Aug 19 03:10:50 108 PA - Pitched Battle with Coalition Special Troops

From Chronicles

Aug 19 03:10:50 108 PA.

SOMEWHERE NORTH OF KINGSDALE ON THE LARAMY-WHYKIN TRAIL

The sun has been down for hours now, and the skies are clear, though with a very brisk wind blowing down from the northwest. This is one of the smaller trails that from the network of trails connecting Laramy, Kingsdale and Whykin. This particular road is the most northerly, and generally reserved from traffic running between Laramy and Whykin without stop. Despite its size, it is in generally good repair, particularly in the recent months where the Coalition has had an interest in trade between the two locations, as agreed upon many months earlier. Heavy traffic can move freely along the twenty-four foot wide dirt path. As many of the joint Laramy-Whykin patrols are aerial, there is no overhanging canopy, everything having been cleared for excellent visibility. Down on the ground, the road is clear, but the sides are not. They are thickly grown with brush and low trees, and debris of all sorts from the cutting of the canopy litters the edges. The forest itself is of an adequate growth of ash and poplar; not easy to maneuver, but neither a terrible hindrance. The stiff breeze is making sufficient noise to cover stealthy movement. To the south of the trail is a large ridge, while to the north it is basically flat.

Erica is walking around with her armor on. She has her helmet under one arm while she inspects the ambush zone. Her jet pack is attached to her back as she examines the camo that will hide the attackers until the convoy is in position. "Well does anyone have any questions," she asks the people that seem to be under her command."

Bernard is in his shiny new fixed up armor, hunkering down with his rifle at his side, and a grenade launcher over his back, "What exactly are we expecting to run into here?" he asks curiously of Erica.

Way easier to find where the Coalies're gonna be when somebody tells ya. Least where somebody thinks they're gonna be. Easier'n askin the Coalies. They don't tell much most times. Bella's more a city girl but she gets there Ok. She still knows how to play inna dirt some. Ain't real noisy. Wearin all that black leather inna dark don't make her stick out too bad neither.

Jaxain has just finished putting the final straps and clasps together on his borrowed armor, and is testing out the new features of his shiny new optic system. He keeps near Erica, figuring he should follow her lead for this op. "Hey, we expecting many vehicles by the way?" He asks.

Sage's black armor seems to fit in well with the dark time of day and she has some thermal goggles with her in case she needs them. She's found her own spot to settle for this particular situation. She has been watching Erica a little bit during this. "And, if things go poorly, what's our contingency plan?" She asks simply. It is the Coalition they're talking about here... who tend to like numbers and brute force.

"Well, I plan on stepping out if things get complicated." Bernard says rather simply, offering a slight shrug of his shoulders towards Sage, "I'm not sure about the rest of you, however, I'm notable to bring anyone with me."

Erica frowns slightly at Bernard before speaking to Sage. "If things go badly we will do an organized withdraw to the north. We will stay together so that it won't become a rout. I will order you all to withdraw if it comes to that. But I do not think it will come to that. We should be able to take out this force quickly."

"What if they start shootin back quicker'n ya think? 'R more?" Bella pipes up. Sort pops up too. From a bit back aways. Then looks around. "We even sure they's gonna come this way?"

Sage considers the responses she receives from her questions giving a slow nod. She likely makes some decisions based on the responses about how she'll act if things start to hit the fan. "Well, combat never goes the way you expect unless you get lucky... so, let's try not to get too worked up." She comments, but does look to Erica.

Bernard shrugs his shoulders a bit, "What's the signal to start the attack? Are we going to prepare fighting positions or stand out in the open and exchange shots?" he asks curiously.

"We will adapt our strategy. Just keep your radios on, and we will be able to adapt quickly. Yes we are sure they are coming this way." Erica says to Bella. A couple of the troops from the merc company come over to her and she takes a moment to point out the positions she wants them in. "Lets just try to keep communication open, and we will be able to adapt to any upcoming situations." She says to Sage after she is done helping the merc troops. "This is not the first time these men and women have hit convoys. They are really good at it. Don't worry. Roger, the commander will give the signal. We are all going to be taking cover. This is a surprise attack. Move if you need to Bernard. Your job is to keep the regular CS troops occupied until the CS irregulars have been eliminated."

A tall man who walks with purpose emerges from the treeline, obviously intent on speaking to the gathering of people coming up from the city to do good deeds. His tone is aristocratic, but his words are not. A shorter woman follows him, both of them in common EBA. "Hello, I'm Roger de Flor, this is my second, Captain Lilya Litvak. If you can speak Euro, good. If you can translate it somehow, good. We use it to communicate. It's not exactly code, but it gives us an initial edge. Erica's doing a good job of setting you folks up, but if you have any specific questions, we can try to answer them. Up to you where you want to set yourselves. Otherwise, we're going back to the troops. Anyone who needs a translator can borrow one from the forward repair unit. I'll leave you to your own devices. Thanks for coming, this should be a major blow to the bastards." He offers everyone an excellent military salute, and the woman does as well.

"I recall the meeting we had with them." Sage replies simply, not seeming too interested in stirring up worry. She was merely asking one simple question about their contingency. She does make a faint noise at Bernard's comment about standing out in the open for an 'ambush'. She looks to the merc, "Good thing I brought my translator." She mentions, "and here's hoping things go well." She adds softly.

Bella prolly needs one of those things. She dunno what a Euro is. 'R how ta talk ta one. Least she's got her li'l head radio dealy. It's even on her ear. "Anybody check ta see if they's comin? 'R when? Can maybe do that if nobody did." She perks up a brow at Erica and the numbers 1 and 2.

Bernard casts a glance towards the arrival of the two, "I'll need one. I'm not going to waste the energy to speak and understand Euro for this." He comments, before he goes and finds himself a good ambush spot where the group plans to position at and he pulls out his laser range finder, beginning to take distances to various locations, and potential places the enemy may hunker down at. His sketch pad is out next as he begins annotating positions and distances in a crudely drawn sketch of the fighting area.

A pair of what look like technicians, based on their garb walk out of the dense brush and approach each of the men and women coming up from Kingsdale. "Ma'ams, sirs, we need to tag you so that none of us end up shooting you. All of you. Your commander's already been labeled, so you can tell that it's not a big deal. May we?" They take another step forward and pull out a roll of transparent tape, but do nothing more without someone acquiescing.

"We have scouts already out looking, but if you want to scout out their arrival Bella you can." Erica says after thinking a moment. "Keep in mind though that our scouts are in camo and very well concealed. If you start moving around you might get spotted. I think it would be best if your remain here." She turns to smile at Roger before returning his salute with a salute of her own. "I think we will really be able to hit them hard."

"No sense in getting shot at from two directions," Sage comments as she steps up to get tagged. Whatever that'll mean for them. "I think these people have most of the basic stuff taken care of already, Bella. But, if you think there's something you can do that would help, it might be worth a shot as long as it doesn't tip our hand." She comments.

Bella shrugs. "Maybe. Guess I can jus' wait 'ere til alla blowin' up starts. Less they take too long ta show up. Then I'll go lookin." Then she eyes the ones with the tape. "Mark me like what? Gonna stick onna sign't says Don' Shoot Me 'r somethin? Oh. Needa get one'a those translator things too." She grins some when Sage says something. "They're takin too long ta get 'ere already."

Bernard pauses what he's doing to allow the techs to mark him as well, nodding slightly towards them, "Cheers." He says simply in thanks before he goes back to the task at hand.

"Let's take our places, and make sure that we are all well hidden. We don't want to ruin the surprise." Erica says with a chuckle before she takes her helmet and puts it on her head. She moves over to an area that is set up with camo to take cover and hide while she waits for the convoy's arrival.

Permission having been given, the techs mark everyone with tape, front and back in a starburst pattern. The tape itself blends completely indivisibly into the armor or whatever someone happens to be wearing, and is explained that it is only visible in the ultraviolet range, a spectrum in which very few people ever bother to take interest. A common radio frequency is given to those with radios, and translators are distributed - though making it clear that these are intended for temporary use only, to be returned to the Condottieri if everyone survives.

Well, this will be the first time Sage'll get to test out her new purchases it seems. She nods faintly to the suggestion to get under cover. She glances towards Bella, "We'll see if you still think that later on." She quips before she moves off to find an agreeable spot in the covered positions that have been prepared.

Bella gets covered in tape. Sorta. "Fun. Long's somebody's lookin fer it it's good. I guess." She takes the translator then looks 'round. "Guess it's time fer me ta be sneaky 'n stuff." Her turn to go off 'n disappear. Maybe she sits still. Maybe she gets bored 'n looks for 'em. Just have to see.

Jaxain gets a last minute banding of marking tape on himself, and asks for a Translator as well. "Ready." is all he says, following Erica's lead. He fiddles for a moment with the portable translator, then approaches Erica. "Hey, how do you work this thing?" He asks with a quizzical frown.

"Yep I can show you how to work that." Erica says before she starts showing Jaxain how to use his radio. "Isn't too difficult."

Sage has settled into the brush in a spot near the mercenary units. Hopefully she won't be on the receiving end of overshoots on the Coalition's behalf. She has her newly purchased rifle ready and lined up in the general vicinity of the convoy's expecting entrance point. She has a few grenades in easy grabbing positions in case she needs to get a hold of one quickly.

Bernard likewise is hunkered down, he has both his rifle, and the grenade launcher within easy grabbing distance, both tethered to his body by way of slings, quietly and casually waiting for the party to kick off.

Bella goes out to see how the coupla guys out sorta onna end're doin. Closer to where the Coalies are s'posed ta come from too. She thinks. Then she finds a nice li'l tree 'r rock to hide behind. Ain't hard since she ain't big.

It's been a long time in setting up this ambush. The Condottieri had been hoping to hit this convoy and run as they've been doing successfully for months now. Unfortunately, something unknown happened at the 23rd Battalion's warehouse in Laramy which caused the unit to crack down on everything going in and out. Only through some assets placed within the town itself did they even hear that a large convoy was going to attempt to make the Laramy-Whykin run, and even at that, the information is sketchy. A convoy larger than usual, probably five vehicles, possibly more. Back from the front ambush points, Roger and Lilya are making final preparations. The weather, fortunately, seems to be on the side of the ambushers.

Erica keeps herself hidden she does a couple of touch ups on the camo, but for the most part remains still. She has a blinder grenade ready for when the convoy arrives. In her other hand she holds her particle beam rifle ready.

Sage seems content to remain where she is, figuring there's no point in making herself overly visible just yet. With the darkness and the impending battle, she takes a moment to turn on her thermal goggles to see if she can spot anything in particular. Her hand moves towards one of her grenades.

Bernard is hunkered down as well, remaining quiet as he waits, and watches. He has his multi optics device in place as he too watches for any signs of the supposed Coalition convoy that travels this route.

Since the irregular people are still prolly smart enough to be quiet so's Bella. She's just hidin 'n peekin for now. Way close to the road than the water she's hoping to see down the road a ways. Easier to watch for what's s'posed to be coming that way.

Jaxain is lying prone in some bushes, well concealed, in a position a few meters back from Erica. He has his sniper rifle out and ready, and he is adjusting the view on his optic system as he waits.

The Condottieri seem relatively quiet, and very professionally fixed in place, waiting for events to unfold as they hope they will. Back at the small command unit, ex-Major de Flor is on the radio with the main base, where they seem to be having technical problems of some kind.

Erica tenses a little bit as she gets a brief radio signal from what sounds like the convoy. She doesn't want to break radio silence though. She keeps low to the ground. Making a big of a change of plans she switches out her blinder grenade for a plasma grenade, wanting to throw the plasma first then the blinder.

Sage's hand takes up the blinder as she's out of the loop when it comes to the change. Blinders have been good for her in the past, after all. She doesn't move too much yet, though. She can only hope that things are still according to plan.

Bernard continues to hunker, not privy to the radio chatter because well, he doesn't have a radio. His attention his split on the road, and the other units, waiting for any indication of action from the other ambushers.

Jaxain has a radio, just doesn't know how to use it. It is set as Erica left it, and that is just fine with him. Nothing going on yet, so he just squints and waits.

The radios of the Condottieri and those on loan to potential heroes of Kingsdale crackle to life, albeit very quietly. The wind helps muffle any noise. Words come clipped and military. "This is Gryphon, we can hear something coming. Possible heat signature, sensors indicate wheeled vehicles, composition and numbers unknown." Then the radio is off again. It's quite possible that whatever they're hearing has yet to turn the southern corner near the first heavy weapons position. Suddenly, the radio comes across, "GROUND!" The mercenaries, who have been working together for years, duck as a hovercycle comes blazing up the road as a complete surprise, a CS grunt riding it, an obvious forward scout for whatever is on its way.

Erica remains low to the ground behind the camo, not wanting to give away her or the others' positions. She bites her lower lip behind her helmet, hoping that the forward scout hasn't spotted their positions. She holds on to her plasma grenade ready to throw it if need be.

Sage isn't particularly eager to get the fight over with and seems content to remain where she is. She is looking the wrong way entirely for the Coalition scout's approach. If she weren't already keeping a low profile, she'd have to rely on her reflexes. With numbers unknown, she eases her hand away from the blinder as it's hard to tell whether it'll be effective enough at first. She grips her rifle instead.

"Armor's light on it, stripped down. It's got one forward mounted cannon." Bernard murmurs to Erica who's nearby as he continues to hunker down in his hiding spot as the CS scout scouts.

"Huh?" Bella got the first thing. Mostly. It's the yelling that don't make sense. She looks at the ground. Wondering what's wrong with it. Then she sees the hovercycle zipping along and blinks. "How come nobody said nothin' bout that thing?" Course with everybody else flat on the ground maybe that's all they can see.

Jaxain isn't overly surprised at the sudden appearance of the scout, as he had no idea what to expect anyway. He continues to keep an eye on Erica, following her lead, as he stifles a yawn inside his helmet. At least this armor has AC, that's kinda nice.

The various radios crackle over with what seems like some poor communications security. "Busboy, Tracer. Citadel is slick." Then once more, silence, and the hovercycle continues to zoom east. Shortly thereafter, the Condottieri 'Gryphon' unit speaks quietly. "Coming in, four, five... seven heavy trucks. Look like standard cargo containers. High speed, no visible escort. Ready to set the cage." A few more moments of silence before ex-Major de Flor's voice comes over: "Let's score one for the good guys. Set the cage." There's a simple double-click of a microphone, on-off, on-off from the eastern heavy 'Dragon' unit. At the reported velocity, it shouldn't be too long until this train of large vehicles is in the ambush area.

Erica continues to hide, waiting for the trap to get sprung. She has had a lot of practice waiting, and she continues to keep low to the ground. She keeps behind the cover, looking to spot any psi-stalkers or dog boys by their distinctive helmets and armor.

When it seems things are still according to plan, Sage resists the urge to move as she's unsure of how things will play out. With the mention of trucks, her hand creeps back to the blinder grenade once more. She should have asked about the contents of this particular shipment. Once the convoy's location is clear enough, she begins to look at it through her thermal-enhanced vision.

Bernard continues to wait, quiet and calm for the time being as he waits for the convoy to get into the killzone, incantations on the tip of his tongue as he waits for the go word.

Bella starts tapping a foot. Just a li'l. She always knew seven came after five. Least these boys can count. Now the ones gettin caged just needa hurry up 'n get in. She watches. No fancy thermally doodads. Just eyeballs. Prolly the only one't don' look like a walkin' tin can too. She straightens up some too. Stuff's gonna go boom soon 'n she's gotta be ready. To do ...somethin. Bella'll figger out what to do whenever she needs to do it.

Jaxain keeps waiting, staying calm and alert. And quiet. He knows better than to start chatting just before a strike, even though nerves sometimes seem to demand it. He puts his rifle in position, and gets ready to fire when called upon.

Indeed, there are seven large trucks that come flying hell-bent-for-leather through the ambush zone. The Gryphon position counts them off quietly, giving the eastern Dragon position notice as to when best to shut the trap. They really do look as if these are heavy-duty cargo containers just unloaded from a ship at the Port of Los Angeles, were it still to exist, and attached to the tractor part of the vehicle along a single rotating pin, as is common for these types of things. Roger's voice is heard as the first vehicle is nearly at the Dragon position. "Last chance for ingenuity."

"Sage if you can use your telekinesis to immobilize any trucks that might try to escape if you can. That would work out well. Any sticky magic carpets would work great, if anyone can do that. Let's try to get everything." Erica says to her team if they are listening.

"Never lifted anything that heavy." Sage replies simply, "It'd be better to try to shoot out the tires or something." She mentions, "Immobilize the front and back and the rest aren't going anywhere either." She suggests.

As the trucks fly past, one of the techs runs forward in the brush to grab Jaxain and drag him to the rear to fix the UV tape that has fallen off. No need to get shot.

"Nothing to help here." Bernard says, "I can put a grenade into any truck that tries to get out though," He offers with a slight shrug of his shoulders, continuing to peer quietly at the approaching convoy.

Jaxain follows the tech.

Tap. Tap. Tap. Way too many taps for Bella. "So. Nobody doin nothin 'r what?" Maybe it's all on her? She can bring hell if she wanna. Time to pull out her bitty li'l pistol. Trucks're big 'nuff. She can maybe hit those with it. Then she grins after eyein the trucks s'more. A gotta idea now kinda grin. Bet she can run over all sortsa stuff drivin one of those. And it'll be fun too!

With an enormous blast, truly one that would temporarily deafen those not protected by armor, the eastern and western ends of the trap go off, with six fusion blocks being used as mines in each position, and two men standing up with mini-rail guns pounding away at the first and last vehicles. The forward vehicle is blasted straight up in what is almost a physically impossible Hollywood twist before coming down in what can only be described as a flaming heap. To the west, Gryphon's trap doesn't go off quite as cleanly. The truck is blasted and damaged, blown to the north side of the road, east of the Gryphon unit. Intact, but not with a metal smile. The other five trucks come to various forms of screeching halts, or as best one can do on a dirt road. The Condottieri begin to immediately fire on the stopped vehicles, first shredding the crew compartments and killing the driver and passenger.

"I don't know why but this feels like some sort of trap. Watch out for the trucks. But since everything is always a trap or something unexpected I am sure you all are ready." Erica says to her team as the traps go off. She keeps low to the ground for now ready to toss her plasma grenade at any threat she sees.

With the trap seeming to go off with a hitch, Sage isn't quite sure what to fire at as the mercenaries seem to be taking care of business. She begins to look around with her thermal vision to see if there's anything that seems to belong to the Mercenaries. Although, she can't help but look into the sky for any thermal signatures. The telescopic feature could be handy if anything stands out.

Well, things seem ready to go as the explosions go off, Bernard begins the first of his incantations, willing into an existence around him a barrier about him with the channeling of mystic energy.

"Look't'em go!" Stuff went boom. Bella's happy. Course it does look kinda easy. "Think they woulda had more guards 'r somethin." Like. Ya know. Any. Don't leave her with anything ta shoot at. She ain' complainin though. "Guess we jus' getta see what didn' get blowed up."

The fury with which the Condottieri unleashed their vengeance is truly epic. Those cargo containers aren't going anywhere without someone bringing in heavy equipment. The mercenaries pause and leave a good few seconds for something to happen, but nothing does. It's just quiet, aside from the various popping of smoke and the occasional grenade that was in the driver's compartment. In fact, the mercenaries seem quite happy with themselves. They took heed of Erica's warning, but as it was a bit of a mute one, they're also happy enough to get out and approach the vehicles. Weapons raised, admittedly, but still victorious. They're only a very short distance from the trucks when Lilya's voice comes over the radio. "We have... two aerial targets?"

Erica attaches her plasma grenade to her belt as she looks up. She starts using the optics in her helmet to scan the air. She zooms in to get a better view while she raises her heavy rifle to her shoulder. Her jet pack gets powered up in case she needs to use it soon.

Sage shifts her position to be able to get a reasonable aiming angle on the approaching craft that she was able to spot, "I see... what is probably that hovercycle coming back..." She mentions, "It's really moving." She comments. She doesn't seem to comment on whatever might be the second thing. While it's still distant, she gathers up her three grenades to slip them away. Perhaps once she's finished with that, she'll have a chance to start lining up a realistic shot.

Bernard's grenade launcher is pushed over his back at the report of air targets returning, he picks the Triax rifle he carries up instead, his gaze scanning the skies, waiting for the incoming bogies to appear.

See? S'what they get fer lookin atta ground before. Now Bella looks up. To see what she can see. "Sounds like maybe they still got more guards somewheres." She even remembers to hit the li'l talk switch this time so other people can hear her. "Anybody see anythin else?" Bella ain' real good at math but she's pretty sure the guy comin back don't count as two.

It's at this moment that all radios crackle to life. Everyone's radio, and seemingly on all frequencies, as if there's a very high power radio source operating quite nearby. Unfortunately, it's complete static, but something was there. The Condottieri on the ground suddenly start to mill about, very confused. Someone down in the ranks breaks radio silence long enough to say tentatively, "Well... that was easy?" The hovercycle that had passed through before approaches, the second aerial target apparently incoming. The easy ambush is then quickly and unfortunately revealed as having been far too easy.

As one, the 'cargo containers' that had been carried on the 'contraband convoy' flip down and open up to display the 4th platoon of C Company, the elite forward security branch of the 23rd Battalion that has been operating out of Laramy for the last few months. All the signs had been there, but no one had seen. At least someone had been hitting the convoys enough to anger them; but this has also brought them out in force, which looks to anyone with military experience to be a well-executed counter-ambush. Lucky for the Condottieri, they weren't caught completely off guard, and they have friends from the city to help. People start shooting in every direction.

To the west, the Irregulars begin to fire off their own brand of magic and psionic attacks at the infantry opposing them. Bright lights flash from the three Line Walkers, and who knows what the psychics are doing. Whatever it is, there are men from 4th Platoon dropping.

Lilya rushes forward to be next to Erica, trying to choose a target. "We should choose one truck and attack en masse," she suggests, then picks up her own weapon, a clean L-20 and starts to fire. It seems to be an even exchange.

Well, their ambush was nice while it lasted. When the complication of the counter-attack comes, it almost isn't a surprise as she's found herself in the middle of a few of them over her time helping others. A psychic field rises to protect herself against damage, hoping to save herself and some armor grief. She seems to have it out for the hovercyclist as she turns her attention to it first. Willing the weapon to stun, she fires off a round.

The hovercycle flies around in loops for a while before coming to a crash and exciting explosion deep within the trees on the north slope of the mountain on the other side of the road.

The bulk of the Condottieri infantry unleashes a hellish assault on the 4th Platoon, and cuts their numbers in half nearly instantly. Apparently heart does win out over training and ruthlessness on occasion, though the battle is far from over.

Bella gets a li'l excited when the hoverbike goes wonky. Maybe she can steal a ride after all. Then it goes boom too. Damn. Guess she's just gotta deal with the ten guys close to her. She's maybe got five with her. 'Less the irregular people ran 'way. Since she ain' right up in nobody's face she points her bitty pistol at one of 'em. And pushes the shoot button. Bzzz. Pop. Flash. Sizzle. Bella's bitty gun makes pretty noises. But no shooty beam of death comes out.

Not happy to be counter-counter ambushed, the men and women of the 4th fire back from their elevated position using all kinds of weapons, from modern Coalition issue to what they've probably gathered through their own contraband trafficking. However, perhaps because of their own counter-surprise, their fire is ineffective. Armor is damaged, but the Condottieri remain standing and firing back.

To the west, Gryphon's heavy weapons fire a torrent of ion and plasma blasts down on the stopped vehicle, but somehow the CS infantry manage to largely avoid being hurt.

"Alright then. Let's take out these guys in front and then move on down the line." Erica says in response to Lilya before she throws her plasma grenade at the lead group of troops, trying to catch as many CS troops as possible in the blast. She then raises her particle beam rifle to her shoulder and takes a shot at one of the CS troops.

The blast blows some troops off their feet, and it certainly doesn't help their mood, but no one actually goes down. This modern gear is tough stuff.

Roger de Flor materializes near Erica, perhaps having followed Lilya. "Nice shot," he offers before he tosses his own grenade, which due to Erica's earlier blast manages to take out a few of the 4th's infantry. He then hurriedly speaks into the radio and tells Lodestone to get his ass into the air.

Most people around Bernard probably don't really notice what happens, at best he seems to be moving a bit faster. To the neighboring groups, however. It looks weird as hell, as the passage of time seems to slow down for everyone, except for Bernard as he lifts the rifle and begins blasting at the Coalition troops.

A trooper takes Bernard's blast right in the chest, but only seems to get pissed off by it. As soon as he stops fighting the regulars opposing him, it's a good bet that Bernard will be his next target.

Finally, Lodestone has his hovercycles in the air, all four of them, and all of them modified by crack technicians working for the group. They make a long fire pass from east to west, strafing the men and women of the 4th with laser fire. Unfortunately, they must still be working the kinks out, because the entire unit only manages to scorch what was a completely empty area of the southern forest.

The Condottieri have been speaking for a few seconds, but because of the din of combat, it hasn't been very clear. "..armo.. some kind of power armor coming in from the west, bringing up the missile grid."

"I think more CS enforcements are coming. That is what it sounds like on the radio. Keep an eye out on the skies for any more approaching reinforcements. I bet we are going to get some SAMAS." Erica calls out over the radio. "So far so good for a supposed trap though."

"I'll try to help with whatever's coming..." Sage advises, "Won't be able to destroy them, but I bet I can hinder them." She adds, likely figuring the ground forces are going to keep fighting each other for the most part. She'll see if she can get a vantage point on the approaching aerial attack without exposing herself too much.

"Huh, these damn fuckers have good armor. I'm going to need something bigger." Bernard murmurs as he hunkers in his `hole'. He doesn't seem keen on jumpin forward and taking any sort of leadership control, however, happy to do his part in payin the butcher's bill.

As quickly as it had barely stopped, the action begins again. The overturned truck on the west side near the Gryphon unit flips open, apparently still functional. A hellish fire is unleashed in the direction of the corporal's irregulars, but being blown through the air must have affected them, as their shots go wild.

The mercenary infantry mercilessly cut down those who'd so boldly driven in expecting a conquest. After the fire lifts, only six men remain. However, being men of the 4th, they don't know the meaning of the word 'surrender,' or at least they're afraid to surrender to people whom they've been angering so much for probably their entire lives.

Lilya nails one of the six, leaving him smoking, but standing. She wonders aloud, "Try for prisoners?"

Sage seems to have stumbled upon the best place for SAMAS watching as they seem to be easily spotted from her new vantage point. Of course, they are a fair bit more powerful than she if it comes down to a straight up fire fight. She looks to make herself a little more scarce in profile while they're approaching, hoping to get a free shot or two in as they come in. "They're coming in fast." She comments simply.

The Condottieri infantry finally flail, scoring hits on the five remaining men, but somehow the five against fifty stand manages to hold.

"Fack!" First it's her gun not shooting. Now there's a pile more guys to worry 'bout. So Bella does what all those people in the trids do when their gun don' kill 'em. She throws the pistol at one of the new guys shootin 'er way. And starts runnin for 'em.

The missile battery to the rear fires three surface-to-air missiles that the elite pilot can't avoid. Fortunately or unfortunately, their warheads do little damage, and it continues into the battle.

The five remaining men of the 4th Platoon, whether it be desperation, or whether it be identification of primary foe, isolate ex-Major de Flor as their target. Their five weapons shred his armor, and he dies instantly. Command passes on to Captain Litvak, who looks surprised at the sudden turn of events.

The heavy weapons unit in the west blasts the men coming from under the truck, killing three.

Meanwhile, up in the sky, the SAMAS turns his anger on the only thing that he currently sees as a danger - the missile unit. The famed rail gun decimates it, and the men operating it.

"Prisoners would be good. I'm going to try to take out the SAMAS." Erica says to Lilya. She looks to around trying to spot them in the air, but apparently can't see them or hear them. Having nothing else to do she tosses a blinder grenade at the remaining CS troops and then shoots again

The Blinder goes off harmlessly, an unfortunate toss. The men are still up and fighting an insane battle that surely cannot be won.

The rifle is left to fall to his chest, as Bernard pulls out the drum fed grenade launcher, a dull thump echoes from the weapon, followed shortly by a loud boom and a localized blast in the Coalition lines.

Loud, but left to others do decide if it's impressive. One of the already-scorched soldiers goes down, leaving only a mad quartet still fighting against all odds.

The heavy weapons unit to the east, Dragon, reports in that their power unit has gone down, and they are frantically working to repair it. But unless techs can be rushed to them, they're out of action.

Staff Sergeant Lodestone is having a bad day. His four hovercycles swoop down, ready to nail those four fellows sheltering behind debris. His unit's errant fire, which had been apparently on some kind of immense burst, tears into the Condottieri infantry, killing dozens. One of the people who goes down is Captain Litvak. Dead before she even knew it. The hovercycles pass overhead, aimlessly waiting for orders.

The men coming from under the truck once more try for the irregulars, but miss. However, by avoiding fire, the irregulars have taken themselves out of the fight, separating to the point at which they're no longer useful.

Ah, the SAMAS gets closer and closer. The exchange of fire between it and the missile defense are just a little foreplay. She can't be sure of the result to the friendlies, but the SAMAS doesn't seem to be overly phased. In the confusion of the battle, she can't possibly know that the command structure has been compromised or that the rest of the unit is falling apart. Her focus on the SAMAS... and it's in range now, convenient. She focuses first on a stun blast before following it up with a damage shot.

The Condottieri infantry, who had previously been doing so well, suddenly find themselves at a complete loss, their ranks having suddenly been decimated through fratricide, and all contact with their commanders gone. No one even manages to get off a useful shot at the remaining four CS grunts.

Bella only had a dead bitty pistol to throw at them. That's didn't work so good. The stick inna coat ran at a pile o' big tough soldier boys. Then she's tryin'a run all between 'em. But she ain't really swingin nothin at 'em. 'R shootin. Don't mean 'er hands ain' trying somethin though. What Bella does with her hands don't do much. What she does with her feet does though! One goes on top of the other. There's another "Fack!" Now it's Bella's turn to be flat on the ground. Face first. In the middle of twenty pissed off soldier boys with lotsa guns.

Even when in the middle of desperate combat, it's hard not to notice when someone pops one of your remaining comrades. As the four CS infantry begin to make a valiant fighting withdrawal, they turn their weapons on Bernard. Yes, that one bastard who dared single them out. Four modern Coalition rifles burp fire.

The Gryphon heavy weapon unit to the west is busily trying to reorient itself for combat in the woods to the north, near the overturned truck, angry infantry, and flattened Bella.

As for the SAMAS pilot, he's just flying around in circles for now, probably just trying to do his best to not fall out of the sky.

Erica wishes the commanders would have stayed in the back instead of moving into danger, but apparently she is now in command. "Concentrate all fire on the remain CS troops." She calls out to all the remaining mercs. "Finish them off." She orders. At Lilya's radio call she powers up her jet pack at starts heading towards the base camp. "Something big is approaching the base camp." If she can spot whatever the big thing is she'll take some shots at it. Otherwise she'll shoot at the SAMAS.

The SAMAS pilot doesn't even try to avoid the blasts. Maybe doesn't even know that they're coming. Still, you have to hand it to the Coalition for building things sturdy. It falters and flips, but remains in the sky.

Dodge, duck, weave... it works for some of the blasts fired at Bernard, one impacts just short, the flare of energy quite visible as the magical barrier absorbs and dissipates the impact, but he's not so lucky for the follow up shot, taking a big shot to his armor.

Jaxain moves forward, back to the position he vacated after being called away by the cute techie who fixed his marking tape. Seeing the disaster, he quickly realizes that they are in worse shape than he expected. He remains in cover for now (no reason why not to) and takes shots at the four remaining soldiers in the one area

Through happenstance only, one of the grunts who had been hit earlier in the frenzy goes down with a hole in his breastplate, through his torso, and out the back. And then there were three brave souls.

As the evening has worn on into a genuine night, spotty clouds are beginning to appear, and the brisk breeze has all but died. The trail between Laramy and Whykin is littered with destroyed trucks and the bodies of both Coalition soldiers and the mercenaries of the Condottieri. In the west, twenty men are preparing to eliminate the Gryphon heavy weapons position, and of course the small woman who decided to fall on her face in front of them. The remaining Condottieri are caught in a decision between falling back toward their base and eliminating the three remaining soldiers of the original attack. The two leaders of the Condottieri are dead, leaving Erica in charge. Staff Sergeant Lodestone and his armed hovercycles continue to fly overhead, while a damaged SAMAS makes slow circles.

As the tiny woman comes to a screeching halt with her face in the dirt, the men who are now completely extricated from the overturned truck ignore her completely and turn their fire on the heavy weapons unit that is desperately trying to train its cannons in a direction they'd never intended to fight. Somehow though, the entire unit manages to miss, and by a wide margin.

"If there's something big moving to the base camp, perhaps we should send those flyboys back to see what it is..." Sage suggests, clearly having the SAMAS in mind she doesn't pay much mind to the rest of the troops for the moment. With the help on the SAMAS coming by the looks of it, she notices how the vehicle seems to be soaking up the damage. There seems to be only one thing to do as she shifts her arm towards the head portion of the armor.

Even a stunned man can see when something's aiming for his head. The SAMAS pilot tries to weave, but because of the damage done to his senses, he doesn't get out of the way, and the magical rifle's blast takes pieces off of his helmet. Fortunately, a SAMAS has a hard head, but this has shaken him out of his earlier reverie.

Without a good sense of what to do, the remaining Condottieri infantry just pick a target. Their leaders are gone, their numbers suddenly slashed, they just keep shooting at what they'd been shooting, the three original CS infantry. The three men go down under a hail of fire. With the exception of the men to the west, the original assault troops are now gone.

Bella's done a good job. At not being dangerous. Not to anybody but herself anyways. She gets up just enough to crawl some. Into the big buncha heavy soldier boys that're ignoring her. Then she can stand up. If they ain' gonna shoot't her then she's better off with alla armor around her.

Yes, missiles, a blow to both the literal and figurative gut, then a shot to the face will get anyone's attention. The pilot looks for his attacker, but he or she remains hidden. He just fires blindly in the best direction he can guess, the big rail gun burping fire. Many trees are shredded, and ammunition expended, but nothing more.

The heavy weapons unit is still working to bring its cannons around. They will be in position very soon.

"No attack the large contingent of troops." Erica says into her radio trying to get the mercs to follow her orders. "Air unit go reinforce the basecamp" She says to the hovercycles wanting them to stop killing their own allies. She sees the helmet of the SAMAS take some damage, so she decides to follow that lead. She raises up her particle beam rifle to fire at the helmet of the stunned SAMAS.

Another burst of weapons fire hits the SAMAS helmet, and this time it pops. Only the remaining electronics built into the suit allow it to make some beautiful, graceful loops before its jets ignite at full power and it slams wildly into the ground, making a reasonably impressive crater.

Jaxain needs some serious firepower, what is being throwin around now is a lot more than what his sniper rifle is capable of dealing out. He heads over towards the main conflict, swinging by the bodies of the dead 4th to do a quick scavenge for any heavy weapons he can see. He's a fast runner, and he makes his way towards the trucks too see if he can find a rail gun or something of like nature.

One of the soldiers downrange takes a dink of a shot to the back, probably doesn't even notice in that heavy armor.

Bernard has been dodging and ducking and is now recovering from the blast that actually made it through his magical armor, making as little a target of himself as he can.

Unlike the stunned infantry, Lodestone confirms Erica's order with a crisp, "Roger," before they begin the flying trek to the camp. However, as de Flor and Litvak had set things up to purposefully be distant, it will take what will seem like a significant amount of time for them to reach the camp or be within visual range.

As for the forward field techs, they just simply have absolutely no idea what to do, and no one is even talking to them as if they're there.

Fifteen seconds of combat sees nearly one-hundred men and women dead or very soon to be dead, bodies, armor and weapons shattered by the violence. In fact, very little of anything remains in any working order that anyone can easily spot. The Gryphon unit in the west has oriented their weapons, and there are only twenty heavy soldiers of the 4th alive and active. They are only slightly outnumbered by the Condottieri, and the eastern heavy 'Dragon' unit is still down with a power problem. Bella is in among the heavy infantry of the CS, while Erica, Bernard and Jaxain are off to the distant east. de Flor had planned this as a large battlefield, and it is. Ten technicians are hiding in their forward position, and Sage is hidden beneath the trees in a north-central location. The Condottieri base, which lies nearly two miles to the northwest, continues to call emergencies that something large and on the ground is moving their direction. Lodestone's hovercycles are headed in that direction, but haven't even made it to the base position yet. There is a last transmission before the radio waves are suddenly blurred completely with ECM static, "Radar's out!"

Since the big bad burly boys got others things ta shoot at Bella can try 'n have a li'l fun. Again. She just makes sure her feet are planted good this time. Then she reaches out to see about playing with the boys' toys. Pullin a pin or two here. Pushin a button 'r three that looks like maybe it oughtta be pushed if ya want somethin ta blow up. As Bella grabs for the men, she snags two grenades, which happen to go off. Lucky for a person who may have never seen a grenade before, but luck happens.

The blast envelopes ten men, as they're clustered together, and leaves their armor significantly scorched. But they're still standing. However, standing inside the blast radius of two grenades also tends to have a negative affect on such a person. Bella's armored coat is completely blown away, rapidly followed by just about every shred of clothing that she'd been wearing and essentially everything that she'd been carrying with her.

Erica is baffled by the merc company as she spots to field techs who are for some reason involved in this combat. "Get the hell out of here, or at least under cover." She orders to the techs before mumbling to herself. "Why are they even out here?" She moves over to the heavy infantry. "Concentrate all fire on the heavy infantry." She orders to the rest of the merc unit. She moves to fire her own rifle at the heavy infantry, hoping to take them out before whatever big thing is coming to wipe out the base camp of this odd merc company.

Two of the previously scorched men take hits to the back. Not enough to bring them down, but enough to start splitting the heavy unit's fire between the Gryphon post and those shooting from the east.

The hovercycles just keep screaming to the northwest. If there's anything to report yet, the radio is still scrambled.

Bernard speaks a quick incantation, raising the invisible barrier of force around him again as he puts the grenade launcher away, pulling out his pulse rifle again, still remaining tucked away in safety.

The mean of the heavy infantry unit seem to be a bit confused as to where that huge detonation came from right in the middle of their ranks. Apparently Bella is still just small enough to go without notice, perhaps because the pretty coat of hers has been completely blasted to smithereens. They open fire on the remaining heavy outpost of the mercenaries, and Gryphon goes up in a large fireball as something apparently cooks off an ammunition canister.

The SAMAS unit firing off its rail gun in an attempt to flush her would have been a little more worrying if the pilot guessed a little better. Instead, some trees take on the wrath. Then, her helper seems to finish off the SAMAS as it suddenly nose dives into the ground to make a crater. With that particular threat out of the way, she looks around to see what's left. The fighting on the other side of the ambush drawing her attention. It's way too far for her to throw a grenade let alone start running towards it. She shifts her aim towards the big group of Coalition soldiers. Too many to stun. She focuses on shooting towards the soldiers. Hoping to drop one... and only move onto another if the first doesn't drop.

Perhaps it's because the rifle is at the very outside of its range that the damage done to the unsuspecting soldiers isn't very impressive. Not that they don't like to be shot.

Finally having gathered themselves after the loss of their commanders, the NCOs - who everyone knows are the heart of any battle unit anyway - whip the remaining men and women into shape. All kinds of fire shoots out, from all sorts of weapons, and three-quarters of the remaining CS infantry go down. One of the sergeants looks back long enough to give Erica a thumb's up. The Condottieri infantry, which had been working more as three individual remaining units, have now come together to fight and move as one.

The men who were supposed to be the forward techs listen to Erica's orders and decide that taking cover and getting out of the fighting can be interpreted as getting as low as possible in their position. They'll be laying there for a while, out of combat, even if someone tries to whip them up. They just weren't mean to fight. Perhaps de Flor and Litvak expected it to be a longer, pitched battle that would necessitate and allow time for repairs.

Fack. Bella liked that coat. Now she's gotta go 'n buy a new one. Least it helped. And was still kinda fun. She starts backin outta the middle of 'em. Away from the shootin. Course if there's a guy inna back she can poke on the way out she will. She ain't got to use her li'l knife much yet.

It's a little poke, and the man poked does seem to notice that he's been poked, but not sure if he should poke back.

"Finish taking out the CS heavy troops. Once that is done fall back to reinforce the base camp. Techs try to scavenge what you can." Erica orders to the merc troops. "Sage once this is done mind if I ferry you to the base camp with me?" She asks over the radio before she fires two more shots at the CS troops.

The man earlier hence poked now takes a couple of blows to the chest, and turns to see his attacker. Or his other attacker, depending on your point of view.

The hovercycles are now out of range of anyone at this battlefield, particularly considering the canopy cover. However, without radios, their exact disposition and location is completely unknown.

Bernard gets up from his fighting position, the remainder of the battle is quite a ways off from his position now, and he begins jogging out towards the road where the nearest group of CS soldiers was gunned down, his eyes open for any remaining surprises as he advances.

The remaining five infantry decide that a flying piece of cyclopean armor with a jet pack strapped to it firing a large particle beam rifle is a more necessary target than a short, white-haired girl with a silver knife poking at their knees. Their weapons, old-style Fire Breathers are trained on Erica, and they all take long shots at her.

"I guess we could do that... unless it'd be better for someone with a stronger weapon than me." Sage replies to Erica. She knows her main weapon is getting towards the half-way mark for payload, but taking out the remaining enemies does take priority. Again, she tries to drop one before moving onto another if possible.

The same poor guy who's been being picked on by the other two women in the area finally goes down, his armor shattered.

In an embarrassing turn of events, the thirty men of the Condottieri infantry fire at the four remaining men, but their fire goes wide, and hits the remains of the truck that the CS was inadvertently sheltering behind. The sergeant urges the mercenaries forward into a better firing position.

The techs. The techs don't do terribly much. Erica's calls haven't really reached their ears yet. Both emotionally, psychologically and because no one's radios are working.

Least Bella knows her knife ain' broke. Like the pistol was. 'N maybe her boots were. When the poked guy goes down she'll grab for his big gun. Then she's gonna run off for the base place that the flyin guys were headin for. Last she heard there's somethin big that way. It was a heavy gun. Or maybe Bella slipped again. She end up inna dirt again. Her clothes're still smokin from before. Looks like the dirt's too tough fer what's left too. Most what was left falls off when she goes to get back up. So now she's still got no gun. She's dirty. And pretty much nekkid too. Hope the merc don't shoot at 'er since the tape's gone.

Erica spends her time trying to dodge the fire from the remaining Coalition troops. She does her best to not get hit and has little time to do much else.

There continues to be no sign or communication with the hovercycle unit.

Bernard gives a quick look over the squad, noting that everything appears smashed and destroyed, he shrugs, moves back to the treeline.

What? Now there's a girl laying on the ground, eating dirt right next to them and she's naked now, too? Penthouse Letters here we come, indeed. If the Coalition allows erotic material to be circulated, of course. However, being good troops, and also perhaps being fed large portions of saltpeter, they manage to maintain concentration, and continue to fire at the flying Erica.

Sage is just about to get up and ready for her flight out to go help the base. But, the mercenary aim proves to be disappointing. She lets out a soft sigh before taking aim at another Coalition soldier trying to knock down another.

One of the four remaining stalwart bad guys - depending on your point of view - gets hit in the chest, but his armor is still strong enough to take the impacts.

The Condottieri sergeant finally rallies all of the troops. The four remaining Coalition soldiers are cut down in a hail of weapons fire. This battlefield is quiet, as long as you consider the cries of the wounded, crackling of burning equipment and the occasional popping off of live ammunition and the dramatic explosions of damaged eclips to be quiet. Unfortunately, the radios are still hopelessly scrambled.

Meanwhile, the techs are poking their heads up and waving their arms like madmen.

Maybe Bella meant to hit the dirt. So she didn't get shot up with the guys. Either way she gets up now. With nothin but a coupla knives that didn't get blowed up she figgers she oughtta look fer somethin better. Maybe find somethin ta wear too. She pokes around the dead dead boys for stuff but's bein quick about it. There's still somethin big she wants ta see.

Erica goes down to the techs as fast as she can to see what they are waving their arms about for. "What is going on?" She asks as she reaches them. She looks at her heavily damaged armor and pokes at the burn marks.

Bernard has no radio communication, and he's not near anyone else in the group, he glances a bit before moving back out to the dead and dieing, searching out for one of the still living Coalition soldiers.

With the last of the Coalition forces falling, Sage finally gets up from her concealed position. She starts to look for Erica to see about getting that ride. She still has the psychic body field in place and will likely keep it up for the duration. Worst case scenario, she can always hoof it on foot.

The infantry is forming up around the sergeant who seems to have finally gotten them back on their feet. They are now a cohesive thirty-man unit ready to move and fight as one. However, they are entirely on foot. The technicians do two things when Erica gets there. One of them reaches out to bodily yank her into their little hole, if he can get a hand on her, and another one shoves a handset in her face. "We cleared a frequency!" He gestures to a few other radios, which presumably are operating properly. The first man is arguing, "Get in here, I can slam some plate on that. Not pretty, but it's better than nothing."

Jaxain finally reaches the truck he was running towards. He was firing off pot-shots when he could, but he either missed or did insignificant damage. Reaching the mounted weapons, he gives one a swift kick which tears the megadamage steel of the mounting, and hefts the weight upwards and towards freedom. Then he tries to take off with the previously mounted weapon... Sure he looks like an action hero, but it's still not a very smart move and whether the gun will actually still fire is mostly up to luck.

Bella could use a couple pieces of plate. She's just gotta settle fer whatever she can find't ain't shot ta pieces. She don't find nothin ta wear. Just pistols ta take too. She leaves 'em. Last one didn' work right 'n these've been shot at. Bella moves her nekkid butt away from the road. To where most everybody else's goin. That's towards the fun she figures.

Bernard goes about settling the butcher's bill, pulling out his silvered knife as he lays out any live Coalition soldier's he finds. To the untrained eye, he's just puttin the troopers out of their misery. To the magically savvy sort, he's sacrificing them for their sweet, succulent PPE.

"Well what is your base camp saying? We need to reenforce them as fast as possible." Erica says to the techs. "We need to move the remains of the company back to base camp so this whole company doesn't get wiped out. Do your patching as fast as you can. We need to move." She takes the handset and starts to listen in, her eyes widening. Looking back to the remaining infantry and to the other Kingsdale mercenaries, she shouts via external speakers so that all may hear, "Get moving toward the Base, they're dropping troops!"

"Grab one of these radios, they've cleared the frequency," she quickly adds.

Well, Sage's ride appears to be out of commission for the moment as she comes up to where the techs have taken Erica. She grabs one of the radios with a mutter to herself. Then, she's off for the base now. She's fleet of foot, at least.

The tech pounces on Erica with a blow torch and a sheet of plate, and attacks her chest with it, possibly because men often like to work near a woman's bosom. It is indeed a quick patch job, ugly, light and possibly not even to hold long, but it's better than nothing. The tech who has been more intent on the radio calls to everyone, "Something took out all the 'cycles but Lodestone himself! In the air!" He then goes back to presumably talking to the base. look pose order

Jaxain moves towards Bella, who is one of the only people he can see. "Hey!" He calls out. "Where should we go now?" He is usually a solo fighter, and all the nearby targets seem to be taken care of. Oh, and now he has a big gun, yayy! All he needs is something to shoot. With no other guidance, he will head to backup the heavy weapons position.

"Got anythin fer me?" Bella asks when she gets there. She gets a radio thing. Great. Now her ear's covered. Guess that makes her not nekkid no more. "So they got more huh? Well le's go." Guess gettin a plate on her chest'll have to wait. Ain' like it's a big chest anyways. But maybe she tries ta stick it out a bit more fer Jax when she turns his way. "Hey. Gotta extra shirt 'r somethin?" She eyes his big gun too. "'N ya can stay with me onna way."

Erica quickly thanks the tech - by shoving him back and out of her way. She turns on her 'pack and heads in Sage's direction. "I'll take you over if you want, Sage. It is easier than running."

When Erica seems to catch up to her easily enough, Sage slows down for the other woman and stopping if necessary. "Sure, might as well see what we're dealing with... but let's avoid getting shot down, hm?"

Bernard finishes his business at the bodies, wiping the knife clean before he starts back towards the group, looking around as everyone else seems to have disappeared off into the woods without any sort of indication what's going on.

As Erica moves off to pick up a friend, and the techs hand out radios to everyone, Lodestone arrives on a hovercycle wearing a dozen scorch marks. He lands near the small group and calls over his speakers, "I can take two, if you can hold onto my ass! Not heavy though! C'mon, c'mon, *this* was the fucking distraction!" The corporal seems to be very sure of himself. Perhaps watching the rest of your unit get wiped out will do that to a man. He also helpfully advises to all, "Everyone's deploying with what they have, c'mon!" He waits for a short while to see if anyone does indeed grab his ass. A technician, almost completely out of breath, lands wheezing at Bernard's feet, holding up a radio as if it were a trophy. "Here... can... *wheeze*... talk..."

Jaxain quietly oogles Bella as he approaches, enjoying the sight of an apparently invulnerable naked chick in the middle of a battle field. He chuckles and says, "Damn straight! Here, this is the rifle Erica left me." he says, unslinging the weapon and tossing it to her while holding the massive railgun balanced in his other hand. "You sure you want clothes? I mean, as you are now I bet you'd sure as hell distract any assholes who wanted to shoot at us." He winks, but forgets that his head is covered by the helmet. Despite his words, he has already extracted his ripped up overshirt from his pack, and is handing it over to the naked woman. As the hovercycle lands and offers rides, Jax waves to Bella and starts to make his way over it it. "We'll come with you!" He calls out as he runs over.

Bella gets a shirt and a gun. Yay. And maybe a ride too. "Hey! We can take that." It's way easier 'n walkin. 'N way more fun. It flies! Course grabbin' ass 'n ridin a big bike smooshed 'tween two guys ain' like it's all that bad neither. She heads for the bike while pullin on the shirt. And nobody said she's invulnerable. Just got her socks blown off. And then some.

With a quick grab, Erica lifts Sage into the air, and while it would be fun to carry her around like Lois Lane by one hand outstretched, she does instead carry the other woman beneath her like a dragon lifting its prey.

Bernard accepts the Radio from the Tech, "Hey, what's going on?" he asks the others, glancing towards the Tech, "Where are we regrouping at?" brow lifting a little, "Back at the base camp?" that's what Erica said earlier, he thinks, so he starts that direction at least.

Sage makes sure her rifle is securely held as she's lifted from the ground and moved towards the base camp. Something large and ground-based sounds like something she'd ordinarily want to avoid, but people are counting on her. Hopefully it's not a hopeless fight.

Lodestone lifts Bella and Jaxain into the air, far too intent on getting to his destination to talk other than to mutter something about an APC, and that most of the electricity's out. Whatever importance those things have.

The radios also belch out, "Another transport's coming for anyone left!"

Jaxain hops onto the vehicle, leaving room for Bella to squeeze in the middle. "So what's the plan from here?" He asks of Bella and the driver of the hovercycle.

"Whee!" This almost makes up fer Bella needin to buy new clothes. She ain't gotta worry bout where they're goin. Or gettin there. She just enjoyin the ride. And her comfy Jax seatback. Ok. So he'd prolly be more comfy if he weren't covered in cold hard stuff. "Dunno. Can make one up when we get there?"

As they fly quickly over the forest, Erica says, "Coming up on the river. Get ready to take some fire, probably. The infantry isn't going to be of any use."

Bernard continues on his way towards the Technician's group, "Tell me where to meet at for the lift." Bernard says over the radio's, he continues walking on to his destination, however, at least until the radio tells him to change course.

"Don't suppose they have any parachute flares..." Sage comments as she realizes the darkness they're about to fight within.

A fellow on a beat up motorcycle comes crashing to a halt after having weaved his way through the trees to get to the tech station. Right out of Mad Max, not that anyone in 108 PA knows what a cult smash that movie was. "Jump on, man! Not as fast as the flying version, but way more fun!" Indeed, there's enough room for one man to ride behind the cyclist. A crazy ride through thick trees and underbrush.

Jaxain laughs at the thrill of the ride. He hasn't been on a vehicle this fast for a long time. "Sure, sounds good!" he says. He already has his optic systems turned on, so the darkness doesn't faze him overly. "Hey, can you see ok?" he asks of Bella.

Bella peeks around Lodestone to try 'n see what's ahead 'n below. "Can see a li'l. Ain' nothin but- HOLY FACK!" Yep. Must be something big. Maybe scary too. Cause she about knocks Jax off the back to stand up. And jump off. If a Bella falls in the forest 'n nobody can see 'er does she make a noise? Yep. Sounds like a li'l thump. Maybe with some branches crackin 'n stuff.

Erica calls over the radio what is apparently the last tidbit of information coming from the camp. "Mark V, infantry, possibly a jet pack in air! Hitting the camp with everything, everyone who can aim a pistol's moving." Then a thump on Sage's shoulder. "Where do you want to be put down?"

Bernard hops onto the back of the bike as it pulls up, grabbing ahold of the rider, "Let's go." He says, getting ready for the fast ride through the woods in his future.

Lodestone is quite surprised to see the mostly-naked girl jump off of a hovercycle more than a hundred feet in the air. Indeed, he nearly pulls a complete flame-out horizontal spin trying to see what happens. But he recovers sufficiently to ask his remaining passenger, "What the fuck was that? Oh, and where do you want me to put you?!" He's on the edge of calm and fury.

Sage points towards one of the clearings that has the trees in front of it on the near side of the camp, "Set me down somewhere in there... at least there'll be cover while we're most vulnerable in setdown." She comments, hoping its true enough for them.

Jaxain is so shocked he almost drops off the bike himself, watching Bella crash through the underbrush. He looks ahead, but sees nothing dangerous ahead of him. Nope, looks completely safe actually! Is that a baseball game? Huh. Maybe he should get tickets. "Anywhere over near that field." he says, pointing at what he thinks is a baseball diamond, but is actually basecamp.

The camp is already smoking from some very important places, not the least of which is its power generating facility. There is very little light, but the flames show that indeed, the elite 4th Platoon of C Company has finally shown up. The previous infantry were a different outfit, that much is clear. A Mark V APC is stopped outside of the borders at the northwest, firing everything that it has. Two ten-man infantry units disgorged, and are hacking their way through those Condottieri who'd remained behind. The unnerving thing, to anyone aware of a Mark V's capabilities, is that it can carry far more than that.

Bella dropped herself off. Was kinda a long drop too. She's gotta pick herself up after a not so nice landin. And tries to look at where ev'rybody's landin. Least before they disappear under the trees alla way. But she ain' moving nowheres yet.

Hoping for a little cover, Sage had suggested as clear spot in the midst of the trees. They seem to be in for another fight. "Let's hope the other mercs can hot foot it over here before too long." She comments, looking to find a vantage point to see what's going on from where she was placed down

Erica remains in the sky, looking to designate targets after dropping Sage where she'd asked to be put.

Bernard is still on his way towards the scene, atop the back of the bike.

The Mark V just continues to pour weapons fire into the camp and those techs and mostly non-combatants running from them.

Bella looks around. Don't see shit. Course she's maybe lookin the wrong way. She weren't exactly watching which way she was fallin. Or landin. So she tries the radio thing. "Uh. Where'd everybody go? What's goin on?"

Sage grunts as she hears the radio chatter and sees the view in front of her. "Did you make it over the river, Bella?" She asks simply, hoping the woman wasn't left entirely too far behind. "And what the heck do we have for fighting forces here?" She asks, "I'm going to try to get closer to see if I can use my blinders..." She comments before trying to slip forward. Darkness should be her friend to some extent.

Jaxain hunkers down into a secure firing position and opens fire upon the nearest group of soldiers. He is hiding behind a group of trees lying crouched down with the large Rail gun well supported, hoping his position will be hard to spot in the chaos of the battlefield. The railgun makes an interesting click. If that counts as opening fire, it did well. If not, it wasn't very helpful.

Perhaps they're not expecting any assistance. For now, the southern Coalition infantry just continue to slaughter those inside the camp.

Erica calls, "There has to be more in there, this is a crack unit, they wouldn't have come empty."

The Dirtbike with Bernard atop of it continues zoooming along, turning small raises into short jumps, and weaving between trees. Luckily, as the bike zooms past Bella, she's not in the path and therefore not run over, though passes by fairly close.

To the north, the CS infantry have the camp's area of retreat cut off.

As there continues to be no reason for any other targets, the Mark V starts to blast very large holes in local buildings.

All friendly radios crackle, "Bow Tie, two minutes out." Then silence. Of to the north is a tiny poof of fire in the sky, Lodestone departing this life with a whimper as his hovercycle's power unit blows.

"Uh. Don't think so." Bella gets that confirmed when Bernard and buddy zoom by and over the water. "Can maybe still shoot somethin from 'ere though." She's got a super duper sniper rifle. Just needs ta find the right end and the shoot button to push. If she can see anybody. So she looks s'more.

The smoke goes off, fills an appropriate area, but unfortunately, mercs still go down. Not as many, though. Perhaps simply because there aren't as many left.

Jaxain blinks as the rifle clicks, and then briefly inspects it with his critical mechanical knowledge, knocks it against a tree, and fires again.

Knocking it against a tree wasn't the best of ideas. The weakened metal micro-fissures turned into a full-blown crack, and as the first blast ignites in the firing chamber, the entire weapon detonates in a shower of fireworks. High-speed fragments of metal fly in all directions. That's one good way to let the enemy know where you are.

Oh, look there's a target. The southern infantry fire on the explosion. No specific shot, just some fire. It goes wide.

"North, something inbound! Real fast!" Erica cries out. Just in time for a gob of missiles to fly out of the sky and obliterate the infantry to the north. Someone is either very friendly, or has really poor aim.

The Motorcycle finally comes up to the scene, and Bernard disembarks the bike, moving towards cover so he doesn't get accidentally, or intentionally blasted.

The Mark V also takes a moment to try to decide what to shoot at. The explosion down south is interesting, but not as interesting as what just destroyed half of their compliment. Its rail guns fire into the sky, and there is an absolutely enormous explosion. Something was hit, and bad. Probably wiped from existence.

Big booms. Little booms. A really big badaboom. It's fun ta watch. Bella still wants ta make some of 'er own though. So she points her super dooper trooper shooter at little sorta human shaped spots in the dark. Between the trees. 'N holds down the shoot button. Maybe if she shoots enough she'll hit somethin.

Well, the change of events certainly brightens the prospects for Sage. "I'm going in." She advises before she begins to run through the smoke cloud she put up. Fortunately thermal isn't effected by that. As she moves, she takes out a blinder grenade and hoping to find a spot of cover where she can toss it at a clump from.

Jaxain sees the small display of lightning coming from his new gun as he tries to fire it again, and says, "OH CRAP." He leaps backwards from the gun, tossing it in front of him as he goes, and manages to somehow avoid the deadly blast. Jessh, guns are dangerous! Who'da thunk. With that he shrugs, performs a quick mental flex which leave him far less vulnerable to instant death, and pulls out his sniper rifle, which has one shot remaining. Firing that off, he spends the PPE required to recharge the rifle, and fires again. Perhaps there was a subconscious distraction when that PPE was being pumped, as nothing happens when the trigger is fired.

Erica maintains her high post, offering, "You know, the APC is the biggest threat."

Bernard continues to hunker for the moment, not yet joining the fight as he begins to channel his magic, bringing his spells back up as the battle rages in front of him, keeping himself well out of the line of fire, or at least as best he can.

Radios crack to life. "Bow Tie on target. Away. Good hunting." A few seconds later, another volley of missiles slams into the area, this time taking out the remaining infantry. It's a very impressive explosion, and anyone within about four-hundred feet would be able to feel the blast and perhaps even the heat.

After the first seconds of battle, the Condottieri camp is a blazing mess, but the good guys are making a comeback thanks to some air support that de Flor had neglected to mention. Still, there's a completely functional Mark V pouring fire in all directions, and that's never good.

Bernard exposes himself a bit now that he's gotten his magic support in place, eyes the distant APC and fires off two grenades at the thing, scoring a hit, though the other doesn't quite impact. The nice thing about grenades, at least, is they don't leave a big laser light show pinpointing your firing position as well.

There's an explosion against the side of the Mark V, but hey, it's a heavy Coalition military combat vehicle. It keeps shooting.

From the north comes a burst of fire that seems to almost thread its way toward Sage's position, and yet having come from nowhere, itself

Erica flits around, looking for other targets and trying to organize the remaining mercs.

Bella thinks she hit something. But nothin blew up. Darn. Then she spies one west of the APC that looks a li'l different. Guess he volunteered. Bella points her borrowed big gun thattaways 'n holds down the shoot button s'more.

Somewhere in the forest, a deer is cut in to my a high-power military blast.

As with Sage's assailant, two shots seem to blaze out of nowhere towards Jaxain, having made himself such an inviting target.

Explosions and weapons fire seeming to fly around as Sage makes her way closer. That fire at her certainly didn't come from the APC, but she does seem to have an inkling of the danger as she tries to make a harder target. Her evasion becoming easier as she finds a bit of cover. This gives her just enough time to start planning her next action.

Witness the firepower of this fully operational Mark V battle station! As the person in the debris isn't very easy to see, its huge C-40R trains on the other target being fire at, in the south. Jaxain. It burps two bursts.

Jaxain dives for cover from the snaking fire blast, but his dive isn't good enough to avoid the blast from the railgun. Seeming as how, so far, he has been completely ineffective against the APC, he is at least glad he can draw its fire from other people who can actually damage it. And with that, he hides behind a tree.

Bernard continues lobbing shots away at the hull of the APC, still fairly confident in his position for the moment, and still plenty of rounds left in the launcher's big drum. There are two large explosions against the hull of the APC, but it still keeps fighting. Now there are more, and more interesting targets, after all.

To the north, a smaller man in ultra-modern CS armor jumps up from where he'd been trying to snipe at Sage, and just begins to flat out run towards her, firing off some shots as he goes flying toward her. Both shots go wild.

In the sky, Erica keeps watch for further surprises.

If at first it don't blow up keep holding down the shoot button. It works fer Bella anyways. She keeps sprayin at the one from before. Least till the clips runs outta shoot charges. Maybe they'll come closer then 'n she can beat 'em with it.

Still hidden amongst local debris and vegetation the southern person can't help but be shocked that someone tagged him. But it seems more likely that he just missed this close guy shooting at him, so he pulls his own trigger twice at the near guy.

Sage goes to peek at the direction that shots seem to come from based on how her psychic armor reacted to the one blast. The blasts directed in her direction causing her to be a little skittish at first until its clear that they miss. A small smile comes to her lips as the man seems to make her job that much easier. One order of blinder coming up. She begins to ready her rifle in case she doesn't manage to throw well enough. Sage notices the soldier seemingly moving evasively around from her grenade and hastily snaps a stun blast but must have rushed the shot too much.

The running man, who is exceptionally fast, particularly for someone in armor, just scoots aside, and the Blinder goes off well behind him.

The Mark V, being blasted three times by large explosions, finally diverts its attention and lines up on Bernard, using that frightening rail gun in an attempt to mow down its opponent. Its shots go wildly to the left and tear through more forest creatures. Bambi will be sad.

Jaxain is being mowed down by what appears to be a juicer, and has little or no defenses against it at this range. He dives into the bush and attempts to hide behind cover, takes out his rifle, and fires upon the APC. To more small scars mar the finish on the APC.

Bernard fires off a grenade in the direction of the incoming brick, scoring a hit as the AP grenade explodes loudly. And after a quick incantation Bernard is gone, invisible probably. But who really knows, silly mages.

In the north, the charging man keeps charging, and is going to be on top of Sage in only a moment.

Erica calls, "I don't see anything else, but if that APC gets away, this was pointless."

"A'ight already!" Bella gets the point. Sides the APC's big. Ain' really movin. Prolly easier fer her ta hit. Saves more furry li'l creatures that way. And Bella's ears from whinin. More squeeze 'n shootin.

You'd think that it would save more fuzzy creatures, but it doesn't. The carnage in the small game community is going to be discussed at an upcoming meeting. Those inside the Mark V would be laughing, if they had any idea that someone had even tried to shoot at them.

Thing seems to be working as is, and now that his target is firing back, the southern man, still prone behind cover, takes two more shots at Jaxain.

Jaxain hits the dirt and lies directly on the ground behind a group of bushes. He can't do anything, and this sniper has him pinned down and unable to move after taking two hits. With luck he will change targets.

With the running man not firing at her again, Sage doesn't need to duck down. She tries to squeeze off another stun blast before they're likely to be grappling hand to hand. And, if that should fail, she tries to assault the man's mind with Fear... and while she's at it, Sage gives one little piece of criticism, "Then stop pointing out the obvious and shoot the damn APC, Erica."

To the west, the Mark V stalls for a moment as its target blinks out of view. The team is likely in radio contact though, and it trains that rail gun on Sage's position. She's behind cover, sure, but any cannon that big is going to hurt something. Hurt something it does, leaving a large furrow down the center of the bloody camp.

The man who had been charging Sage expertly dodges aside as she fires the unusual rifle at him, but then suddenly skids to a halt, pauses... and takes off running toward the APC. Or at least in its general direction. He does manage to hold onto his gear.

Down south, the other expert commando takes note of where the rail gun fired, and lines up his own series of shots, pulling the trigger twice at Sage.

Well, not having to grapple with soldier on the ground certainly helps Sage's position. A sizzle against her psychic armor is noted but her situation seems to be unsuitable as it is currently. She decides to take a potshot of a stun blast towards the soldier that just shot at her before trying to make the enemy guess where she is as she tries to be a little sneaky with her movements.

The man to the south starts to stagger awkwardly in his shooting position.

"Hey ya stupid facks! Why don'tcha come play with somebody't wants ta?" Bella yells out. Maybe somebody can even hear her. Maybe not. To help she spews more shooty stuff at the APC. Or any fuzzy critters still dumb enough to be anywhere 'round it. Good thing she's got losta power in her clip. She don't got more. Don't even know where they go neither. The shot flies off into the sky, narrowly missing Erica, who was making a recon pass.

Enough is enough, and prowling only works so well at night versus thermal optics. The Mark V lets fly at Sage, trying to put down the combatant who is single-handedly taking out their remaining commandos. However, a prowl at night can also be good if done well. The blast flies through the forest, ironically where Bernard had been only a moment before.

Up in the air, Erica seems happy to listen to Sage, and just fires off two shots at the APC. As exciting as the fireworks are, they don't really do much.

Heroicly, Jax decides to remain under cover and hidden, at least for now. Yep, goooood times.

The man keeps running toward the APC. Scared, but perhaps pretty good in the mind, because at least he's not flailing his arms and screaming.

Unable to see any useful targets, the southern fellow staggers to his feet and starts moving toward where his other target had taken a dive to the ground. It's like being drunk, or that part of life in between dreaming and being fully awake.

"Well, if anyone's got any bright ideas, I'd love to hear it..." Sage mutters, trying to figure out if she has any change against the juggernaut of the APC. At least she shouldn't have to worry too much about the soldiers in the fight. "Keep focus on that APC. The soldiers shouldn't be as big a deal anymore." She adds, before doing a quick calculation. She sure as heck doesn't want to send the time carefully picking her way through the debris to get close enough to the APC. Instead, she takes out her beehive grenade and decides to use her TK to hurl it at the APC. With any luck, it'll piss the thing off.

The grenade lands in a very nice spot near the Mark V, and detonates properly. It leaves scars along the side armor plating, and the Mark V isn't looking perfect anymore, but it's still definitely in fighting spirit.

Bella goes quiet. Stops the yelling. And the shooting too. She's movin. To head over the little dirt bridge ford thing to the others. Cept she don't make it alla way there. Or even on the thing. She stops at the edge of the stream 'n stares at it. Sucks when ya can't swim.

Whoever is running the APC decides to take a different tact. Rail gun doesn't work? Screw it! Two missiles fire off the front make a rising loop, and then dive toward the oncoming Sage.

With nothing else to do, Erica just plugs away as ordered. Only one of the shots hits, but it's a good hit, leaving a smoking crater in the side. Someone's going to start getting pissed pretty soon.

Jaxain looks up for a moment, and seeing his oppressor starting towards him just thinks, 'hell with this, no point in living if you’re living in a hole' and gets up and starts sprinting towards him. Muttering an incantation, he lets loose as soon as he gets within range.

The southern man is thus encapsulated, and considering his stunned manner, he falls flat on his face, not fighting it at all.

The man who had charged Sage, then started running west is now passing the Mark V. However, anyone noting the Mark V itself would see that its other weapon systems are belatedly coming online in a valiant attempt to fend off what is becoming a losing battle.

The man in the south just lays there on his face.

Seeing the APC's intentions early enough, Sage starts to hoof it in an attempt to minimize the damage directed at her. She manages to just barely skirt the blast range of one of the missiles but not the other one. Her psychic armor eating it and somehow just remaining up. This becomes a little more than Sage can handle as she tries to start pulling back.

Bella backs up a couple steps. Looks up at the fightin 'gain. Yellin 'n shootin sounds like't was better. Now that she's thinkin 'bout it. "Still ain' good 'nuff ta hit shit is ya?!" There's the yellin. Next comes the shootin.

One of Bella's shots nails the side of the APC, which is now starting to fire up its engine. It's a nice hit, but the other blast shreds the 108 PA version of Yogi bear and Bullwinkle. It's ugly.

The APC fires up, and begins to move. But not away. Rather as if it's going to start circling. It has time to fire off one more missile in Sage's direction. She's the only one that they can see who's doing any real damage, after all.

As for Erica, she starts off after the running fellow. "No one can get away," she advises.

Sage is a popular target. The one of the C-2T turrets on the side opens up on her. It's a good time to not be angering heavy weapons. However, angry weapons can be too angry to fire straight, and once more trees are ripped apart.

The top turret then turns in her direction, its dual cannons each firing twice at Sage. It's an impressive blast of colorful laser fire. The guys in the Mark V are shaken up though, and continue to miss everything in sight.

Jaxain sees that Sage is under heavy fire, and, having gained a bit of confidence back from finally taken someone down, even if they were stunned first, kneels down and takes two shots at the APC.

More blasts mar the side of the moving ATV, and it's starting to look worse for the wear. But it's accelerating - and circling like a shark.

The Mark V is smoking from its left side where the armor has been scored, but its weapon systems are coming online, and it should not be forgotten that there are still men and probably women inside and operating it. Erica has gone after the man running to the west, and Jaxain has caught the other guy in a net. He doesn't seem to care or notice. The area is even more flattened and bare than when everyone arrived. All of the fire - from both sides - that has been going awry has simply been grinding the debris into powder. There is very little cover left inside the boundaries of the camp. Inside the boundaries of the camp is where Sage finds herself, roughly dead center. The Condottieri infantry are moving as fast as they can to shore up the defenses, whatever they may be. Bella remains on the other side of the river, taking pot shots.

Bella stops potshooting again. Looks atta li'l ford. Thinks 'bout tryin'a run over it. Then backs up a bunch more.

Well, to say that Sage rues the decision to get closer might be an understatement as the APC seems to be hell bent to blast away at her. She can only make a retreating dance. A missile blasts away the last of her psychic armor and the rest of the shots seem to go wild. It's about now that she wishes she thought of the telekinesis trick sooner. There's only one thing she wants to do now, and a new psychic body field snaps into place.

A military unit will fire upon whatever it sees as the most dangerous or immediate threat. Since Jaxain is likely unseen, Erica is gone, and there are only a few plinks coming from a distance, that dangerous and immediate threat is Sage. Since the missile thing seems to be working, they fire again. They're pissed. Two missiles come out of each launcher, and once more take the high arcing route before descending toward the psychic.

Erica makes her appearance flying back with the frightened man held in one arm, and takes a pot shot at the APC with her cannon, a wild shot considering it's a one-armed bandit. It goes wide.

What? A heavy hit was actually noticed by the woman operating the Mark V's top turret as she trains her cannons on Jaxain. Once more, the elite of the elite of the best of the best manage to completely miss their target, plowing great furrows in the ground.

On the other hand, the side turret can only see Sage and the craters that the missiles are creating. It fires off two bursts.

Jaxain continues firing, seeing no better course of action. His weapon isn't powerful, but given time he can make a difference. Well, time and luck. With time and luck he can make a difference! The lasers scar along the long axis of the vehicle, which is now starting to smoke and wobble rather unsteadily. But these elite soldiers have a mission - eliminate the enemy - and they're going to damn well do it. They don't flee.

Bella grumbles. If it ain't the weather't's shitty it's somethin else. She goes back to shootin. It works every once inna while. The Coalies need ta make their APCs bigger. Can hit 'em easier that way.

The shot digs a deep hole this time, that actually smokes and crackles. The high pitched whine is starting to be accompanied by a low, guttural rumbling as the Mark V continues its potentially-suicidal attack.

Sage is getting the impression that she isn't exactly liked by the enemy as more heavy fire is directed at her. Moving into the base to try to help the auxiliary mercenaries doesn't seem like such a good idea anymore. The mercenaries all seem to be down in this area, the base is in shambles and she's getting knocked around by missile blasts and having to contend with laser fire. Perhaps fate will be kind and let her disappear from the APC's attention if only for a moment.

Yes, this time as the crew seems to have shut down the woman in the center of the camp, the vehicle's anger is directed toward the nearby man who keeps digging into their armor. Another four missiles come flying out, two pulses of two. This time, however, due to the vehicle's orientation, they fly quite true and straight. Jaxain is in their crosshairs.

Jaxain looks up as he hears a familiar noise, but notices the Missiles don't seem to be going after Sage this time... wait, oh holy mother of...... He raises his rifle, sweat beading upon his brow as he sees impending death descend upon him, and squeezes off a shot at the missile in the lead. No way this is gonna work...

Somehow, that shot manages to detonate one of the missiles, which has a secondary effect of detonating all the others. Anyone for a hundred feet around will feel the shock wave, but fortunately the detonation was high enough that very little harm would be done. Some people are just fortunate. Sometimes.

Perhaps bored, Erica suggests, "That whining roaring sound doesn't sound good. Sounds dangerous." Even as she puts some more distance between herself and the vehicle, firing off two more shots. Her fire makes huge impacts on the Coalition transport, which is now hanging on by 108 PA version of duck tape and spit. But still dangerously suicidal. That noise is sounding *really* bad to anyone with half a brain.

Once more, the woman in the laser turret tries to nail Jaxain. First a miss, then four missiles go up? That hardly seems far. A pair of blasts shoot out.

The person in the side turret has no one else to shoot at but Sage. Bang goes the cannon.

Jaxain is still low on the ground, but figures he should make himself an even smaller target if this thing blows... With that in mind, he takes two more shots at it.

That sound just doesn't sound good and Sage is more inclined to get away than try to shoot. Then again, they seem to be shooting at her enough to give her a workout. She tries just about everything to get out of the way. Fortunately, the gunners aren't as locked in as they were a short moment ago.

As those final shots sneak out, the elite 4th Platoon and indeed, the 23rd Battalion's entire C Company is gone, save for two very wounded men who were completely unable to escape the final blast. The Mark V's fusion reactor blows in what is fortunately a very contained explosion. However, it does clear out the area like an old Daisy Cutter. It looks like the battle has been won, even if it is a severely Pyrrhic victory for the Condottieri.

"Yeah! Look't 'em blow!" Always fun ta see shit blow up. Least Bella thinks so. She shoots off a coupla more shots in the air. Prolly all celebratin. Or maybe shootin at Erica. Just cause.

When it's all over and the blast comes, Sage gets a big boost to her dodging effort as she gets pushed away by the force. Her psychic armor holding just long enough to soak up the damage she can't avoid. She ends up prone and covered with debris. At first she doesn't move, before a mild groan comes. "Anyone get the license plate of that truck?"

Jaxain is shocked by the impact, knocked back onto the ground and staring up at the sky blinking. He's also half blinded, as he was aiming at the farquing thing when it blew. " I .. I did it.." He mumbles to himself.

The radios have obviously instantly cleared up when the APC detonated, and Erica is currently taking full advantage of that, scouting the forest for any missing enemy troops.

Bella notices it gets all quiet after that. For a second. "Uh. Anybody still 'round?" She kinda remembers people were sorta close to the big boom.

After Sage manages to gather herself, she pushes herself up from her debris pile. It seems odd that she should seem so unscathed by all of that but she's likely going to need some downtime later on. For now, she'll do her best to muddle through the tasks following any massive fight. "Still here..." She reports simply, "Not much else is, though..." And with that, she begins to check on things...

The sergeant and his remaining men arrive just in time to not do anything by thank the people who saved their lives. As their own leaders are gone, leaving them without direction, the poke around the two prisoners - identities still unknown - then simply hand them over to the Kingsdale heroes. One of the techs takes moment to do a better job of patching up some of Erica's chest plate. It's not pretty, but it'll hold forever. They also promise to do what scavenging they can, and bring what good gear they find to the Landing Strip for distribution, or whatever is chosen. The prisoners could use medical attention, but they'll probably survive. Spooky though, not knowing who they are.

Jaxain stands up, finally, and stretches out his wounded form. He has burns and lacerations all over his body, and his clothing has been mostly destroyed by this point. He doesn't appear overly concerned by his naked state, but then again there isn't much he can do. Everyone seems to be moving away, so he checks on his prisoner and makes sure the man's weapon is taken, then looks around for anyone he knows.

Bella's still around. Just back a ways. When Jax gets up she waves the gun at 'im. And oggles some. Only fair. Or somethin. "Good ta see ya with all yer pieces."

One of the battered nearby merc infantry looks at the two, and asks a nearby soldier, "Did they come in naked, and I missed it?"

Jaxain walks over to Bella, smiling and holding a hand over his nether-regions for a second, before realizing it makes him look silly and just gives it up. He laughs, rubbing at a burn on his side, and wincing slightly. "Yeah, only barely. Crap that was a tough fight. I need better gear..." He grins. "Hey, how did that rifle work out for you?" He seems relieved she still has it, as he has to return it to Erica when he sees her next.

"Don't hit shit I was tryin'a shoot." Bella holds it up. Looks down. Back up. Grins s'more. "Want yer shirt back?" Then she looks over at the mercs talkin. "Never starts out nekkid. Just gets all fun 'n excitin' 'n ya wind up that way." She winks.

Jaxain shakes his head, "Nah, you can give it back later. I'll just grab a blanket to wrap around myself." He isn't ashamed of his body, and for good reason. He's just about a perfect example of male perfection as you are likely to find. And probably, ahem, very well compensated in the third leg department.

The tired techs look around for anyone that they can repair or replace, and go to work on their comrades, as the two guest mercs clearly have nothing to do, unless they want some plate welded to their bodies. Medics start to remove the prisoners' armor, looking to stop bleeding.

Bella shrugs. "Don' gotta jus' fer me." He really don't. She ain' worried none bout the tied up guys. "So. Where ya goin now? Since they're gonna take everything back fer us."

Jaxain considers for a moment, then says, "Well, if you are up for it we can walk back to the city, or we can stay here and make sure we get all our loot accounted for." He chuckles, and nods towards the camp. "For starters, I wanna see if I can't get anything to eat!"

"Goin back's good. Playin inna dirt's Ok. But ain't gonna stay here. Le's go." Bella figures it's gonna take a while ta get back maybe. 'Specially if she's got him walkin first.