[b][i]A quick collab staring Johnny Dervington and Ross Zombie (so we don't get sued by Rob)[/i][/b]

[color=dodgerblue]"Hey Tanya, don't your drones have those miniature rockets? A couple of those on those sniper positions and we can move up. Maybe use the truck as cover."[/color] Haze called over the comms, trying to troubleshoot how not to get their heads blown off from a high-velocity round. She pondered on the idea, but Iosif beat her to the punch and responded back with obvious concern. 


[color=SteelBlue]"Tanya, remind Haze that this ride's a technical - not armour. We draw too much fire, we're not going to move anytime soon, so try not to use us as a shield for too long and try to keep those snipers and any A-A off our back."[/color] Iosif grunted through the comms, having to take the truck rather sharply around a chunk of rock jutting up from the ground. [color=SteelBlue]"And sit tight, things might get bumpy."[/color] Indeed, the shaft was only slightly more open from the right - at least the krogan had been right about that. Not to mention, what fire the technical [i]had[/i] drawn had already done a bit of a number on its frame. It was only by the crudely grafted plating, the pirates' poor sense of engineering and sheer luck that they hadn't taken a shot through the engine, else they'd be dead in the water like a Mako trapped on its back.

Tanya was bracing in position so she could keep the gun level while Iosif took advantage of Drono's fucking insane distraction, that against all reason, was working. She keyed the comms to reply to Hazan. [color=cyan]"Really tight quarters and a giant glowing orange drone is pretty much impossible to miss for target practice. Shithead would be out of range, and only really useful for a distraction. I can keep microfabricating it with my omni-tool, but other shit to worry about. If I pop Shithead, and he takes the shot, everyone better be moving quick to suppress the bastards. Oh, and Iosif says hi and wants to remind you this piece of shit technical is holding together with hopes and dreams and he doesn't feel like getting shot out through the window today."[/color] 

She got the omni-tool ready. [color=cyan]"Okay, Iosif, as soon as Shithead acts as our holy martyr, lets get moving and we'll try to catch them by surprise between shots... and I know, I know. I'm risking ventilating my fucking forehead as much as you are on the chance our team isn't completely mentally challenged. But we're marines, yeah? It's our job to get shot at and show the other wankers how it's done."[/color] Tanya said, trying her damnest to be encouraging. Truth was, she was scared shitless of rounding the corner. Way too much was counting on what-ifs. 

That made a thin smile form across the Slav's face as Tanya projected herself with what came across to him as an encouraging confidence, deciding that he'd banked right when making a guess on which of the team had seemed reliable. [color=SteelBlue]"Right."[/color]

With a few flicks of her fingers, Shithead materialized just above the truck deck, illuminating the caves in an impossible to miss orange glow, like the world's most gentle fire was rolling through. [color=cyan]"Hey, Shithead. Four hostiles just around the corner. Go make them... wait."[/color] she said, a devilish grin crossing her face. [color=cyan]"Shithead, activate music player. Maximum volume. Play track, [I]Death Throes of the Vorcha Warlord[/I]. Delay until you round the corner. Go."[/color] 

As the combat drone fluttered off to its undignified demise, Tanya yelled out to the team, [color=cyan]"Everyone, get your helmets on, because this is going to louder than Drono's Fornax collection! Don't think I didn't hear you last night, you cheeky bugger."[/color] 

Suddenly, the bowels of hell ripped open and the mine shaft became an auditorium of pain as the heavy guitar riffs and drums were accompanied by what could only be a vorcha screaming to the tune. 

[I][b]AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH![/b][/I]

[color=cyan]"I almost lost my virginity to this song."[/color] Tanya chipped in cheerfully over the comms, her tone not giving an indication if she was telling the truth. [color=cyan]"Alright, Iosif, tally ho, or some shit. I don't know what you Slavs respond to for motivation. Everyone else, covering fire!"[/color]

It certainly inspired something in Iosif - for a moment, he felt a certain horror at the amplified screaming of the vorcha, enough that he completely blanked on Tanya's informative comment and nearly took the truck over a gaping pothole in the road until he noticed it and adjusted with a sharp twist of the steering wheel.

[Color=SteelBlue]"That'll work, even if my ears don't!"[/color] Iosif sarcastically retorted, yelling back to Tanya with an amused snort before shifting the truck in-line with her spot atop the turret. With some luck, those four-eyed bastards would be too busy being as frightened as he was by the vorcha warlord's raving and the team's covering fire that they wouldn't realise until it was too late that their makeshift "APC" was on their asses, meat tenderizer and all.

[color=SteelBlue]"Hope you've got a playlist of that screaming."[/color] He grunted yet again, just as the truck's engine came to a roar.

As Iosif finished his remark, a barely audible gunshot filled the caverns once more and Shithead exploded in a shower of sparks. Tanya was able to see from the exit hole in the combat drone the trajectory where the sniper had come from and traversed the turret in that direction, letting loose with several bursts of fire that tore into the rock face, chipping away at the well-worn stone. She couldn't see the damage being done or if she even hit the bastard through the smoke, but it was certainly going to be enough to keep someone's head down. 

Little did Tanya know, the sniper she had indirectly targeted was clipped in the arm, forcing him to take cover behind a stalagmite. The other sniper, who had set up near him, called him on the comms and told him it was time to fall back to the next line of defense. The smoke screen, after all, could work both ways. When there was a break in the fire, the wounded batarian tried to make a break for it and was hit in the leg, forcing out a pained scream as he collapsed, sliding onto the road, wounded. He tried to shoot his rifle at the attackers with one good arm supporting the weight of the rifle, inaccurately trying to hit something. His partner left him behind as he made his break for it.

The other snipers, however, didn't budge.

Another shot filled the air, the heavy thunk of a Kishock, and suddenly Tanya found her gun explode with a long, deadly looking harpoon piecing through it, inches from her wrist. She screamed as she was knocked back, her shielding absorbing the majority of the blast, which knocked her shielding down to 12%. Panting and fearful, she dropped down, eyes locked on the harpoon that had very nearly ended her life.

[color=cyan]"Oh god, Lewis..."[/color] She said, voice high and cracking from stress as she slipped further down into cover, breathing quickly and unevenly. [color=cyan]"No, no, no..."[/color] 

It took Iosif one glance over the shoulder to see that his gunner was in trouble, then another to see that one of the batarians had put one of those damned harpoons through the turret. [color=SteelBlue]"Shit, you okay?! Stick-"[/color] was all he could grunt out before his voice was blotted out by a thunderous crack and another slug slammed through the driver's compartment, puncturing through a thin gap between the crude armour plates that were grafted over the front of the technical. In the tight, claustrophobic confines of the space, it was almost deafening when the relativistic projectile nearly scraped through the controls, leaving a visible crack in the interface.

Heart pounding faster than ever, Iosif almost froze up, yet another familiar voice spoke from within - three simple words, echoed from his old flight instructor, "[i]Don't lock up.[/i]" And like that, his hands moved at what almost felt like a redshift and his boot weighted against the accelerator once he'd shifted the truck into a reverse. Within a few seconds, the weight of the vehicle shifted forwards and Iosif brought it around another mound of rock which offered better a somewhat better degree of shelter than the exposed pathway they'd been trapped on before.

The glow of his omni-tool quickly illuminated the dimly lit driver's compartment as he brought up a solution of omni-gel to fortify his armour, reinforcing it where he could in a hasty effort to ensure that any other shots wouldn't automatically give him a tracheotomy. Once that was done, he realised he'd not heard from his gunner for a while and shouted up towards Tanya in a straightforward pidgin, [color=SteelBlue]"How's things up there?! You injured?"[/color]

The words were faint, like they were trying to pierce through a wall, or a dream. They didn't register at first with Tanya, who was locked up and shaking in the back, reliving a horror she buried deeply within herself, gritting her teeth. Iosif's voice repeated, breaking through, shaking Tanya from her fear. Her breathing slowed, and she shook her head, smashing her fist into her helmet to ground herself, releasing a frustrated growl. [color=cyan]"You've a job to do, you useless [I]bitch.[/I]"[/color] she snarled to herself, pushing her demons back into their bottle, struggling to keep the cork in place so it didn't spill out again. [color=cyan]"These guys are depending on you, fucking do your job."[/color] she was calmer now, face a hard mask of determination. She would not fail, she could not afford to. She produced the rifle from her back, banging her fist against the rear window to let Iosif know she was there. [color=cyan]"I'm here! I'm here. Fucking sniper took out the gun, scared the shit out of me. I'm alright!"[/color] she said, her head dropping back, helmet ringing against the cab. [color=cyan]"Everything alright down there? I'm pinned down."[/color] 

[color=SteelBlue]"Still in one piece! Fucking batarians!"[/color] Iosif seethed at the status report on the turret, realising that it had probably been the source of the noise coming from that damned Kishock. From what he'd seen of those harpoons, it was by sheer luck that Tanya hadn't been skewered - but it was still bad news. Clearing his throat and sucking down another breath, he shouted back up rather hoarsely, [color=SteelBlue]"I bought us some cover but I don't know how long it'll last, those bastards got a lucky shot between the plates! We could use support from the others, this thing isn't a damned Mako."[/color] The mound had afforded them some degree of shelter, yet if those snipers changed position... Iosif didn't want to consider how that could leave them in a shitshow if they were still stationary and his hands were shaking badly enough as they were.

[color=SteelBlue]"If I get us on the move again, can you return fire? If we get some suppressive on them again we'll be golden![/color]

Tanya chuckled weakly. [color=cyan]"Oh, can we please buy a Mako? I promise I'll take good care of it!"[/color] she joked, not feeling quite there for confidence. Her legs felt like noodles. She shook her head, trying to move a body that wasn't cooprating. [color=cyan]"I don't think I can move myself to a good firing position, my fucking legs are crapping out. That shot shook me up pretty bad."[/color] she said, looking through the window at Iosif. [color=cyan]"I just need a couple minutes. Where the hell are the others?"[/color] she asked.