Scene #541: ISI Ambush!

Owner	Pose
Rebecca Kismarin	It's night time. Of course it's night time. Base assaults are best done by cover of darkness, especially when half of one's assault force is either painted black or made out of some fiendish black alloy. Not Rebecca's however. The lights of the UniTech HERC Base flicker faintly close to a kilometer behind the current 'front line' established by the breach in the sensor perimter. Earth movers have dug into the grass and soil, forming hastily-constructed trenches, foxholes, and fire pits for human-sized combatants in preparation for the attack though more than enough shoulder-high grass remains practically everywhere. Two dugouts of a much larger size have been formed, the closest thing to 'hull down' a HERC can get is the pair of Ogre-class chassis crouched behind the freshly-turned earth. Shining bright under the stars, however, is the two-legged slab of metal, legs, and four arms that is the Demon-class HERC, taking a forward position in the darkness as if challenging unseen eyes to bring it on, as it were. High up in the sky, at the edge of the atmosphere and out of sight, Rebecca herself is safely aboard the Titan's Redoubt, eyes glued to sensor reports and terrain readouts. The cargo bay is empty of anything of hers, armaments for someone else loaded into crates with volunteered ground crews doing their best to not put their grubby hands on anything in them. "With the sensor tank out of commission, the assault force is likel to get the first shot," she murmurs into her headset, fingers sliding over a screen as she sends direct data to the 'derm pilots under her command. "I'd reccomend you keep your heads down until you see an opening and they're focused on the Crusader. Copy?" It's going to be a loud night. At least the weather is clear.
Elise Leroy	Elise is down in one of those foxholes, checking her gear and breifing her team. Five humans and one SHIV. "Right, I want Casino on the right flank, once the enemy mechs get into combat, you sneak around the back and blast them to hell with rockets. Rome, Piledriver, left flank, wait for my signal, you might need to draw off heat from the HERCs if it gets too hot." She turns to the Assault. "You stay with me, you're our trumpcard and I don't want you wasting time trying to do something with a shotgun." she adds, then kneels in front of the SHIV. "Thunder 3, you're going with Casino." she says, pointing at the Heavy, before petting it like a dog." When Rebecca pipes up, she touches her earpiece. "Copy that Redoubt. How are Thunder and Lightening?" she asks. The two Ravens parked, wings extended and engines primed for full afterburn. <Thunder reporting, All systems green, we're ready to fly.> <Lightening here, ready to go, just say the word, Commander.>
Rebecca Kismarin	"Your birds ready to hit something on the ground for once?" Rebecca replies. "I've got the data from the HERCs synched with your radar systems, so you should get a clear picture of the battlefield." She then finds an occasion to chuckle, "...centuries of technological development, crystal matrices... and our spotting gear is barely a few steps above what you've got. Hell, I'd say it's better for tracking man-sized targets than what the HERCs have got, too. Alright, stay on your toes down there... Cavalier Relentless and Gallant Sentinel will be your ticket through their shields--if theirs hold. So be ready to fire. Should have clear line of sight." No sooner than she gives the signal that she's finished speaking does something pop up on the sensors. Everyone on the field can see it, the flare of fire bursting from the shoulders of a hulking beast of black metal. Missiles spew forth from the pods, smoke and flame arcing over the horizon, spreading. The MLRS systems pepper the ground behind the human forces even if the heat from the blast waves can be felt. Explosions light up the HERC line, the flicker and glow of shield shells even brighter than the fire as they easily absorb the impacts. Armor is peppered with shrapnel but the plating is dinged and dented at the absolute worst. The radio crackles with Rebecca's words, "Two. Four. No, five. Get ready, XCOM. They're in a delta formation let by a--" Tank. At about or under 800 meters, a tank the size of a small corner store, sporting a single huge turret on a pillar of armor mounted at the front of a chassis like a tank hunter of old rumbles forward. A spear of vivid azure light erupts forth from the barrel, the glow from it showing a pair of smaller guns flanking it. There's no delay from the unit as the laser rips into the shields of the Black Crusader, the two smaller guns erupting with loud magnetic -cracks- from what are very clearly small mass drivers. "--focusing fire on the tank. It has deadly short-range weapons that could be deadly to your troops."
Elise Leroy	"Copy Redoubt. Casino, move. Rome, Piledriver, move. Stick to the tall grass." Elise commands. The troopers and SHIV head out immediately, the small dog-sized machine trundling out on its tracked base. Elise follows quickly enough, dropping into a trench to line up her rifle. "Raven Team, I'll mark a target. Launch and strike on my signal." she says, sighting down her SCOPE. "Where's their eyes... lets see if we can't poke them out."
Rebecca Kismarin	The tank lurches forward, the pilot (and its handler) seeing that even the massive laser's volley wasn't enough to hack through the Demon's shields. The tracks and the weight leave trenches of their own in the ground as it hauls itself towards the line of HERCs and soldiers, though the latter set are ignored or below the notice of its sensors. For the size of the thing, it can move, and move it does. True to Rebecca's word, all three of her HERCs start opening fire on the tank and the tank alone. Two of the Black Crusader's arms lift, the energy projectors in the tips spewing forth blue beams of their own, laced with white wrapped around them. The shields of the tank hold as it gets closer, its barrel unleashing another burst of its own, the Demon's shields wavering but holding. The Ogres flanking it in their trenches, lit up by grass fires, fire short bursts of green from two of their arms, bolts of white coming from the other two, splashing into the tank's shields and making it flicker and pulse in a sickly manner. It's a quick and dirty battle of brute force atrition as both sides focus on their heavy hitters, the two bipedal HERCs following the tank lighting up the night with lasers of their own, eight barrels all told splashing the Black Crusader. Then something gives. Range. The tank lurches to a halt just under 200 meters from the Demon and the dreaded 'deadly' weapons burst forth, two hull-mounted projectors spewing bolts of crackling lightning, whips of energy that pass through the shields unabated, tearing rifts in the beast's hull that crackle and spark. The Demon responds with its other two arms, cones of plasma that Elise might remember from the Remora, only far more intense. The green cloud of focused 'flamer' bursts melt the shields of the tank and some of the extra-thick frontal armor besides. "The Crusader's shields are barely holding but the tank's are down, if you can get around it, you can take it out before it carves out the shield emitters," Rebecca stares at her tactical data, eyes dancing across screens as she tries to find the 'eyes' as well. A deep frown creases her features as she notices the stress levels of the Demon's pilot rising exponentially.
Elise Leroy	A new view pipes up. Gruff, feminine, no-nonsense. "Cut the flamers... I'll stick some explosives to the cockpit." it states. Elise herself remains scanning for the rabbit-ear sensors of the scout. "Viper, hold position." she states. "Rome, Piledriver, do you have a shot on the rear armour?" Elise orders. 'Viper' grumbles, but holds position, while Rome and Piledriver crackle over comms. "I have a shot... charging the Linear gun." "On your order Commander." "Take the shot, Nail it with everything you have. Redoubt, launch the Ravens... I think I have their eyes in my sights. Marking targets on Sensors now." she clicks a button on her rifle's scope, feeding positional data on the large, spindly mech in her sights. There's even a visual feed!
Rebecca Kismarin	The plasma flamers cut almost immediately, but it's not entirely by order. The Demon's shields get breached under the onslaught, two bursts of white energy coming out of the darkness from a spindly bipedal mech. Its arms glow and crackle from the shots, the 'ears' behind it lifting and turning, as if 'detecting' something. An explosion rocks the Black Crusader, however, as the mass drivers on the tank open up again, missiles from the 'rabbit' joining them. One of the upper arms with the plasma flamers is blown clean off as the massive HERC lurches to the side. "There it is, letting your birds fly free," comes Rebecca's voice, even and measured despite the damage done to her forces. In the darkness, the short, squat Arachnus Cybrids open up on the Demon also, four chainguns each spraying it with rounds that start tearing into the armor as the shields struggle to reform. But the tank is the first to go up in flames, the MEC troopers with their augmented anti-AC weapons. They do a surprisingly effective job at blowing holes in the vehicle. The reactor, situated between the treads, is terribly exposed with the shields down and the troopers flanking it. It doesn't go nuclear with the fissionables within as the failsafes lock it down before it can breach, but it shuts down completely and other critical systems go down with it as other components overload and explode. Every target out in the field is marked now, the pair of Ogres standing up and stepping free of their 'hull down' pits to draw fire from the battered Demon. The duo hose down the missile-carrying Cybrid nearest the sensor HERC with green ballistic fire while simultaneously sending those white EMP bursts at the 'eyes' on the field. One of the smaller Arachnus units takes notice of the MECs, however, and turns on its six legs to direct the smoking barrels of its chainguns towards them. Humans. Human//animals. Something twitches in its slaved, modified protocols, an old, suppressed instinct. The chains cycle as it reloads, glowing red receptors focused on the XCOM group.
Elise Leroy	Roaring afterburners kick in, as Thunder and Lightening launch from the floating dropship. <Voodoo 31 and Voodoo 32, in flight. Target is locked in. Landslide missiles armed.> they radio, the screeching whine of their pulse jets approaching the battlefield. They swoop in, and unleash hell in the form of a quartet of heavy air torpedoes, at the Shadow. They're regular old missiles, but there's a /lot/ of explosive packed into them. Shaped charge for breaking armour. Elise notes the interest that spider-thing has taken in her team. "Left flank, fall back. Right Flank, light up the spiderbot." she calls over the radio, as she lines up a shot to hit something on the Rabbit, looking to take out something important.
Rebecca Kismarin	The Shadow can react quickly, but it's not fast enough to deal with airborne targets, and its weapons aren't precise enough to deal with human targets. The HERC jerks to the side, getting ready to go to ground when Elise's well-honed aim sends a round into and through one of the walker's exposed knee joints. The sound of grinding metal can be heard even with all of the gunfire as it pulls on the leg, forcing it to move albeit at a much reduced pace. But with the shields down thanks to the pair of Ogres and their EMP guns, the airborne ordnance is decidedly overkill on the limping HERC. It goes up in flames, exploding, showering the area with scrap metal, slagged components, and rapidly-destabilising pieces of charred 'derm flesh or what passes for it. The Demon shows that it's down but not out, peppering the Arachnus focusing on the XCOM operatives with more beam fire, dropping its shields while one of the Ogres unloads its shoulder cannons on it. Instead of actually tearing into the six-legged spidermech, however, it coats the carapace and legs with what's clearly a chemical coating and rapidly-hardening epoxy. Straining metal can be heard from it as it tries to turn its body to face the humans falling back, its guns lacking any sort of swivel or turret. Immobilised, it can only sit and endure the barrage of fire from the SHIV and the rockets from the Heavy. Cannon shots pierce the hull and rockets tear the 'face' off of the front of it, removing the sensors and sorely unarmored cognitive core from the warform as the chemicals from the webcasters dissolve parts of its legs. XCOM's barrage easily leaves it a smoking heap. "Three down, it's only the glitches now and they're not going to stand down. Bastards have your 'scent'. Archer Faithless will try to draw fire from one of them and provide close air support." The sound of the grav tank's engine whine is heard before it's seen, and it's only seen as the nose cannon on the gunship spins up and starts unloading a familiar sight to XCOM: Bolts of plasma that pepper the shields of one still-standing bipedal Malignus. The trading of shots between the bigger HERCs is slower now, heat build up and energy drain forcing both sides to be more conservative, even if the Demon is slowly withering under the focused fire as its shields keep blinking on and off.
Elise Leroy	"Right Flank! Fall back! Thunder 3, maintain covering fire. Casino break off. Rome, Piledriver, reengage, focus fire on Chicken 2." she calls, turning to fire on the left-most remaining walker. <Voodoo Flight, weapons spent, RTB to the dropship. Redoubt, prep for landing.> reports Thunder, as the pair bank hard out of the engagement zone, their missiles spent. The pair return to the Redoubt. Rome and Piledriver skid to a stop, turn and bring their weapons to bare on the left most walker. Casino falls back a little, as Thunder 3 fires on the other spider, but the Heavy isn't done yet. He looses off his final LAW, then sweeps his primary Launcher into position, loosing off a second rocket. Then he pulls the LMG and fires glowing red tracers to join the rocket trails.
Rebecca Kismarin	The Raven pilots will find their landing zone to be mostly stable, the hovering dropship low enough in the atmosphere to grant a home to the VTOL-capable interceptors. The hatch in the back remains open, no danger of invasion that high up in system space. "Your birds are roosted," comes Rebecca's voice on the radio. "Unfortunately, Black Crusader--" her words are drowned out by an explosion. Concentrated chaingun and laser fire being too much for the biggest HERC on the field, its armored hull showing multiple breaches, its shield emitters sparking, and with one more beam barrage from its lower arms that rips through the other Arachnus' shields, it topples over when its leg actuators give. The ground shakes when the Demon-class HERC hits the ground, the severely injured pilot still trying to force the remaining upper arm into some manner of firing position. "Consolidating fire on the remainder to keep you supported, salvage teams are on standby," comes her voice again, cool and calm despite the loss of one HERC and whatever state the 'derm pilot is in. The Malignus the gunship is dusting with rapid-fire plasma bolts struggles to get and maintain a lock on the hovering craft, sending missiles and laser pulses skyward, pinging the shields and being thoroughly distracted by it. It's enough for the two MECs to give it a good solid final punch with their heavy weapons, the resulting explosions nearly tearing the legs off of the spindly weapon platform and a pair of rockets from the gunship blowing the head clean off. The pair of Ogres send their energy ordnance at the remaining spider-HERC, stomping past the wreckage of the tank and getting close enough to burn through the shields easily. The light show is impressive enough, but coupled with XCOM's efforts, the rockets, explosions, and crimson tracers make for a hell of sight for the highlight reel later as the combined efforts of EMP and ballistics rip holes small and large in the squat little gun platform. All that remains is a single biped, its missile load spent on the initial blast, quad barrels directed now on XCOM and sending spears of light towards the human targets.
Elise Leroy	"Alright lets do this. LORETTAAA JEEEENKIIIINS!" comes that gruff, rough and ready voice from earlier. "... I've always wanted to say that." "Shit, she just ran in!" remarks Elise, before she just starts putting rounds into the remaining Malignus. Casino's had enough for one day, packing up his gear and hoofing it into a fox-hole as laser fire starts lighting the grass aflame. Thunder 3, however, remains where it is, firing until its magazine is empty, and it's consumed by laser fire and burning grass. There's a mournful chirp from the drone, before its feed goes dead. Rome and Piledriver live up to their names, but as 'Viper' breaks cover and starts running across open ground, they set off as well. "Cover the runner! Lets plough the road!" Both MECs deploy their Kinetic Strike Modules, spinning the Pilebunkers up as they charge in at full tilt. Rome goes for the right leg, Piledriver the Left, slamming the impact strikers into them to slow the thing down.
Elise Leroy	Viper, meanwhile, dodges any return fire from the HERC, moving with almost inhuman speed across the distance, holding a pair of mag-lock bombs in each hand. "I hope you're hungry!" she yells, tossing one high for the torso, then kicking another into the undercarriage. THe last two get clamped onto a knee joint each on the way past. "Say goodnight Gracie." she adds, before clicking the detonator. Four explosions go off in rapid succession, hopefully putting an end to this little incursion.
Rebecca Kismarin	"Redoubt inbound," Rebecca's voice can be heard on the comms, surveying the battle through both sensor screens and cockpit cams on her remaining forces. The gunship pulls back, giving a close bird's eye view of the battlefield but both the commander and pilot would rather not go danger close and cause a friendly fire incident. Even the pair of Ogres pick their shots carefully, sending EMP bolts high to keep the shields faltering and avoid splash. The Malignus, to its credit, is agile for a seven and a half meter tall war machine. It fires the lasers in short bursts, two barrels cooling and cycling while the other two send lances of pulsed light towards the runners coming at it. It's not agile enough, however, to shoot down that close, and the spry MECs can get in close and stagger the Cybrid. The shields being up or down or moot at this range, and the HERC's targetting and cognitive systems struggle to deal with and track a target that its internal programming hadn't had an occasion to target in recent memory. There's a series of noises, like machine speak coming from the unit as the mag-lock bombs clamp onto its hull. The gyros keep it upright and standing, but only for precious moments more. The demolition charges are super effective, Fire versus Steel. The already-weakened legs are blown clean off and the twin explosions on the chassis and frame rip it in half, sending the remaining bits and chunks to sail a dozen meters away from the fight. The only sound is that of flame crackling and the servos of the Demon's limbs still trying to bring it upright. Then from above the lights beneath the Redoubt flash on, bathing the battlefield in white light as one of the huge lifts descends with Rebecca standing at the control console. "...six enemy vehicles destroyed. One friendly HERC severely damaged. Pilot in critical condition. XCOM forces... one autonomous unit destroyed. Any loss of human life?" she asks in her all-business manner. She looks towards Viper, ghost of a smile crossing her features, "Gierling would be proud."
Elise Leroy	"Copy that Redoubt. Strike One all accounted for, save for Thunder 3. We'll get him rebuilt back at base." reports Elise as she pops out of her cover, slinging her rifle onto her back. "Strike One, form up on me, we're goin' home once we've helped with cleanup." The group clusters up, looking burnt, dirty, but all of them sporting grins at a job well done. "Viper?" notes the Commander. "If you ever do anything like that again..." she begins in a scolding tone. "... I'll give you a promotion and put you on latrine duty for a week." she finishes, with a smirk, clapping the shorter woman on the shoulder. "Alright, Rome, Piledriver, help the salvage team with heavy lifting. Casino, Viper, you're with me, we're going to find what's left of Thunder 3 and get him out of here. His AI core should be intact, it's built like a Black Box."
Rebecca Kismarin	Rebecca steps off of the lift, the dropship maintaining a steady position over the battlefield. She surveys the carnage, the spreading fires. Lights in the distance herald the coming of the salvage teams, and likely a fire crew to boot. Wouldn't do to lose all the natural cover from a wildfire. "Well performed," she states, nodding to Elise. "Tactics like that are a few centuries old but sure as hell shows they worked then and they work now. We probably would've been able to hold them without the help..." she frowns as she looks over the wrecked enemy vehicles. "...but I'd have lost a lot more, probably be patching up holes in the comm tower instead of putting out grass fires." She focuses her attention on the nearest derelict, looking the smoking, flaming vehicle over closely without much regard to her own personal safety, in full bridge uniform and all. "...ISI... fielding Cybrids. Hell of a way to play with fire." Her head shakes and she follows Elise and Viper to survey the SHIV, the small treaded tank having suffered fire from pulse lasers, much more light and energy than concussive, but holes melt through just the same. "You find you still have a taste for this after tonight, there's six other corps out there hopefully at each others' throats instead of wanting my blood, but I'm rather sure these guys were a bit more annoyed at the PR stunt I pulled for the Tournament. Seeing as I've got your help, there's no telling who or what the others will turn to for help." She takes in a deep breath. A breath of cool night air filled with the smell of charred metal and burnt electronics. The long, slow exhale is enough to show it's not a smell alien to her, nor distasteful to her. "Thank you," she gives a smart nod to the Commander and her team.
Elise Leroy	Elise salutes. "Our pleasure, and if you need our brand of home defense in the future, don't hesitate to call. You've got our secure frequency." she replies, then offers her hand for a shake. "It's been a pleasure working with you, Lieutenant."
Rebecca Kismarin	"Same goes for you. UniTech will fight in your corner when you need us," Rebecca returns the salute, and then takes the hand without hesitation, shaking firmly and briefly. "A pleasure having you with us, Commander. We'll get this mess sorted out as quick as we can so we can send your bits," she nods to the SHIV, "boys, and birds home in time for an after-action report and hopefully enough rest before something happens." She looks towards the Demon HERC that's since ceased struggling, "I need to get that 'Derm in the med-vat and see about patching up its ride before any surprises show up here, to boot."