----> Hangar Dec

When the shuttle landed Izzy would quickly jog down the ramp and after quickly scanning the area would head over to where Roy was standing "Sergeant Major, I've been sent to take over as the squad's omni-com operator" she stated in a professional voice, her past experience in the US infantry meaning that she didn't make the rookie mistake of saluting or calling him sir "It will be good to be out in the field again, I feel too much like a duck in a shooting gallery in that tower" she continued with a smile briefly touching her lips before awaiting for him to issue her orders.

”oh-kay…belay that” Tarja slowly replied signalling for her team to stand down, a little surprised that considering they had just sent a squad of marines, a K-9 unit, or whatever the Larg equivalent was, and a mechanised unit to retrieve a single pilot, delaying a bombardment in the process, that they weren’t willing to allow a single squad to retrieve a marine. However orders were orders and not for her to question…or at least not publicly ”let me know if my comms need to malfunction…” she quietly offered before getting back to checking her suit for damage.

Once Lyri had departed she would get on her comms and try and reach Brian ”Corporal Corby, I do not know what you are doing but you either need to get out of city or in serious cover now!”

  Lyri    sighed a bit. her  anger did  not  as she looked to the walls. founts of  dirt and  rubble   flew into  the air at times, at others .

 other times  bright  flashes    started a  small glow that would become bigger  fires ..The  Admiral is  not in the habit  of  us making the same  mistake twice.. we lost the Pilot.. we shouldn't have, but that's their fish bowl we dove into.

 You weren't with us  on E-1. Meari can tell you about it... some dumbassed  Bitch..maybe  even an EDT plant, for all we know, almost got    the  assault teams killed, by refusing to  obey  orders.. we almost lost a few people because of that...

 godsbedamned shuttle  with  everyone   running to it, the ALL  COMs  telling  everyone to get out... and  he what? was distracted  by something shiny?... Its on him now..

 That  kid Miles? he risked his life to  get a venom sac.. Frakas, the Big  Sanri guy,, he   got torn apart... but  we got him back to the Hermes on time.... either one of them is worth 1000 of that whore bitch...

 she  just waved her   hand  in disgust  and  walked over   to a  cook stand   and  poured a coffee,

 meanwhile , QM  folks from the beach head, carried   fresh. boxes of  50 Cal  ammo for the  shuttle   bubble  guns

   moving  though the  camp, Shadow checked on the Pilots.  almost all where  in Good chape, he was waiting for   Niki and Lizzy to get  back  with Ranata.

 once he accounted  for    his  pilots  other then the  3  outstanding , he  made his To the command  tents .

   His eyes  darken when  he saw  izzy. godsbedamned , things  must be rougher on the Hermes  then i thought...  he stopped  at    The Admiral  and Roy.

  what  do you have  for us, Admiral .

  Hack  drank  from a  coffee  pointing to the cook unit. Shadow grabbed one,  tossing in sugar  cubes,

 three   of  the Yenti  entered the  Tent.. Divrot  stood   there  wit a female and another Male.hello once more, Admiral hack... This  is   Caska, she is  my #2... Wendo is  my #3

 You Know  LC Shadow and SM  spencer .  I was  waiting for you to come... before  we start, what do you know  about penitence.

 They are nothing buy slaves for the Angels, brought here over the eyars to work the great machines  below the cities.. every now and them they take one  or two out o live  among the Angels in Paradise.. this keeps the  other mindless fools  working, sometimes to the death..there are many...

 Divrot?  The Angels   fear your people as much as  mine, but they  have  treated  you poorly.. The  city has  another 9 minutes of shelling.. many. many places  are on fire..even a night there will be alot of light. but you have to watch the Shadows..when the shelling
 ends , your people  will  charge into the  city.. take any weapons from the angles you fine. they are yours  to keep.. our   assault  shuttles  will come in behind you and leap frog  your  people to help give  some suppressing  fire

 a  voice  from behind them says... I came  down  in a replacemanet   fighter   in the Jump seat..  They  sent a  Omincom down. You still are missing a rifle man  and tech  person

   Shadow  turned  and   Dusk  hugged him,, he patted her  back.you should have stayed  on the Hermes!

First...i have no ship...2nd.. Catain si has  Admiral  hennings, Captain Morris  and  beth  up there..as well as   Shoey.. 3rd..  they hurt my brother...

 hack Chuckled. Don't see you  winning this one, LC...

 No Sir,    I don't think i ever  won an arguement   with  Lady either.

  Dusk smiled,..you did..you just did not know it.

 Hack have her a gentle hand on her shoulder and she turned to stand  by  Roy.

  so... shelling stops ,.. Yenti enter,  shuttles   provide close supposrt, Fighters  air  support. LC?  If they have  any fighters  left.. they'll bring them out, this might be the last stand...

 when does the   end  come. Admiral hack.

  well  we don't know where The Most High is.. it would  end  with his  capture or death..

 he would be  in huis  city under the palace. everyone looked at him.

 Caska says , in a  rather alluring voice, if you  could past the   ragged   hair  and   moss covered armor. It is said. a  tube from the throne room leads  deep below.. there is  food  and   comfort down there, to last a few years if needs be. That is were he went , when the demons  came, and he made the proclamation  of a lottery for  whom would
 board the ships  for the Empire.

 hack  looked  at the others  and said...then? we got to the Palace  once  we  enter the   city.. send  COM markers  out Divrot, get your people ready.

 Meari was ready to head back into the city to get the newbie but they where ordered back, Meari smacks a barrel and dents it. " Damn I hope he is ok, I hope they will send us in to go get him as soon as the shelling stops." Meari made some repairs to her armor as she walked around in her skin tight undersuit. She also reloaded everything she could. Meari will listen to see if Corporal Corby answers Tarja.

   Lyri  drank her  coffee, and said to meari.Hard to tell whether Croby was/is  a dick  like harry was, and  went off on his own, or  whether he just  got lost. You don't expect  actions like that from a Marine.

 we'll find out after the shellign , whether he made it or not. because we'll be going right back in

Roy shook his head at Lyri's report.  "You may be responsible for not knowing he wasn't with us when the shuttles left, Master Chief, but the only one responsible for him not having the good sense of a common garden locust is him.  Unless you told him to go haring off on his own and ignore recall messages, he did this to himself."  He looked at Hack and shook his head again, this time with an expression of incedulity on his face.

"It's bad enough when our people get shot down behind enemy lines and we have to go in and rescue them, but for someone to go charging into a hot combat zone all alone, with minimal combat experience and nobody watching out for him to come back, at the very least?"  He paused for a moment, before asking Hack, "Can we send someone to the Delta colonies for being suicidally stupid?"

Without waiting for an answer, he asked, "Lyri, which FNG went missing?"

At about that point, Izzy reported in, Roy's expression showing a degree of exasperation that had nothing to do with her.  He gave her a nod in acknowledgement, and then had to split his attention between listening for Lyri's answer and following the conversation with Shadow, and then with the Yenti, mentally taking notes of the planned sequence of events and already creating contingency plans for the inevitable moment when something went sideways.  He gave a smile with some degree of relief when Dusk reported in...it wasn't as though he actually needed the extra rifleman, but she shared at least some of Shade's affinity for tech, in general...and it just didn't feel right going into combat without Shade nearby, but her presence made up for that in some degree.

"Trust a snake to hide in a hole in the ground..." he muttered.  He certainly knew where he wanted Admiral Hack to send them next...

Corby..the  'engineer'.. I am wondering if he didn;'t steal someone's ticket to ge here

-we can send people to the deltas  for a number of reasons... This  isn't like  a few years ago. People we were getting were not  too  far  off  of what we lost..they just needed  'baked' a few more hours.,  the last year or so , we have been getting  people  who no one wants, or   are still in the box  and we have to put them together

 LC.. how  bad   are those  Pilots.

  'bad' is a relative term..  they can   take off and land..wel..most of them... but these didn't even get boxed, they  just took them right off the   conveyor belt and sent them to us.

 a deep sip of his Coffee.Liste  was young and scared.. she should have  had at least another  3-6 weeks of training. she  died scared.. we lost another  one in the air...everyone's takign turns being shot down, but there are a few who seem to  like it..

Hack snorted   a laugh  and   taped  the Hold  in  Shadow's armor.. Shadow winced.there's no time now? but the minute  this  part of the Jumpoff is over. You find  major...

 Ta-LI. Mistress of the Night?   I think her  and  Stefi should be sent in?  We'll tell the Angels  , if they don'[t surrender,  we'll have them heal them...

no one was  laughing..well.. they were, just AT  shadow, not  of what he said...

 She's right behind me...isn't she....

Dusk lost it   as she leaned on Roy laughing.

 Yes.. LC... 'The Mistress of the Night  is behind you... I am surprised  you made such a Judgement.. You have not even seen  my....bedside manner.. I will take care of you when you return....  she moved  off to get a clean apron and start on another   trooper.

 Hack  grinned...Shadow sighed  as he  finished the rest of his  coffee in one gulp...Yeah..well.. maybe i'll get shot  down and  won't have to worry her  tender mercies...

  Go..get your people   ready..got  about  6 Minutes  yet..

Henry made sure that the largs were all fed, watered, and rested ready for whatever came next. Mila too, of course.

 Lizzy got Ranata into her jump seat, closed the canopy then rose up opening up on any Angels near them. Lizzy then blasted out of there heading for the beach head with Nikki joining her.

 They landed and Lizzy checked out her fighter and got ready to go back up.

  The crews  came over to  Lizzy and Nikki..as well as Ranata.go  and get food, we'll  check your machine,  The Cat  needs to go to one of the pool aircraft.... the word  will be given, sometime  after the shelling stops .

 Lizzy smiled and replied," Thanks guys, I will be back in a flash. Ok Ranata glad your ok see you back up there." Lizzy and Nikki then headed for food to get back when it was time to go back up.

 NA-CE got back with Shade and Maygin, she got them to the beachhead where they were patched up even more to go up to see Stefi on the Hermes. NA-CE felt bad about the pilot, and that look of fear in her eyes was haunting her.  She wished she had the chance to try to save her. NA-CE went to the med tent to resupply her med kit and relax for a bit.

 Meari gave Lyri a hard stare when she mentioned Harry, and replied," If he is anything like Harry I will kill him myself, that is one person I would love to gut and slowly watch die. Yes lets hope he made it, then we will go in and get him or what's left of him."

"Any preference on where we're deployed, Admiral?  Lt. Cross was wondering if we'd be going back in...I was pretty sure the answer would be yes."  While Roy's annoyance simmered behind his eyes, he kept it out of his voice and mannerisms when addressing Hack.

It was looking like there wouldn't be a whole lot of city left by the time they went back in, and there would be even less by the time the Yenti led the way.  "I know where I'd like to be sent...but we'll take whatever job you need us for."

  The Shells  finally   some  chugging across the  sky.     Hack sent  out the 'mount up' call.

 Lyri waved  like a farm wife  Hearding chickens... she said to Tarja, I ma  this  assault teaams  shuttle  commander... Corby is on me  for  not  making  a head count , instead  of  dropping   enemies...You how ever,,,if he is still alive.... have to decide  if you want him or not...of  course, , if the  thermite  or concussion, or frag  turned him to jelly?  it won't matter... the old  saying,  Stupid  games, stupid  prizes.

 the   teams mounted up..the  signal was  given... Sam..get me an open channel  ALL COM, pegging the   Angel feeds...
i
 as the Admiral waited  for confirmation, Hack told, Roy,we go in , a minute or  so  after the Yenti... i want them to have thier 'moment'...and ..yes.. we are going to the Palace.

Stepping out of the cloud of smoke he sent a com to the closest APF requesting instructions. Expecting to be told to stay put but hoping they'd toss him a tethered line for him to tie around himself and fly him out line a teabag; after sendingthe com he ducked back into the cover.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:50, Thu 15 June 2023.

Crouched down in front of her armour Tarja would continue to check one of the joints as she answered without looking away from her work ”If Corporal Corby wishes to join our unit then we will take him on and see how he performs…however…we cannot take him on until we return to Hermes” Tarja calmly replied as she jemmied out what appeared to be a stone fleck and threw it away ”…he needs to remain with marines until then, we cannot have tag along, it would be like having someone join marines wearing only underwear” she explained, turning to face her with a smear of grease on her cheek hoping that Lyri would understand that it would be dangerous for both him and her team to try and take him along without a suit and the training to use it ”…assuming of course he survives”

 Sam opened a channel and replied," Already done Sir, you have a open channel on all comms." Sam pegged all the Angel feeds she could.

   Lyri Nodded   as she  watched  the  AI  person work.Understood...,  when  we get back to the hermes, and  he is still alive. We'll see what the SM thinks abiut it.... get  your people  moutned up, its  time to load.

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

 Thank you Sam....

 This is Admiral Hack of  the Delta  Fleet, and  ESN 351  Hermes.   I really don['t
 care if you  acknowledge  This ..some part of me hopes you don't.... a moment or two  after
 I finish this   COM,  our  people are  coming into Jerl to seize The Most High .... We also have , new allies. The Yenti. As reward  for thier  alliance. we are permitting them to  enter first.

 ANY...Angels  who wish to surrender.. MUST...  come  out into the streets  with  no armor or weapons.. that incudes civis... our  engineers  are goign to have Taped   lines  those who accept surrender. and  they will be  through out , to the closest gate  and assembled   out side the walls... Paradise  is  experiencing  what most of our enemies  have.... you can die   in some glorious attempt  to stop us... or you can surrender and rebuild...  There is also a 5000 cred  bounty on the Most high...and  safe Evac  for whomever   turned him in. Good Luck. and may whatever gods  your  pray to...take you in thier  arms...

 a minute later   horns  Blew across the  beachhead,,,   shuttles and Fighters   rose,  and the  Yenti   charged through the Gates  and  breeches  like a  hungry swarm of ants.

 Meari got up and finished getting her armor on and then said," Ok lets go kick some ass and see if we can find the newbie alive." Meari got the AI group together and then followed Tarja to their shuttle.

    Whatver Admiral Hack thought of the Yenti   entering the city( and  cities  around the world) this wasn't it.  Centuries   of   The Yenti being treated  as  Mistakes even to the point of being 'hunted' if they got to near a  bigger  city..

 The Yenti were  as savage  as   the reputation of their kind has been  stayed over the   centuries/  Angels  who confronted them  would Gun down  two or three  each, but  would be  savage  torn to pieces   by the   unleashed  people of the wilds.

 LT  Cross  from his   Shuttle  said,,,Admiral? should we....

 No , LT Cross... we all have a bit of an Idea of  what the Yenti suffered....and whatever that  idea is....isn't within hailing distance of the truth... Let the Yenti have their vengeance.  I just want the planet...any Angels that survive  and  become good APF citizens  is a bonus.

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

  Scarlett who was stuck with the OmniCom .The Yenti  have  passed  the area whe    the Marine is...he  is   asking for Pick up...

 Lets go get him... we lost him, we  should  retrieve him!

...........

 Stoly's  shuttle  lead  the  'V' towards   the Place..  the hermes  Aiur wing, such as it was,  flew  above them... attacking   targets on the ground , head  of the   devastating   tidal wave , that was the Yenti.

Lizzy got back to her fighter with Nikki and they launched with what was left of the Hermes flight wing. They lost a lot of people in this battle she would think about at send-off.

 Lizzy hooked up with Fitz and headed towards the city,Ok Nikki let's go and help the wave of Yenti.

Roy gave a satisfied nod when Admiral Hack stated that they were going to the palace.  The fastest way to end this was to have their 'Most High' dragged out into the streets like the depraved criminal he was.  That would shatter any remaining myth about the invulnerability of the Angels, if anyone in the smoldering ruins of Jerl still believed that myth, and it would immediately weed out the zealots...they'd be outraged, highly unlikely to stand by silently.  And it would also signal to those Angels who'd held desperate hope for deliverance that their time had come and they were no longer under the Most High's thumb.

"Yes, sir," he answered with a voice tinged with grim satisfaction.  He readied his kit, boarding when the order was given.

When it was announced that the missing Marine was now in the clear, Roy gave a nod.  "You peel off and pick him up, Lyri...we'll keep pushing to the palace.  Get there when you can, you'll be good backup for us, and it will keep whatever forces the Most High has guarding his bolt-hole from getting a clear count of just how many of us are coming.  If they're tied up in combat when a second and then third shuttle land, they won't have any good idea how many or what kind of forces are coming at them."

Izzy would quietly stand off to one side whilst the Admiral made his announcement to troops and Angels alike. When the time came for them to mount up she would stay close to Roy and follow him onto the shuttle and take a seat, fully intending to stick close to him until she received further instructions from him. Once inside the shuttle she would quietly begin to check over her equipment and the omni-comm unit.