PW - Operation Helios

[Hurtful Thoughts]

Of all the hurtians, it was the foreign rookie of their team -Kayora- who bothered to take an iPad from the desk as leaders snapped-on their helmets and woke any troopers sleeping through the briefing with a well-placed thunk on their helmet as they made their way directly towards the helipad in abbreviated battle-rattle tailored for the situation. Instead of fancy camo-suits they only carried a short bush-rag helmet-cover, instead of life-vests, they relied on the flotation-properties of the fiberglass ballistic-inserts on their 6b4 vests and modified covers; no time or space for using high-capacity chest-rigs, anything that didn't fit in the front was immediately stowed into the rear integrated day-pack in individual watertight baggies.

With oxygen-mask, and helmet with a shock of camo draped down to their hips in the torrential rain outside, carrying their well-kept antiques, the nine soldiers looked more like monsters crawling out from a peat-bog than actual people emerging from the carrier's deck elevator.

The prop-wash and wind battered at their camo, some had forgotten to tuck their rags into their armor-belts and nearly had them blown away, some where only spared that embarrassment by pinning it under their parachutes.

The deck heaved, soldiers slipped and tripped, often relying upon their buddies to keep from going overboard or getting launched into the twirling rotors, but after some difficulty, all nine managed to get aboard safely. This was the easy part. They would be expected to navigate to, as well as find and engage the enemy in this weather. Thankfully there was a shanty-town that may afford limited protection from the wind and rain, but in all likelihood locals were already huddling for shelter there; being discovered early would not prove beneficial to their survival.

I was tempted to base my guys closer to the PNGDF, but reasons intervened.

[New Emmerian Coalition]

(Hurt, the iDroid isn't a tablet xD - http://metalgear.wikia.com/wiki/IDroid)

Lennox shouted to the pilot to close the hatch, once the entirety of the forces participating in the mission had boarded. He strapped on a Coalition Jump-kit, capable of supporting him and the other operators as they flew through the hellish conditions if the need arose. However, their time dwindled as the eye of the storm passed their location. The VTOL Plane was more than capable of getting them through, but it had to be fast. They had to be able to get out in the midst of the eye and land before they were engulfed by the storm. Lennox looked at the men.

"Okay, we're going to need to group up -- if one team gets lost, their buddy team finds them and continues on." He held out his iDroid, and the holographic screen listed each team. He read the list outloud. "STIGRU , Guruda , and the Sentinels are Alpha Group. Platinum Soldiers, Golden Legion, Sabre Team, Bravo team. TSB, Hurti, and the PSWB, Charlie Team. Everyone else, I.C.E. <In case of Emergency> Support, otherwise, double time it towards the objective." He fiddled with the image on his iDroid, before looking to Leighton, and then to Koopa. "I don't care about drones, long as they can stay up during the storm." He held the iDroid out to the group, visibly showing the holographic screen. It showed the current location of the hurricane. The eye hovered over the town of "Little Launda," and was quickly moving over. "Link your HUDs, or hardcase computers, or whatever you have. We can communicate easily this way."

The VTOL sped up, picking up speed and turbulence. Rain could be heard smacking into the cargo bay. Garcia tightened his specialized jump gear, and stretched a bit. His rifle was clipped to a specialized holster on his MOLLE webbing. His Solid Eye synchronized, the soliton radar marking each individual Atlas soldier, and his rifle appearing in the corner with a relatively accurate ammunition counter.

"Alright guys, we're getting close to jump." The doors began sliding open, and already, the cabin became moisturized. Rain water pelted the operators and the supplies within the hold, and Garcia approached the exit.

"Stick to the plan, objective markers have been placed for everyone with a HUD interface. Everyone else, keep in radio communication."

[Yngen]

Fare stood up first, nodding silently to Garcia as his two operators lined up behind him, forming a small stick all of their own. The rain didn't bother them - as members of an island empire, they were used to the sea encroaching onto the land.

Waiting for the jump green light, they synchronised their tablets with the rest of the op, and then the green light flickered on, signalling they were ready to jump.

Fare stepped out silently, as did Kiele, though Sekken screamed "BANZAI" as he jumped from the plane. Screaming down through the atmosphere, the trio managed to keep close despite the buffering rain and roaring winds, but a sudden increase in the winds sent Sekken hurling away. Fare struggled to see through the rain and condensation, his view unstable. He caught a glimpse of Kiele gesturing to him frantically, but he resigned himself to the fact there was nothing they could do right now, and instead caught her wrist, making sure they at least remained close by.

At perhaps 3500 feet, Fare and Kiele opened their parachutes, Kiele landing on top of a low garage that had been half demolished by the storm, and Fare landing amongst the mess of the street below. Cutting their parachutes loose, Fare drew his rifle and began scanning the street whilst Kiele clambered down the debris to his position, the pair of them watching out for both hostiles and Atlas troops incoming.

Perhaps 700m to the west, Sekken came down rather less gracefully. He came in at an angle, tumbling across the ground of some warehouse forecourt. Detaching his parachute, he climbed to his feet, drawing his own rifle as he shook his head to clear it and try to get a read on his surroundings.

[Vancon]

"Saber, stand by. Prep for drop."

Below the VTOL, the hurricane swirled around, causing havoc and chaos down below. But a larger harbinger was dormant even further, underneath the hurricane. The Emmerian ship that was carrying all of Bravo team was shaking, almost uncontrollably, and the plane seemed to be falling apart. Nevertheless, the leader of Saber stood unaffected. He put his hand up to his helmet and started talking.

"Saber, Heads up. We're dropping straight into hell and I intend on getting back out. Get ready ladies and gentlemen. Sync watches in 3, 2 , 1, sync. Good. Alright, 10 meter spacing; standard formation. Don't fire unless fired upon. If we are fired upon, Shoot to kill. Make sure you destroy their head. A man can still live even when they've got a bullet in their chest. Once we hit the ground, Start clearing your LZ of any hostiles. We'll need extract points for when we get out of here. Might as well take it upon us to get that done. time to put our brave pants on. Let's go, SABER!"

The lead man of the 8 man group jumped head first into the depths below, turned back, and watched his team jump out of the Emmerian VTOL.

[Congreveopia]

Leighton listened to the briefing. As Lennox announced the teams, Nexus updated the mission information. He saw that the map on his PCU had now color-coded the teams, and each individual squad had a different shape marking its members. As the briefing finished, he flipped over to a message he’d written while waiting in the armoury.

Hey mom, hey dad. I know I haven’t called in a while. Work and all that. That’s not important right now. Just… Just get out of town for a week. Don’t ask why. Don’t tell anyone. Just trust me. Okay? I love you.
-Lei

“You know you can’t send that.” said Nexus through Leighton’s headphones.

“Yeah.” typed Leighton “But I just… It feels wrong to know I can help them, and yet just sit here quietly.”

“They can’t get out of town anyways.” said Nexus “Your mother’s condition has worsened. She can’t leave the hospital.”

Leighton stared at the screen for a moment, the erased the message and wrote a new one.

Hey mom and dad. I just wanted to let you know that I love you. I’ll call soon. I promise. -Lei

Leighton send the message. He then opened a note and wrote “If we do fail, get them out of there. I know that the facilities at the spaceport have to be at least on par with a regular hospital.”

“I will do what I can.” said Nexus

“Hey.” said John, tapping Leighton on the shoulder. "We’re nearing the eye."

“Right.” said Leighton. He erased the note and looked up. Charles had put Flitter away when the rear door opened. Outside the rear door, all that was visible was rain. He watched as a drop of water hit his drysuit and rolled down along it, joining with others and eventually finding its way to the floor where it joined a small stream running out the back of the V-tol which joined the millions of other streams flowing off the Vtol back into the maelstrom. The turbulence grew and grew. He’d done all sorts of practice, but nothing measured up to this. He was pulled in all directions including up, and only his seatbelt stopped him from flying out of his seat and out of the Vtol. Every part of the plane seemed to rattle as it was tossed about like a leaf by the hurricane.

Suddenly, the turbulence died down. The rain faded away. The clouds turned from gray to white, and suddenly were behind them, not around them. The plane was alone in a massive stadium made out of clouds. Walls of white, slowly circling, rose miles into the sky above them, and met the ground, miles below.

“That’s something off my bucket list that I didn’t even know to put on.” said Charles, looking out a window near his head.

“Worth coming out here for the view?” asked John.

“I want to be a hurricane hunter now.” joked Thomas.

“Okay guys, let’s get going.” said Leighton.

The squad got up and joined the line to jump. Leighton was in front followed by Thomas, John, and then Charles. Charles watched Leighton jump off the end of the plane and vanish. Then Thomas, then John. Then he ran down the ramp, jumped, and was falling. He rolled onto his belly in the standard skydiving posture. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched an altimeter on his HUD tick down, the lowest two digits a blur. Below him, he saw three purple circles marking the rest of his squad, and further on other symbols marking the other teams. Charles rolled off his belly into a dive and joined up with the rest of the team. As he approached, he saw they were in a triangle, holding hands. He grabbed on to the link between John and Thomas, they let go of each other, and he grabbed their hands, forming a square. Leighton made a couple of movements with his head, and a message flashed onto Charles’s HUD:

“Report status. Are you okay?” -Leighton.

Charles blinked twice. Four options came up on his HUD in a diamond shape around a central message:

Message: Main Menu
Down: Cancel
Left: Record
Up: Other
Right: Communications

He nodded his head right.

Message:What type of message?
Down: Back
Left: Cycle left
Up: Emergency
Right: Cycle right

He nodded right.

Message: What type of message?
Down: Back
Left: Cycle left
Up: Basic
Right: Cycle right

He nodded up.

Message: What message?
Down: Back
Left: Cycle left
Up: Hello
Right: Cycle right

He nodded right.

Message: What message?
Down: Back
Left: Cycle left
Up: Yes
Right: Cycle right

He nodded up.

Message: Who do you want to send to?
Down: Back
Left: List
Up: Looking at
Right: Everyone

He nodded up, then looked at Leighton’s symbol on his HUD, which was on Leighton’s forehead. A timer on screen counted down for three seconds and then sent the message to Leighton. He checked the altimeter. He had about ten thousand feet left, which would be about a minute, except that his parachute would open at 3,000. Leighton let go of Thomas and used his free arm to signal them to break up. Everyone let go, and they drifted apart. Charles looked around and tried to memorise the area. He spotted two landmarks other than the town, and saw a third that had blown over in the storm. He felt pretty confident he knew where he was by the time his parachute opened at 3,000. He expected to be tossed like a leaf by the wind as soon as he opened the chute, but the wind was actually lower than some of the ones he’d practiced in. He saw Leighton had marked landing points for them. John was assigned to the roof of a medium sized three story building on the corner of some streets, Leighton was with him. Thomas was on the tiny neighbouring one story building to the south, and Charles was on a small two story one to the west. He hit the roof and his parachute detached automatically. He planned to land gently and then make his way across the wet roof towards Leighton and John’s building and jump to one of the third story windows. Instead, he went straight through the roof and fell into the room below. He rolled into a corner and pulled out his MP7, but the room was empty. The long side of the building faced the street to the north, and he could see that the room he was in took up most of the top floor. It looked like it was a bedroom. Across from him to the east there was one door, presumably leading to a staircase. He looked out a window in the south wall into an open area making up the center of the block he had landed in. A few trees rose out of the flooding that now filled up what he assumed used to be a shared garden area. He crept to the one door and opened it cautiously. It led into a staircase that he walked down. The staircase ended in an entry hall with a door to the street, and doors in the south and west walls. He heard voices through the west door, presumably leading to the majority of the house’s first floor. An inch or two of water was on the floor. He crept to the front door, and cautiously opened it. As soon as he did, a pile of sandbags stacked outside collapsed inwards, and water three feet deep rushed in. He heard someone start walking towards the door into the entry hall, and quickly ran out. He ducked into the space between his and Leighton’s house and heard a scream as someone opened the door to the entry hall and flooded the rest of their house. He felt kind of bad, but there wasn’t much he could do, so he snuck around to the front door of Leighton’s house, also sandbagged. He looked at the lock, and wondered how much of his lockpicking training he remembered.

“The south window’s unlocked.” said Thomas through the radio.

“Thanks.” said Charles, and he worked his way around to the south window, which was just above the height the flood had risen to so far. It was unlocked, and he climbed through it into a bathroom. He quickly found the stairs, and arrived on the third floor where the rest of the squad was waiting. The third floor was all one room, and one could see both ways down the two streets from its windows. Thomas and John were both watching through those windows, and Leighton was pacing the room, looking at his PCU. Five civilians sat against the south wall, all of them restrained and gagged.

“Good, you’re here.” said Leighton. “Set up the radio here and see if you can get through to Lennox. I need to know what we’re supposed to be doing about civilians.”

Charles took out the radio and unspooled the antenna. He set the main module in the southwest corner of the room, and duck taped the end of the antenna to the northeast corner. He turned it on and it began acting as a relay for their radio communications.

He turned on his mic, and said “Hello, any other Task Force Atlas units, respond. The Platinum Soldiers are in a three story building at [coordinates].” He waited ten seconds and repeated the message.

“Other side of the eye is approaching.” said John “Radio’s going to be a lot less useful soon.”

“Come on, respond.” thought Charles. He repeated the message again.

[The GAmeTopians]

"Everyone link hands for initial takeoff, we'll seperate early enough so that our parachutes don't collide." Colonel Jackson instructed the team. "Check in as soon as you are safely landed, we're to link up with Torrumbarry afterwards."
"Open the hatch!"
The whirring of the blades was even more noticable, almost deafening now in fact as they prepared to jump.
"Everyone link hands!" The four agents linked hands, and jumped out of the hatch, pushing off so that they did not tumble into the side of the VTOL (OOC: that would have been funny, though). As their altitude meters neared the chute opening point, they seperated, now falling alone. Eventually their chutes opened, letting them drift slowly towards the ground.
Colonel Altman was the first to land, falling towards the flat roof of a store.. He rolled as he landed, detaching himself from the parachute.
Next David landed on top of a hotel building, nearly impaling himself on an antenna.
Thomas and Colonel Jackson remained close together, landing on the rooves of adjacent apartment buildings. Jackson activated her radio, saying,
"Everyone situate yourself then follow my GPS signal. Be careful to watch for any baddies. Over,"
"This is Colonel Altman, I'm safe,"
"This is Agent David, I'm good,"
"This is Agent Thomas, I'm right next to you."

[Hurtful Thoughts]

(Hopefully not a big problem, but these guys are technically mercenaries, HOI-SOC)

Gibbons saw the dull glow of Kayora's newly-acquired holographic-display, and shot the corporal a scowl that caused her to regret taking it along. As they neared the wall, the troops cinched and checked each others' gear and braced for the moment of truth until the red light blinked green. In unison, the group unbuckled, stood, linked arms, cheered, and charged off the ramp and into the black.

The squad leaders were in charge of monitoring altitude, already each trooper was giving a 120-count, falling nearly twenty-five-thousand of the thirty-thousand-some feet before de-linking arms; a further five-count before checking to see if the main chute opened, if not then it was time to rip the reserve out, followed by dropping the leg-bag and ruck on a line. By all figures, their chutes filled at an altitude of just shy of 300 feet above ground, giving them about 15 seconds more to drop their kit before hitting something hard.

By this way, dispersion had been minimized to a CEP of about 900 feet, which made regrouping a simple matter of snapping a red glowstick onto the ground and waiting some distance away for everyone to rally. Of the nine mercenaries to drop, only eight made it to the rally unhurt (one went through a shanty-roof and got a splinter, able to move with some difficulty). Still, Gibbons had not instructed Kayora to respond to the STIGRU query, as they had yet to find their Padnaki counterparts.

[Torrumbarry]

New Laudan Airspace
The gale-force winds and aerial turbulence generated by the storm system's eye wall tossed the AJAX-SH201 Rapier around like wet rags in a tumble-dryer, while rain hammered the exterior of the stealth VTOL. "Hey, Overlord?" Mongoose bellowed, attempting to make himself audible over the raging tempest "how are we gonna link up with rest of ATLAS if were under radio silence?"
"Flares."
"Yeah, well the a-hole who's advising us to use the flares may as well just give the f***in' Generalissimo our coordinates," Scarecrow spat, disgusted "So backasswards, I tell ya!"
"Get over it, Scarecrow," Banshee chortled jovially "we've been through crapshoots twice as hopeless as this and pulled through unscathed."
"Still-"
"Ok, Phantoms, joke's over," Overlord interjected "we're an I.C.E. Support Team-"
"WHAT. THE. F***?"
"Yeah, I know it's BS, but you can tell that to the Fulda F***tards back at ATLAS. Nevertheless, we have our duties to fulfill," Overlord continued, unfazed by the dissent of his Fire Team "our function is equally critical as any of the Teams; we are a stopgap measure in case a squad goes AWOL or Kool-Aids on us. We'll still see abundant action, I can assure you."
"Thank Christ," Banshee bellowed "that's a relief."
Out of the blue, the co-pilot announced in a dispassionate voice over the tannoy system: "Five minutes to DZ." With that, the Phantoms ceased conversing and performed their final checks on their armaments and apparatus.
"Three minutes to DZ."
"Check one another's AADs," Overlord ordered "we're only 17 Angels up, it's gonna be a brief ride."
"Two minutes to DZ."
"Comms check?"
"Check."
"Check."
"Check."
"Check."
"One minute to Drop." At this, the Phantoms rose, with some difficulty due to the juddering of the VTOL.
"PHANTOMS!" Overlord roared "you know the call! Retreat?"
"HELL!"
"Thirty seconds to Drop."
"Link arms and brace." The rear doors were unfastened and, with a droning whirr, separated, allowing the CANSOCC operatives an aperture from which to deploy from.
"GO! GO! GO!"
"S***!"

[Yngen]

Fare snarled to himself as he heard the Platinum soldiers broadcasting, telling everyone who cared to listen their precise co-ordinates. He flicked his radio on and responded.
"One of my operators is coming to you now. SHARC One out."
He nodded to Kiele, and the pair of them half-rushed, half-waded across the street and down a block, heading both roughly towards the Platinum team and Sekken's last known location. Dropping into an abandoned storefront, hiding himself in the lee of a pile of rubble, Fare covered Kiele as she slipped through an ajar door and over a pile of fallen sandbags, drawing her handgun as she disappeared inside the building.

Platinum building

Kiele arrived, slipping through the front door with her bulky ZEUS handgun drawn.
Spotting the Platinum soldiers, she barked out the countersign for Team Atlas personnel.

Unknown location

Sekken had heard the Platinum team call out, and heard his captain reply - he knew the precise co-ordinates, but they were the best part of a kilometre from him and he was alone, in a waterlogged morass of debris. Pulling himself together, he began wading, but he felt hideously exposed.

[The GAmeTopians]

Hearing the Platinum broadcast, Chell Jackson sighed and said,
"Do these people not understand being undercover?"
The team was gathered in front of the apartment building that Colonel Jackson had landed on.
"Right. Our first course of action should be to scout the area. We need to know which way the cove is so we can back up the primaries. You do know that we're ICE, right?"
The others nodded and groaned.
"David, keep an eye out with a receiver for any radio transmissions. If you get any obviously enemy signals, note their location. We can try to take them down before any harm can come to ATLAS."
He nodded and removed a radio receiver from his pack.
"Everyone should try to be as radio silent as possible. We don't want to pull a Platinum and broadcast our positions for anyone to find. Make sure your weapon is loaded as we push ahead, we don't want to be taken by surprise and not even have a good gun. Now let's move out!"
HellBent formed into a diamond formation, Thomas at the back for a good sniping position should the need arise. Colonel Jackson was at the front, with Colonel Altman and David guarding her flanks. As they went, David laid heat emitters so that they would know that they had gone that way by using the infrared vision in their helmets.

[The United Remnants of America]

The four Sentinels fell out of the plane nearly at once. It was not planned this way; Koopa and Tarzan were supposed to wait, but the turbulence pulled them out with Ninja and Jolly's jumps. To stay together, the team moved to hold hands. As they fell towards the ground, each watching his altimeter dwindle down, the Remnant special operators let go of each other and pulled the cords on their parachutes.

The team hit the ground gracefully, only Koopa rolled over his shoulder, nearly spraining it. Each man silently stood and disengaged their chutes before digging mall pits and burying them. Then, they found each other on their HUDs as the oriented themselves towards their gear dropoff, which was about 150m from the group's general area. Each man quietly went towards the dropoff as they slowly melded back into a four-man unit.

Only when they reached the dropoff, which was a large black steel crate, did anyone speak. As Ninja and Tarzan pulled the pins on the crate to open it, Koopa pulled a small tablet out and turned it on. "Operator: Koopa. Activating N2 Rhino, model number 12." As the crew picked up and buckled on their firearms and explosives, a single pale blue light lit up in the back of the crate. [I]thud, thud, thud.[/I[ The rhythmic pounding of the drone's all-terrain legs signaled its activation as the metal creature walked out to join the team. It's right side was covered in heavy armor plating for the drone to be used as mobile cover. Along it's back were tubes and holes which concealed and held the N2 Rhino's main armaments: Mortars and fly-by-wire missiles. Koopa ticked the "follow" button on the drone control tablet and the team moved out, albeit at a slower pace with their heavy mechanical friend with them.

The N2 was a little more dependent than some drones, as it needed a human to tell it when to follow, deploy as cover, and deploy it's weapons. It also relied on Koopa and his tablet to guide the missiles and provide targets for the mortars. Some drones could fire weaponry independently, but due to the Rhino's heavier loadout, discretion was needed and the Sentinel second-in-command had been commanding drones for years.

[New Emmerian Coalition]

"Alright, we're next, let's go!" Lennox shouted to the remaining Operators aboard the VTOL. Each readied their jump gear, and leaped out of the back. Their gear allowed them to remain connected until they reached optimal 'chute range.

Their gear's bright IR Lights turned green, and to their solid eyes, warned them that they were about to deploy their chutes. Garcia's shot out first, puffs of gas stabilizing him mid flight and guiding him downwards. He hit the ground and rolled, the gear utilizing miniature explosive bolts and shooting off. It looked like a scene out of a sci-fi movie.

"GARCIA - SUCCESSFUL LANDING." Lennox's iDroid repeated through his Codec.

His Jumpgear fumbled, and he blew right past the optimal distance to open his chute. He had to do it manually. Three bolts protruded from the jump gear, and he punched each one as quickly as he could, before manually releasing the chute. He was pulled up, yanked into the air quickly. He was still moving at a less than desirable speed, all he could do was brace himself for landing. He saw Garcia's IR LED Jump gear in the distance, and aimed to land there. The ground quickly approached and he braced for impact. That's when he felt himself plunge into a pool of thick, grungy water. The bolts on the jump gear gave way, and he was able to successfully swim up, and get out of the pool. It looked like sewage, and smelled like it as well.

"LENNOX - SUCCESSFUL LANDING."

Santiago hit the ground almost at the same time as Lennox, though he was lucky enough to avoid the pool.

"SANTIAGO - SUCCESSFUL LANDING."

"Alright, keep Codec comm only if necessary. Stick together, and let's link up with the sentinels." Lennox picked off the rest of the jump gear, and pulled out his iDroid. The holographic display showed the Remnants' positions, he marked them as essential. "I'll mark the Gurudans on here when they land, let's double time it to their position."

The Operators nodded, and the waypoint was set on their Solid Eyes automatically by the iDroid. They moved quietly, though quickly. Lennox moved first, followed by Garcia, with Santiago occasionally checking their flanks. They came up upon the Sentinels, and their N2. Lennox halted the team, and pulled his iDroid out once more.

"Jolly, we're approaching your right, do not engage." He kept it out, and motioned Garcia forward. They slung their rifles and slid down a pile of garbage and debris. The N2 Rhino became visible.

"The Hell is that?" Santiago looked at it. He had only ever seen the Emmerian variant of the MULE, and that was no comparison to this. He liked it, alot.

Lennox was last to slide down. The hurricane winds picking up once more. In the distance, he heard gunfire, and rampant crashing of cars and buildings.

---

"Hey boss, let's move on, we've gotta get back to the 'hole." A Militiaman said, hauling a crate of food supplies and water to a truck. "What the f**k you lookin' at?"

"There's somethin' going on, I think it's more aid." A gruff gang member said, handing a monocular to his friend. "Look, big ol' crate fell wiffum'."

"Wonder what the W.A. will give for Aide Worker hostages..." He smirked.

"Less find out!" The gang member picked up a Ppsh, and made his way towards the group he saw land.

"'Ey, you think any of 'em landed in the sewer water? They dropped 'ver a dump..."

(Yes, no, maybe so? Or would we like to proceed normally?)

[Yngen]

Sekken

Sloshing through the wreckage, the Lieutenant heard the militia before he saw them. He didn't have time to count, however, they passed directly in front of him - they had not seen him yet, but they were all out in the open and so was he. The moment he moved, or the moment one of them even bothered glancing to their left, they would have seen him.

And so he reacted, perhaps not in the most sensible way, but he was a trained killer and so he raised his MARS and opened fire. His weapon was configured more like a carbine, with a collapsible stock, a compact red-dot sight instead of the standard 4x optical, and no underslung weapon. Ducking back and to his left, he squeezed off several bursts towards the two foremost members of the militia, taking cover behind a fallen tangle of concrete wrapped around an iron spar, which jutted out of the ruins of an apartment block.

Kiele

The crack of unsuppressed gunfire echoed through the city. Kiele instantly turned, holstering her pistol and moving towards the shadows by one of the large bay windows, scanning for the source of the commotion. Spotting a large group of men without uniform spreading out in a panic, she assumed that this was probably what she was looking for, and slung her sniper rifle, shifting around and pacing herself in order to get a steady bead on what was going on.

Fare

The Captain swore as he heard gunfire from their west. He recognised the barking sound of a MARS being fired, and knew Sekken must be in trouble, but he did not want to leave Kiele alone. Just as he was about to snap up at her, her voice came over the radio.
"I'm with Platinum, we're good. I have you covered."
"Right," responded Fare, "keep the bastards down or dead."
He hefted his rifle, a full MARS loadout with underslung launcher, extra grip, ACOG 4x sight, solid stock and bayonet mantle, and began running towards the gunfire, but at a kilometer away it would take him a minute or two to get there.

[Congreveopia]

The sound of the shot was different for each of the four soldiers. They couldn’t tell the slightly different angle or the slight change in volume, but Nexus could. In an instant, he had a guess of the shot’s location, and the gun that fired it. Both appeared on all the soldiers’ HUDs. In the hurricane conditions, Nexus got the gun entirely wrong, but the location was only off by a few meters, near enough that everyone in the group spun to face the right way out the right window. John saw someone who was probably military, but not trained nearly as well as anyone in the group, and quickly drew a bead on him. He fired, and the shot hit the ground left and short of the target. Almost a meter away.

“Don’t trust the auto-targeter.” said John “Wind is too erratic. I can’t get ‘em at this range without a real rifle.”

“We want to be going west anyways.” said Leighton. “Let’s move. Leave the radio here and set it to relay.”

“Set.” said Charles. “Ready to go.”

"Feel free to let us know if we're going to run into any enemy patrols." said Thomas to Kiele "At least until that eyewall hits, anyways."

Leighton took one of his knives and placed it on the far side of the room from the bound civilians. He also placed five meal replacement bars there and considered leaving some water-purification tablets, but realised he had no way to leave instructions for their use. The four walked out, and one of the civilians began inching towards the knife on the other side of the room.

“Platinum Soldiers are leaving the building and moving west.” said Leighton over the radio. “Saber team, if you’re receiving, do you want to meet up?”

[Hurtful Thoughts]

Gibbons mournfully watched as the VTOL circled a few more times overhead, silently shaping his mouth to words along the lines of 'jump' even as he saw the plane shudder and shake its wings. It was time for it to RTB, and no sign of the Padnaki commandoes, a few blinks from the rear-ramp confirmed that several troops refused to jump at the last second.

Gunfire could be heard, and so now was good a time as any to give his team's sitrep.
"Charlie to Alpha. Gibbons. Sitrep. All men and units accounted for. One wounded. Four RTB. No contacts. How do you copy?"
He left the radio open to receive for a bit longer, hoping to get some glimpse of the fighting... instead to be met with an information-overload of drivel told in useless first-person.

"Acthung! There is no 'I' in TEAM. You WILL remember your radio discipline when on inter-team communications and identify yourself or you WILL be fired upon within the next transmission."
Gibbons didn't like threatening the task force Alpha with fragging, but he did not know these people, it was often better to be harsher than necessary than to let the mission fail do to undisciplined activities.

Foyt was busy readying his men to move, mostly by nailing the glow stick into the mud and spiking it down with his foot. Kayora and her teammates were already reconnoitering the outlying village with their PPS-43s as the familiar but faster staccato of a PPSh-41 drilled through the rain. Kayora took her place in cover and prepared a signal-flare; shooting it skyward would be bad, as it would broadcast their position, and the coming winds would blow it too far away... but to fire it right at the contact...

(Note: Flare in Kayora's case is an old ROS-40)

[New Emmerian Coalition]

Droplets of rain trickled down Lennox's equipment. He had no idea if the remainder of the task force had jumped, but with gunfire erupting from further away, he knew they had to move now. While they were more reminscent of college jocks onboard the carrier, on the field they maintained a much more professional style. Lennox tapped his helmet, and looked at Santiago. Santiago pulled a flaregun, and unzipped a pouch on his carrier. He had plenty of flares on him, different colors for different signals. He fired off an orange flare. Possible Engagement. The group moved up in unison, forward of the Remnant's positions to catch a glimpse of what they thought was a firefight. Plans aside, Lennox went up first, as more rain began falling. The eye had nearly passed them by. As the team moved up, the gunfire became more clear - it was a firefight. Controlled bursts met by sparratic fire, only proven when a number of small caliber rounds passed by Santiago as he moved up from a muddy pile of debris. They dove towards cover, and Santiago fired a red flare into the sky. The sparratic small caliber fire stopped abruptly, then had merged to their direction. Lennox peered from his cover, and through his optics, he could see rag-tag non-uniformed personnel engaged with an Atlas Operator. Garcia fired a number of rounds at the enemy forces, and had dropped at least two. Lennox fired short bursts from his before dropping the mag, and reloading behind a thick abandoned vehicle - mud had made it unrecognizable at the time.

"I've got eight hostile footmobiles, one err... supply technical!" Santiago called to his comrades. "I'm engaging the targets near the technical." He fired his MK-46 into the targets, suppressing them if not killing them. The technical was believed to have vital supplies within, supplies they could need, or simply leave for any survivor to take. Either way, they did their best not to fire upon it. Under the suppressing fire Lennox ran from cover to cover, trying to get a better view of the opposition. He could make out what appeared to be multiple shanty houses, a narrow corridor which the target's fire came from, and the large junkyard-esc position they seemed to be in. Nevertheless, that corridor was going to be Atlas' best option for getting into the town. A round clipped Lennox's shoulder, slicing through the MOLLE on his equipment but stopping midway. He had a souvenir, at least. He raised his rifle, and with two targets clear in his line of sights, he was able to pick them off, sending rounds into their chests and heads swiftly. More fell to allied fire, but it was clear there were at least a group left. Looters, Lennox thought, and they had just kicked the hive.

-----

"What the 'ell?!" Markus cried out as his chest abruptly erupted in blood. Three hits, and he fell to the ground, his PPsh-41 letting off a burst as he dropped.

"Ah sheet, security!" His partner called out, attempting to dive but becoming riddled in holes.

Several shoddily-dressed individuals came from multiple shacks in the area, some dropped small crates and duffelbags, others were already raising their firearms and returning fire upon the 'security.'

"Boss is dead, what the bloody he--" One was cut off by a throat shot, and slumped down to the cold, wet street. More took cover in whatever they could find, rounds plinking various standing members of the raiding party while others blindly returned fire at whatever they could see. One of the men who stepped out wore military fatigues, followed by three behind him. They had gas masks, armored vests, and fully automatic 7.62x31mm RA-63 Assault Rifles (AKs on Steroids.) They raised their firearms, and took cover behind slabs of metal and rubble, firing back in concentrated bursts at the STIGRU personnel, whom they believed to be their only opposition at the time. One was obviously a radio trooper, as he fumbled in the wind to pick up an old cold-war looking radio.

As Lennox saw the man through his ACOG, he knew he would have to eliminate him, or face reinforcements for sure. He pulled the charging handle back on the OBR, and began taking shots. As the wind picked up, he missed more and more.

"Well, shit." He thought.

[The United Remnants of America]

"Are those gunshots? They sound like gunshots."

"I'd tell you, but link to Operator is down, so all we have is basically what we see."

"Oh. Perfect! Is comms down, too?"

"No, but it's FUBAR with all the chatter."

"So. We're here, in enemy territory, with no comms, no uplink, and with this $400 million machine that moves as slow as a crippled slug. Yipee."

"Can it, kids. Why can't you two be like Ninja. He's being quiet." Jolly had just tried to quiet the argument between the complaining Tarzan and Koopa.

Tarzan scoffed, "Ninja doesn't talk to begin with. He's that guy on a rollercoaster who looks upset."

"Fuck you, Tarzan." Ninja decided to speak up at that moment.

The Sentinel team had been trudging through mud and sludge, working their way towards the sound of gunfire. The Rhino had been following along, though slowly, as the mud was a considerable obstacle four the quadrupedal drone. Before the comms went to hell, the team thought they were only a klick or so from the Emmerian squad, whom they were supposed to link up with.

[Hurtful Thoughts]

Kayora's team was the first to see the amber and red flares streak through the sky and fizzle, in the brief light they all could see what appeared to be light infantry in the open. Kayora pulled the fuse on her flare and popped it off, making it fizz right by the radio-operator's position as others rushed forth with their PPS-43s, a bayonet in their support-hand as they charged and bounded from cover to cover.

Once they came within range, they shrieked a blood-curdling war-cry as they peppered the entire formation in short fully automatic bursts. Even if the first round missed from the wind, the other three or four were 'pulled' into the path of their targets. It consumed more ammunition, but achieved results at neutralizing the enemy position well enough to finish them off at knife-point.

Farther off, Gibbs and Foyt saw the flares as well, followed by the slower staccato of the familiar PPS-43s, and the tell-tale battle-cry. Gibbs nodded to Foyt, giving him permission to move forward, silently mouthing the same words being shrieked at the rebels over the noise of gunfire with a smile.

Hurt 'Em Plenty.

[The GAmeTopians]

"Colonels! Flares!" Thomas shouted as they made their way across the island. Colonel Jackson nodded to him and waved for them to move towards the flares. The team crested a hill, and dropped to the ground on top of the hill. They saw the fighting, and lined up shots. Each of them fired once, one of them hitting the man with the radio. Colonel Altman signaled to the STIGRU troops that they were allies.

[The United Remnants of America]

Koopa came out from a thicket of trees. The other three were still tearing their way through the mud and growth behind him, and his short-range indicator noted that the Rhino had gone around the thicket and would meet up with them in a minute or so, since it's bulky shape would've been tangled inside of the over-growth.

A red glint caught Koopa's eye as he looked up and saw a flare. Not less than a tenth of a second later gunshots broke the relative silence. Koopa turned even as Ninja and Jolly broke the cover of the thicket. "Hey guys, gunfire at 11. I'd say near the flare. Distance... 300 meters, give or take. Orders, Rogers?"

Jolly brushed a vine off his chest plate and looked around. "Move forward, double pace until we get there and find some cover. That Rhino on it's way, yet?" As Tarzan broke the trees, Koopa nodded and the foursome broke off at a jog towards the location of the shooting.

The squad reached a small house and pressed themselves against it, even as they could hear a group of shots hitting someone on the other side of the building. "Well, sounds like we made it. What do we do now?" Tarzan was asking even as Ninja dropped to the ground and crawled to the corner to line up his scope on the situation.

It seemed to Ninja that the rebels were surrounded by hidden Atlas squads and were now being shot down by heavy fire. Ninja snapped off a silent shot, dropping a man who had his rifle raised, making a flower of blood sprout through his chest on the other side. "It seems like we have this. You guys just stay there. I'll watch for us."

[Yngen]

OOC - Just FYI, SHARC operatives are using squad-local radios unless noted otherwise, as I assume all other units are doing to communicate, otherwise every single unit would hear the battle chatter of every other single unit all the time.

IC

Sekken had been hit, nothing serious, just a minor graze that had drawn blood, but the thunder of Kiele's rifle had thrown two militiamen to the ground and sent the rest scurrying for cover, letting him mow more down in the confusion. The arrival of Fare, who hit the area like a breaking wave, finished the militia, who broke and ran, all slaughtered in the thumping gunfire.

Fare grumbled as he crouched next to Sekken, who was wrapping his wound in a field dressing.
"Fuck sake lad, it's already clotted, stop messing around."
The lieutenant did not answer, still shaken from being shot - he had never been hit in combat before. Kiele's voice came over the squad radio.
"Captain, is everything okay?"
"Aye Kiele. Get your arse down here."
"Yes sir."
Kiele slung her rifle and drew her ZEUS handgun once more, slipping quietly down the concrete stairwells of the apartment block before emerging on the still-waterlogged street below. Taking her time, she regrouped with the others.
Sekken was checing the mission info on his tablet, whilst Fare scanned the area intently.
"Put that away. I know where we're going." the captain announced abruptly.
Sekken turned to protest, but Kiele simply twisted her lips in a smirk and pointed to the plume of smoke, before turning to follow the captain. Sekken sighed and rose to his feet, following after.

[Astronea]

The Asymmetrical Warfare Detachment of the 4th Commando Regiment had recently been assigned to Task Force Atlas, in the wake of growing international relations between Astronea and the global community. While their intentions were just, and the Astronean Government was committed to its mission of bringing about an era of democracy in its new republic, these men were not peacekeepers. They had been trained for wartime operations, and they had a reputation for ruthless efficiency, bordering the brutal. However, their results could not be denied, even if their methods and doctrine were not commonplace in the Special Forces community. They had been trained in all manner of warfare, specifically unconventional. In wartime, they could be deployed to assault nuclear installations, and even trigger their own behind enemy lines. They could handle a MIRV silo.

The Main Intelligence Directorate had reluctantly answered the call from Special Operations Command for their deployment to Task Force Atlas, not all too pleased about donating their deadliest, most combat ready unit to an international mission. That said, it would prove that Astronea was prepared to work with other nations, finally shrugging off its xenophobic label.

They had arrived in a six man team, callsign “Sierra 2-2”, dressed in waterproof DPM uniforms, donning MICH 2000 helmets, oxygen packs, plate carriers, goggles and parachutes. Each man was checking over the other’s gear, making sure everything was safe for the jump. A shock proof drop canister contained the team’s heavier ordinance, although for this mission there wasn’t a lot, just a couple of RPG-18s and an MG3, and an SR-25. The operators could carry the FALs with them, the folding stock making them short enough for the jump. A brief moment after being thrown into the night sky, throwing the canister with them, they linked up, each man wearing a red chemlight strapped to the leg, before dispersing for deployment as the round came rushing to greet them.

As the first to land, Team Leader, known as “Grunyev”, quickly detached his parachute and took cover, checking his environment. Satisfied it was clear, he loaded an IR flare into his underslung M203, then fired it off into the night sky, visible only the optics using thermal imaging or NVGs. As a combat update package, they had each received a brand new Squad-level command interface, a data uplink synched to datapads worn on the wrist. The technology was new to them, but the decision had been made to issue them with it based on the conditions of the mission. He opened up the GPS to check the landing site of the weapons canister. He quickly keyed into the AN/PRC 152.

“Tally my flare, check your SQLCIs, rendezvous at the cache.” His command was met one by one, as each team member responded with a simple “Tally.”

He checked his RCO and suppressor, then tested his AN/PEQ 15. Satisfied with the gear’s condition, he set off to the RV, just outside of the urban centre. He could hear gunfire sounding out, and assuming the rest of Task Force Atlas had made the landing, that was likely to be them, no local expeditionary forces were present in the AO. If they were using NVGs or thermals, they would’ve seen the IR flare.

Grunyev arrived at landing site some minutes after the gunfire erupted, the canister having landed in a pile of trash next to a clutter of rundown sheds. He approached from foliage, checking his surroundings, when he noticed the dazzle of an IR strobe. It flashed three times in his direction. He flashed back five times with his own IR strobe, then slowly left the undergrowth, greeted by three other men who emerged from behind the structures. He recognized them as Ulman, Reyes and Solomon.

“Any sign of Pavolv and the others yet?” He asked, shouldering his FAL.

Solomon, the 2IC and grenadier, gave a brief nod as he adjusted the RPG-18 on his back. Grunyev reached into the canister, taking out his ruck.

“They got here before we did, set up forward observation points about 300 meters from here.”

“In the city?”

“Affirm, they went vertical, already got their gear.” Grunyev nodded and keyed into the 152 again.

“Pavlov, Grunyev, sitrep.”

There was some distortion from the storm and some minor interference ensued, but the response came in clear enough.

“Grunyev, Pavlov, we’re observing the remains of a firefight, looks like the rest of the Task Force.”

“Copy, you’re cleared hot on any hostiles in the AO." With that, the rest of ADW, 4th Commando set out to mop up the resistance and rendezvous with their new colleagues.

[The United Remnants of America]

Tarzan stuck his head out from the corner of the building he was hiding behind even as Ninja rose to his feet and picked up his rifle. Jolly and Koopa joined Tarzan at the corner, "So... It looks like we won that one. Yippee." Koopa grinned as he shouldered his ACR, always the voice of sarcasm. Jolly ignored the passive-aggressive enthusiasm and spoke through the CrossCom to Ninja, "Hey, Ninja, meet up with us when you can, we're moving out into the center to body check." In reply was a quiet and quick "yessir."

The trio of Sentinels moved out into the field, weapons raised and aimed outwards even as in mid-movement the fourth shape of Ninja joined the squad. The bodies of the enemy combatants were tagged as dead by a quick glance at their face with the Sentinels' CrossCom, which registered whether the person was live or dead. The troopers moved from one body to the next, tagging each as dead and kicking weapons away just for good measure. Jolly reached up and made a switch to the Task Force channel, "This is Jolly, all Sentinels good to go. All targets in the village center down for the count. Where to next?"

[Astronea]

Sierra 2-2 began approaching the centre of the village at a steady pace, but maintaining a low profile as they covered one another's advance through narrow alleyways and side streets. They observed the immediate aftermath of the firefight from some distance, using a clutter of abandoned vehicles as cover. They took note of the men in the open, sweeping through the dead guerillas, checking the bodies. Before initiating contact, Grunyev called up to Pavlov, still in observation with Rybak in a nearby three story building, raising him on the 152.

"Pavlov, you got a P-ID on those contacts in the open?" He asked as he peered up from his cover.

"IFF checks out as Atlas, can't identify unit or nationality at this time..." The questioning was interrupted however, as Rybak, their RTO, still tuned into the the TFA frequency, cut in.

"Break break, Sentinels just called it in on the TF channel, said they've cleaned house. Guessing that's those guys."

Satisfied, Grunyev gave the at ease gesture.

"Rybak, displace and regroup. Pavlov, pack up your gear, keep overwatch but be ready to move out." He spoke, reaching for his IR strobe. He partially exposed himself to the open, in line of sight of the Sentinel troops, and flashed the strobe three times, then waited for a response. As long as someone spotted them in thermal or night vision optics, they'd see the challenge, and should respond if friendly.

[The United Remnants of America]

The Sentinels didn't have thermal or IR headsets with them, but a nifty feature of their CrossComs kicked in. The CrossCom had a wideband receiver that picked up all light frequencies and changed them to optical light with a small footnote of their true wavelength. The entire Sentinel team caught the light, which appeared to them as someone turning an LED flashlight on and off. The flare of light was outlined in a green square that was ID'd as "Infrared" followed soon after by a smaller square centering on the face of the soldier with a popup notice "TF Atlas, Astronean, Sierra 2-2, Grunyev, Team Leader" As this info was transmitted to the entire team, all four Remnant soldiers took a knee, with Koopa, Ninja, and Tarzan taking a watchout in each direction other than straight at the rookie team, which Jolly watched as he spoke over the task force channel, "Sentinels, Sierra 2-2, contact. We see you. We assume you took the fall from Heaven well?"

Directly to Jolly's right, Koopa spoke up, his voice carrying on the wind and over the TF channel as a rectangle appeared no his CrossCom in the distance. "Hey guys, guess who's catching up. It's the friendly neighborhood Rhino killing machine." Koopa was right, the drone's autopilot had worked its way out of the much and onto a road that was taking it straight to the village where its human masters were. The whirring of the drone's mechanisms could just be made out over the faint wind and the noise of silence.