Devil In Jersey City [Episode 1] (ADI Mission)

[Captain Canuck]

"No sir." Reese took a risk and spoke up with a broad smile. He knew he was too out of place to comment on a strategy or suggest a plan, but he figured acknowledging his understanding.

The smile he wore hadn't dimmed since Commander Jacen told him he would be manning the... Uh... What was the name... The big gun. Images of heroism, medals, and glory, all romanticized terribly, floated through his head. He almost vibrated with excitement. This was gonna be fun, he figured.

 

[Murray Mitchel]

Murray simply allowed the gathering to close without chiming in any more points. Once Murray began walking towards his squads meeting place was when he began to really think.
Murray could understand Noah's reason's for his orders, but he also knew that bringing that many marines was risking too many important peoples' lives. The reason for the volunteers was fodder for the elites; we were once someones fodder too and now we deserve protection, he thought. He hated the thought of seeing more of his closer comrades dying. Now the question was disobey the commander and get his arse kicked when he returns or follow through with the change of orders...

"Why do I care? It's not the first time I've disobeyed an order"
Murray continued over to the rendezvous point to see many of the new recruits awaiting his arrival "HELLO FODD- I mean 'volunteers' *chuckle* I am Murray Mitchel your current commander. Or rather, I am leading the sewer operation squad. The other two higher-ups are Jace and Arritef. We will be leaving immediately, pack up and lets head out".
The group became gathering its stuff. Murray decided this was a good time to learn some of his new privates' names. "what's your name son?" he asked a particularly young looking lad.
"My name is Jeff"
"How old are you?"
"Twenty-wan"
"Alright." He continued to the next one who was eating a potato
"what ya eating there?"
The girl continued to eat and said with a partially full mouth
"A potato"
"Oh. Do you like potatoes?"
"yeah"
"potatoes have lots of calories you know right?"
"yeah..." she replied with hesitance
"you know how to burn those calories?"
"How?"
"BY DOING PUSH-UPS! I WANT TO SEE YOU DO ******* PUSH-UPS UNTIL AFTER WE HAVE LEFT BASE. DO YOU HEAR ME! POTATOES! BAH! WHAT IS THIS!" the girl cowered as Murray exploded on her. She quickly began doing the push-ups and Murray continued to another person. By this time, most of the others had packed up and started leaving but this one person was taking longer to finish which just happened to catch Murray's attention.
"hey whats your name?"
"Me? Johncei ('john sea')"
"you have a last name johncei?"
"naah"
"nah? you don't have a last name?"
"No. My last name is Naah?"
"So its Johncei Nah?!"
"Ya dont wear it out!" with that he finish grabbing his stuff and left.
Everyone had left except for the girl who was doing push-ups. "Alright you may stop Potato girl!"

~~~~
The sound of the hovertrucks and solid march of boots on wet pavement began to cut through the night well the enemy will know we are on our way before we even get within range Murray thought as he watched the main force begin their move. Murray jumped into the manhole along ith the rest of the squads and began his part of the mission.

 

[Talon maara]

The first thing Noah did after releasing Reese's hand was lightly push the sword away, remaining calm with it. Someone so fresh-faced with such a blade made him uncomfortable, but he looked Reese dead in the eye, saw his eagerness to do his part. This boy has never killed a man in his life, and it silently ate at Noah knowing he would basically have to force the guy's hand.

"The vanguard truck is simply the front-most truck in the convoy." Noah pointed towards the mouth of the garage that went out the back of the building, up a slight incline. The trucks were beginning to line up as troopers and volunteers alike loaded up supplies, awaiting to be told their final postings on the assault. "And you won't be needing that." He wagged a finger at the sword. "You'll be on the heavy repeater turret in the driver cabin of the truck. I'll be in the command seat, okay?" He gave Reese a reassuring pat on the back. "Go get in the truck. I need to go upstairs to review the plan before we roll. I'll see you in about 20 minutes."

With that, Noah returned to the upstairs command center, where his officers had assembled and Kuro (@Cameron Foster) had returned without Sal.



"No questions, only orders on my end." Noah gave Murray a nod. Around the table were the gathered officers. Jacen had cleared Sal (@Sal Falūd) to assume his overwatch position, but told him to hold fire until Jacen gave him explicit permission for weapons free. "You're delusional if you think I'm letting these scrubs go on a mission like this. Those volunteers are not only gonna get themselves killed in an operation like this, they'll get you, Arritef, and Jace all killed because they have no idea what they're doing." Noah leaned back and waved his hand at the display table. He wasn't nearly as amused as Murray was, taking the needless wasting of lives rather seriously. "You take ADI Marines, but you have to remember that's a fourth of our men that landed you're asking for. We already have 3 dead and about 8 critically-injured, with about 11 more in non-critical condition. You're asking for almost half the men I have left. You better make them count."

He tapped some icons on the table's control surfaces and zoomed in on the route through the city, with little green holographic models of marines and volunteers and trucks arranged in formations. He leaned in, pointing his stylus at the models. As his hand passed through the holographic models the fizzled and diffused slightly. Noah hesitated, moving his hand back and forth testingly to see how much disturbance was caused as a couple of those gathered chuckled a little at Noah's lack of technological expertise. He sighed with a strained not-smile on his face and finally settled for simply ignoring the minor disturbance, though the laughter of others had already broken his cool.

"Anyway... as I was saying..." He tried so hard but finally gave into a laugh as the others around joined in. It wasn't that any one thing had been particularly funny, it was simply laughter for the sake of itself. It was little things like this that helped break tension in stressful situations. He settled finally, still letting his own laughter die down slightly as he spoke. "Our Marines can't fit in most of the loaded trucks, so they'll double-time alongside the convoy. I'll be in the Vanguard Truck, designate Vanguard-1. I will be flanked by 2 landspeeder technicals, designate Vanguard-2 and Vanguard-3. The convoy line will then be truck-truck-technical, and then it repeats in that sequence." He then pointed the stylus at the trooper models, his laughter fully gone and replaced with assured coolness. "The Marines that flank the convoy will hug the buildings along the route, and they'll be joined by volunteers to fill out the numbers. Boots on asphalt will be about 1 Marine for every 6 Volunteers, but our total numbers are about 12 Volunteers to every Marine." He paused and looked around to make sure the others were still following him. He leaned his weight against the table as he stowed the stylus, looking down at the display with some intensity and concern. "Our objective is to reach Capitol Square and set up a beachhead. The trucks will fan out arrange in a large circle for use as cover, as most of them won't see use after this anyway, they'll be so irreparable--" And we'll have no one to drive them, he thought but didn't say. "-- That they probably won't run ever again. We'll set up heavy mortars and bombard the building until we either break that fecking gate down or they come out with a white flag tucked in their ass-crack.

Any Questions?"

"Any questions?" Sal heard the (@Noah Jacen) commander as he entered the assembly area. Sal had been sprinting in a hurry to get back. He had made his way far out extending on the west parameter looking for a good leverage point for the assault but to his efforts the west side had been heavily guarded.

"Noah"

sal said approaching the Other officer.

"Comms went down on my head set, had to beat feet back on the double..."

Panting from his long haul.

"The west side is heavily guarded and watched by heavy nests and possible heavy armor i couldnt tell, they had it locked down with force. If need be i can return with a squad size element and cause a ruckus to try and draw some attention away from the initial assault? Either way im ready to roll with what ever plan you got man."

Sal spoke as he was checking his gear one last time before they set their initial plan into motion. Ready to fight, defend and die if need be for his comrades. This wouldnt be his first rodeo of warfare nor his 20th. He was a well seasoned fighter who defended his home planet countless times from invaders, and to him this mission was no different.

Looking to noah he nodded, a nod signifying his commitment to his commanders word. A nod, ready to give the last breathe for the cause.....

 

[Therakill]

"Just point me and my squad at the enemy, and we will take them down."

Jace smiled and motioned at his squad as he readied his blasters.

 

[Noah Jacen]

2250 Hours, Local Time

Noah went to stop Murray, but it was too late. He'd already run to go prep his suicide mission. You better be right about this, you drunken bastard...

Sal approached the commander, not Kuro (Jacen had clearly mixed up their voices or names, or both). He looked around as Sal asked about another squad.

"Sal, mate, we are the distraction." He finally admitted to his officers. "But now Murray has run off to do an already near-suicidal mission and made it worse by taking fecking scrubs!" The looks cast at him were a mix of hurt surprise and weary shock. "I can't spare any more men, and we're too close to Zero Hour to change any of the plans. Sal (@Sal Falūd), you're on the Vanguard-2's side-seat. We leave in 10 minutes." He made a swirling motion with his index finger above his head as he drew his blaster pistol. "Roll out!"

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​

Lieutenant Valentine did his pre-fight check on the Nu-Class Attack Shuttle as the engines spun up. His orders were to play artillery as the main ground force moved on Capitol Square. He looked at the lights and flipped switches here and their, his eyes then stopping and focusing on a particular orange light with a switch.

"Quincy."

"Yea?" The lower-level Coruscanti replied, her accent thick.

"The fukk's that?" He pointed at the orange light. She leaned over in the seat above and behind him, looked at his display.

"Feck if I know." She leaned back in her seat again, continuing her check.

As pilot, her job was to get this gunship off the ground. She watched as the hovertrucks started out of the vehicle bay. She grabbed the flight control wheel in front of her and eased up. The shuttle jerked and continued to simply sit on the rooftop. She looked down at Valentine, who looked back up at her.

"Engines are at RPM?"

"Yeah."

"Motivator active?"

"Aye."

"..." She thought for a moment. "Try flicking that orange one."

She heard the switch flick and the ship immediately lurched into the air as she handled the controls.

"Left the parking brake on. Ha!"

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​

2304 Hours, Local Time

​

Men doubled-timed through the rain as it coated everything in a silvery sheen. The sound of hovertrucks was barely audible over the sound of the downpour slapping against the permacrete. Jacen sat in the middle of the Vanguard-1's cabin, with Reese (@Captain Canuck) to his immediate right standing up in the gun-well of the heavy repeater. The windshield wiper slapped sheets of water side-to-side as 725 men marched through the stormy night, at least half of them marching to their deaths. The headlights of the trucks were on low, and he looked to the sky (really the headliner of the cabin), and for the first time in a very, very long time, he prayed to the Force that these men might keep their lives.

 

[Prudence]

Zeh Kando smiled slickly as he sat in the comfortable chair that adorned the 27th floor of one of the high rises that stretched into the city's skies. The wall had been partially bombed out, and the rest was left, including the transparisteel viewports that were scarred, but still transparent enough to see through. His chair was close enough for him to rest his legs upon the window. There was enough blast residue on the outside of the building that no one on the ground, even if they thought to look up here, would see him. Kiera Yool stood next to him, a pair of vibrobinoculars in her hand. They were watching as a hundred meters down the road the ADI procession made its way. On the ground, in a hover garage, Gorgo was commanding a group of insurrectionists, though not visible to the ADI forces. As far as they were concerned, the roads were eerily clear.

Kando stood, and took the binocs from Yool, looking down from the balcony himself. Kando saw as a child, roughly fourteen standard years in age ran down the street towards the ADI forces screaming in terror. His brow peaked with interest at what the child might do. Suddenly behind the child appeared a rebel, firing at him, causing the child to stop and turn. He drew a pistol and fired upon the pursuing Rebel, either killing or disabling him, and then turned, tear streaked and ran towards the ADI forces, screaming in a native tongue that none of them would understand.

 

[Talon maara]

Sal nodded in confirmation as he swung around assuring his weapons were still on hand. Sal never had assaulted feom a vehicle before, it was a first for him.

"This shall be interesting" sal mentioned to himself as he saddled up strapping himself in awaiting to depart.

The excitement and thrill of war strung throughout his veins and into his mind, which in turn raised his heart rate slowing down the environment around him.

Countless wars had progressed through Sal's mind. Countless lives he has both taken and witnessed being removed from around him. Yet it all still struck a form of anxiety and fear, fear for the chance he too would meet his fate.

The ground shook as the engines roared, with the sounds of silence dissipating and the smells of exhaust filled the air.

'Sigh'

"Keep your heads low and your minds vigilant gentlemen. Tonight we restore freedom! Freedom to the oppressed. Freedom....to the much well needed." Sal spoke over the comms to his brethren who too sat aboard the Vanguard-2. "We shall, be triumphant!"

 

[Cheshire]

Kuro had been sitting watching the insurgent base, keeping them under surveillance, however he had a sickly feeling. He knew something was wrong but he couldn't place it. he just thought that he was being sceptical. He sat listening to his comm while the enemy moved around their base. However, he slowly noticed over the course of a time that the insurgents were moving out their base. It was in small numbers so he didn't notice at first but later on during his watch over the camp, that's when he noticed that they were slowly leaving.

"Sir! They are moving somewhere, I am looking now."

Kuro scanned the roads towards the ADI base, trying to pick up movement until he found them. A group of insurrectionists planning to ambush the ADI forces

"SIR I FOUND THEM. THEY ARE AT THE HOVER GARAGE!!"

 

[Proleptic]

Murray simply allowed the gathering to close without chiming in any more points. Once Murray began walking towards his squads meeting place was when he began to really think.
Murray could understand Noah's reason's for his orders, but he also knew that bringing that many marines was risking too many important peoples' lives. The reason for the volunteers was fodder for the elites; we were once someones fodder too and now we deserve protection, he thought. He hated the thought of seeing more of his closer comrades dying. Now the question was disobey the commander and get his arse kicked when he returns or follow through with the change of orders...

"Why do I care? It's not the first time I've disobeyed an order"
Murray continued over to the rendezvous point to see many of the new recruits awaiting his arrival "HELLO FODD- I mean 'volunteers' *chuckle* I am Murray Mitchel your current commander. Or rather, I am leading the sewer operation squad. The other two higher-ups are Jace and Arritef. We will be leaving immediately, pack up and lets head out".
The group became gathering its stuff. Murray decided this was a good time to learn some of his new privates' names. "what's your name son?" he asked a particularly young looking lad.
"My name is Jeff"
"How old are you?"
"Twenty-wan"
"Alright." He continued to the next one who was eating a potato
"what ya eating there?"
The girl continued to eat and said with a partially full mouth
"A potato"
"Oh. Do you like potatoes?"
"yeah"
"potatoes have lots of calories you know right?"
"yeah..." she replied with hesitance
"you know how to burn those calories?"
"How?"
"BY DOING PUSH-UPS! I WANT TO SEE YOU DO ******* PUSH-UPS UNTIL AFTER WE HAVE LEFT BASE. DO YOU HEAR ME! POTATOES! BAH! WHAT IS THIS!" the girl cowered as Murray exploded on her. She quickly began doing the push-ups and Murray continued to another person. By this time, most of the others had packed up and started leaving but this one person was taking longer to finish which just happened to catch Murray's attention.
"hey whats your name?"
"Me? Johncei ('john sea')"
"you have a last name johncei?"
"naah"
"nah? you don't have a last name?"
"No. My last name is Naah?"
"So its Johncei Nah?!"
"Ya dont wear it out!" with that he finish grabbing his stuff and left.
Everyone had left except for the girl who was doing push-ups. "Alright you may stop Potato girl!"

~~~~
The sound of the hovertrucks and solid march of boots on wet pavement began to cut through the night well the enemy will know we are on our way before we even get within range Murray thought as he watched the main force begin their move. Murray jumped into the manhole along ith the rest of the squads and began his part of the mission.

Arritef walked carefully through the dank and rancid-smelling sewers, trailing just behind Murray. "This is your operation, Murray. Where would you suggest we surface?" Arritef asked. "Do we want to pop up right by the capital building, or do you believe the security would be too heavy there to simply go unnoticed?"

 

[Murray Mitchel]

Arritef walked carefully through the dank and rancid-smelling sewers, trailing just behind Murray. "This is your operation, Murray. Where would you suggest we surface?" Arritef asked. "Do we want to pop up right by the capital building, or do you believe the security would be too heavy there to simply go unnoticed?"

Murray continued to walk but addressed Arritef " There is an opening on the opposite side of the building. That spot should be clear of guards since the enemy ill be focused on a direct attack". The sound of footsteps, hovertrucks, and blaster fire still echoed through the sewers. Visibility was rather low since they only had the lights on their packs to see. For the remaining of the journey the squads remained silent listening for sounds as they continued to their objective.

As they made it to the manhole, Murray led the squad up the ladder and paused for a moment to listen for any noises.

Fading footsteps. Good.
Silience. The coast should be clear.
Let's hope I'm not wrong

Murray began to slowly slide the manhole open while continuing to listen for changes in sound. once fully opened he climbed out of the sewer and went flush with the back wall of the building. Peering around the corner he saw no one. He gestured towards the remaining squad members to follow.

Sneaking towards the back door, Murray checked to see if the door was locked: it was. of course
Murray fumbled into a pack that one of the new members was carrying. Pulling out a small detonator, he placed four charges; one on each corner of the door. Activating the charges, the door made a loud 'clang' as it fell off its hinges

Shit now we called the pack

The whole squad quickly entered the building and opened the first door to a staircase. From behind he heard loud yelling and blaster shots. Quickly shutting the door, Murray yelled "Arritef you and your squad take care of them" gesturing to the noise outside the door " Jace your squad will follow me. Arritef I want you to continued to follow us once you finish the issue down here Clear?!"

 

[Noah Jacen]

A blaster bolt crossed the street.

Noah reacted on instinct, leaping from his seat and sticking his head out of the truck cabin's sunroof. He drew his blaster pistol and fired at the bolt's source, knowing that it wasn't one of his men.

As the truck moved past the body, Noah's stomach sank and his guts twisted.

It was a kid... I just killed a kid...

His thoughts were only answered by the rumble of trucks and the murmur of rain pattering against permacrete. He sat for a few minutes, wondering how many of the men passed that body saw knew what their commander had done. He'd made a mistake, it was an honest fecking mistake.

He heard as the two Nu-Class Shuttles roared overhead towards Capitol Square, clearly visible with the almost-30-story Capitol Building.

______________________________________________________________________________________​

"Havok-2, making attack run!" Captain Eliza Quincy informed on the comms, Havok-3 trailing close behind. She nervously eyed the mission chrono in here HUD as she gunned the throttle towards the Capitol Building. They had to be careful with their flight time, as the ships already had barely enough fuel to make the return trip to The Helios. "Valentine, give me some firing solutions on that square!" She chimed inside the cockpit, her feed hopping off of the BattleNet.

"Copy." Valentine replied coolly.

His hands and fingers danced about the displays and consoles in his well, finding targets. Sensors read high concentrations of heat signatures through the whole square. Sandbags and junk-walls and concrete traffic barriers were arranged in a labyrinthine pattern, like trenches on some centuries-old battlefield. Actual trenches and parapets were dug and carved out of dirt and asphalt. The hovertrucks would only be able to get so far, unless...

"Firing solutions calced." Valentine said over the squadron frequency. "Havok-3, receiving?"

"Affirmative, Havok-2."

"Light 'em up!" Valentine called in his steely, even tone.

4 concussion missiles streaked from the pair of shuttles and bloomed into fireballs as they struck a line through the defenses all the way up to the clear area immediately around the Capitol Building's base, most likely for traffic around that building being so high most of the time. Blaster cannons chugged out heated plasma , stitching little explosions all the way up the skyscraper's face as the shuttles pulled up and around to make another pass.

______________________________________________________________________________________
​

Noah heard the explosions, saw the dark night sky light up a little from the fireball. The hovertruck round a corner and the street opened up at the southern end of the square. It was wider than it was long from his perspective, and his eyes found the purple glow of the shuttles' engines as they looped around, spraying cannon fire into the building. A path had been blown into a mess of barriers and trenchworks, one that went straight to the front door. The datapad in his lap lit up, indicating that Murray's team's signal had been reacquired after getting lost underground. Noah pushed the datapad into the case on his back and popped a fresh powerpack into his rifle. The truck sped up, as did the others behind it.

"THIS IS IT!"

All that flashed through Noah's mind was the charred hole in the side of a boy's head on the sidewalk as the rain failed to wash away his sins...

 

[Captain Canuck]

The large gun clanged against the metal of the vehicles roof and Reese's arms fell to his sides, loose. He became completely separated from the rolling squadron of vehicles.

His mouth lay agape and his eyes wide as a ghoul's. His head turned and followed the sight as they passed by it.

A child lay in a pool of his own blood, killed by Reese's new allies. Shot down without hesitation, an execution given our without trial. Reese heard nothing of what was happening around him.

 

[Zeh Kando]

Zeh Kando watched as the child went out of sight, then he saw the ADI convoy moving along the avenue. He heard the roar of gunship engines and brought the macrobinoculars away from his face, his head jerking side-to-side looking for the source. He saw explosions in the trenchworks of Capitol Square and saw the Nu-Class shuttles strafing upward. He dove for cover as the blaster cannon fire turned the permacrete near him into dust and chunks of rock. Yool dives for the ground and brings her arms up over her head as rubble is thrown. The pair stand up as the shuttle scream away.

"GORGO!" Zeh roared as he keyed the communicator on his shoulder. "Time is up! POUND THEM INTO DUST!"

Down below, tens of vehicles thrummed to life as Gorgo climbed atop the prow of a large tracked vehicle, printles and slugthrower machine guns bolted to railings. The machine crawled forward with the most terrifying rumble as hovertrucks and technicals zoomed past its flanks with speed, spitting blaster fire and filling the air with plasma.

"I thought you'd never ask!" Gorgo rumbled with excitement as he spun up the minigun he carried, his rusted and spiked power armour bearing its weight. The popping sound of mortars called in the night as rain continued to drench the city. The explosives arched high into the air from the buildings around the square, whistling on their descent. The explosions erupted down below, striking amongst both formations of vehicles and smothering the entrenchments in fiery goop. White Phosphorous...

The square was alight with endless fire that the rain only worsened, and already the ADI vehicles were being stopped and discord was sown. Chaos took hold as vehicles began ramming into each other until the entire square was filled like a giant melee, the whole thing a mess of crashed vehicles, dugouts, sandbags, and trenches. Blaster and slug fire stitched the air and clattered from far away, echoing up to Zeh. His communicator on his shoulder crackled to life as he watched the battle impassively.

"SIR, INFILTRATORS ON THE GROUND FLOOR!" Zeh thumbed the communicator's switch

"Then perhaps one should go and greet them..." His deep baritone voice commented with mild disinterest, turning his gaze from the battle to Yool. He released his grip on the commlink. "I'm going down to greet our guests. You stay up here, keep me in the loop." Kando walked over to the elevator with purpose, dinging as the doors opened and admitted him into the space. He hit the button for the first floor (the one above the ground floor), expecting that's where the infiltrators will have made it to by the time he got down there.

 

[Noah Jacen]

Vanguard-1 swerved hard as the space in front of it erupted into a fireball. The windshield became covered in a thick goop that burned and began to burn through the metal. White phosphorous...

The driver attempted to regain control but the truck tilted hard and Noah felt the weight go over. Noah reacted immediately and yanked the shell-shocked Reese into the cabin as the truck rolled over once, twice, three times, and on the fourth it settled in its driver side, the driver cut nearly in half by a chunk of metal. The cabin seemed half buried by a trench and Noah heard impacts clatter against the chassis of the truck. He heard a large engine and tracks roaring towards the truck. He grabbed Reese and kicked the windshield as hard as he could, falling out with the rookie on top of him. He rolled over as the Vanguard-1 was rammed clean in half by a massive tracked vehicle, like some sort of land-barge/guntruck/rolling-fortress thing. Streaks of flame and smoke shot outward and umbrella'd from the capsized hovertruck as it was gutted by the land-barges pointed prow.

He watched as Capitol Square became like the trenches of the many worlds Noah had fought in after a fresh artillery barrage and a bayonet charge. Flames licked into the air as rain turned dirt to mud and mud to slop. The night seemed to glow red as he heard another mortar shell whistle towards his position. He tackled Reese back to the ground to shield him from the explosion and found his back showered with the intense compound. He cried in pain as he shot upwards, forcing himself on his back into the mud to suffocate the seemingly volcanic liquid he had been covered in. The heat was doused and he rolled out of the mud, finding his rifle a couple feet away. He heard more explosions, more gunfire, a cacophony that brought him back to younger days.

He checked his rifle as it synced to his HUD, reactivating the display as it had been shorted from the rough ride. Immediately his feed was inundated by clamorous BattleNet comms and information overwhelming him. The battle had turned into a slaughter, and it looked like it'd become more of a melee than a shootout. An insurrectionist charged at him whilst his guard was down. He turned and parried just in time to shove bayonet deep into the man's chest, firing a blaster bolt off into the body for good measure. He withdrew the weapon's muzzle and turned it to another enemy that was jumping down from the top of the 3-meter-high trench wall, the rebel cut into by red particle bolts that threw him off course, landing just short of Noah's feet.

"This is a mess." He spoke angrily to himself. "This is a bloody fooking MESS!" He was just so angry that it almost radiated from his very being. He moved around and threw his rifle in his hands in intense anger, pacing with intensity. "WHAT THE FOOK AM I SUPPOSED TO DO NOW???" He activated his commlink. "All units, regroup with your Squad leaders or whoever is left, the plan has changed. Heavy weapons, set up and throw whatever you can at those enemy vehicles. Squads 1-12, move on the Capitol Building and push into it. Squads 13-20, branch out and find those mortar positions and put them to sleep. Squads 21-24, your sternguard for the heavy weapons. Everyone, MOVE!"

 

[Talon maara]

Sal picked up his squad and pushed them to a near by building where he picked up numerous soldiers whom lost their previous LT.

"Lets go!" Sal yelled leading his small yet over powered squad to the next building. Clearing room by room floor by floor, seperating his men in two teams leap frogging down the street as they cleared a path.

Sal was on a mission. A mission to remove the hornets nest they stirred up around the capital. Sal knew they would be heavily guarded and have a massive opposition to break through. But he was aware of the situation and welcomed it with open arms.

The capital was insight, and with a couple squads under his new command sal branched them out. Fanning them into four sections. Left and right assault elements/flank which consists of assault rifles, the support by fire (center) which consisted of rapid firing assault rifles and then the heavy weapons team (off set center) which entailed heavy machineguns, snipers, and portable mortar teams.

Sal hammered the perimeter of the capital with rounds ment for anyone and anything in the proximity. This was a hell sal had experienced before on his home planet, just a new setting.

Explosions burst around his unit. Rendering some unconcious and some lifelessly lay next to their gear.

"Sir?! We cant get any closer to the capital with these mortars dropping upon our ARSES!!!!!!!!" As soon as sal finished his sentance a round landed a few meters away from him throwing his body like a ragdoll through the air.

Awaking sal realized he was unconscious for an unknown amount of time. Upon rising to his feet sal came to notice his left eye was blurring by the second, slowly growing darker and darker. Reaching to his face he pulled blood from his face where his eye used to be.

Sals eye had ruptured rendering him blind and unable to see. A medic rushed to his aid emplacing a bandage on his face and encouraged him to be evacuated from the combat zone.

Sal pushed the man away and stood back up with his men, sending rounds down range. With a loss of communications sal sat in pain fighting for his and his mens lives.

 

[Kuro]

Kuro sat in the spot on top of his skyscraper away from all the conflict. He stared down his scope in horror, he didn't even care about the conflict that was happening down there. What he saw his commander do was unforgivable. HE JUST SHOT A TEEN IN THE HEAD. He stared down the scope of his rifle as his one functioning eye was wide open in shock. The man who controlled all the troops down there. Every single one! The man he was supposed to follow into hell and back and he shot a kid confront him. Straight in the face. He angrily picked up his radio and screamed down the line

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU PLAYING AT COMMANDER!" However he knew the fight was going on so when the commander was alone, that would be the best time to confront him. Admiral Kalin would hear about the complaint. If he had to scream it at him, so be it. He analysed the attack and he knew that the attackers were not that organised. Someone was watching the battle from afar. So he changed the direction towards the other neighboring skyscrapers for the lead of this operation. That's when he saw them. He quickly opened fire on the two of them, hoping to therefore disrupt the insurgent ranks

 

[Zeh Kando]

Yool saw the muzzle flash. She had barely milliseconds to react or she'd lose her head. She ducked instinctively backward and practically tasted the ozone of the bolt as it came within mere centimeters of her face. She fell on her back and rolled away. She rolled up to the wall and peaked out of the window slightly, ducking back down before another shot could be fired. She thumbed the commlink on her backpack's strap on her shoulder.

"Zeh, I've got a sniper with eyes on me. This position has been made." She stayed behind the permacrete edge of the window and craned her neck to look through the gap to the square below, staying behind her cover and out of the sniper's view. For all intents and purposes, he saw her get hit with the bolt and go down, as next to no one would be able to make out what actually happened in real-time. "Looks like the bastards won't give up. Some of them are trying to clear the buildings on the edge of the square. It looks like a goddamn mess. I've lost sight of the gunships, but I'm sure they'll be back." She checked the land-barge to make sure it was still doing its job of being an enormous magnet for fire. "Gorgo looks like he's having fun." She chuckled.

"Get to the shuttles, Yool. We're evacuating." Zeh responded over the commlink. The door of the elevator pinged and he took a single step into the hallway, turning his head towards the sound of gunfire echoing up the nearby stairwell.

"What about the other men?" Yool questioned, her voice shocked.

"What about them?" Kando said with indifference, drawing his heavy blaster pistol and pulling the black bandana up over his nose and mouth and dropping the tinted goggles that rested on his forehead over his eyes. There was an awkwardly long pause before Yool responded.

"Understood. Be safe, Zeh..." She soothed, her voice worried.

"I'll see you again, beautiful. I promise."

 

[Captain Canuck]

His conscious thought returned after a few seconds, but in battle it seemed like minutes. Reese blinked stars and blurred images from his vision, but it only seemed to worsen them. He was on his hands and needs and his mouth tastes of metal. Bright lights, which he didn't know we're nearby mortars. After one blink he realized a phosphorus chunk had landed on his artificial hand. He quickly attempted to shake off the mortar, forgetting for a second he was in a war zone.

A young man rushed at him with killer intent. He wielded a Vibro-Dagger which had it's eye on Reese's gut. He panicked, smacking his prosthetic hand into the man's face. Luckily for Reese? It was the portion which had bright white phosphorus on it. He transferred it to the man's face like that annoying ass cloud in Mario cart. The enemy fell to the ground, clawing at his melting face.

 

[Noah Jacen]

Noah saw as Reese fought back. He heard Kuro on the comb. He saw on his minimap as Sal did his best to rally men. BattleNet comms were so jammed that half transmissions and pieces were heard. Mortars rained down and Noah heard as the land-barge circled around the square. Men in ADI gear and local volunteers hopped down into the trench with the commander and Reese. They were the few survivors of Vanguard-1, about 13 men out of almost 50.

The site had turned into a massacre as the troopers formed a circle, rebels charging down the trenches to kill them and take their heads for spikes. Noah looked around him and knew they couldn't keep this up. He heard the heavy weapons fire, heard the distant screech of Nu-Class shuttle ion drives.

_________________________________________________________________________​

Eliza Quincy tried to keep the Nu-Class shuttle steady and in the sky. The formation had split when atmospheric fighters flown by Insurrectionists had come out of nowhere fast and low. Now Quincy had to avoid the fire from one fighter while keeping the shuttle steady for Valentine.

"VALENTINE, WILL YOU TAKE THAT BLOODY SHOT!!" She roared into the cockpit as another blaster cannon explosion went off at the front of the wind to her right, smoke now trailing from gaping wound in the surface, exposing wiring and repulsor-lines wrapped around a metal skeleton framework.

"Quit yer bitchin'!" He broke his cool briefly as the targeting display on his tailgun viewscreen confirmed a positive lock. He pulled the trigger on his weapons control stick and watched as the fighter lit up, first as an engine caught fire and the ship spun out of control before exploding in a fireball. "Bogey down."

"THANK THE BLOODY FORCE!" She manoeuvred and put the shuttle in a dive towards Capitol Square. Her eyes widened with fear as she saw the hell it had become. Flames and boiling earth and smoke and gunfire. It looked how real hell might have been described, an endless war on an active volcano or something. She saw the monstrously enormous tracked vehicle driving about with reckless abandon like a beast of war. "I need a firing solution on that land-barge."

"Confirm, target buzzed." Valentine said after a few seconds, his tone even and cool. "Firing."

___________________________________________________________________________
​

The land-barge was driving over the trench again. Noah and the remains of Vanguard-1were sprinting down the chasm of one of the main trench branches, 3 and a half meters deep and twice as wide. The barge rose up the slight incline of the trench's lip and then came back down into the trench itself. The ground shook with its impact to eat and Noah jumped, turned, aimed his rifle at the nearest gunner. His troopers turned in the blink of an eye to fire with him.

Time seemed to slow as Noah saw the blaster cannon blasts strike the barge in its side. The gunner he'd aimed at was consumed by the flash of one blast as 7 or so more rocked the vehicle. The great machine gave the dying groans of a defeated beast as it sputtered and roared its defiance before the engine gave out.

He turned back around to dodge down the next trench branch as back of the war machine opened and the buffeting of a turbine engine spun up. An atmospheric VTOL aircraft like a helicopter rose and flew off with a power armoured juggernaut chuckling with pleasure.

Within minutes, Noah found himself pressed behind a low wall of sandbags as machine guns chugged at his position from behind the barriers that stood between the pillars of the Capitol building's entrance.

 

[Talon maara]

The mortars blasted all around him as his men created a small perimeter around them firing in every direction at the enemy as it surrounded them. There wasnt much to do, with only two options, sit and fight it out to either die or run out of ammo.....which ever came first OR press on towards the capital.

Quick on his toes sal made up his mind. It was time to fight with honor.....and if need be....die with it.

"Sir (@Noah Jacen) see you on the other side."

Sal remarked on the comms unsure if it would have been heard. Sal called to the men around him as they fought valiantly.

"Men?! Today was a good good day!!!.....but alas it is not over yet. The enemy lies all around us..... And whats that do for us?! We can fire anywhere we need and not worry about Blue on Blue!"

He remarked chuckling.

"In these few moments!......LETS GIVE EM HELL!!!!"

His voice rang out with excitement and enthusiasm as he picked up and charged the capital. His men followed suit, bounding over watch was established as the unit branched out and pressed on platoon by platoon, squad by spuad....team by team and man.....by man.

Men randomly falling to his left and to his right, Sal kept firing and moving firing his weapon around him at anything that moved.

"Keep it up men!!!!! Keep moving!!!!! We can do this!!!!"

Sal yelled as the chaos ensued around him. Mortars plummeted around them as they took many lives from the enemy just as many as they lost. This would be etched into their minds for all eternity.

Sals unit pushed up to the doors of the capital with only a small squad left around him. Looking back to the ground they traveled sal overlooked at the mens lives that had been lost that moment.....mourning their passing he took a short few seconds to remember them with honor.

Picking up the squad they pushed into the capital with guns ablaze. In atempts to reclaim this ground.

Men lost their lives today for what? many thought. All for what? This? This hell of a place? Sal held his head high, as they cleared the first floor, room by room. Leaving a team on the first floor entrances to guard their rear. Sal thought.....

......This was a fine day to die.....