"Kick butt...don't care about names!" she retorted Lizzy as she pulled up near Lizzy spraying bullets and ammo as needed at the enemy.  "Hey Fire...what we should do is find their main control tower facility and take it out....make all these fighters near sighted to blind.  what do you think?" she thought trying to figure out where their control point was as she flew and weaved.

  The Creature   was  torn up  by  the Morningstar's shift in the  minigun,,, it   layed  that  makign a high pitched  whining  sound ,  until  Meari  finished it off with shotgun blasts...

 Cora  Peeked out  around the    broken wall, Yeah.. nest is  Gone, Lots  of  fire in what's left of the rubble.... you didn't have to blow up the   together end of the  block though..but , we'll take it!

 running over to the rubble, Ellen and  Cora   keep watch while meari looks   at the  3 Athena  troopers who are alive,  Rubble has them   trapped,  one has  a Roussain  hard ammo  round in his  back.

 Damn Snake-Cat?.... I hope Largs  can Handle them!

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

 Shade  Bleeped    , his eyes  a bit  grey as he pointed to all the  Roussians  scattered around.. including  one  about  10 feet away.. he pointed to his own collar and Pointed to the   dead Roussians.

 Hemlsy   stood  near them with his weapon  ready as he adjusted the visor on his head gear....That was a Damn fine  explosion..but yer gonna cost me a stripe  or two!... i mean..i lost them  'afore  an' always get 'em back...but at least its  MY  fault i lost them..eh?

  Shade  kept pointing at the dead  Roussian  and bleeping.

 The  air was clear except  for circling   fighters  that were   dipping  down , now and then to fire  at some target  , or gun down moving troops.

 Hemsly looks at  Roy  and then back to  Shade.

   In the Air  Shadow issued  more orders,All wing Commanders   in Atmo, break your   groups  down to flights,... circle  an  area  100 miles  around your  ship's shuttle  landings...... eliminate  any  vehicles  you see... and  Troops..... keep an eye out  for  another   flood of  aircraft.   there has to be more  then  what we knocked  down

 Captain Trayner  here , LC  of the  Lissa....We have had to  destroy 100,000  or more between the    work in The Black and Down here..

 ..You might be right  Captain? I didn't have   time to Count...but look at our numbers, and  we  are limited to what we carry in our vessels... so?  stay sharp

after he  finished with the over  all he addressed his  flight, Stay with your wingman, and look around, anything   that is military, that you can kill, saves  a few lives on our side...

 from his spot in the air, he could  see the  drop ship troopers   reach the  edge of the City, they added fresh Smoke for those  following   behind.

  He chuckled a bit as he  watched the figures  from  some 800 feet in the air.. Massive bodies  of   Sanri and  Apefolks, ,  the  crab-spider like   naragran ... Tall Nivar and what Udenses  where in the dealt  fleet, and  the  swarms of  little gava..all mixed  around  'normal-sized' humans  and angels.

 on the other side of the planet, the  battle in the 'night' was vicious.. Udenese  pounded the   cities and bases, and anythign that looked  like industry.   the  Hyrains  Joined them, and  when it  came time to  drop the troopers, the Roussains were in for a tough  fight.

 Meari stabilized the ones she could and then went to uncovering and slowly removing them for better care and transport. She will say," Just stay calm I will get you out try not to move in case you are injured." Meari carefully removed the severely injured one and did what she could for the trooper.

 Lizzy opened up at troops, armor, anything military, as Nikki and her flew. Lizzy responded, "Hell yes lets find and blow it the fuck up." Lizzy then hit enemy troops with Nikki she also looked for what could be a Control tower or Comms tower.

Roy shook his head.  "Yeah, I get it, you killed a lot of Roussians...maybe even some important ones.  But Hemsly only had one satchel of charges and now they're all gone.  Nilsson could have dropped a couple of shells on it and pulverized what was left with pulse fire and hardly changed the weight of his bird.  It's poor use of resources."

Satisfied that Shade hadn't taken any hits that penetrated uis armor, Roy gestured to the Roussian Shade was pointing out.  "I don't understand what you're trying to tell me, so show me what was so damned critical that it couldn't wait three seconds for an airstrike..."

  Shade  looked  frustrated  as he has  ever been... He  grabs  Roy's   arm in a  relatively iron grip and  Pulls him  towards  the  Smoldering ruins that  used to he  a  4  story building, Not a Block away from where  karl torched another  Building..


 After   assured  Roy was  following him, he let go  and   readied his SMG,  as they   crawled over the smoking wall  and   walked to  the thick smoke  with Shade   rapidly  Bleeping , whirling and grinding. They came to , what was  roughly, the Middle of the  Building.

 The trip through the  ruins  was like walking through a blown up  Offcie , papers and computers    scattered  everywhere, there were  as many dead in uniform as there were in  Civie  clothing, though the Civie's were  all dressed  alike with thigh high   skirts  or    trim slacks , males with  , what used to be, white shirts  and females in blouses..

 The  Little Udenese  let his   SMG swing from the  sling  as he   grabbed  a  doors  that was near the Middle, where, alot of the building   still seemed,  to be  intact.. The  scream of the Metal  door  as it  came off the  the  weakened hinges revealed   the top of  an elevator..

 Hemsly looks at the   compartment, and looks up...what the bloody  'ell would ye have a  elevator  fer a  4  story buildin', and the thin' dunna  go the whole  way to the top!

 Shade Looked at Hemsly and Blinks, and   tilts his head,  the , making sure Hemsly wasn't makign  fun of him.. Shade pointed downwards.

 around the    elevator  were , Roussian versions of  C-10, all wired  except.. there was no one alive to   hit the   trigger that lay  a few feet away from a Red Hat trooper.

In reply to Meari (msg # 37):

Melia moved in with Roy, stopping by Meari with the downed Athena troopers. What've we got here? She asked as Roy gave Shade a tongue lashing and then further lectured him on utilization of resources. From an anger perspective she got it, with one rare exception so far. When she was near demons she either found herself blind in terror, or in a homicidal rage that made the old berserkers of earth appear sane. Still she agreed with Roy, but it wasn't time to belabor that.  "I know it's not typically a big deal, but one of these days we've either gotta figure out a better way to understand Shade than charades, or Shadow and Orria's gonna have to play a running game of telephone for these battles. Orria's too young to come down yet, and Shadow's a better asset for these missions in the air. One of these times the communication barrier's gonna get us or the Ambassador killed, and I'm not nearly a good enough medic to put the pieces back together if he gets blown up with 30lbs of C-10." she calls out as she begins to assess the wounds of survivors.

Roy nodded, as he grasped what Shade was trying to communicate.  "Good work...but I still mean what I said about not doing that again.  You've got comms access, get your dad or Orria to translate if you can't tell us.  This is still something the Morningstar could have done without hanging your hide out to get torched in the blast."

He keyed his comm.  "Admiral, looks like we've come across an elevator leading down into a bunker.  If we can get some of the dropship troops to take up the surface advance for us, I'm ready to take my team down..."

While waiting for a response, he turned to Hemsly.  "See what you can do about neutralizing these charges...we're damned lucky they didn't go off in the blast, there'd have been nothing left to find here, but I don't want to take any chances on a lucky mortar shot detonating them on us..."

 Shade started to Bleep and whirls, then  heard  melia's  words, and   just stopped.. he Looked  down  and  stepped away from the  Charges  so  Hemsly  could  work on them.

 Brooks..Karson, Come over  ta where the  big explosion was.. we have  some Roussian  plastik 'ere and  we might be able  ta  re-sue it..and  we need ta  make it not  blow us up..

 from two differant  Directions   Brooks  and  Karson  came  running,  Jumping or  crawlign over   dusty  battered walls.

 what the bleedin'  'ell!... how much  C-10 didja use... Brooks   stammered.

 Hemsly  Just Motioned for them to  start on the   bricks of  plastik.....30 pounds...

 ..Damn  , Man... that  could take the bow of  The Hermes...  Hemsly Just shrugged...

 Hemsly worked, but didn't look up as he said... ya Know?.... This  fella  'ere  where the trigger is?... if he woulda set that off.. this  lift  would have beens  shattered an'   the whole middle of the building  would    have filled up the  Hole, we'd a never  found it. least ways , not  until the colonists started  cleanin' up...

 Shade  sat  on  a broken hair that had no legs but  sat on  a mound of bricks. he  drank a sip of  water before  putting his canteen back.


 Maygin  jogged over with her COMs...Admiral sent  out low channel calls... The fighters     and us  are supposed to  pull back to the  lake  near sundown... The drop ship troopers  are setting up  defenses  as  far as the shuttle teams have pushed  through?... I caught a verian  COM signal.. it  came from near here.., but it  went out  right  away... the  COM signal was  trying to  reach someone one the surface..but then it went  dead.. I sent word   for other COMteachs  to  see if they hard  any other..they hadn't picked up any?

 Supe  and  Hodden    Gunned  down  a pair of Roussians  and   the Snake-cats..

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 Med techs from the  drops ships  reached melia and  meari  as the   slipped the  wounded onto  litters to be taken back.... already , long lines  of  Roussian kids  with a smattering of  females or  older Roussians,, were headed to the rear area... there  were  crude  stakes in the   ground  with  rope, that the roussians  had to follow  towards the Lake.. and  roussian outside the  ropes  would be considered dangerous  and deal with that way


 a few  troopers   stood on either side, telling  the roussians  to keep moving..some of the kids were  crying, others  were scared.. the  females  , even more scared as they looked at the armored enemies  who head   weapons and  wore  armor.

 Off to the West, the Niavrains  troops  with  their massive Stud Largs  and , its  'lackey largs"  were   in fights  with some   combat troops  and the snake cats

"Near sundown, huh?"  He looked at the sun, and shrugged.  "In the absence of any other directives in the meantime, I'm guessing that means we can check out this hole.  I'm also guessing, based on past experience, that Larry and Freddie aren't gonna be terribly willing to go down there..."

He straightened, looking around the area as he keyed his comms again.  "Spade Teams One and Two, we've found a lift shaft down, looks to be some kind of bunker.  Volunteers to go in and check it out, form up on me.  Anyone who doesn't go holds this position and helps with escorting the non-combatant Roussians out of the area.  We're going in ten..."

He looked around.  "I'm guessing with the building gone, the elevator car's not safe to ride down.  We need to clear it out...either lift it clear or drop it to the bottom of the shaft...and then rig descent lines to drop down to the bottom to check it out.  Anyone got any brilliant suggestions?"

   As they were In the  Air, Frans  and  Shadow   Got  COms on the low channel...

    Ok  Folks?  we got COMs  from  The Admiral... near sundown, the assault teams are heading back to the  beach head for chow and rest... we're to land a  an area marked for  The Hermes, , most likely near the shuttles..... we'll get rearmed and fresh power cell... birds  that are  too chewed up will go home.... we'll be sleeping  near  our  fighters tonight, we'll eat  witht eh assault  troopers ..Until them, keep on the look out  for   troops  and those  , Snake Cat things..

 The capitol city looked more  like a waste land.. very few large  building  still stood, and they were getting Buzzed fighters from other  ships...

 Soon the  Udenese  and Hyrians would be  fighting in the day light..some other  cities  were having 'round the clock' fighting..but the capitol was special... they would just  have  firefights  witht eh drop ship troopers, and  when morning  came, it would be time  to see  where  elevators  went..

 Meari nodded at Melia when she joined to help her out. Meari was good but Melia was a med tech. Meari helped get the three wounded Athenian troopers on stretchers and the med techs took them away. Two should make it, the one shot in the back she did her best, she hoped they would pull through. Meari nodded at Melia and said," Thank you for your help I hope they all make it."

 Meari then checked to see if Cora, Lippen  or Ellen where injured. Then she saw Shade and the SM talking and Shade pulling him. Meari will head over and go to Shade with his head down. She says," Are you ok cousin, I know not being able to talk to people must suck, I am truly sorry. If you go slow I can get a few words, maybe I should work harder and then we can talk on the ground."

 When Roy asked for volunteers to join in going down the elevator, Meari moved over and replied," I would like to join SM, if we tied a rope and where able to loop it over something still sturdy myself and a few others could try to pull the car out of the shaft?" Meari will survey the area to see if her plan could work.

    Karson looked at the  elevator car, then   tried to peer through the  opening as it was  canted  a bit..well? we know   three things,  1... no one's using this car to go up...2.. you can use it to go down..but only once, and you won't like  when it stops..and 3?... it has to be a long way down there..

 Shade started to bleep, but then stopped suddenly  and went back to sitting down.

 Maygin  Turned to  Roy,Admiral is coming down  in a  Heimdall shuttle  along with  8 of thier  troopers and a few  from  The Hermes, as well as  a pair of Power Armor troopers... They want to be here when  we go in?..

 brooks   stacked  another  Brick of Roussian C-10  witht he others..he  loked up at Roy,..all us folks that been trained, we   drop down on ropes..but we're gonna need  more  ropes  then  we got  right now?

 Shade  Bleeped some more and  folks  turned to look at him  and he started  to  whirl and..then..stopped again..more or less defeated.

Roy made an educated guess at what Shade was bleeping about.  "Yes, you're going in with us.  You found it, even if it was a damn-fool way to get in there.  But no hauling off on your own, got it?!"

He looked at the elevator and what was left of the building.  "Even if we had enough people to lift it out of the shaft by sheer muscle power, there's nothing overhead secure enough to attach lift ropes to.  We'd end up pulling it sideways, lodged in the shaft, and just burn a lot of muscle for nothing."  He sighed, muttering, "Well, shit..."

Another, larger sigh, and he said, "Okay.  Admiral's declared he wants to be here when we go down, which means there's no sense killing ourselves trying to get it out today.  Maybe tomorrow, we can get the mechs over here to lift it out, or can secure a line to one of the shuttles and let them lift it out.  For now, we set a watch on it...make sure nobody sneaks in to destroy the shaft and nobody sneaks out through it, since we're not really sure what's under the damned elevator.  We'll rotate who's on guard, the rest of us fall back to the bivouac at the beachhead.  Hemsly, you and the boys round up that Roussian explosive...the tech boys should be absolutely giddy with new explosives to analyze.  Let's round it up, people..."

Melia stood and headed over to Shade. "Let's come Orria for now. Shes your aide and even if we're playing telephone it's better for you and us. As a team we've gotta work together, after this mission we'll see about working something out. "

 Meari paid close attention to Shade and tried to get as much as she could from his bleeps and whirls. Meari tried to pick up any words she could to help Shade communicate. Then Meari thought of something Maygin was Verian maybe she could understand Shade better, some Verians could understand Shade she knew that.

A bit away the Gava and Jug were involved with their own group of Roussians.  In what looked to he a park or zoo as far as Jug could tell.  There were a lot of dead animals and debris, and down half burned trees about.  Some of the structures were still standing, but in pieces.  Jug stood protected by part of one column, Goji and Liig by another.  Quickly Goji was up the column and all 3 were firing on a group straight on and from above. Jug and Liig firing and when the Roussians would pop up, Goji began popping them off.  Bog and Dose used part of what looked like an animal cage and a collapsed tree for cover firing at a pair  along some steps nearby.  Uvuvu lead the rest to circle around to get a drop on them.

Harry continued patrolling the area, diving down to take out any vehicles she sighted or to fire a few pot shots at the larger groups of enemy infantry when she saw them, though they seemed have learned that being in large groups in the open was bad for their health. Upon being informed that they would be slumming it tonight with the ground pounders she would quietly sigh at the thought of what would probably be a long uncomfortable night before continuing her patrol.

When she was finally given the order to return she would follow the rest of the flight and land in the designated area.

  With the   Drop ship  troopers   comign in, They began to et up barriers. Either  using   Rubble or  have  some Hover  trucks  bring in portable  walls  to set up... The  'line  was ste up in an irregular  fashion, depending how deeply the assault troops   drove in....

 With  the Elevator shaft being set up a goo 100 yards behind the  wall, and  a few extra  troopers set up to watch it, as the Hermes  folks   moved back towards the designated area.

  Shade marched  witht eh others, his SMG  in his   hands, and the Visor up on his headgear.  Cora , Ellen and Lippen talked with Meari about  the 'Snake Cat', and  how  nasty it looked ( and smelled).

   Larry  padded along   near  Shade  and Roy..freddie on the other side of the column. From thier Vantage  point  , they could see several 'rope roads' that  batched of Roussian kids  and  some female, or older Roussians  walked... Drop ship troopers  standing  watch. repeating, over and over, 'do not leave the rope lines'

  Maygin   hung up her  OminCOM and said, The Admiral just left  The Hermes, he is bringing two Power armor troopers  , and some replacements.

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

 in the  air,  Shadow  hit ALL COMS...  all WCs...make a few more passes over the city,  before heading back to  you designated  area... check your  aircraft, send the ones  home, who are fight  worthy..those with minor  damage  can be  foxed  at the beach head.

 Captain Nilsson... make a pass or  two over the city.. take out   as many buildings that look like a warehouse as you are able...

 Hermes   wing.. one more pass, then we head for chow  and rearm...

.......

 while the troops  walked, and flyers  felw, and  Drop ship troops  made thier  way to   fortify  the foothold in the  city, The  Drop ships  troops  would   wave    weapons or helmets  as   the  aircraft flew over as way of 'thanks'//

 Just how bad it would have been  might never be known,  but the City and south part of the plain  between the city and the lake is now, littered with  Roussian  fighters.. most, just  bits of wreckage  in a crater, others   bent and twisted  as they tried to land,  Pilots hanging out of the  Pods. or mashed  against the  windscreen

  The Assault  teams waving at  drop ship  folks  as they  scuffed  across the Ground, Lyri waved to a  SGt and called out to him...HEY!... when you go in there, watch for the Cat-snake things.. they are sliding all over the rubble.. I think they let the loose to hut  down troopers!

 Thanks  MC!.. we'll pass that on1

 Damn Nivar has  flying snakes... Roussa has  Snake Cats?.....why can't they..like..flyign bunnies or something?

  Larry snorted .. as they approached the  rear area.  hasty signs were scrawled  with   a Ships name  and an Arrow, the   troops truned towards  the   area the shuttles  moved back too... the smell of   stew  and soup in the air, as well as the smell of  hot bread.. Coffee  and tea drifted on the wind.

  a Heimdall shuttle  was Landing  near the hermes shuttles

 Meari smiled at walked with Cora, Ellen and Lippen, Meari wasnt bothered by the cat as much as the others, she replied," Oh on Uden we have some crazy creatures as well, but I do have to admit those 'Snake Cat' things smell awful, if the Roussians eat them no wonder they follow the Empire." Meari walked with them but still kept her eyes and senses peeled for a rogue Roussian trooper or something. Meari saw the children they where saving, she thought if the Roussians didnt attack the kids they might not be here kicking their asses. She liked working with Ellen, Cora and Lippen they where really good at their jobs.

Looking about for more targets Nikki finally called to Lizzy "I'm about tapped out..You?  How about we get some chow and a refill on ammo?" she suggested.  She still glanced about for any opportune targets.

Jug and the other Gava were returning to the beachhead area "You mean these creatures?" the Gava had 3  bodies , well 2 as one seemed to be in 2 pieces. "We had a fire fight over there, lot of these creatures dead already.  We think maybe it was ..zoo?  but all dead things there just what Roussians eat lots of...maybe it was a food stall"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:12, Fri 15 Jan 2021.

 Lizzy was flying with Nikki and they kicked some ass hitting the ground troops and armor. Lizzy unloaded her 37mm guns and emptied her belts chewing up the last of the troops they could see. Then the LC came over the radio and told them to head towards their landing sites.

 Then after Nikki spoke Lizzy replied," Yes I am out of hard ammo just used the last of it, plus the LC just called us in, and I am starving. Lets go Fury, we did good today Nikki, great flying." Lizzy then headed with Nikki over their troops, she would wave her wings at the Hermes ground troops as she came in for a landing in their designated area.

In reply to ground (msg # 58):

Melia  grabbed her coms, "Beth, we need Orria to keep a channel open to Shade. The way things go on these missions we need someone to help us understand what he's saying so we can better work as a team. You can relay to me, the SGT MAJ, or the entire team, whatever is best but we need a bit of help on this."

Orria came over the line, "I can help, I'm Shade's aide, can I come down there?"

Melia was quick to respond, "I'd say Yeoman, you're not rated for surface combat yet. Until you're properly trained you need to remain with the rear echelon. Of course should leadership supersede my thoughts I'll allow it so long as all reasonable precautions available are taken."


Over the comms came a slightly disappointed, "Yes PO."

Then her voice perked up, "Shade talk to me, let me help. I'm stuck up here on the ship. Maybe I can help you, we're just monitoring traffic right now."

Melia sighed there had to be a better way, either a sign language or even a small keyed gauntlet with 10-15 pre-programmed statements like "DANGER" and the direction, or TRAP or whatever. It wasn't Shade's fault entirely either. As a team they'd not done enough to ensure the understood him and always just assumed that since nothing bad had happened things were good. They'd been lucky this time. The amount of explosives had been insane for the job, and the risk too. As the tip of the spear they were better than this.  She continued moving with the group. "I'm in to go down SGT MAJ."