saluted, but a lance corporal hesitated, "But Commander, the Vaagari own that sector." Dean frowned and turned on the marine, "You didn't join the Corps to question orders." Dean motioned to the doorway he had kicked in, "There's the exit, go running back to Lopez, or you can stay and save lives." The marine stood still, "Good." Dean moved for the door and began a light jog down the nearest alley, making a beeline for the crash site.