[center][h1]Banshee[/h1][/center]

[b]<<"Decided to take in the scenery, new meat? Get your ass in gear, double time.">>[/b] Ariela replied conversationally as they set out, raising an eyebrow within her cockpit at the aforementioned pilot's sudden change in demeanor now that they were in the field. Who knew, maybe she was just the type to get her shit together on duty and nowhere else. If that was true, it was good enough for her. 

On the approach to the comm site, Ariela mentally reviewed the basic readouts of her squadmates that VALKYIRE had so generously provided. 

Platzragen: missile boat with a highly advanced FCS. Reminded her of some of the AUGs she'd seen on her side in the war, really. Probably a leftover like LINEBREAKER, then. 

Red Power: some godforsaken supermech with way too many proprietary designs. Too fancy not to be a corporate model, military wouldn't have stuck in this much complex gear instead of just strapping more guns to it. Kid inside had to be some kind of corpo-plant sent out to use the Neutral Zone as a live-fire testing ground. Hopefully, the machine's specs would make up for her inexperience. 

Two fast units and a siege specialist. She could work with this. Watcher wasn't objecting to her taking the lead so far, so she may as well keep at it. Wasn't like Ariela didn't have enough experience, anyway. 

As they finally reached their target area, a quick scan revealed the current force composition lined up against them. 

[b]<<"Comms squad, listen close. Here's how we'll do the attack run. Heavy kinetic cannons're our biggest problem, so knock them out first. Following that, pick targets of opportunity, but try to focus on the MAs if you can. I'll take the lead and draw their fire. FA, you'll follow after and clean up while they're distracted. Watcher, you've got free reign to go wild. Everything clear? Good. Break!">>[/b]

___

Jimmy yawned as he barely kept an eye on the sensor readings from his MA's cockpit. God, who did he piss off to get sent out into the middle of this shithole? He idly tore open a MRE packet, only to grimace as he realized what he'd gotten. Pork patty. Fuck's sake, he could've sworn he'd taken the one marked kung pao chicken from the garrison's communal box. Worse, there was no candy bar. He was gonna find that ratfucker if it was the last thing he did. With a disgusted sigh, he prepared to take an early, mediocre lunch on duty, before alarms began to blare in his cockpit. 

"Holy shi-" He swore, looking at the sensor readings before queueing up his comms. 

[i]<<"Command, we have incoming! Three Matsuzawa Drive readings, closing in fast! We have AUGs on site, I repeat, we have AUGs on site! The lead's coming in at three times the speed of the others!">>[/i]

LINEBREAKER tore through the sky in its overboost, the laser cannon mounted on its shoulder charging. Ariela grinned to herself as her FCS got a good lock onto the first of the kinetic cannons, and she opened fire. As the laser blast ripped through the heavy cannon, Ariela ended LINEBREAKER's overboost, touching down on the ground and starting to slide along with the regular boosters, opening up full auto with both of her carbines as she maneuvered towards cover behind a building. 

Jimmy never stood a chance, and he screamed in panic as his MA took a dozen rounds and went critical.

[@Eisenhorn] [@The World]