[quote]so....I suppose it would be too much to hope that these were the amazing future tech gears we were talking about?[/quote]
Silverwind looked grimly at the smouldering hulk of the Imperial GEAR, and felt an unsettled feeling in the pit of his stomach. The squad of Imp Special Forces hadn't been a complete pushover; they'd moved with due care and caution, and even with the surprise of the Roughriders deploying, had put up a good fight before being shattered. Had they been ready and prepared for the team, Silverwind doubted that the LDF GEAR unit would've come through as relatively unscathed as they did; losing one GEAR was a small price. Especially as the Roughriders were so understrength compared to their initial numbers. 
But whatever the newcomers were, the garbled and panicky reports coming back now hinted at something much more powerful and deadly than the Imperials.

Aihara's outburst shook him from his reverie and contemplation, before Adrian's voice spoke over the network next. Drawing his wits back together, he spoke up once more in reply to his team.
"I ain't got a clue what they're armed with, Aihara," he replied to the younger pilots' comment. "But whatever it is, it ain't gonna be anythin' good. If they're from the South, then expect anythin'; and a lot more advanced than the Imps were packin', an' us too. Keel's right: Buddy up as much as we can. There's three of 'em and five of us. [i]Stumpy[/i] is down, so we ain't even numbers - but got friendlies in the area an' the tangoes are already headed outta the town. Keep 'em movin, strike and fade away, an' use yer skills and weapons to the fullest ya can."
He swivelled the GEAR on the spot, turning to face the direction of the nearby combat, the GEAR's head tracking the explosions and the GEARs as they were visible between obstacles, or as they leapt into the skies on jumpjets, far more manoeuvrable than anything he'd seen before. 
"Keel, you and Aihara team up an' hit one of 'em. Nawlin, Jacquo, you two are wi' me. The third one, we leave to the locals to harass, an' then tag-team 'im. Only way we can do this. Move out, let's show these Southern fuckers how Landren rolls". 

The team needed confidence in their leader right now, and to see him not hesitating, to see him leading firmly and with a strong, confident hand. As such, he leant the [i]Harlock[/i] forward, slaloming with ease around wreckage and debris in the street, and spinning with flair and cocky ease around a street corner, before cutting through an alley into the next street over, and out into a four-lane avenue. Wheeled armour, utility vehicles and infantry were putting up a valiant effort, as the enemy GEAR virtually danced through their ranks. Silverwinds' eye widened in alarm as he saw some kind of blue, lightning-like beam from its' left palm turn one of the ATV's into a ball of flame. It danced aside from a blast from one of the vehicles' cannons, and followed up with a volley of RPG-sized, arrowhead-shaped missiles that turned the vehicle into a ball of flaming scrap. A squad of infantry were turned to bloody rags as a volely of flechettes jetted out from the machines knuckles, before it glided back on the foot-and-calf mounted thrusters, like a skater over ice. 
Blade had seen enough, and barked out orders to Irry and Mike. "We got some room, spread out and flank 'im. I'll drive up the middle and pin him with the mortar an' missiles!" 
He gamely blanketed the area around the hostile with hi-ex and AP rounds from the shoulder mounted morter, the rounds erupted in explosive clouds down the length of the street, even as he sprinted and skidded along the boulevard, crushing a park bench in his run. The tone for a lock-on sounded, and he blitzed the machine with a follow-up pair of anti-armour missiles as he spied Irry moving to his right, hugging the faces of the buildings and covering the advance with a barrage of grenades from the auto-launcher on her machines' shoulder.

* * *

The second of the three GEARs had taken a parallel course, moving down the other wide throughfare of the town, heading for the outskirts. Parked and abandoned traffic littered the byway, causing obstructions to the locals' attempts to fight back against the Southern GEAR as it caused havoc throughout the town. Their vehicles were forced to manoeuver awkwardly around the parked or abandoned machines, leading to more of them being torn to pieces by the enemies' horrendously accurate and powerful weapons. 
All the same, the enemy were not omnipotent, nor invincible; as the Roughriders arrived on the scene, the enemy GEAR stumbled as it moved around a pair of tractor-trailer trucks, the load of sewer pipes on one having broke their restraints and littered the pavement. The momentary distraction was enough for one of the mobile guns to wheel into place and pull off a snap-shot against the machine, its' 90mm cannon scoring a definitive hit on the rear wedge-like apparatus on its' back. The machine toppled forward onto its' knees; but was not yet out for the count. It pressed one hand against the asphalt, and began to rise again, the back armour smouldering, breached, but not destroyed. Eyes glowing, the machine targeted the armoured vehicle, which was already reversing back into the alley, slicing through its' forward hull with a high-intensity laser, before its' head swivelled to regard the new arrivals.