Roy's face was an inscrutable, stoic mask...if he was nervous, nothing betrayed it.  After so many missions, at this point it was simply a matter of resignation.  Either you made it to the target, or you didn't, and nothing he could do at the moment would improve their odds.  So he conserved his energy...quiet, subdued, listening to the chatter and processing the information, watching his team prepare in their various ways for the upcoming action...and mentally ran scenarios in his mind, preparing contingencies.

Melia popped her magazine into her carbine, but waited to rack the first round until the doors were about to open. She glanced at the beacon on her comm hud, storing the general location in her memory. As the shuttle continues its inexorable path towards the drop zone engaged in the slow deadly dance she leans back waiting. "another day another cred." she says as she waits.

  The Nymph  joined  The Hermes, The hera  and  The Echidna.. it  pounding  a  20  square  mile  area around the   shuttle   release opening..

  Beth's Voice  came on the COMs..  Land  1  Mile  south of the opening... a Drop ship from the  Clara Barton is  right behind you... scans show  troops  closing in from the  sides...Good  Luck!

 Stoly  called to the    Shuttles,Standard  trefoil  landing, ramps open to the middle so we can use  that area  for  wounded and Staging.... mech?..  release as soon as we  hit...

 the shelling did not  stop as  the rounds  'walked ' away from the handing spot, to try and take out  incoming   enemy troops.

  Larry       jumped out of the ramp   and let out a soul shaking  howl.. it was  retruned  By Freddie  and tess  as they  came out of thier  shuttles,

  The  mechs  restraints hiss  as the couplings opens , and they stepped off the  shauttle , lookign  at the  enemy around them as they waited  for   them to regroup and tried to stop them from  reaching  the opening

 The Drop ship was a bright   dot in the sky   right  now... Foster's Flight and Howe's  flight  zipped up the  east and west side, chewing up troops  thay case, Crossing over   North and  south  and coming back  down the other  side

 The felrites  and  Gava  were the first to empty out... Burains and  Angels   filed out , along with the Herme4s regulars from thier  aircraft.

 the  Gunners on the shuttles  held thier  fire  for a Bit, waiting   to get good looks  so the rounds  would kill , rather then scatter.

   Shade  grabbed   two extra grenades  from the Box,   Put on his helmet, and   follwoed the others out.

 Jumping Lion looked nervous  as they  could hear  rounds  pinging off the shuttles  sides.... Stpys and the other  Piltos  send   37 MM rounds  down range  at odd  intervals...

Harry would utter a particularly vulgar curse as she felt the skids of a passing fighter striking her canopy, leaving a set of parallel grooves in the metaglass over her head, though thankfully they didn't seem deep enough to cause her any problems.

With Higgins bugging out, Harry would escort him out to the edge of the maelstrom of swirling fighters, before turning back to help Billie deal with the fighter on her tail should she need it. It was as she was lining up a shot on Demon fighter that was diving down upon an ESN fighter that Harry would hear the intercepted message, followed by Shadow's little chat, signalling the arrival of the Red Birds. With a feral grin appearing on her face, Harry would tighten her grip upon the controls as she started searching the fur ball for any sign of the Red birds, eager to start hunting down the EDT private fighter wing so that she could exterminate them like the vermin that they were.

  the  fighters  swarmed, very few  pilots  could  say  they knew what they were doing, it came down to reaction... is that  a friend? or a Foe... pull the trigger, or  don't... only those on the edges could  say  they knew  what thier target was .. Some  of the enemies  seemed  determines  to  get past the  'ring of  steel wool' that were the battling  fighters..perhaps... to go down and strafe  the shuttles that were now  starting to land.. with Drop ships  behind them.. Enemy troops    were pouring out of opening, like  and    ant hill..but.. also unveiled   more ways into  the planet..

 Troops stationed on the surface, did not  fare so well,  as bombardment focused on Buildings  and   towns, assuming they  held  troops
...........

 Lana Lake fly like a woman Possessed, she  was  takign a  round here or there, but  she   jerked the aircraft around, trying to out  run, outfly.. the   enemy fighters..     Lizzy  Came  in   chewing up the enemy on the left, it  twisted  and truned  as one of  its  wings   broke off and the pilot  tried  to   get some  control in the  thin upper  atmo of the planet..

 Nikki Came  down on the one on the other  side..  the   canopy  crack and shattered as the  Pilot  with its head gear looked  back..

 Egger  chased   another  off .  Giving Lona    a chance  to  Get on its tail screaming at it...BASTARD!!!..LTE'S SEE HOW YOU LIKE IT!!!  in another heart beat   the enemy was gone in the ball for  fire...

...............

 Higgins  was  limping  back to the  Hermes... asking for  another Bird   once he got back...

 a Voice  could be heard,..looks like us   humans have to show this back water  Aliens who to kill other Humans...Right Lover boy!...  Three  red 'sorta Mantis'   were arrowing towards the hermes.. one  of them torched a hera Fighter..

  Higgins    tried desperately to   put on more  speed, the  aircraft  around him were Busy, no one paid  much attention to the cripple..until now..

 Lizzy would try and hit the bastard again as she stayed with Nikki and Egger. She saw Lana Lake come around and take one out, Lizzy didnt dwell on it she just lept finding targets and tried to take them out. She would stay with Egger and Nikki and kick as much ass as they could, staying together made them more formidable then being on their own.

 Lizzy focused and concentrated on her instincts and her training. Finally the message she heard of her father still being here and ordering the Red Birds out, Lizzy got pissed and angry, but instead of letting her anger eat her up or hurt her flying, she used this anger to keep her focus and fly like a woman possessed herself. She would stay with Egger and Nikki protecting them and shooting at any bad guys who gets in her sites. Lizzy instead of usually being more for defense, she went full on attack mode and hoped her wing mates where ready to stay with her. As always if she saw anyone in trouble she would everything she could to help them, keep herself alive and protect her wingmates.

With her only having just left Higgins at the edge of the battle, Harry was still probably the closest fighter between him and the approaching Red Birds "Red Birds sighted, coming in low" Harry announced in a cold voice as she gracefully rolled her fighter out of the fur ball and kicked her Mantis into a full burn straight for the nearest Red Bird. It was generally considered to be a serious breach of dog fighting etiquette to aim for the pilot but Harry wasn't about to extend that particular courtesy to Red Birds as she lined up a shot on the canopy of the nearest Red Bird and opened fire with her Mantis. Let's see how keen they were to chase a crippled rookie whilst a Blue Max winner was breathing down their necks!

In reply to the ground (msg # 39):

As the shuttle came down Melia slammed the first round home and clicked the selector to burst fire. As she exited she helped herself to two extra grenades popping on pin than the other throwing each deep towards the edges of the perimeter where she could see enemies clustered. Once the grenades were away she dropped to a knee returning fire and looking for a place to get cover to secure the area until further orders could be given.

As Stoly relayed the message that they were finally coming in to land, Izzy would pull on her helmet and take a moment to check the seals, relieved that the waiting was now over and that she was able to finally do something.

As the ramp came down, Izzy would wait until the others had disembarked first before casually strolling down the ramp herself, signalling for Tali to start filming as she walked into the relative safety of the laagered shuttles "This is Ensign Izzy Sakura reporting live from the surface of the artificial homeworld of the Ellipsians, and it's time for us to show these one eyed freaks why you don't mess with the Delta fleet!" she said to Tali as she chambered a round into her carbine and moved into a defensive position "...be sure not to miss any of the action by staying tuned to ESN news"

 Meari got her helmet on and got ready, when the gate dropped she had her bow out and ran out with the troops. She took position and if she saw any bad guys she would shoot for the eye.

The Morningstar rocketed toward the surface, appearing to the casual observer (or, rather, the untrained observer) to be just another shuttle in the formation until he pulled up about a kilometer above the surface and spiraled into a wide circular orbit that put him in a position to provide cover fire to three different landing zones.

"Save the minigun and cannon for air defense, Ed...anything that doesn't pass IFF interrogation gets lit up immediately.  Start laying down frag rounds at five hundred meters outside the shuttle perimeter on each group, use the pulse cannon to pick up any groups that make it inside the frag perimeter..."  It was an odd line-up to use...in order to keep the heavy weapons oriented optimally on the surface, he was firing across the circle of his orbit to lay down supporting fire, when normally his target zone was at the center of the circle...but it was merely a case of applying the geometry a little differently.

It did mean that he was picking up a new target area roughly every 120 degrees around the circle, though.  "First orbit should rapid-fire the howitzer...lay down as much protective fire as we can.  Once we've given the enemy something to worry about, we can slow the rate of fire to optimize the cooling rate on the barrels."  As he leveled off into the circle, the howitzer belched flame as it spat a round at a target that was kilometers away, and continued firing as fast as the loading system would chamber a new round, with the pulse cannon interrupting the thrum and boom of the howitzer's cycle with intermittent rounds as moving troops highlighted their positions to the AI.  Thus far, the Morningstar was far enough below the fighter action, and high enough above the landed shuttles, that nobody had noticed it...

She had remained pretty quiet as she dodged and weaved but not truly trying to shake the one on her tail off. Her eyes darted around leading her enemy to the perfect spot shen she pulled up, letting the nose of her mantis rise and giving the impression that she was going to go upward. When she got to the right spot, she suddenly dropped down and slightly angled. The enemy, as predicted had slowed slightly and began to follow her inital climb. Billie fired her cannons, letting the hard ammo fly and piercing the craft.

    HArry's  Pivot  was  either  unseen, or no one cared, for the  3  Red Birds  headed  for the    wobbling Higgins..

   Round s  zipped  Into Higgin's aircraft, shattering  the  tail  section..he  was   200   yards away from the Hermes, and the enemy fighters  were, Under the  guns, of the Hermes Auro AA

 Rivets  Could be seen  , a tiny figure in the  Shuttle  bad  door   talkign to Higgins  to try to get him to POD out.

 The closest of the Red Birds felt the sting of Harry's  weapons   Frioe, the Metaglass shattered, and One of the  Pilots, who looked to be  either Human or angle, wacthed   thier  arm  spinn off into The Balck  trailing  freezing  Blood..The Pilot     tried to   stuanch the  blood from  thier   arm... but the breeching of  thier   suit and the  openign in  the body,  was sending the Pilot into  jerks  and convuslions   as the aircraft    'dove'  stright  down..The Off side   Red Bril    Wheeled over   sending   rounds  at harry ..three of them peppering  her   starboard wing... meanwhile the Middle fighters    closed in on the Hapless Higgins...

 Billie   capped the  Eenemy  on her tail with her   Move. she  felt her aircraft shake as it  was hit by somneone, but  could   see the shooter as   he/she   veered off to  find another target.

...  Lizzy and   Nikki Chased  through the    moving cloud  of Fighters.. anothe r danger  was added to the Mix... the  wreckage of   fighters, and   body parts... Mikki  saw a Skid from an ESN  fighter   crumple the port side  Tip of her    wing as  it  hit  her...Lizzy  curved away   from the Nose of  an Hera   fighter  , only to   recive   3  rounds   right behind  her on the port side, the  Largran that put the  rounds  into her   Veered off to  Case  Fitz.


  Raven, Red  and KAt    would split apart, then   regroup , almost as if they had flown  together for a while..., they got  some rounds in..Red  Torched a demon.. Kat got  an Elipsian fighter..Raven   tore up two, but couldn't  tell if they  went down out of control" or not

 Shadow and Flores  heard Beth's COMs, Shadow  said to  'ALL COMs in the Fleet...

This is   LC SHadow ESN  351 Hermes.. we can't let the boarding shuttles get to the  ships.. we cannot allow the fighters   free shots at us, or let them strafe our ground folks.... Keep your  eyes  open, as soon as You get an opening..   fine a shuttle and torch it....and  ..yes Steele.. they will count  as a kill...

The gava poured out of the shuttle after rechecking their gear and landing like bouncing balls.  The older in group literally leapfrogging over each other with a practiced ease.  Firing with their pulse rifles first.  They used themselves to make a path and form a defense for others to come out safely.  Jug chittered orders for several maneuvers to occur.  She knew the Felrites and others could handle themselves, she would prove the gava could as well.  A chill went up her spine as Larry howled, then the others howled as well.  She fired again to keep the pressure up and hopefully pluck a few off as well.

A few lights and alarms went yellow.  Her mantis was not going to look pretty after this, but it was holding together.  "Gotcha LC...Phoenix with me, Egger with me.   Got one target" She moved to intercept.  It was a shuttle,  She might be able to get it... but she would need cover.  She began firing at it.  Another side effect was a breather out of the furball...for 2-3 seconds.  Her craft, not compromised, but was going to handle a bit roughly.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:29, Thu 04 June 2020.

  The area around the  Shuttles   was   leveled.. some places  burned  with  hot fires, because of the   high level of 02 in the atmo..

    The  Mechs    set  up with Kira in the Middle  and her   team  flanking her, but wide   aprat to  Give the troops and largs  cover  as the  Moved  up...

 Zob and the other heavy weapons  people  moved forward... Shade  stayed  near Roy

 an Occui  voice  came over  ALL COMs..Listen..all ground  troops who have never  fought the   Elipsians  in a  real  ground  battle.... They have an ego.. they very  rarely use    anything  heavier then those...what humans  call , Rubber  suits...it makes  them fast and  aglie..but   hard  ammo and some one who knows how to use  a Knife, can  hurt them badly.. ...

 almost on cue,  a  few dozen   charged out  from the  Opening, it  appears , at least one   orbital round hit the   entrance, blowing open anyhting that may have been a 'crash door"

 the Largs  charge d  ahead..  tess a  little behind the two males,   they reached the surprised  One-yed  Jacks   and  the  creatures   tore into them..  tearing and shredding. mady   were let  go once  an arm or leg was torn free, almost as if  the Largs  understood    they  didn't have to waste  time  killing  ine...when they could main 4 or 5

 Nifty  was using his   sniper  scope  and YAPVs from the  east!!! three
   6 wheeled    vehicles   with  twin guns  mounted  and   dozens of throops  behind
  appeared  on the shattered   area .. firing   as they come.. the  shuttles  oprne d  fire
 and  brought  a  Few down..

 Morgan called to Kira  and the  Three mechs  veered to meet the APV. the rest of the shuttle folks    watched the port side   alonf  with   the  Top  gunners of the shuttles  as  a wave  of a mix bag of ebenmy troops  charged..  Jax   opened   up with  Will  and    the   ladies spreading  out   to fire  on the wave, even as 50 call MGs  from the   top guns  zipped  across the   shadowy  ground to find homes in Empire bodies

 Stoly called  to ROY....I'll keep the Burners in the shuttles...  call  if yiou need a team, and  we'll  send  them out

 the  Drop ship was about  500 yards away  dropping  down.

Roy grinned as the largs tore into the Ellispians.  "Nice of 'em to show us the nearest entrance, wasn't it?" he mused softly, before he got Stoly's call.

"Copy that, Stoly.  Spade crew, follow the largs!  Shoot and scoot, keep our backsides covered, but these monocular assholes just gave us a shortcut.  Let's use it!"  Moving in a crouched run, he moved as close to where the largs were finishing up shredding the enemy troops as he could get easily, then dropped behind a mound for cover and came up with his rifle ready to fire.  "Move up!  Supe, Minnet, Nifty, keep up cover fire as you can until everyone's in position, we'll cover for you to catch up to us.  Go!"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:03, Thu 04 June 2020.

  McCloud    tried to keep the    folks  in Line, hemsly and  Brooks    fired thier  weapons, choosing to save goodies  for the inside.


 Jumping  Lion looked  ..one minute like an old pro..another moment lIke  a   green rookie...

 Shade  whistled and whirled  as  he   gunned  down two Larrgans  who   had  made it  with in  range of his  'hip shooting' SMG





.......


above them ,  Karls  weapons  were    hitting, what most  figured  were the    troops   rear as they   poured out to hit  the  shuttle... bad luck was on the   Empire's  side. as   , all over the   Northern hemisphere.. shuttle s were droppign down near   , enemy shuttle Launch tunnels... and now...  the rest of the  ESN  Caps ships   could turn their  attention to enemy Cap ships...

  McCloud  called to Roy,..Be  Bloody nice if  yer  friend up there  could send a   round or two  down that  door way...

 two   largrn fighters  were bearing down on them, even as Foster's  flight and Howe's flight tore into  enemies  behind them ...

 Flores    appeared out of  no where  and tore up the First one.. Shadow came from the other  direction   , Blowing up  the  other..neither enemy had  a clue they were coming.. the  two fighters    did  a pass over, firing into the   enemies  near the   entracne   and  then veered off to chase  two shuttles  that just popped out  about 10 miles away.

  Scarlett screamed and  Fell back wards   as she was  Hit.. Will called   for a med tech..

Roy's face quirked in a grimace that nobody else saw.  "Morningstar, we have a request for a direct-fire mission down a hatchway in front of us...Two hundred fifty meters north-north-west of the Hermes shuttle LZ.  If you can't make it, we'll make do...but you could save us a dozen grenades with a couple of rounds..."

He turned to look at McCloud, after firing off a burst that took a Largran full in the face and sprayed its teeth out the back of its head.  "We'll see what he can do...I know that bird isn't really designed for shooting 'down', but seems like he's found a few dozen ways to do shit that thing was never intended to do, so this'll be another trick for him to add, I guess...if he can do it..."

As troops flowed past him, he nodded, adding bursts of supporting fire here and there.  "As you get past me, get down and get rounds heading down-range, we need to get our heavies caught up with us and they ain't gonna leg it anywhere near as fast as we did!  Come on, people, before they send another wave of troops out of there!  Larry, get your group back here!"  Last thing he wanted was losing a larg as collateral damage...

  The largs  came  back..  Freddie   dropped and arm by Roy and Thumped his tail, they were  all covered in blood  thatw as not thier own, thought Tess  really didn't look near as eager  as the other  two.

 Will was  trying to cover  Scarlet  as he sent    the other ladies  forwards.. wagstaff   came    hustling over, Takign a knee by  Roy,..Shoey  is with the Angels.. he said AZ-ell   is   holing back   the  enemny from the  south east... The mechs  are  engaging  the apvs, but  there are alot of  troops  behind them... AZ-El contacted the Drop Ship...1000  troopers and   three Stuarts

 ..the Felrites  and Gava  are bouncing all ove rthe  North east side

Henry racked his shotgun and came out to take potshots as targets presented themselves. He told Mila to stay close for now, until there was a need for her to patrol ahead.

"Remember you're not a larg..." he whispered to her.

 Lizzy kept shooting and was pissed when she got hit again. Lizzy just kept trying to stay alive. Then the LC said get the shuttles, Nikki had one in her sites. Lizzy covered Nikki, and then went on full attack and would open fire on any enemy shuttle she saw trying to take as many of them out before they get to the ships. Lizzy was doing some of her best flying, it felt good to go on the attack, and she wasnt going to stop now, but she always watched her wingmates back, as she kept firing at shuttles.

Harry would spare the dying pilot a momentary look of satisfaction before banking sharply to starboard to avoid any fighter incoming fire from the offside Red Bird, with her then moving to pursue the fighter still gunning for Higgins. Within seconds Harry had her crosshairs on the Red Birds engines and would open fire with both sets of cannons, hoping to kill it quickly so that she turn around and deal with the one going after her.

  Higgins   saw the two shuttles   hit into  the hermes  from  above, He  steered his     crippled  aircraft towards  the  2nd  one, which 'hung out, a Bit  further, then  PODed  out, ..

 The  Red Bird  behind him said in dark humor,..so Long   ...lover.....

 the chain reaction was as surprising as  it was Violent...  Higgins  PODed to his  starbard.., his  fighter  Hit' the  shuttle, but  was so  crippled that it might not have  did any damage..Until Abby shot  the aircraft, Just as Higgins POded out... The Explosions Light up the area  around  the Middle Hanger   Bay doors....Both Shuttles  exploded  ad the Mantis  exploded..Abby's  fighter   exploded  as  Harry torched the   thrusters..... and  Higgins    spiraled outside    the third  hanger door ..

  The  Red Bird  On Harry's tail took a  parting shot.. sending  more  rounds into her  portside  wing, before  it climbed back into the mess above and behind them

.....................

 Lizzy, Nikki and  Egger,, closed in  on , what was now.. 4 shuttles as  they   moved with all speed to the Hermes

 They each  chewed up a Shuttle,  watching  as    Bodies  flew into the black when  the aircraft exploded... one was left  headed towards  Rivet's  Door, who..could be  seen firing   and   a squad moving towards  him, as  some   small creature  took  down a Larg.

   across the   area, in between   explosions , weapons  fire and  screams, Could be heard Sounds of Larg Howls  and Wort  yells...

   Larry stopped  and  padded back  and forth his head   lower then   his shoulders, as he  stared  at the entrance  the entrance   they would be moving to, Once more , he let out a  chilling, Answered  by Freddie  and  Tess...

 But... somethign else was happening. Roars  that matched his. but, slighlty  differant  from  others were getting closer.. and screams from  surprised and  dying   Empire  troops  could be heard,  as the 'sun', slowly began to show light on the  manufactured planet..  weapons  fire  was  being  turned ..AWAY.. from the Hermes  folks  as LArgs came in from behind the  troops   that were exiting  other  entrances. Zob and supe  layed  down a curtain of   fire from 12:00 to  3:00

 the mechs  had moved to meet that APVs    who were  now  at  4:00  in reference to the  Hermes shuttle groups... but  2:00 to the shuttles themselves

 the  sky light up brightly as the  drop ship's  thrusters  fired. COMs opened..... SM Spencer.... This  is CAptain  Virn of the  Sanri attack force... I have   1000  Sanri here  and three human toy tanks..  where  do you want us...

 Teh Gava  and  the felrites  were  at 9:00.. meeting the   Largrans, Elispians  and Demons , even as that  surge of troops were Hit from behind, By Largs  who chose to follow Larry's  howl