746/Operation: Fallen Titan

Operation: Fallen Titan
Date of Scene:	05 October 2014
Location:	Earth-115
Synopsis:	Rebecca Kismarin heads home... but is intercepted over Algeria. The Titan's Redoubt is heavily damaged and forced down by a Large UFO. Can XCOM and their Elite allies rescue the Corporate Maven? Find out, dear reader.
Cast of Characters:	38, 62, 343, 568, 571, 583

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Rebecca Kismarin (343) has posed:
     Nightfall. It just about always happens at night. Under an hour prior to the distress call, the Unitech Dropship Titan's Redoubt lifts off from the vicinty of Geneva, bearing hard towards the atmosphere above the Mediterranean. Not long after it lifts, a massive extraterrestrial craft intercepts the sturdy but unarmed vessel. Fishermen in the sea may see flashes of green high in the sky flickering over blue, but attest it to nothing more than an unusual thunderstorm.

     The truth of the matter is the alien craft's cannons peppering the Redoubt's shields, targetting the vulnerable comm arrays on the outer hull once the barriers are down. By the time the distress call is broadcast, the vessel is on fire. The thick hull is pockmarked with plasma burns but holding, one of the engines is trailing smoke, but she's holding. Until the enemy craft bears down and practically belly-flops into the Redoubt.

     The upper hull of the dropship caves in and the damaged engine is almost broken off by the jarring impact. Listing, the craft descends hard and fast towards the edge of northern Africa. Over the green shores of the ocean direct and towards rocks and dunes. The landing is hard, plumes of dust rising with the smoke as what could be akin to a meteor crashing down shakes the earth.

     The huge craft sits at rest not unlike a beached ocean mammal while the space whale that had downed her vanishes into the night. The Titan's Redoubt, a huge ship capable of carrying four of UniTech's largest war machines with room to spare is bested by a bigger, scarier fish. The distress beacon is the only thing that broadcasts clearly, primary and secondary radio functions crippled along with the vessel's liftoff capabilities. To say nothing of her captain and crew.

    

Optimus Prime (568) has posed:
Optimus Prime picks up the transmission well enough and though there are plans to handle Cybertron's issues-- there is also the simple fact of the Multiverse, which in truth, has become their new home. He can not simply ignore it and that means putting trust in his own Autobots for the mission that will be ahead.

It wasn't long till the semi-truck would be seen in the area of where the crash impacted at and just as quickly he transformed to his robotic size, easily running along the ground. His angular robotic form was easy to see from the distance due to his sheer height and for a machine, if none had never seen a Cybertronian, he moved ever as fluidly as a human being.

His large metallic feet leave easy imprints in the sandy-rock soil and moves easily over a few boulders as he moves in ever closer, including allowing himself to slide down then the edge of a rockery hill. Once he spots the craft though, he comes to a stop stop. His blue optics flickering as he tries to scan for any data around the craft itself.

Any survivors as well.

His scans continue was he starts to move toward the craft. He reaches behind him to draw out his rifle, and then makes sure it is ready to fire encase the new comer is hostile, though from the transmission-- it shouldn't be the case, but one can never be sure.

Though Prime does make sure that the barrel is pointed toward the ground, as no reason to give alarm-- more then he might-- that he could be hostile.. but looking at those doors.. "..Just what type of craft is this...?"

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    Elise was passing through the Geoscape when all hell broke loose. "I'm suiting up. Get Alpha team on the deck yesterday." she commanded to Bradford. The younger man went to object, but a simple look from the Commander stayed his tongue. Instead he went about getting the air cover in place so nothing else could come waltzing in. "Scramble Voodoo flight. Get Shaman flight refitted with Landslide missiles, Double time!" he then put a call out over the broadband, requesting aid from Multiversal assets, while simultaneously calling for Alpha Team.

    Cpt. Marilyn "Smokey" Hawkins, Heavy Weapons Expert. Cpt. Olga "Viper" Zaytseva, Assault Specialist. Two MECTs. MJ Kalia "Piledriver" Malhotra, and Donatello "Rome" Mancini, and Cpt. Bessie "Freud" Donaldson, are waiting in the Skyranger, in gear, for their leader to arrive.

    "Alright Big Sky, get us out there, on the double." orders Elise, as she straps herself in. The big blocky craft lurches into the air, lifts out of the overhead hangar door, and surges forwards, far faster than a craft of its size might indicate.

    It sweeps around, heading over to pick up those that may need a lift into the area, before the massive thing comes screaming in to hotdrop the team into the area.

    "Incoming plasma fire! LZ Is hit!" grumbles the pilot, though he doesn't move so the team can debark. "I'm bugging out, will return with reinforcements and extraction when needed. Big Sky, out."

Noble Six (38) has posed:
The UNSC picked up the distress signal as well. Two Pelican dropships are inbound from the UNSC Autumn-class heavy cruiser Crimson Dawn, loaded up with a team of ODSTs and one very special package. Up at the front of the lead Pelican, Noble Six is looking out of the cockpit window, "Looks like the LZ is hot. Bring us around and then drop off the ODSTs to establish a perimeter."

The two ships, which look remarkably like Big Sky themselves, come in relatively low over the downed ship. As they pass, the rear hatch of the first one opens, and a lone figure leaps from the back of it. It looks like she's falling full speed, but her jet pack engages at the last second to bring Noble Six in for a soft landing not far from Optimus Prime. The two ships circle around and then land outside of the engagement zone, to set up a perimeter and keep anything dangerous from getting out. Or in.

Mantigora (583) has posed:
The best part about the Warp Gates? Not having to listen to the Caretaker's snarky remarks every time you use them! By Mikros it's impossible to count how many time's Mantigora has wanted to punch the disembodied voice that potshots every time you have to use the transmat terminals.

Once they're in the right world getting to the site is actually fairly easy. The quickest route between two points is a straight line, after all. Which means taking a low road to avoid such bothersome things as trees and mountains and possibly cities. Though not necessarily very comfortable.

Desert sand sprays as something comes churning back out of the ground, tossed about by the conical auger topping the tubular shape that pops out of the terrain, actually skidding up one side of a rock outcropping and coming to thump downward auger first on the other side. As the drill winds down and the exhausts hiss in cooling, one of the circular hatchs swings open and after grabbing the edge of the hatch Mantigora pulls herself partway up. "That's it. Next time we get paid fully, we are getting a -real- ship." The Draken hoists herself out and lands on the hull with a dull thud that echos inside the drilldozer. "Not only is this thing Chua-sized and cramped, it smells terrible!"

As she's walking down the angled hull Skuzzler sticks his mustachioed space hamster head out of the hatchway. "Not fault too cheap to by the odor absorbing pellets for proper--"
"I DONT WANT TO HEAR IT!" Mantigora snaps back as she whips her head to the side to glare at him with enough glower to make her sidekick duck halfway down the opening again as his ears splay back. "Just.. ugh, stay here until I know what we're actually up against."

With that she sprints off a few steps, jumps down from the cockneyed craft to the sandy turf below, and sprints off in the direction of the actual crash site as her stealth kicks in and she flickers out of view. Skuzzler just mutters something to himself as he plops back down and thumps the hatch shut behind him. No appreciation for quality Chua piloting!

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Alexis certainly isn't one to pass up a chance to work, at the least a job like this. The Syndicate's a great way to help someone get back into the swing of things when one's been out of the loop for a while with Multiversal shenanigans. Her car doesn't take long to reach the beacon after a short drive through the nearest warpgate to the scene. While the vehicle looks like it's been built for roads, its 4x4 modifications help with with the rough terrain Algeria's known for.

    She does however need a moment to reorient herself when her drive is interrupted by the arrival of a near-thirty feet Transformer converting right in front of her.

    With a grunt, Alexis makes a hard left to avoid Optimus Prime's steps, before she corrects her path towards the ship proper, only stopping once she's within running distance to the fallen craft itself.

    She exits from the car as the engine switches off, removing her coat and grabbing her suit's helmet while she pops the trunk to grab a few things.

    She'll be going in light, with her Sickle and a PDR to suit the close quarters the ship's interior will have without a doubt. Just to be safe, she grabs a SAIGA-12 from her car's trunk, loaded with a drum magazine and several box magazines for good measure in CQB.

    With that, she dons her helm and lets it slide into place as she takes off towards the XCOM commandos and friendly Elites that mass together.

    "Six," She greets the SPARTAN-III genially just when she's in view, and she knows another itteration of Optimus Prime enough to get a good feel for this one too.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    They can be heard, long before they're seen. Low, gutteral roars, deep, resonant grunts and growls. Blood curdling battlecries in alien tongues that the Translation Effect won't even touch. Mixed in, are strange, eerie sounds, like some kind of machine.

    However, rumination comes last, as a large beast crests an outcropping, toting a huge cannon that glows ominously green. It lifts its weapon in one hand, and pounds its chest with the other fist, howling in challenge, before its joined by more. At least thirty crest the ridge, and barrel down it, diving behind rocky outcrops and opening fire with plasma barrages.

Rebecca Kismarin (343) has posed:
    
     The Redoubt, for the most part, is dark. The vessel has a distinct lack of windows or portholes or anything to see through. If the bridge has a canopy, it's buried under several meters of sand where the craft has taken a nose dive into the desert. Wisps of smoke still rise from the plasma-melted marks in its thick armor plating and it's painfully obvious in the eerie glow of the Muton barrage where the massive alien craft had belly-checked it, the central section of the hull crumpled and buckled on top. With the hull so thick and the battle starting outside, it's impossible to hear anything going on inside.

     Inside, however, things -are- going on. Injured bridge and comm crew are being tended to with what limited medical supplies are on board, techs are working to establish some kind of communications contact, and the cargo hold, while heavily structurally compromised, is a hotbed of activity. A hundred meters towards the aft of the ship, the broken-off engine nacelle sparks and smokes, the fires from it a bright beacon on its own and excellent cover.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    "Scatter! Smokey, suppressive fire, keep their heads down for the Cloakies. Viper, get in the Redoubt, confirm Lieutenant Kismarin is alive, and keep her that way. Freud, go with her. Rome, Piledriver... Plow the road." orders Elise, as she beats feet behind a rocky outcrop, the area becoming saturated with burning plasma.

    Viper and Freud nod firmly, before charging off toward the crashed ship, seeking an entry point so they can get inside. Smokey, meanwhile, sets up her LMG and begins spraying the advancing Mutons, heavy bullets with red tracers lancing out and peppering their positions, though the few that impact just seem to piss the aliens off.

    Rome and Piledriver, meanwhile, set up with their own miniguns, and fire controlled bursts into the advancing Mutons, while slowing advancing themselves, plasma splashing against their reinforced hulls. <Taking fire. Structural Integrity holding.> They say.

Optimus Prime (568) has posed:
Communications line is a bit busy and honestly /hiding/ for Prime when it comes to hostiles is mildly silly. The guy was near thirty five feet tall and that red and blue metal stood out against the sandy color of the area around him. Not to forget also that simple face, the split windows that are slightly at an angle, though designed to not reflect sun to heavily, still would do so in some way.

So yes-- Autobots-- at least their commander-- not a stealth type on the human worlds.

Once the aliens can be seen on the ridge, he watches them move for cover, including fire a few of their plasma bolts. One of the shots skims across his armor as he raises up his armor and those blue optics flare brightly.

His HUD already locking onto their positions and his internal processor calculating down where to aim for maximum efficiency. The Autobot Commander doesn't even hide, though the plasma that impacted his armor does burn still, but his aims his rifle at one of the outcroppings a group of aliens are hiding behind.

He informs the group here to stay out of his target vector and for good reason. The Laser rifle's plasma charge can be seen glowing within the barrel, his finger resting on the trigger. Optimus Prime got confirmation they were indeed hostile and given they were a high threat, they would be dealt with in equal measure. For it was obvious-- these aliens had no plans to stand down and they were out for blood.. this.. this he would not stand for.

Yet-- yet as he got ready to pull the trigger, he also reminded himself.. they could be attacking with no understanding-- or some personal grudge for whatever was on this ship. It was a back-n-forth in his mind. Either way however, perhaps a good shot will cause them to scatter-- leave. That is all he could hope for as he pulled the trigger.

Once the trigger was pulled, a green-blue plasma shot blasted out from his rifle, right for where some of the aliens took for cover. The impact would be enough to shatter the very rock, including the ground around it. The plasma fire itself would probably even bend over and go after anything beyond the protection of the once cover.

"Leave. Now!" Prime's voice barked out across the distance. It was a warning-- and that wasn't even at full power.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Alexis doesn't waste time as the Muton makes himself known, her suit bending light around her until she practically disappears from sight save for a shimmer here and there. Her Saiga slings across her back as she grabs a pair of claw-like devices from her hips, beginning a speedy ascent up the ridgeline until she has some good elevation over the arriving Mutons.

    She moves like liquid, sprinting across the ridge when she doesn't climb until she has a good flanking position on the Muton warriors. For her first trick, she opts for a magazine of FRAG shells for the SAIGA, chamering a round as she slots the mag in and takes aim.

    The SAIGA's been accurized for spraying targets in fire, and as a matter of fact, shotguns are not at all stupidly innaccurate like video games would tell you. The FRAG rounds begin firing towards the Mutons from above, and Alexis only stops to swap magazines loaded with flechettes when she leaps down upon the massive alien mercenaries, blazing away with bursts of automatic fire from her SAIGA.

    All the while, all that is seen is the brief muzzle flash of the cyborg's weapon, and the explosive effect it leaves downrange before the weapon begins spitting hot spikes at muzzle velocity.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
Well with somebody like Optimus Prime out here, Noble Six isn't really worried about the aliens. So she'll move to help the XCOM team inside of the ship. Taking her weapons and equipment with her as she moves towards the ship. Once she finds a point that she can breach inside, she does so.

Her motion tracker is searching for an indicator that the XCOM team members are nearby, those familiar yellow dots should pop up once her IFF finds them.

Mantigora (583) has posed:
This was far from the first time Mantigora was on the hunt versus advancing waves of would-be invaders. In her mind the only thing missing is the tactical beacon with some Legion officer bellowing out bloody gruesom encouragement between waves. For the better really, less distractions this way.

She's moving positions much as Maaka is, but from the opposite side of the Mutons advance. As she comes around to an angle from where several are taking cover between rocks, she takes advantage of one of the abilities she can use without breaking her stealth. Unseen as she's slinking closer the HUD eye-piece from her datacron activates, flaring to life with a holographic projection as her nano-suit's tactical systems do a brief analysis of the Mutons and highlight to Mantigora potential joins and other weak points, as well as their weapons.

It's not until she's coming right up behind them that her claw-blades, nearly as long as her forearms themselves, extend as she comes out of her cloak to impale them into two of the Mutons from behind. Then she spins around, using the moment of surprise and the strength of her augmented body to fling them off their feet and into the rest of the ground.

Hopefully even if that doesn't outright kill them, it will quite aptly disrupt their firing and organized movements.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    The Mutons, for what they're worth, aren't stupid or mindless. As Optimus aims, and opens fire, the huge green-armoured aliens leap away with surprising agility. Optimus earns more plasma fire for his troubles, one of the Mutons even trying to Intimidate the Cybertronian.

    Alexis and Mantigora find their approach undetected, and their chosen targets taken down relatively easily... wait, no, they're getting back up and bellowing in rage, moving to try and grapple with the women using pure brute strength... and they have a /lot/ of that.

    The second wave is approaching now, those strange machine-like sounds and soft descending whistles culminate in... large, floating discs... they don't look very imposing... but there's about five of them, each with a pair of attendent 'drones', little four-armed floating eye things.

    There's also a flicker, however brief, of something in a cloak field, though its staying out of the main battle. Maybe an observer?

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    "Oh hell-" Alexis grunts as she's grabbed mid-reload, her weapon dangling on its sling as she struggles to wiggle out of the Muton's elephantine strength. Even for her, this is like getting trampled by a hundred bulls, then shoved into an industrial press while it's been set to the heat of a thousand degrees.

    She kicks and resists, a /litany/ of harsh language directed at the muton while she works to free one of her arms, reaching on her person for something...anything...

    "-DUMP A TRUCK FULL OF SHIT ALL OVER YOUR FUCKING HOUSE AND SET IT ABLAZE WITH YOUR FATH-"

    Eventually she manages something, a small grip on her shoulder she pulls out of its pouch, and with a flick of the wrist, the grip releases a line that goes rigid and glows with white-hot heat in the shape of a machete blade. She roars with fury as she drives the blade into one of the Muton's hands, cutting and biting deep before she delivers a kick to jostle the alien enough for her to drive the HF Blade into its throat.

Optimus Prime (568) has posed:
The aliens move and it would seem one is trying to Intimidate the Autobot Commander, which only causes Optimus to roll his optics before he says calmly, though to himself under breath, "..really?"

As the Plasma shots come in, the Autobot Commander then decides to change up the tactics, by charging right at them. "This is your final," He takes one to the shoulder, the plasma mark burns into his armor, but it doesn't stop him as he rips up a boulder, "Warning!" Then he throws the boulder at a group of the aliens, before turning himself between shots and opening fire with his rifle at a group of them.

Though his attention for a moment takes notice of the discs that are coming in. He doesn't give them to much mind, but they are marked on his HUD.

Mantigora (583) has posed:
As the Mutons get back up from getting battered Mantigora... actually grins more. Not only does it show her fangs, but it is a rather unsettling expression rather than amusing with those cat-like features and alien eyes of hers. Her tail flicks back and forth a few times as she crouchs slightly. "Come on then. Tonight you shall learn the strength of these worlds, and of the might at the hand of the Dominion," she snarls back at the alien brute as he starts to charge her.

But it was not taunting without a purpose. Mantigora has fought hulking Granok soldiers. She has faught Elden constructs many times her size. The mocking may seem arrogant, but it was not without reason. She was watching it as it got up and charged, studying its movement, waiting for that moment that her HUD flashed in warning...

And right when the brute swings for her Mantigora dives and rolls to his side, the blow causing a brief but bright flash as collides across her back as she ducks and mostly hits her personal shielding. The force of the attack has enough strikethrough to push her aside, but not knock her out of the roll, and she still comes up behind the alien combatant.

The Draken jumps out of the roll to shift the momentum and bring one combat boot swinging at the Muton's backside. Then as that connects she twists on it to bring her other booted foot flying for his head as she kicks off with the recoil and flips to bring one set of claws arcing down at the Muton while he's hopefully stumbling from the concussive kick combo.

Rebecca Kismarin (343) has posed:
     Between the whale impact and the actual crash, there's numerous breaches in the hull that human-sized figures can easily ingress from. Six's motion trackers will be able to detect somewhere around two dozen contacts, mostly gathered together. The ship's maintenanceways are large enough for two human-sized shapes to walk twao abreast without rubbing shoulders, the vessel designed for 'big' everything, considering its usual cargo. Pathways are clearly marked in English, or Terran Standard, and there's remarkably little. Bridge. Cargo. More maintenance. Reactor. Engines. Yep. It's not a long-haul ship. There's nothing for a 'crew quarters' or even a 'med bay'.

     Navigation in the spaces can be treacherous in some places, where buckled hull leads to dead ends and jutting conduits spark, but finding the path to the group gathering in the cavernous cargo hold isn't difficult. Though Six comes face to face with a security team.

     And by security team, it's two bridge crewmen holding pistols very, very uneasily and a steely-eyed woman in a smart uniform gripping a rifle. Smart uniform with a hastily-dressed gash on an upper arm, but still smart, ornate rank and corporation insignia in plain sight. "State your name, rank, and affiliation or I will open fire," Rebecca narrows her eyes at the cyborg commando. Behind her, the sounds of heavy machinery echo down the hall, another few turns and the cargo bay is within reach. Her eyes twitch and she appears to be listening to something in an earpiece, then huffs, "...thank Hunter."

Noble Six (38) has posed:
"My name is Noble Six. I'm with the Union." Comes the reply, as she looks at Rebecca, "We're here to assist. We picked up your distress signal and responded. Your ship is under attack by an alien threat that XCOM has been doing battle with. I came on board to assist in securing the ship." She glances over her shoulder for a second, "Two of XCOM's troopers should be along shortly to collect you and the others. I will break off to check for other survivors, or infiltrator units." Six says something into her radio before she breaks off down a sepeate passage way.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    Elise pops up as the incoming fires begins to abate now the melee combatants have distracted and disrupted the hostiles. She sights down her scope, and looses a shot at a second Muton trying to sneak up on Mantigora, the heavy .50cal slug trailing red, before it slams into the fleshy side of the aliens head, and explodes a fraction of a second later, showering gore all over and causing the creature to just topple over in a deadweight heap.

    Alexis' foe roars in her face... before its throat gets cut by that HF blade, green ichor running from the wound, as the creature slowly crumples. There's more though, a pair have trained their heavy plasma cannons on the cyborg, and as their comrade goes down, spiteful green hatred erupts in her direction.

    Optimus receives more and more fire... until they boulder crushes a pair of too-close Mutons beneath it, their weapons exploding violently in plumes of green fire.

    Still those discs don't move. What could they be waiting for? Regardless, Viper and Freud follow Six up and link with the Lieutenant. "Lieutenant, we're here to get you out." the russian woman touches her earpiece, adjusting the frequency. "Big Sky, requesting extraction, one VIP plus survivors. Estimate 18 in total." the response is muffed, but the Assault smirks. "Guess we should get out there and help 'em clean up... Bessie, give th'Lieutenant some help, you brought your medkits, right? See if you can't patch up some of the wounded so they can be moved."

    Smokey ducks down to reload. "Reloading!" while Piledriver and Rome break their slow pace and charge forwards, deploying their Kinetic Strike Modules as they close on a pair of Mutons distracted by Optimus. <WELCOME. TO EARTH!> they intone in tandem, uppercutting the Mutons with a rocket-propelled NO.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    The other mutons will find that while Alexis's cloak is somewhat compromised, a shimmery shape with glitching camo splattered in ichor and whatnot, she is insanely fast on her feet. She grabs a grenade from her bandolier, priming it as she tosses the explosive at one of the Mutons' feet while she runs to evade their fire.

    Her Saiga remains hanging on its shouldersling for now, while the cyborg swaps to pull out a 6mm PDW, firing it in bursts at the Muton with armor-piercing rounds. The cloaking device disengages, revealing the cyborg's suit while she slides close to the nearer Muton. Her blade slashes at its heel to hamstring it, before Alexis stabs into the alien's back to climb onto it while she fires directly at a gap in its armor.

Optimus Prime (568) has posed:
The plasma shots impacts his armor, they burn the metal, scorching it a bit, but that doesn't seem to effect the Cybertronian any. If anything he just opens fire on a few more groups, as his blue optics then look over to those discs in the air.

The fact they were just-- hovering around was bugging him. Not attacking, not doing anything. It was a holding pattern, and so just to see what they would /do/, he opens fire in their direction. Not to hit them, but to see if they would move or suddenly become hostile.

His Cybertronian alloy can take it--- maybe-- hopefully....

Mantigora (583) has posed:
The delightfully squishy sound of a high penetration round reducing a skull to splinters and blood splatter isn't missed by Mantigora as she pulls her claws out of her foe. It is such a delightful ring to her ears after all. She just knows better than to let that distract her from what needs to be done here and now.

Clear the potential landing zone? Alright then. Those discs are still floating there, but since they are not being hostile, they are... wait, what's that? Mantigora pauses, lifting her head a bit as nostrils flare, the same as any other predator catching a scent in the air. She can -smell- more than she can -see-, and that's bad. Eyes narrow, squinting, looking for the things that as being an expert user of technicalogical stealth she knows are there. No stealth, no matter how advanced, is 100% perfect...

There, the ripple like earlier.

The claws of one arm retract as her nano-tech instead manifests an energy propelled Nano Dart which she launchs in the direction of the distortion. While not an very damaging projectile, it carries a disruptive nano-toxin that has a general purpose weakening and slowing effect on the victim. Which is why she's using it as a means of 'pinging' that hidden form to prevent them from sneaking into the fight.

Rebecca Kismarin (343) has posed:
     Rebecca lowers her rifle and her makeshift security team looks relieved. They look like low-ranking crewmen, not soldier. In fact, it's clear that when the assembled get to the cargo hold, that the only person that looks even remotely like a soldier is Rebecca herself. The cargo hold is a mess, the upper half showing the damage wrought by the impact above, and below the deck crumpled upwards from the hard landing. Lighting flickers in the cavernous chamber but it's bright enough for the XCOM medic to find and tend to the wounded laying across hastily-moved munitions crates. The trio of aforementioned dead are laying -inside- three empty crates. The wounds range from burns and lacerations to crushed limbs and the like.

     "With all due respect, I'm staying here and helping. This is my ship, and these are my people," Rebecca's icy professional tone is firm and echoes, and the people not immediately working on something take notice when she speaks. Around her, the hold is still a mess, and the two largest pieces are half-crushed under the ceiling gantries and loading cranes. A pillbug-shaped tank and a bipedal mech that resembles a taller AT-PT. "Let me help you clean up the mess. Least I can do to repay the rescue op. ZIGFRIED. GET THAT REACTOR ONLINE."

     She barks loud towards that bipedal mech. The black canopy is shattered, the upper half of the mech looking like until recently was crushed by a girder. Its legs are useless but one of the gantry cranes has heavy chains wrapped around most of it. A half-gurgled "Yes ma'am!" comes from inside, glowing blue eyes shining out under a helmet. Equally glowing blue veins pulse brightly on the vaguely humanoid face as the Remora HERC powers up with a sickening whine. "Victoria! Open it up!" There's an assent from somewhere in the catwalks, and with a hideous grind of metal and machinery, one of the intact deployment elevators starts to push. The metal creaks and groans, part of the ship actually shifting as the platform pushes down into the sand and rock beneath it. It strains and metal begins to shear before the engineer cuts it. "Can't open it any more!" she calls out from above. Rebecca grunts, looking the opening over. It's enough for a semi truck to roll through if it wanted a little off the top of its trailer. "It's enough. Get that crane moving, Sigfried, show them the Knight Errant is still ready for action."

     The Bioderm pilot gives a thumbs up through the broken canopy and two of the engineers force the crane to lift and turn the half-broken HERC towards the open elevator door. The underslung cannons on the Remora are intact enough to elevate and traverse. The pilot scans the pile of Mutons and goes loud, starting with the Draken's called target. The 50mm chainguns bark fiercely, the suspending rig lurching as the hold lights up with the flare of fire. The pilot pauses, waiting for the HERC to stabilize before firing again. Short bursts of heavy fire coming out of the side of the crashed dropship. The Titan's Redoubt -CAN- bite back.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    The Nanodart? Ricochets off metal, but it disrupts the cloaking field, revealing a metallic squid with baleful orange optics. Four of them arrayed along the sides of the skull-like head. It makes some kind of sound at Mantigora, the 'mouth' opening and seeming to spool up some kind of plasma projector, though it's taking a moment to properly power... perhaps a side effect of the stealth system.

    Alexis manages to blow one Muton to hell, and mulch the other with her melee and ranged combination.

    Optimus discovers something about the discs. The one he strikes wavers in the air... seemingly unfased by the bolt, before all five transform into aggressive shapes, large cannons deploying before they all aim at the Autobot Commander. They take but a moment to spool up, before streams of orange plasma lash out at the Cybertronian. The 'Discs' also gibber in some kind of machine code, though it's entirely alien and untranslatable.

    There's another flicker, as the heavy door swings open, very close, but likely lost as the Remora opens fire. Viper hauls ass out of the opening, and beats feet across the open terrain, roaring a battlecry as she jinks through incoming fire.

    Bessie gets out the medikts, and starts treating wounds, triaging out to those she can stabilize, stopping bleeding and helping numb pain.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Just as Alexis picks up on that IFF signal, she grins under her helmet. For a fed, Manti definitely knows her stuff when it comes to this sort of thing, a professional has to respect that if nothing else. She takes aim at the signal's source, that squid looking thing Manti just got made with its cloak taken out, firing accurate bursts before she holsters the PDW and swaps back to her Saiga after hopping off the fallen Muton, sheathing her blade in the process.

    Reloading to a drum of good old armor-piercing flechettes, she chambers a fresh round and takes off towards one of the discs, firing single-shots in rapid succession at the alien machines to cut through its armor.

    She dives behind cover to check the drum's ammo supply, before her attention glances towards Viper by chance.

    "Give that one a raise." She comments dryly over the comms, before going back to work.

Optimus Prime (568) has posed:
Optimus wasn't out to actually hit the disc, but it would seem a little miss time trajectory has done just this, which has resulted in a much /larger/ plasma fire then that of the smaller aliens were dishing out.

The Autobot Commander can hear the robotic jibber-jabber, but it doesn't mean anything to him. Instead he he moves back with the plasma shots come his way and one of them slamming him into the chest, nearly knocking the Autobot Commander back.

Given that it seem his rifle wasn't something that was going to work, he decided to change up tactics. Optimus Prime then charged across the distance, leaping upward and using part of the downed ship as a leaping off point-- damage he'll have to apologize for later.

Once he gets up there, his hand retracts back, as a golden hot red energy axe forms. He goes to slam the energy weapon right into one of the discs and bring it right back down to the ground with him if he can hook it with the energy axe.

Mantigora (583) has posed:
The nano-dart failed in being a hinderance directly, but it succeeded in revealing the stealthed unit. Mantigora makes a mental note to next time use her Razor Discs first, in case a target is armored like that again. But it's giving Alexis something to aim at and quickly respond in peppering the tentacled thing with gun fire, so that is certainly good as well. The hunter is pleased to see her advice taken well in a situation where their own alliances are not relevant.

Just as Alexis' fire finishes Mantigora's predatory legs launch her leaping at the Seeker, nano energy rippling to life around her claws as they re-extend from her arm. She thrusts at that 'mouth' and the charging weapon, taking the blast if she needs to. She's not as frail as one might think by her specialties thanks to her lightweight armor and nano-suit. Her intent is shove those energized blades into the opening, seeing it as the most direct way to lacerate something delicate and vulnerable inside instead of wasting time and energy trying to cut through the armor.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    The Remora's burst fire seems to be cutting down the last of the Mutons, and that poor Seeker just explodes when peppered by Alexis, then NAILED by a 50mm autocannon slug, the entire thing turning into a fine metal slag. The Discs jink and juke randomly, moving around in the air and beginning to actively avoid incoming fire... However a new behavior can be seen, as Alexis manages to start hitting one of the 'open' discs. It transforms back into the flat 'pill' shape, causing those flechettes to bounce off the hardened armour.

    Knight Errant's cannons have an easier time, but whatever these things are, they're heavy duty.

    Optimus' axe has much the same effect as the rifle, though the energized blade bites into one of those exposed 'legs' making the thing squeal like its in pain, before it tries to transform into its defensive shape again. It's leaking some kind of fluid, viscous and dark golden yellow. It's also trying to put some distance between itself and the Cybertronian, while the little 'drones' that are attending it begin repair work, showering some kind of energy field on the damaged Disc, knitting the armour back together and rebuilding the broken parts whole cloth.

    Mantigora and Alexis also start taking fire from other Drones. Their 'eyes' emitting sharp, electroplasmic bolts. Not as dangerous as the Mutons plasma, but definitely a nasty surprise.

    Remaining Aliens: 5 Cyberdiscs. 10 Drones. 1 ???

Rebecca Kismarin (343) has posed:
     The already unstable ship creaks from Prime's action-vault, throwing off the Remora's next burst of chaincannon fire. Exploding 50mm rounds hit sand and rock (and potentially a Muton corpse) while the two engineers wrangle the crane. Rebecca's eyes widen at not just the sight of the cyberdisks opening up, but the majestic thing that is Optimus Prime. To her, however, he's a potential threat. Her eyes narrow and she mutters on the radio, "No no no, what is that?" She scowls in the Autobot's direction, far far from his ability to actually see it. Another labored whine and a second reactor spools up.

     She breathes a sigh of relief, the pillbug-shaped tank's lights flickering on. It, too, is half-crushed like the Remora. Unlike the Remora, however, the little Bloodhound's turret is fully functional, even if the tank is immobile. "Canis, direct your fire on the damn synthetics." There's a silent compliance as the turret turns, aimed towards the cyberdisks.

     A crack like contained thunder and the gauss cannon erupts with a spherical projectile aimed towards the morphic alien constructs. But Prime is also over there. And she didn't exactly warn the big guy... Accidents can happen in a firefight. Another -crack- as the tank's gauss cannon fires, stable but the damaged reactor taking time to process each charge.

Optimus Prime (568) has posed:
Optimus lands down and takes not as he slides back a bit that his energy axe doesn't have the desired effect. Curious. The thing is probably resilient to energy based weaponry on any level if that is case and with those smaller drones repairing it-- possibly shield emitters?

So. New tactics then!

Optimus grabs up a few rocks in his hand, with his leg stepping back, almost like a pitcher-- he goes to hurl the rocks right for the smaller drones, attempting to take them out with physical objects. Mostly because he isn't sure if they too would be energy resistant or not, which means that perhaps more-- physical-- means be the answer to this problem.

Though it would seem in this some people don't exactly realize where they are firing or they dub him an equal target, because as he goes to throw the next stone, it seems a cannon blast comes his way. There is a bright optic flash, as he suddenly-- very ungracefully, hits the deck to avoid the cannon blast, then barks out with that authoritative tone in his voice, "Watch the aim!"

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    As Alexis notices the somewhat poor performance of her flechettes on the discs, she begins rifling through her ammo supplies before loading up another set of FRAG shells, chambering before she takes aim at one of the discs with a quickly aimed and taken shot. After firing again to make sure, she begins to mantle and ascend to the ridgeline again, moving to get closer towards the drones while she lets loose with a barrage of FRAG rounds.

    "Danger close!" She warns Mantigora over comms, just in case the explosive rounds cause a bit too much damage for comfort around her impromptu ally. Continuing the fire, her neural implants coordinate with an attachment on the side of her Saiga to take care of drop and all that ballistic detail.

    She's starting to wish she brought a gauss rifle for this.

Mantigora (583) has posed:
The stealth unit has been eliminated as a threat, but in the process of getting that set up Mantigora gets pelted with several of the Drone's shots, which impact against her armor-lined longcoat and send discharges crackling through her augmented body. Hard to tell if its at that or the brief disruption to her tactical hardwiring that makes her snarl painfully. Once again she was too focused on one target to notice the other lesser ones advancing in.

And Now she's more or less surrounded. All the same she crouchs down and ready, tail lashing as her claws start to glow again. She creeps back a step, and another, trying to get to a position where they're not on all sides of her... and then Alexis unleashes hell on the drones from one side.
But it's the sudden shell that comes whistling just over her head that gets Mantigora's attention, snapping her gaze to the side as the capsule explodes into a burst of energy amongst the drones like a inonized mortar shot. Her gaze narrows at the pudgy three-foot-tall form as he shoves another energy cartridge into a cannon that is nearly as large and as wide as he is. "Skuzzler, I thought I said stay with the craft?"

In response the Chua just strokes his evil scientist moustache with one paw. "And let she-draken have all the fun explodinating things? As if!" Followed by popping off another energy blast at a drone from his cannon. "Constructs Skuzzler's specialty besides. Wanna see up close when explode. For scientific reasons." Long pause. "Mostly."

"... As long as you don't steal any of my kills this time," Mantigora snarls at her 'sidekick' as she turns back to the remaining drones. She bolts towards what remains and spins around, the energy crackling off her claws leaving a slicing arc in her wake to try and catch as many of the closest drones as she can in the backwash.

Noble Six (38) has posed:
Once Noble Six has managed to get the rest of the survivors back to the bay where she met the first group, she quickly exits the ship. This time she has to help, since some of the disks are left tend to be quite vicious opponents. Tapping on something on her left wrist a couple of times, Six grabs the weapon she had been hauling around on her back off. The Railgun, one of the UNSC's more recent technological developments, and one of Six's favorite new toys, began to hum in her hands, as she leveled it at one of the disks.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
The drones are fragile things. The rock from Optimus obliterates the first one he targets, sending pieces of fractured metal in all directions, whatever power source it uses detonating in a brilliant plume of yellow-orange flame. Alexis and Mantigora(Along with Skuzzler) mop up the rest of the Drones, leaving the Discs alone now.

    The Gauss bolts slam into one of the Discs, shattering tha armour on that side, and sending the thing crashing down to the ground, writhing around... before orange electricity envelops it. It twitches, then DETONATES, glassing about four meters around it in a violent death knell.

    The remaining Discs reform, transform and return fire, showering as many targets with their orange plasma cannons as possible, the twin barrels glowing white hot as the machinegun-like weapons saturate the area.

    Through all this, Elise has fallen back closer to the Redoubt, settling in to see if she can help against the Discs. They're tough, and her rifle might not be effective... that's when she, doesn't see, or hear, more feels it. There's a soft whisper-like sound, as another Seeker decloaks behind Rebecca, wrapping its tentacles around her and glaring into her face... the unfeeling glare of a machine... and intelligent machine, that is now trying to squeeze the life out of her.

    "No." states the XCOM Commander, time seeming to slow to a crawl as she pivots, bringing that rifle up and sighting down the scope. She breathes, steading her heartbeat, stilling the quiver in her muscles... then squeezes the trigger. The resonant blast of her rifle overpowers the Remora's cannons for a split second, and the .50cal round hammers into the side of the Seeker, dislodging something important as it goes completely slack, slumping to the ground in a heap of sparking metal.

Mantigora (583) has posed:
Mantigora shrugs some of the shots she took out of her system. Might have a bit of light burns under her armor later, but for now her personal shielding has gone kaput thanks to the electroplasma bolts. Which is probably why when the remaining Discs regroup and open fire around everything she turns and enacts some rather elaborate maneuvers of darting and jumping to keep from getting blasted, before finally finding one of the remaining rocky outcrops to dive behind. She needs a moment or two for her shielding to charge back up, she's not going to risk her reinforced but otherwise light armor not being able to take the shots of weapons of what appear to be space-craft.

Skuzzler, on the other hand, doesn't flinch much even as several of the shots aimed at the Draken explode on the ground around him. While hardly the bravest of Chuas, they were dealing with machines here, which was one of his specialties. Machines with unknown abilities, which was making him some mix of mad and envious of someone else having bigger, cooler things to explode things with.

He does, though, have to pause to extinguise one of his moustache getting caught on fire from a nearby blast with his gloved fingers.

"Fear not! This is not problem that can't be solved with a bit of application." As he raises his cannon into the air the front end of it opens up into a large disc which in turn extends a trio of cutting edges on top of that. The entire thing starts to spin around, and then fires off as the energy behind it is fired. The Energy Auger in itself being modified from heavy mine drilling equipment, lets see how that fancy armor holds up to something meant to cut through some of the hardest materials on Nexus.

Optimus Prime (568) has posed:
Optimus watches as two of the drones go down, but that leaves possible two.. maybe three more to go. It becomes difficult to tell when he suddenly caught by the machine gun plasma fire, that starts to eat away at his armor.

The Autobot Commander quickly goes on the move once he notices one of the cannon's lining up for Rebecca (and possibly those near her), which he gets in the way of to protect them. The sheer impact force slams into the side of his face, it burns part of the helms armor, scorches the vents, and rips off his face plate.

The Cybertronian then snaps his jaw slightly, as his optics dim, beyond a near pin point of light for a moment. "That was a mistake." He says calmly to the drones. Though as his optics go back to full light he looks over to Rebecca, his face was amazingly human like, "You alright? Good." Yeah-- he doesn't even wait for her to reply, because in stead he heaves up a massive boulder in both hands and with a roar, he then hurls the thing right at the remaining drones.

He almost throws himself off balance when he throws it, having to do a few quick steps (and carefully at that), to not throw accidentally get to close to anyone that could get injured.

Alexis Maaka (571) has posed:
    Not many of the discs are left, and Alexis proceeds to pick up on the pace upon them with rapid bursts of fire until the mag clicks empty. "Shit." That was her last of the FRAG shells she had on her here, and she makes a transition to her Sickle, the sizable and heavily modified pistol clicking as she takes aim at one of the discs.

    12mm High-Ex rounds begin hammering at the disc as Alexis sights down one the disc, the pistol's high accuracy and stopping power enough to make her confident that she can still make it through this one. She doesn't stay focused on just one, however, as she takes aim at any Mantigora and her companion haven't slain yet and fires away until reloading a fresh magazine.

Rebecca Kismarin (343) has posed:
     The cargo hold is getting busy. Six's return and now return fire, the two vehicles jury-rigged up enough to actually be useful, and Rebecca herself lingering by the freshly-delivered wounded as cannon fire rumbles painfully loud in the cavernous hold. She still wears a faint scowl, eyes focused -very- intently on Optimus as he battles. She has her ship, her equipment, and her crew to care for and she's not about to let a giant red toaster jeopardize that. Until the plasma fire comes.

     Knight Errant's chainguns go silent for a moment, internal magazines cycling and changing. The Grey Wolf's gauss cannon -CRACKS- again as it sends another sphere at hypersonic speeds. At least until a couple of errant plasma bolts slam into the hull and start melting through the terribly thin armor. "Damn it..." Rebecca curses, wincing as she watches. A momentary lapse in attention, as Optimus is now there, at the edge of the open lift, staring her in the face.

     Her eyes go wide, it's a mix of fear and rage all at once. She'd asked him to stay away. But the damage from the impacts on his plating is clear and obvious, stirring mixed feelings within her. The same feelings from when she'd lost to Vervi in the WMAT. "I'm--" she keeps staring, even when the Autobot resumes fighting. But her eyes don't close. She doesn't even move. The Seeker has her held, and as it decloaks in front of her, she has that look of fear and rage all over again. But there's nothing she can do. Terrified 'security' detail hold their pistols, hands shaking, but not firing for fear of hitting their boss. Any words the Lieutenant might have for the alien construct are lost with her utter lack of breath as the tendrils constrict. Teeth grit and she hisses out the last air she's got in her, struggling.

     Then boom. Headshot. The Seeker is hit by Elise's well-aimed round, and both it and she hit the floor. Where the Seeker goes limp, Rebecca drops to her knees gasping for air. Her immediate reaction when her vision stops clouding is to pull the pistol from her hip, steadying herself where she's kneeling and with both hands on the gun, she empties the dozen rounds into the Seeker's face, wanting dearly for the damn thing's visage to be burnt into her mind with holes in it, not unmarred. "Christ and Hunter..." she rasps, clutching her throat with one hand when her pistol clicks empty.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    The Discs aren't immune to small arms fire, and now that their attendent Drones are toast, their armour is beginning to show cracks and fatigue. Eventually, they begin to fall, dropping out of the air one by one, and exploding in great swaths of destruction as whatever powers them overloads... or sets to self destruct. It's hard to tell. The only one that doesn't detonate on 'death', is the one that's scored by Skuzzler's energy bore drill. The thing punches clean through the middle of the Disc, leaving a lovely gaping hole. The inert lump of metal and wiring thuds to the ground, and just lays there. No explosion, just... dead.

    Central Officer Bradford chimes in over general comms then. "Good work Strike One. We're reading no more hostiles in the AO. Big Sky is enroute for extraction, ETA ten minutes."

Noble Six (38) has posed:
"Well, that takes care of that." Noble Six says, "If your ship's not big enough to get all the evacuees out, I can have the Crimon Dawn send more of them down." Six offers, as she heads towards the XCOM commander.

Mantigora (583) has posed:
Boom Boom boom and .... thud? Skuzzler's ears flick back when the Disc her augered just crashes to the ground without exploding. He clenches one gloved fist and shakes it at the ship. One can only assume that the flurry of high pitched squeaks and chatter that come out of him is some sort of swearing, but it's so furiously fast even if it is translating its impossible to make out.

Followed by an "Oh well." as he slings the cannon onto his back. "Just means rights on salvage!" Talk about mood whiplash, as he goes from throwing a tantrum to scrambling towards the Disc and trying to climb up to the hole he made to take a look inside.

Mantigora just rolls her eyes in a manner that suggest this sort of hyper eccentricity is entirely normal for him. For his species in general, really. If they weren't obsessively-compulsively nuts they'd be twice as dangerous. Instead she struts over to one of the Muton corpes, putting her foot on its back and grabbing the top of its head to pull it up. From her other hand she extends her claw-blades once more, this time going for the next to chop the head off of the body.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    "RAAAAAAAARRRR---- fuck..." Viper slows to a stop, as her charge cuts short now there's no more enemies. She kicks a random rock and skulks off to sulk somewhere. "Didn't even get a chance..."grumblemumble.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    Elise stands, slinging her rifle over her shoulder and heads over to Rebecca. She offers a hand to her friend. "Are you alright?" she asks, then chuckles softly. "Close encounter with the Space Whale?"

Optimus Prime (568) has posed:
The Autobot commander watches as it seems all hostiles are now gone. His optics flicker as he does one more scan of the area, before the near thirty five foot sentient machine makes his way back over to the others. He scoops up the knocked off battle plate and looks it over.

Another thing to be repaired, just like the dents, burns, and scorches over his body. He can only hope the mission on Cybertron is going alright. He taps the battle plate against his index finger in idle thought before he looks back at the group. "Everyone alright?" He asks with the sound of concern in his voice and even written a bit on his face.

"Also," He looks to Rebecca once more, "I'm sure both Six and the others can see to your crews medical needs. The Union, I've heard, has good medical. So it should not be a problem."

Mantigora (583) has posed:
Mantigora glances up from her trophy collecting as Optimus speaks up, regarding the Autobot fully for the first time. Briefly she thinks of the ultrabots both the Dominion and Exiles use. Though this one is prehaps closer to the Mechnari in being self-aware and sentient. "Nothing typical medical post-battle cannot handle," she replies. And goes back to regarding how big of a pike she's going to need to mount this head on. Skuzzler is pretty much ignored while he's doing obsessive Chua things at this point.

Rebecca Kismarin (343) has posed:
     Rebecca is still staring down the Seeker when Elise comes in. She closes her eyes, then glances up at the sniper. Another moment of rubbing her neck before she reaches up and takes the offered hand, getting to her feet with the assist. "God damn Space Whale..." she growls under her breath, letting that professional veneer slip away for but a moment. "I'm as alright as I can be. My ship is totaled, it will cost no small sum to repair or replace it. Five of my shipboard staff are dead, most of them injured. Two of my combat units are half scrapped, one of the pilots is on the edge of destabilizing..." She rattles off the list of 'shit's wrong' before shaking her head. "Jake with me... did I piss something nasty off." She slumps her shoulders, "I'm alive, and that's enough. Thank you for the aid. It would've been the end without it."

     She looks up at Optimus Prime, features creased in a frown. It's not a scowl, though. Progress. "Thank you," she says uneasily. A nod to the others that are close at hand. "...all of you. This is a disaster. And highly unprofitable."

Optimus Prime (568) has posed:
Optimus gives a nod to some of the answers he gets, then looks back to Rebecca once more, "Not a problem." He walks out of the hole that the ship has created with ease, before transforming back into his semi-truck alternate form and taking off.

Now Rebecca-- can you ever look at cars the same way again?