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[center][hider=Overture BGM: Deathrow - Events in Concealment]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anKj159YtL4[/youtube]

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[i]The Sprawls - rainforest region on the outskirts of city of Kerovnia, Caracosa.[/i]

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In the flash of a pulse-blast, the extraction mission had gone south. To the nine agent crew of the stealth transport vessel, specifically modified to evade the targeting and tracking systems of any known hegemon, that shouldn't have been possible. The Gnosis Eater Sect had a reputation for dropping into the most dangerous of warzones. Ether-scanning, electro-interference vision, biosignature reading - their dropships had a reputation for being as ghostly as their fighters. 

None of that mattered as cockpit was blown open and with it, the pilot's entire upper torso. All they had for warning was a few seconds of turbulence, a targeting bleep, and just as the cockpit door opened, they saw an angry conical flash headed their way. There was no time for the pilot to scream before the energy-ablative glass shattered, sending a storm of slicing fragments into the troop carrier bay and reducing the human pilot to half a stomach and a pair of legs attached to a charred stump.

You didn't just "nab" a Sect stealth transport like that. Not on an op like this. Not unless you had help.

The rest of the cockpit hadn't fared any better. Where once stood a cutting edge series of semi-biological and ether-receptive mechanisms capable of synchronizing with nearly any species now sparked and sputtered from the overload of deadly currents the energy blast had sent. A ghostly fog-like light hovered over the various switches, screens, and panels but it did not obscure one particular feature. A holograph emitted by the still intact projector display hovered just in front of the pilot's remains, a red floating rectangular outline encasing in plain english:

[center][h3][b][color=39b54a]VEHICULAR CONTROLS UNRESPONSIVE. BRACE FOR IMPACT.[/color][/b][/h3][/center]

Air rushed into the rattling vessel, descending faster and faster far past its initial landing spot in one of Kerovnia's parking lots and into the depths of the woods. The first few trees crashed and snapped their tops against the hull but the powerful wooden forms soon grew thicker and more resistant, ripping through wings and vital components as sparks and flames began to erupt through the descending wreck.

And wreck it did, crashing through the layered foliage, streaming black smoke as it slammed into dirt and bumped over stones, rocking the entirety of the reinforced hull, slamming down with a grating groan of tortured metal before a final agonized end to its perilous, dead-end journey. It had been hard to tell what else had happened during the harrowing descent but over half of its mass had been torn off as it fell, leaving a withered husk partially crushed between a series of now heavily dented rocks and toppled trees.

A dull silence befell the woods, punctuated by a few instances of sparking electronics and weakened metal cracking off like melting icicles. Another sound soon fellowed.

A sharp crack off in the distance and the sound of wildlife scattering to the air and through the undergrowth. Another, a third, fourth, fifth, a whole volley, pinging off of burning metal and tearing into stone, adding gravelly dust to the fuming smoke emerging from the wreckage. Distant calls and cries could be heard now growing in volume as black outlines could be seen distantly through the woods, closing in on the wreckage. Too far to get a clear view through the ether-electrical interference emerging from the crashed vessel but the long shapes within their arms left few questions.

Off in the distance, a few clicks over to the southwest, Kerovnia could be seen with its paritally decapitated tower-structures and the the roofs of its larger buildings visible over the thick foliage. That was where they were initially headed. That was also where the largest concentrations of the hostiles seemed to be heading from. Around them, the thick foliage was far from friendly to invader or defender; it was perfect for getting lost in. The same however, applied to the enemy.

Electrical interference was playing with the coms, practically silencing the team, but a distant signal was pinging on their coms. A voice was trying to break through the heavy static and interference emitted from the smoking wreckage.

[color=f26522]"GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!"[/color] It called out, the particulars of its voice reduced to a grating buzz as their unknown contact blared over the sound of distant potshots and blizzard background ambience. [color=f26522]"THEY KNEW YOU WERE GOING TO LAND HERE, THERE IS NO TIME TO EXPLAIN. WE NEED TO LINK UP SOMEWHERE SECURE, CANNOT SEND LOCATION DATA DUE TO INTERF-"[/color]

Before it could continue, a series of loud whistles could be heard through the air but they did not radiate from around them but above. 

Mortar fire; energy-based given how it was further blurring the coms. Based on the volume, likely landing near and soon.