[I]"Nawlin, Kuraiko - move to reinforce Sykes and Kelsea at the mine. Your GEARs are both better suited for close-in combat than mine, and should be a good pairing with both of theirs as well. Not to mention you can both cover the longer distance more quickly than the Harlock. I'm moving to reinforce Michelete and Ruthless, my GEAR is better at those kinds of ranges, and the area is closer, so I can cover the distance more effectively. Move!"[/I]

<Aye Sir!> mike shouted as prowler lurched in the sand, quickly gaining speed as it angled towards the remains of the warehouse. As he ran he pulled up the channel to Sykes and Kelsea, letting the computer plan the route as swapped ammo to tungsten core AP rounds, the computer placing a broken shield in the bottom left corner of his screen. 

<Nawlin here, on my way to the warehouse, hang tight!> mike's voice tight with concern, his thoughts following those of others. This was not going according to plan, these weren't the tactics of bandits, and marauders. this felt more organized and methodical. Bandits don't blow up their base during a skirmish, they tended to be territorial and more ham handed then that. To mike, this had to be some military force, but what he didn't know, but that wasn't his job. Nawlin's job was to watch, listen, and fight, the Eggheads in the crawler would help with the who and why later. 

As the smoke shrouded form of the warehouse loomed ahead, mike squashed the speculation to the back of his mind. shouldering the rifle once more he scanned for the duo, easily finding the darting form of Aiden's gear, opening a beam channel he laid prowler prone a kilometer from the lip, and crawled forward, rifle held before him. <keep it coming, ill see if I can take out some of the tougher stuff> he grunted, prowler shifting to ambient sky colors, in an attempt to obscure him from the enemy below. Finally at the ledge he stopped and glanced quickly at his coolant levels. finding the bar green, he activated the system and sighed as the cockpit temp dropped to a mild chill, a appreciable side effect to the thermal camo. all systems running, he got to work. 

Scanning the smoke he found the lumbering form of a modified mining GEAR, considering it was in the target area, and aiming something in his friends direction, he found no qualms of taking it out. <engaging hostiles> he muttered as he fired a shot, adjusted, and sent another 2 shots downrange. the rounds impacting the gear heavily as they tore their way through the thick mild steel plates meant for rock chips and dirt, not ballistics. with a belch of oil and crunching metal, the first target tumbled into the rubble. 

<enemy GEAR down, repeat one enemy gear down> he said as some of the enemy began to focus on different targets, some looking for him, the new shooter. with the element of surprise gone, his next target wouldn't be as easy, no more broadside shots. looking for another HVT, a glint caught his eye. without thinking he rammed his shoulder into a pressure pad to his left, sending Prowler into a roll as the cliff face next to him cratered into dust. a muted shot a moment later confirming his paranoia. <enemy marksman!> he hollered to the others, as he scrambled for cover. It could have been just a luckey shot, but with all the confusion, smoke, and the accuracy told him otherwise. Mikes face tightened as he set up his counter, this wasn't at all like the plan.