"Alright, I want a shoot-and-scoot advance.  Sort each shuttle into four teams, Team One moves while Team Two covers.  When One gets to cover, they sit overwatch while Two catches up and goes past them.  Rinse and repeat.  You encounter any resistance, you call for fire support, that's why we have planes in the air.  Houses marked with ESN colors are supposed to be safe havens for civvies and kids, but it wouldn't be the first time these rat-bastards have flown false surrender colors, so if ANYONE shoots out of one, burn the place down.  We are not here to dick around with some asshole who thinks he can use civvies as shields."  He shook his head, his expression indicating just how little use he had for anyone who tried that.

"IF someone has surrendered, send 'em back here.  I want efficiency, but save the brutality for people who are actually fighting.  We're after the military and anyone working with them, and the road will get paved over a lot easier if we don't have ALL the survivors talking about what assholes WE are.  Do what you've gotta do, but be quick and clean about it."  He gave a nod, then turned to the crew of his shuttle and walked quickly down the line, counting off one through four over and over again.

"One and Two, advance on this line!  Three and Four, take that angle!  Sweep and clear!  Move out!"

    the shuttle  50's  stopped   firing  as the  fighters  chewed  up the  trees  , a few gouts of flames   rose  as  an piece of armor  blew  up.

 At Roy's call the troops  broke  from the   cover,  Left  right   and up the  middle..only the top  bubbles  could fire    until the   Shuttle  crews  and   thier  larges  Got   100 or  so yards  away... the   MGs  stops  and  began to  look  for  flanking   Roussians, but  none  cold be scene.

    Larry and Freddie  charged    a  head, leaping   almost  10 feet in the   air  as they  Pulled  roussian from    a tree limb, with   Growls from the largs  and screams  of the hapless    Roussians.   the   shuttle  teams  reached the trees, which  would give them  about  300 yards of  cover , before they  had to make the run at the city. in front of the city  were gaping craters.  broken walls from building  that must have flown 100's of  yards to land where they  had... scores of Bodies   were also scattered about, not all of them in uniform..but..That's the way it goes...

  The  could see  Hermes  fighters   twisting  through the air, one   group  barely 200  feet in the   air... and the other  Group half a  Mile  as they  knocked  down  shuttles . The White Tail  fin with  the 19, splitting   two buildings     as it  blew out   the back  wall of   the building facing the  Shuttle  teams,  a heavy artillery piece, and what was left of   its  Gun crew, , adding to the  debris ...

  Supe called  out... ..LISTEN!!!  I never get tired of that sound....!

 Looking  towards the lake.. the  sky was getting overcast...but  not  by Clouds.... instead of the high pitched  scream of the Mantis  and Hunter  fighters... there  was a Hollow, loud    scream, getting louder  all the Time.. the  drop ships  were comign down.. it was time  to  enter the city,

 .. I say!!..All you Shuttle Chaps.  Be god  fellows  and Put  up smoke  where you entred,,, save  us a bit of time, eh?..  we  can enter   there and spread out, while you have  your  Jolly time  clearing Buildings?  Cummings  Out...

  with that, the   Teams   leap frogged to the   debris that the  Caps  ships had thoughtfully  supplied.

 as the  reached  the    edge of the   city, building  were burning or  smoking, the  early moring  sun adding its own od light through the purplish sky..  Supe  reached a  door that had  ESN paint  on it.. there was  crying inside... he opened the door, 9  roussian kids  were  there,  some of them crying. and two  female adults.. One   tried to hold a  pulse  rifle up at him..he slapped her hard, and  took the Puls e rifle..

 DON'T!... you want to get them all killed!.... you're safe from us, unless you have a weapon..then everyone in the building..everyone....now?.. just  sit  still until the  Med techs and   support come, and they'll evac you..and  don't  pick up another weapon!

  Supe carried the Roussian Pulse rifle out with him and  such the   door... Tucker looked at him..Kids.. a cpuple women..keep moving..

  three  roussians   ran out  from   a half blown  wall a few yards  down the street.. they fired   Roussian hand  guns, Az-_el  took a round  in her Tight... two Felrites  came leaping over the  wall   and   killed the   roussians before they had  a chance to see death coming.  rounds    were zippign all over the  place and fighters  added thier own noise.  other shuttle teams from  sister ships  were  movign through the   city columns  of Blue  smoke  went up  to  tell the  drop ship  troops  where to  enter.. and  just barely heard of the battle field Din, was the squeal of  stells wheels on  treads.. the  armor was coming

 Lyri , from   on , what was left  of a second Floor , sheltered  behind some  bricks.. she looked through her  Scope...SM   !.. brown building  with the flag... One , Two... her  rifle  fired...Alright..Just two  troopers  moved into that Building... 300 yards  down range to the  2:00... One of them was a red hat.. i just capped a Yellow  hat

    Harry  Lit up the  second  shuttle   which  blew  big as well... and there  wasn't  any more  aircraft close, unless you climbed a good  800 feet.

  ..this is good, now we go back and  help the troopers...

   She veered   back towards  the  city were ground  tr0ops   were    running about, and the  drop ship troopers looked like some one kicked an ant hill.

  Nikki  and Lizzy managed to   torch thier  formation..  But a call from He-La   came...EXTRA FIGHTERS!!!... we cannot stop them all..

 a wave of   fighters, most likely from the Mountains were comign hard...no shuttles or two seaters.. they were coming to  clean out the invaders.

 Machins  and Billie   just finished the last of thier  formation   as they turned to head back to the city...LC..You hear?

 yeah..not our problem yet... when they reach here, i'll see how many of us we can spare.. right now?.. our  4  flights  stay here.. Fran's  4  flights  stay there..

 then he added,..but if it gets too bad, we'll have to go up... it wouldn't take a  genius  to figure out that one  fighter  could  kill alot of  troopers  if they put thier  mind to it.

 Frans Broke in,.. we'll call you up if  we need it LC...

 Meari got out of the shuttle and took up position, she stayed with her group and headed out as ordered, she had her bow ready and shotgun at her side, and of course her melee weapons if they wanted to get up close and personal. Meari would shoot any enemies she sees with weapons. She keeps her eyes open as they head into what is left of the city.

 Lizzy stayed with Nikki and they chewed up formations of troops and Lizzy looked for any armor. Lizzy would also look for shuttles and blow them up safely with Nikki's help if they could, no shuttles could get to the ships they had to stop them. Lizzy told her girlfriend she would keep then safe. " Ok Fury lets torch these bastards."

With the second shuttle exploding in an equally spectacular fashion as the first one did, it was clear what the Roussian’s had been intending to do with them. However with the only other enemy aircraft flying at a much higher altitude Harry would find herself being lumbered with performing ground attacks once again ”oh...goody” Harry responded in a dry voice, casting a single longing look up at the enemy aircraft overhead before following Kat down. Ignoring the infantry entirely she would instead focus on targeting armoured vehicles and the weapons emplacements that had survived the initial bombardment with her pulse weapons, not wanting to waste her limited hard ammo on ground targets.

 Kat used her  pulse  guns  to chew up most of a  squad of  Roussians   tryign to move to head off the Hermes  troops.

Lynch!.... while we fly, shoot the  enemy troops!..that is what we are here for....

  Flores    zipped past  , not far  away , taking out  a team of roussians  that were tryign to  pull a HW  gun back to some cover...

  Shadow rose  and  Circled,   Mann was  streaming  Balck vapor.. Chatty stayed  with Him  as  she would  dip down and  chew  up  troops that tried to  retreat  to  the next rubble.

 Harry?... if you are having a problem doing you job..go home  and report to  Captain Morris...

 above them,  Frans  and  the flights under her command  veered off to meet the enemy fighters comign in to attack the ground  troops...Hermes!... we  broke off from the aircraft  headed to the fleet , we have to  cut off the approaching fighters ,that threaten the ground  troops..

 Hack answered,Thank you LT.. we will deal with them , with the aircraft left   up here by other ships... Portect the ground  folks...

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

 Karls  first  warehouse,  shattered, and  fell in there were  small explosions  and  troops  ran out  to escape the fires.

  the  2nd  one  the Morning star hit, Blew up, into  a steady effect of   fireballs, until the  area  was  reduced  to  rubble and  fire, 3 blacks in radius..,,   one thing of  note as the debris   flew throught he air.. where   bits and pieces of  shuttles.

Karl chuckled heavily.  "Well, THAT was gratifying...track where those troops run to, Ed, and target that next."  He continued scanning, looking for indicators of anti-air weapons or troop build-ups.

Roy grimaced.  "For future reference...red hats are officers, yellow hats are medics.  If you've gotta choose one, choose the officer.  Medics are less likely to be shooting back at us, and DEFINITELY less likely to organize any action against us."

He scanned quickly, locating the building.  "Okay, Team Two, cover that building.  Anyone pokes so much as an antenna out, light it up.  Team One, move up with me."  Giving everyone a few seconds to form up, he hustled forward, crouched low and trying to use rubble and plants to obscure the enemy line of sight on the advance toward the building.

 Moving  forward  and Firing,   the COMS  came in over  ALL COMs,  showing complete distain for  any enemy that might  be listening.

   ..This  is  Col Wolfgang  Bitts...  Scot  tanks  are  starting to  circle the   city...  Panzers  are setting up one  half mile in front of the beach head.. we will begin a  rolling barrage in  10 minutes  starting  , just south of  the  City center to the northern  edge....when the barrage  is  ended    we will give you the   ok to proceed..

  Lyri  sorta snorted into the COMs,..I'd like to say i'm sorry, but i'm not.. Wrong place, wrong time , carrying a weapon... I'll try to be  more....selective.

 the  mechs  moved up  with thier  stick   firing at   windows  and  troops  when they  had a target...  rounds  dinged of the mech's armor, but thus  far, the enemy couldn't  show itself  enough for  concentrated  fire

    Brooks  had a grenade  Launcher and  would  Pop a few rounds  towards areas  fire   was coming from.

 a few blocks  away a wall was blown out  as Athena assault troops    moved  from the Cover..  screams  could be heard over COMs  and through the air.. a trooper   moved towards his  fallen  Buddies  and was  gunned down. A med tech  ran  up the street her  helmet and bag clearly  marks , and was  turned to paste by a Heavy Pulse gun  salvo.

 Cora  and  Lippen  where  out on that  edge   , moved towards the   wounded   troopers.. the HW  fired on them , tearing into the bricks  and stone  they stopped

 Cora  got on the COMs,SM?... me and Lippen are  about  20 yards  away from the Athena troopers?.. we see at least  4   dead.. but  there  are at least  3 trapped in the   rubble.. they are  hurt, we can see along   of blood?.. we can't  get across the  Street.. there is   at elast one Heavy Pulse  in the yellow building right at the intersection.. we can't get a shot, and  we can't move... as  near as  we can  tell its  on the  third   floor, the top  floor is caved  in?.. i think that helps  them?

 even  as she    talked  the  Panzer '88s' chugged over head  to impact  a half mile away..the rolling barrage  had started..CE-VA  with Magin   stopped    by Roy...

 .. i am getting  good  footage!...I think i might  have  killed my   Roussian counter  part as he  tried to move to another building...

 Magin   shook her head,..it think it was a COM Tech.... SM?  Admiral  Hack  sent   COMs to  commanders on the low  channel?.. he said, expect to be bivouac at the beach head tonight .. The   drop ship  troopers  are  goign to clear out  the  areas   we have  taken, and  funnel  civies  back to a Holding area  to be sent to  one of those  transports
 that  Admiral  Henning's  Girl friend has..

Jug and the rest of the gava worked as a unit.  Comprising one wave of the tide flooding and taking out the enemy.  Jug knew it was an ugly task, but knew that at this time it was the only way.  war meant people died, even innocent ones.  She kept thinking of the children on the ark being attacked, and also not given a choice.  She would fight even harder.

 Meari was with Ellen about 40 yards from Cora and Lippen, Meari hits her Coms," Cora , this is Meari, Ellen and I are close heading to you now, figured I could help." Meari signaled to Ellen for then to head to Cora and Lippen and help the trapped Athena Troopers. Meari and Ellen would try and get a bead on the heavy pulse across the street and take out the gunner or the weapon itself with a special Pulse Arrow.

 Frans  COMed,Kray?.. these are all fighters.. they aren't  comign to  dog fight, they want to   cut  down troops

 dammit.. al right...  Tope  cover  Got meet them... ground support.. stay  low, as soon as the first  fighter  slips passed them, pop up... NONE..get to those troops... they won't stand a chance in open  field ...

 Roy!.. we're Gonna have to knock down a swarm of  fighters here... be careful of your momvement s until we get back..

   Shadow and  Flores , waiting to  pounce  as soon  as the  overflow  slipped pas    Frans  and her group.

 Kat   moved to hover over  some  trees,  ....the Pancer   barrage  was  almost  done..another  3 minutes or  so, while 100's of thousands  for ESN troopers charged towards the city..

 the assault groups   fought   with the   troops  that were  at the front egde of the city... both trying to hold thier ground...

  Roy could see  some Largans    slipping trough  Rubble  with  heavy Pulse guns They  wore  largran armor, but  Roussian uniforms.

In reply to Roy Spencer (msg # 14):

Melia advanced with the teams providing cover as necessary, but conserving her ammo. It'd matter more inside, and away from the fire of the shuttles.

She joined the stick moving simultaneous with Roy. As a Medic she stayed close to the center of her formation relying on her own formidable marksman skills to pop off single rounds when enemies presented themselves.

In reply to fighters (msg # 16):

The shuttles from the Burian Fleet had set down in their designated area setting up their own perimeter and assault point into the city. Over head a few flights of the Burian wing flew overwatch. The rest split into two halves were divided between defending the fleet from shuttle and fighter attacks and fighting in the atmosphere.  Sarah and her staff had learned the hard way about fire ships and the like and weren't taking chances. It gave them less support for their ground troops but the Burian Troopers and Commandos were well trained and eager spilling into the city moving in their squads and teams. The commandos were like wraiths moving into the area. Barely bothering to set positions they were already moving from cover point to cover point flowing along seeking out enemies.

Roy nodded at the comm from Cora.  "Do what you can, but don't get reckless.  If you can't get the guy clean, triangulate with the Morningstar and let Nilsson drop the rest of the building on him.  If you can get him quick and quiet, do it and move in there...turn their own gun on them if you can, if you can't, take all the power cells and use them as IEDs."

Shadow's call came through next.  "Copy that, LC!  All ground troops, we're going to have company calling pretty shortly...keep your heads down and try to stay out of sight until the flyboys have chewed them up.  If they're dumb enough to come in low and slow searching for us and you have a clean shot, go ahead and pop 'em, but most of you don't have the firepower to bring down a fighter unless you land a miracle shot.  When in doubt, stay put.  If you start taking fire, move out perpendicular to the attack angle and try and find cover ASAP."  Cutting his transmission, he muttered, "Shoulda brought the damned Barrett along..."  He never felt comfortable under fire from strafing fighters...but he felt a helluva lot less uncomfortable when he had a viable option for firing back.

He looked around, checking the positions of his people.  "Eyes up and scanning, make sure they aren't coming in on us from surprise angles!  And watch for their troops to try and rush us under fighter cover!"

    The clash of the  top cover  with the  incoming  comign  , counter attacks. was   a vicious  furball,  Roussians died  before they  could fire..
 Hugo Kruass   took our   two, before he  was   Hit, Losing  a  Wing,  He Pivoted  his   aircraft and hit the POD.. it  fired  Him  towards  the  Hermes    troops  area..  bouncing  around  and   finally stop  in some  rubble, he popped out   and  punched open his  compartment, grabbing his   bag  and weapon.. the whole thing  might have taken him  5   seconds   as he  rand    south wards towards   where he could  see, the sea of troops   runnign towards the city.. The  Pod  vanished   when two  artillery Rounds  hit it...

 HUGO!

 I'm good  LC...  got  knocked  down, but alive,, i can see some of our guys...

keep your head  down, they have  shooters all over the damn place..

 Just as predicted, some  30 fighters  slipped  around Frans and her  group...Alright?.. Lets Go  folks....

  Shadow  climbed  up  Under the  Fighters  They didn't have a chance. thinking they  had a free   run at the troops.. then thier Bellies  started to get  ripped out..

  Harry and Kat  each took a pair  down, Shadow  and  Flores  got  3 between the two of them,, Lizzy and  Nikki  got   2  each , and Billie and Machins one  as they hit the tail end  of the fighter group . Howe  and Foster's   people shredded the other side of  the

 formations.. Raven and   Red Water    pounced  on the last  two...  Bits of  fighters  and pilots  Bodies  rined   down over  a Half mile diameter  and the    ambsuhing   fighters  started to head to help Frans  group... to be fair, there wasn't much to Help with ' Shadow Screws' and  taked   the  heart out the Middle of the formation...

.. even with the   sounds  for   tanks ,  and  roars of aircraft...  the  Mighty cheer from the advancing  Drop ship troopers  who were wondering how many of them were going to  die  before reaching the  City..... They ran fasters in thier ehavy and medium armor,  pumped up and  ready to deal out some damage

Karl scowled...too many people, too well dug in...  "Ed, give me an IR overlay on the visual display..."  If there were large clusters of Roussians in buildings, they should, theoretically, be putting off enough body heat to change the IR signature of the space.  Some of the results, he knew he could ignore...if they had ESN colors, he noted them and then moved on.  And all the while, motion-tracking filters were running...if anything larger than a chihuahua went running through his sensors, it would get instantly highlighted...

 Hugo ran   down the  streets    ducking around    rubble and  burning Hover  cars.    he  could see the    Gava  tearing up  some  Roussian troopers  and   bee-lined for them, stopping every now and they as shooters  tried to stop him.

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

 Cora     COMed...   MoringStar..this is Cpl  Cora  Aspen... we got  a heavy weapons  nest  that  has  us pinned  down and we cannot  reach  trapped  troopers.... I have a
Tag.. I'm  gonna throw it  at the Building.. it used to be  4   floors.. top  floor
  is laying on the  3rd.. its almost like a pill box!..SM  says you can make it go away... Throwing Tag ...now...

 she  clicked the   button that normally wouldn't  come on intil it  was attacked to metal, and  heaved  it.. her throw  was   answered  by   two sprays  of     Heavy Pulse..Dammit.. they Have  two there!!

 Karl  could see the Tag  Blinking, just like  if someone tagged a POD or salvage  a long , tube shaped   creature  was slinging towards the trapped   troopers.. Ellen Pointed ...what the fuck is that!

 it  ehad  snapped  around to see the  four  woman   and  flashed   Long needle like teeth

.........

  Roy was   watching his   troops  as they came out  from  cover.. Minnet called out, I can't Find Shade!

 hemsly   was   exasperated as he pointed to a brick  Building  where  alot  for   weapons  fired  had   stalled thie r advance....'e Bloody    beeped  an bunch an' took one of me   C-10 bags.. wouldn't   listen an"

    The Little  Guy    could be  seen   crawling slowly towards  the building if  anyone saw him, they didn't care....

 Lyri    could be heard  saying.gods be damned... who gave him that  pack!

  didn't ye bloody 'aer..he took the bleedin' thing..theres  30  pounds of C-10 In there...

 Karson shook his head,..better Pull back!

 the little  guy  reached   the   wall.. hemsly was yelling,NOOO..ye'll blow   the whole bleedin' section up!

   Shade  just looked up  while he fussed  with the   trigger and  fuse... he was a good  100 yards  away from the nearest  Hermes trooper..  then he  stood  up  and heaved  the   Bundle through the  window  and  Ran  as   fast  as his  legs  could carry him..  he   pressed   the   Tigger, diving over  a mound of   dirt   that used to be someone's house  ... the roar  of the explosions    split the hosue open like a rise  blossom. bricks   woods, metal and  , what looked  like  50  Roussians  flew high   and far..

 DOWN!!! GET BLOODY DOWN!- hemsly    dove for the  nearest wall  covering his helmet and Pulling in his legs.... because.. that  wood, bricks, metal and bodies , had to come down...

"Got it..." Karl said, as the tag lit up on his screen.  Before he could say anything, crosshairs had snapped to the tag and the howitzer spat a round...

It took a few moments to reach the ground...time in which the alert was sounded about the...whatever-it-was...down on the ground.  "Shit...Ed, that's inside danger-close for the big guns...we've gotta go down..."  As he pulled the stick, rolling the shuttle into an inverted dive, he instructed, "Precision fire, minigun..."

He was still a good kilometer and a half above the ground when the growl of the minigun sounded, a bestial roar over a buzzsaw whine, and seconds later, the ground around the thing was chewed up with hundreds of .50cal rounds in an inhumanly tight grouping.  It was impossible to know for sure when he stopped firing, because a massive explosion tore open a building and Karl rolled out to his left to avoid the rising fireball and to bring his big guns back on target.  "Aspen, please tell me I got that thing...whatever it is!"

If she heard the comments about her not firing upon the infantry she certainly didn’t comment with her instead following Kat and moving into position for the ambush on the approaching fighters. Hovering a short distance away from Kat and feeling like a sitting duck as she did so Harry would wait until the enemy were in position before surging out and firing her cannons into the exposed under bellies of the enemy fighters. With the fight over in all of a few moments Harry would return to hunting armoured vehicles, firing a couple of pot shots at the infantry as she passed but not really paying them much attention with her deciding to focus on killing things the marines couldn’t.

 Lizzy flew with Nikki hitting the enemy troops, chewing up troops, vehicles, armor anything Lizzy could hit would help the ground troops. Then they peeled off and went after a large formation of fighters. " Lets kick the child killers ass, here comes Fire and Fury." Lizzy came in with the rest of the flight and her and Nikki where flying great together. Lizzy got two and Nikki did too, after the first hit, Lizzy would then line up on more to knock down the bastard fighters before they reached their troops and her friends.

In reply to ground (msg # 32):

Melia poked her head out from behind the wall she was using for cover, peeking around the corner trying to identify what the hell the thing that was that Ellen was pointing out. Either way she readied a grenade to throw at it. Most unidentified creatures and enemy vehicles found grenades unpalatable making them a preferred option when close enough to use. Still she had to see where it was to throw the grenade accurately.

In reply to ground (msg # 32):

 Meari fired her Pulse arrow at the Pulse Nest, as Cora called for help from above. Meari charged towards the hurt Athenian troopers knowing she had too move before the nest opened up on her again. She heard one blast get close to her and then the rain of a 50 cal minigun could be heard as the nest vanished. Meari saw the tube creature and opened up on it with her Shotgun not stopping till it was dead or gone.

 Meari kept running and got to the Athenian Troopers to see what she could do to help them, medically and physically freeing them.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:13, Wed 13 Jan 2021.

When the debris stopped raining down, Roy gave a wave of his arm.  "Move in, before they readjust to cover!"  He rushed forward to where Shade was, dropping down beside him as the rest of the group was waved forward.

He did a quick check to make sure Shade hadn't been hit, as he said, "There are about a dozen reasons you shouldn't have done that, but I'll keep it simple.  YOU are the fuckin' AMBASSADOR of your homeworld.  You get killed, we lose momentum while they find someone else and get them up to speed to work with the Board.  I get it, you're pissed about Dusk and Lillit being injured...but you've gotta keep your damned head on your shoulders!  Try a stunt like that again and I'm assigning you PERMANENTLY to Admiral Hack's honor guard.  Got it?!"  Regardless of whether or not he found any injuries, his tone didn't waver...he was angry, and it wasn't just because of the reckless solo action.

"Let's hope like hell we don't need to blow anything else open...or if we do, that Karson's still carrying enough to do it.  We have fire support for a reason..."