"E.T.A is less than one minute to target zone! Satellite recon is showing moderate resistance, Marines we are going in hot! Prepare for a smash and grab!" The tank commander yelled over the thunderous sounds on the Orpheus's engines against the howling wind.
"ALL TANK UNITS! PREPARE WEAPONS HOT AND READY TO FIRE, I WANT THESE BASTARDS FRIED AS WE HIT THE RAVINE!" The tank commander then relayed over the group comm system as the SIBAS suited marines released their weapon safety interlocks and counted down the last few heat pounding second before combat.
The first of the ten Orpheus Super-Hover tanks blasted over the last of the ice plain and over the edge of the ravine, in the distance the Imposing comms tower could be seen, a short, fat, gray structure that rested adjacent to the massive hangar bay doors that had been placed into the ice.
Surrounding the tower was a handful of Immortal units and vehicles at roughly company strength, 300 or so infantry in hostile environment suits backed up by a Pathfinder APC and 5 flat-based tanks that the Scythian's had not yet encountered.
The lead Orpheus opened fire with its twin Antimatter Projector Cannons, a technology that had been cobbled together from Scythian Antimatter technology and Gamma Corps rail guns, the turret tracked the lead Immortal tank and projected a molecule wide magnetic cone directly at it, which was then used to project a deadly arc of Antimatter slurry into the tanks hull.
The effect was as deadly as Scythian researchers had ever hoped, as the tanks Armour turned from reflective black Armour plates into a florid blue jelly-like surface that violently exploded in every direction, destroying the tank utterly and showering the nearby infantry in exotic, volatile particles that ripped through environment suits and flesh with disturbing ease.
As each Orpheus broke over the ravines edge, it opened fire and split from formation, carving arcs of destruction into the unprepared Immortal lines, infantry diving for cover as vehicles and debris either exploded or melted around them.
The lead Orpheus halted in the middle of the carnage and opened fire in ever direction with its four secondary laser Gatling cannons as its side door lowered and Harkins with the 11 other marines hit the solid metal of the hangar bay door below them.
Harkins dropped to one knee with trained precision and brought his rifle to bear as the two other marines of his fire group leveled their own weapons over his shoulders.
A target rich environment for 120 marines and 10 Super-Hover tanks - the result was bloody.
Harkins didn't even bother taking his own rifle off of auto fire as he sprayed fire into the Immortal soldiers who dared to present themselves, as did Larrisa, the Medic for his fire group, her own Armour adorned with specialized field surgical equipment and comms packages.
Over his left shoulder - Quaram hefted a massive PAVL MK-II laser, a generation ahead of the MK-I, the beast of a weapon was designed to be carried at the hip and consisted of three MK-I PAVL's on a Gatling system that rotated after each beam fired. His own SIBAS suit had been outfitted with additional Armour plating and servo systems to carry the additional load.
Every shot of the PAVL-II destroyed another chunk of debris, another hiding place, and between the combined fire of the force, the Immortals where quickly and efficiently being annihilated.
Before the last Immortal fell, Scythian marines where moving on their next objective - disable the comms tower and then gain access through the underground city through the hangar bay doors.
As Harkins downed his last Immortal soldier he turned to survey the area or targets, finding nothing but wreckage, debris and wounded.
He looked across to a Scythian marine who had been hit in the arm, screaming in pain, while the SIBAS suit had tourniquet the wound above where he had been shot nothing could stop the deadly radiation from Ereberus's twin suns from decaying every cell in his body.
He had been one of the newest to the unit, less than five years in the service - the Field commander had filed him as KIA before he finished screaming, an his body decomposed and turned to ash inside his own Armor.
Looking across the ice, the same happened to every corpse in the field, stage-1 of the mission was a succeed or die scenario - because if you failed, there would be nothing left to return home except empty husks and the whispers of the dead.
Harkins turned and huffed as he followed Larrisa taking point, the fire group quickly and silently moving to its next objective.
-- WARNINK -- LINK BELOW IZ KNOWN TO CAUZE HEMMORAGE --
I WARNED YOU, DIDN'T I WARN YOU?! BLAME RAYHAWK DAMNIT.
Brikchat wrote:<Guest6854>: screw you, theres an elder god out there with a colette body pillow