[h2][b][center]Vael ‘Virisusai[/center][/b][/h2]

[hr]

With the assistance of the rest of the team in thinning out the sentinels and drawing fire away from him, Vael’s shields recovered quickly. Ultimately, they only had to hold a few minutes, a feat of which this team proved more than capable. The machines, despite the power of their weapons, behaved predictably, so the team could easily manage the angles from which they could be threatened while supporting one another. 

Grikgar’s attack was well-timed. The charge cleared a cluster of sentinels, and weakened the shields of a few beyond them, shortly before the Mammoth could be heard on approach. Vael moved out from under the wing for long enough to replace his sentinel beam with a fresh one, then rushed out to give covering fire as soon as Aviza gave the order to move. Most of the team was equipped to take some damage, but the Pelican’s pilots, who followed Aviza’s signal to move, were more vulnerable. 

Just as before, Vael found it easy to target the sentinels with the beam, and especially for those with already-damaged shields, they fell quickly. Vael sprinted out ahead of the group until he was about halfway to the Mammoth, then turned back to cover those behind him. Fortunately, they had cleared enough of the machines before making their run that it was not too difficult of a task. He simply focused his fire on any sentinel that seemed to be pointed towards any of his more vulnerable allies. Rockets from the Mammoth provided support as well, though they naturally could not target too close to their position. 

As Vael finally reached the Mammoth, his shields flared from a sentinel beam striking across his back, but this time, they held until he could make it up the ramp. Once the last of them were inside, the ramp raised up and closed them inside the safety of their mobile base. Even stripped down and lightened as it was, the Mammoth’s armor was still much thicker than that of the Pelican and could handle the sentinels’ weapons. The sentinels would pursue for a time, but as long as the Mammoth moved away from whatever it was they were protecting, they would not follow forever. 

Vael could feel the sting of a burn on his chest. His armor’s plating dispersed the heat effectively enough to avoid [i]serious[/i] injury, though, so he did not find it worth mentioning. 

[color=lightblue]“We’re fine.”[/color] The Pelican pilot responded.

The co-pilot looked to be catching his breath, though he nodded in agreement to the pilot. [color=lightblue]“Holy hell, you guys don’t screw around…”[/color] He said, looking over at the rest of the team. Indeed, for the average soldier, the capabilities of a team such as theirs was nothing short of astounding. A normal squad of marines or Swords lance likely would have faced significant casualties in such a situation, if they even survived at all.