If Neil had been back on his homeplanet, he would have distinguished himself. He had been an expert Mech pilot back then, and a fair fighter on the ground, but after years of combat on his feet he'd become a far better physical combatant. He was among some of Canek's men who were out of their vehicles, firing at the ambushers with automatic weaponry. Neil's new Reaper worked like a charm. 

Reloading the cock with one swift action, he didn't even need to aim it at eye level. Two Dervishes were slain from three hip fire rounds on single shot, the bullet holes tearing through their bodies to bury in their allies who hide [b]behind[/b] a dune of sand. Three more men fell with his next four rounds, punching through bodies and armor with satisfying boltshots.  

Briefly he heard Sayeeda calling for him, his ears still ringing from the latest tank shots. He turned just in time to see the dervish attackers flanking their position. The leading one already in the middle of aiming for him. Neil leaped to the side, dodging the slug that would have punctured his chest. The dervish leaped at him, a curved knife in his hands. Neil landed on his back and caught the weapon arm. 

His knee struck the attacker in the stomach, and kicking off the man flipped over Neil end over end. To his credit, the desert raider reoriented himself just as Neil did, stabbing left with the knife as both lunged for the other on their knees in the desert sand. Neil caught his weapon hand once more, simultaneously striking at the man's neck with a hand chop using his free hand. He quickly disarmed the choking assailant and stabbed him with his own weapon. 

The men fought in a whirling maelstrom of bullets and lasshots among the dunes around Neil, many now in close combat like he had been. Swiftly, he searched the body of the man he killed, finding two frag grenades and even an ion grenade, used for disrupting vehicles and electronics for a short amount of time. He looked at one of the frags and found the pin, yanking it and tossing it over into the next dune beyond their lines where the enemy streamed from. It detonated and cut through three men, one crying out in pain, his intestines merely being torn as he bled into the sand, dying a slow death. 

"Captain!" he called to her, but the tank fired again and sand engulfed Neil as the concussive blast sent a miniature sandstorm through the now blood soaked sand. He wished he had the hauler. Maybe then he could do more than be just another rank and file. He tried again, but when he called for Junebug, his voice was hoarse from the sand in the air. The LAV lasers sliced through another ubiquitous line of men, their torsos falling off their legs in an almost unnatural, silly way to Neil's sensibilities. 

He grabbed a handful of sand and crawled as best as he could through the noise and fighting, cutting into an enemy's hamstrings, felling him with a stab to the neck and a grunt, before continuing on. It was what seemed an eternity before he rolled off a steep dune that looked to be almost a sheer drop before he rolled into Sayeeda, who had been knocked on her ass a second time. 

"Sup?" he asked tiredly, looking up at her through the debris and sand. 
[@Penny]