<”It’s called accuracy by volume!”> the giant grumpily grumbled and argued with his fellow colleagues as they disembarked from the Crawler coming to a halt; he couldn’t get their Commander’s words out of his mind in his agitated state, as much as Tower knew he was just pulling his leg.
<”Relaaax, he’s just pulling your leg is all,”> Dylan muttered to him, trying to calm him down.
”But the man’s got a point,” Their Squad Leader chimed in as he walked past them and got to the front, taking point in his squad’s formation.
”Short, controlled bursts,” the man muttered at an impassive tone, repeating what he had been trying to caution to the giant of a man for so long; the old merc’s comment only drew more murmured, angry grumbles from the heavy weapons specialist, much to his Squad Leader’s amusement.
Swiftly fanning out around their Crawler at a trained and well-rehearsed manner in response to the brief and sharp tactical hand gesture of the seasoned merc, they were soon joined by several other squads of Hellions in the defensive formation, holding security around their
massive ride, nearby the destroyed Crawler.
As Dylan lowered himself to a crouch behind some wreckage nearby, his rifle kept at the ready, he couldn’t help but shift his gaze at a rather short silhouette, gliding in the air with the help of their rocket boots, flying towards the wreck. He had briefly laid eyes on the independent contractor prior to deployment. She was a supplementary hire for the Hellion’s operations here for this mission;
her eyes… he found them to be
quite unsettling.
:: Skiff! Take the greenie and move on ahead, find out what the kriff we’re up against. Corellians are crafty so keep an eye out. Jackal will cover you. ::
”Acklay Actual copies,” the old man acknowledged; drawing the cigarra to the corner of his lips after a quick drag, he gestured to his squad to move.
”Wedge, on me. Marsek, you’re up front,”
Wordlessly complying to his command, the squad stood up and broke off from the rest of the mercenaries holding security around their Crawler, forming the aforementioned formation on their squad leader as they made their way deeper into the wreck strewn ambush site; knowing the drill, the kid had already tucked the buttstock of his rifle underneath his right arm, holding his mine detector on the other hand, making sure they did not walk into a nasty surprise left behind by the Corellian guerrillas.
“There’s a chance of more survivors within the crawler, I’m taking a look,”
As they hiked up towards the destroyed Crawler to their front at a cautious combat pace, their gaze trailed the other independent contractors on a few occasions, as another one passed by them, looking for survivors amongst the wreckage.
<”Freelancers…”> Aiden commented casually, his helmet annunciator toggled off.
<”Speaking of which, have you guys seen that pale chick?”> he asked as he shifted his gaze from one sector to the other; as much as he casually conversed, he kept his guard up, like the rest of his squadmates.
<”Yeah,”> Tower chimed in.
<”That blaster pistol she’s carrying around makes decades old surplus look good.”>
<”Yeah not to mention the hernia with a scope she’s luggin’ around on her back,”> Dylan remarked with a snicker; despite looking like a twig she had no issues whatsoever carrying that sniper rifle as big as herself.
<”I don’t know man, but that hourglass figure she got?”> a dirty, amorous chuckle resounded in their comlink channel.
<”I don’t know man! She gonna make me act up!”> his friend’s remark got a muffled chuckle out of him as the young merc kept one eye at the screen of his mine detector as he walked; it was
almost no use. The blown up metals and the ores were causing too much interference.
”Keep it in your pants until we’re back home in Denon, Woltem. That’s an order,” the old merc said; as much as his tone of voice was impassive and lacked the clear intonations of anger or that of an actual stern command, a faint smile pulled at his lips as he hearkened to his own youth.
The chit he got up to in his twenties…
<”Fine, fine.”> the young techie involuntarily acknowledged after a cackle.
”Kids these days…” the old man muttered with a light chuckle.
<”Her eyes are a bit…”> Dylan said after a while, a hint of apprehension apparent in his tone; the
gigantic silhouette of the destroyed Crawler, and the small to large mounds of ores and dirt grew larger and larger all around them with each next step.
“Reminds you of Aecus?” Skiff asked him as the girl’s silhouette emerged with an unconscious body from somewhere deep within the wreckage; the old man remembered just how nervous and anxious the young lad had gotten in the presence of that woman (
Alina Tremiru
).
The young merc gave a fervent nod of his head at the squad lead’s question.
<”You too?”> he asked him as he briefly glanced at the old merc over his shoulder.
“Mm-hmm,” As much as he had seen a lot of chit in his line of work, he’d be lying if he said those pair of eyes of that woman did not unsettle him that time, too; the only difference was that he was excellent at keeping his calm, unlike the young merc at that time. Credit to him though, the old man thought; the kid had seen that deal to the end without making a scene.
”Alright,” with a slight of hand the old merc reached for his cigarra at the corner of his lips after one last drag, and nonchalantly flicked it onto the ground, stubbing it out under his boot.
”Tower, Woltem; overwatch. Get posted up high. Go,” the two muttered a quick acknowledgement as they broke off from the column at a quick pace, disappearing from his line of sight after Skiff's command.
”Alright, Marsek. Let’s find out what in the hell exactly happened here,” he muttered to him as he moved past him with his rifle held at the ready, taking the lead in the two man formation.
”Get rid of the detector, lad. Lot’s of interference here,” he recommended to him.
<”Was about to say,”> the kid remarked with a nod of his head, clipping the device to his warbelt over his hip.
He'd have to rely on his training, senses and sight to reveal any parting gifts left behind by the guerrillas for him to find.
After a moment’s investigation of the wreck and a quick survey of the surrounding terrain, it was not difficult for the seasoned merc and the young explosive specialist to ascertain as to how and what exactly blew up the massive Crawler. Setting off a high yield roadside bomb underneath the Crawler’s massive wheels, the attackers had immobilized the massive vehicle; over a dozen or so pair of footprints strewn on the muddy ground suggested them closing in on the Crawler after it was rendered immobilized, boarding the vehicle.
The explosive residue on several pieces of the blown up wreckage suggested that they had scuttled the reactor, resulting in the catastrophic explosion that took out the crawler.
”Acklay Actual reporting in. Textbook ambush on the Crawler. Looks like they immobilized it with a roadside bomb, then got onboard. Marsek says they hooked up detpacks on its reactor core, and blew it up with a remote detonation; explains why it’s split in half,” the old merc reported back to Jas over the comlink; The Commander wasn’t kidding when he said Corellians were crafty. The old merc did not expect such competence from the guerrillas.
”Awaiting further tasking,” Skiff said afterwards, finishing his quick sitrep for their commander.
