Crossfire

City of Treaft! (Semi-Private)

@King Tai It's excellent all the way through!

City of Treaft! (Semi-Private)

@1Hawkeyes@King Tai

Sorry for disappearing guys, been a bit busy irl. And I meant to post this a couple days ago, but then The Punisher Netflix show dropped so I've been furiously binge-watching it all weekend. Will be posting ASAP, either before bed or in the morning

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

@Xandrya

Grayson was clinging to one of the many spires at the top of the facility. He had recognized the sniper as Wrenti K'arr, one of their main targets. She was a diminutive thing. Barely 4 feet tall, hunch-backed and jackal-like in appearance. The two of them had danced around each other at every step of the way up here, Grayson cloaking and then zipping from point to point on his Spider's Web, Wrenti leaping with great force and accuracy. Despite several attempts, neither one could hit the other. Finally, Grayson had an idea.

He waited in place, uncloaked and openly taking aim at Wrenti's position. Through the scope he could see her doing the same. He cloaked, though he knew she still had eyes on him. Even through the cloaking of his suit, the glare of his rifle's scope would be visible. The battery wasn't going to last forever, so he had to move quick. Without swaying his aim too much, Grayson pried at the scope, yanking it free of the weapon. Despite his rifle's unique properties, he was confident he'd be able to repair it later. He carefully set the severed scope into a rut of the roof spire, just about where his rifle had been set. Lastly, he pulled out a length of cable from the Spider's Web device on his belt and wedged it into position just below the scope, and held onto it tight as he edged his way around to the far side. As soon as his eye implant was calibrated, he would yank the cable, pulling the scope out of view. If Wrenti fell for it, she'd rush to re-position, and he'd still be perfectly sighted up on her.

3...... 2....... 1...... pull.

CRACK

Direct hit. Wrenti went limp and slowly fell free from the spire. Before Grayson let himself breathe easy and bask in the afterglow of a good kill, his comms sputtered to life, the voice on the other end faint and static-y but instantly recognizable.

"Can -yone up there --- me? Th- is Amy, -ver."

He reached up to engage his earpiece, fiddling with it to try and clear up the frequency a little. Again he heard her.
"I repea-, this -- Amy, can anyo- hear me?"

Hoping she'd hear him, he replied.
"I hear ya Ames, are you okay?" And after a beat "Where are ya? Carver reported you and Arex were caught in an explosion, said there was no sign of either of ye."

@Silver Carrot@Banana

Lataniva calmly walked through the lower levels of the facility, her halberd in one hand and weaving psionics with the other. She eradicated anyone who came at her with a cold, casual attitude. This was strictly business, nothing more.

As she sensed the number of life forces around her greatly decreasing, she fumbled with her comms device long enough to say.
"Lower level is clear, update me on your status Tibulus. You as well Taleste."

---
On the other side of the valley...

Ian groaned as he came to with the taste of blood in his mouth. A few terrifying seconds gave the revelation that he couldn't move his legs. He was lying on top of Raisin, who was barely conscious, but breathing heavily. Looking around, he could still see the daylight, and the looming shape of Sol's fortress, the sounds of the fight seemed miles away.

It came back to him slowly, the explosives on the hill, Raisin getting shot, him triggering a mine as he tried to help.

"Don't move" she gasped faintly "I think we landed on another explosive, heard a click jus' before you came to."
"I can't move my legs, why can't I move my legs?"
A rustle as she shifted her head to peer over his shoulder. "They gone"
His heart rate jumped as terror shot through him "What do you mean, they're gone?"
"Your legs are gone. Musta been blown off in the explosion. I can't move either. Think I'mma bleed out soon"
"No. Nononono, we're gonna be ok, we have to be. Carver will find us, someone will patch us up."
"Honey, ain't no one gonna survive this. We're all dead. Even if they make it, we either gonna bleed out or get blasted to pieces by these damn explosives"
Defeated, Ian, slumped his head, and reached around to the rear of his sit to grab his medkit and fished out his flask.
"Let's make it quick. Here, drink."
She gulped down a healthy dose, her eyes began to stream, though if it was from the liquor or their impending doom, Ian would never know. He brought the flask to his own lips, and downed the rest of it. He dropped the metal tin, stared deep into Raisin's eyes, and mustered up enough strength to pull up on her shoulders. Both of them were incinerated instantly as the explosion consumed them and set off a chain reaction, lighting up the lower basin of Sovereign Valley in a brilliant blaze.

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

@Banana@Silver Carrot@BKburke
8 A.M. Local Time
Western Hills, Overlooking Sol's Fortress
Sovereign Valley, Rokarr

Stryker's team had landed first, and began to scout out the fortress from an elevated position. They quickly spotted an array of anti-air cannons embedded on the roof of the fortress, as well as a few in the surrounding hills.

"Not going to be easy" Kira stated as she looked on "We could maneuver around and disable the power to each gun individually, but there's no way we'd get up onto the roof without being detected, especially not while they have men patrolling the walls."
"So what else could we do?" Stryker said.
"All of these guns should be looped into the main power control room. If we could infiltrate and make our way down to it, we could kill all of their defenses at once."
"No telling how many men he's got protecting those areas though" Stryker said as his eyes wandered around the exterior walls of the estate "Look over there..."

He was interrupted by the sudden CRACK of a high-powered ballistic rifle. Within seconds the air was filled with the sounds of battle, gunshots, laser blasts, and explosions reverberated around the valley. He dropped to a knee and brought his rifle around, only to realize that it was the other teams beginning their attacks. His squad hadn't been detected. He held a fist skyward, the universal signal for 'hold fire' then the comms crackled to life.

"MAYDAY, MAYDAY"

Calls for assistance came in from both other teams. Stryker took a calming breath and tapped into the lines "Help is coming guys, hold steady."
He looked over his squad and quickly decided "Tobi, Joe, you guys get over to the north side rally point, help out Grayson's team, get moving! Lataniva, come here"
He grabbed the Dalentian's shoulder and pointed out a path with his finger.
"Follow the hill, down and behind those rocks, then make a straight shot right into the wall there. Breach through there and infiltrate the lower levels. Tibulus, you find that control room and take it offline. Taleste, you're going in with them, do what you do best. We're countin' on you guys to keep us all alive here, so good luck and get moving."

Finally he turned to Kira "Let's go bail your husband out"

@Xandrya
8 A.M. Local Time
Rock Cluster, Southern Approach to Sol's Fortress
Sovereign Valley, Rokarr

Carver's team, last on the ground, but first to reach their rally point, had settled in to a fairly covered position among the rocks. As they were sighting up on targets, a loud CRACK of a sniper rifle cut through the morning air. Looking around to realize none of his people had fired, Carver waved them into action.

"Open fire!"

As they began their initial volley of attack, Sol's forces were quick to retaliate. Raisin took a few shots to the shoulder, and fell down below cover again, trying to stem the flow of blood. Ian was quick to dart from his position, tugging at the first aid kid on his leg for a stabilizer.

Carver heard the metallic ping but it was already too late. The rocks were a trap. These hills were lined with explosives.
"Get down!" he shouted as the whoomps and bangs of the explosions filled the air.

"Watch out!" Arex shouted as he tackled Amy. His attempts at bravery were for naught, the ground crumbled beneath them, and they fell into the abyss.

"MAYDAY" Carver called into the comms "Taking heavy fire and artillery shelling. We're exposed here and greatly outnumbered! Taking casualties, need assistance!"

@Dealdric@Hawlin
7:58 A.M. Local Time
Northern Hills, Behind Sol's Fortress
Sovereign Valley, Rokarr

Grayson and Marcus were chatting lightly as the two sharpshoters sighted up on targets. The idea was they'd begin the attack here at the rear of the facility, draw at least some of their forces away, spread the battalion thin for the other teams.
"... once spent 36 hours in a snipers hold." Marcus was saying "Didn't move, didn't sleep, just waitin' for the Fed on the other side of the gorge to slip up. And then, just as I was about to take my shot.."

CRACK

Grayson whipped his head to the side to witness Marcus falling backwards, a bloody mess of brainpan and shattered glass where his face used to be. Gunshots and laser blasts filled the air, shortly followed by explosions. Grayson turned back to the fortress and put his cyber-eye to work, scanning the walls and towers furiously, trying to find the son of a bitch that pulled the trigger.

Troop carrier shuttles were launching off the roof and heading straight for them. Finally, Grayson spotted the telltale glint of a sniper's scope, far above them, nestled in an antenna cluster near the peak of the fortress. He turned to SAL and the others.
"Dig in here, don't let the fuckers root ya out. Call for backup, and give 'em fuckin' hell!"
He launched a grappling line from his Spider's Web towards one of the Troop Carriers and took off, his mind set solely on revenge against the sniper. As he whipped past the Troop carrier and fired a second line to the next one, catapulting himself towards the fortress towers, he caught sight of a familiar face from the mission briefings- the pirate leader Amon Haresal, who had allied his forces with Sol. Grayson spoke into the comms channel for his squad.

"SAL mate, you got one of those higher ups headin' down for ya! Make sure that fuckin' stone-faced prick don't get away with his life!"

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

Ok everyone, the last IC post has been updated, leading us right into the fight. I got some errands to run, but later this evening, when I get home, I could post again to really, officially kick things off. Until then, here's the basic setup:

Team 1: @Banana@Silver Carrot@BKburke with Stryker, Kira, Lataniva, and Joe. Orders: Scout fortress for anti-air defenses and disable them.
Team 2: @Xandrya with Carver, Arex, Ian, Raisin, Vulcaan, Juli and Jen. Engage rear assault
Team 3: @Hawlin@Dealdric with Grayson, SAL, Marcus, and Harriet. Orders: Engage in frontal assault.
Team 4: (Still on the Revenant) Ace, Seth, Ren, Maxi. Orders: Wait for the all-clear to engage using the ship's weapons.

This is roughly what I'm going for in terms of the valley's appearance, just with obviously a more futuristic look on the fortress:
http://www.caucasus-trekking.com/Images/Treks/Truso/Fullscreen/16_ZakagoriView.jpg
https://img00.deviantart.net/c8ad/i/2017/067/c/e/valley_fortress_by_onlychasing_safety-db1muak.jpg

EDIT: You may have noticed there was no post. I decided to delay it until after I got a PM response from everyone just to make sure we're all on the same page and everyone's happy re: individual roles for this final battle

City of Treaft! (Semi-Private)

The business was simple enough. Aim and shoot, then move on to the next scumbag. It was the preparation that was the real hard job, finding reliable sources of actionable information, picking the right tools for the job, plotting out an assault. It sometimes took Reaper days to plot his next large-scale move, but he kept busy with his nightly patrols, stopping whatever shit he stumbled across with a swift bullet or slash of a knife. Sometimes, though, sometimes he got lucky. Sometimes, he wandered into a bar and overheard some drunkard proclaim that the Chicos were planning to knock over a bank the next night, that it was going to be a big payday they were going to use to bankroll a whole new arsenal of heavy-duty gear.

'Not on my watch'

And so it came that he found himself staking out the bank in question, mere minutes before the show was set to start. His van parked over half a block away and stocked up for any level of engagement. He watched the front door of the bank through a pair of binoculars, waiting for any sign of movement.

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

@t2wave@Hawlin@Xandrya@Silver Carrot@Banana@Dealdric@BKburke@Tickout

Well, I dropped the ball and forgot to tag you all in the latest IC post, and furthermore, it's sort of unfinished. I mean, it's all there, the complete recap of phases 3 and 4 of the plan, we're all ready to start in on the final battle, but that's where I messed up, because I was gonna end it off with specific combat orders and the first bit of the fight, but it's late and I gotta hit the sack, so I'll be back in the morning to fix my big mistake and we can carry on!

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

A Week In Summary

Phase 3: Instigation
The plan was simple in it's complexities, as Stryker put it. With each passing minute, the Revenant was coasting further away from the heart of the Deadzone, away from Serros, and apparently, away from the task at hand. However, as was already known among some of the crew, Hadrian Sol owned a sizable estate on the planet Rokarr in the Lykori System, a star on the fringe of the Federation's territory. According to the scouting report Stryker and Carver had received from the pirate Vanderos, the estate was located in a place called Sovereign's Valley, completely isolated from any settlements on the planet. To Stryker, it seemed the perfect place to stage their assault, far away from the streets of Serros where millions of civilians would find themselves in the line of fire, but first they had to get Sol to retreat to his fortress, and the terms of the deal with Vanderos were clear, to completely eliminate any opposition to his rise to power. And for that, they needed to draw Farek and Sol into open conflict.

Grayson, Joe, Vulcaan and Marcus worked through the night to assemble enough fully-functioning sets of the pirate armor bearing Farek's mark. The four bonded over their shared skill of smithing, established a camaraderie the likes of which Grayson hadn't felt in what felt like years. By the end of the night, they had even cobbled together a collection of armors that, in the dark, would look similar enough to the type Sol outfitted his men with. Perfect subterfuge was the name of the game.

At the halfway point of their journey to Rokarr, the Maelstrom dislodged itself from the larger vessel and sped off back to Serros, by all calculations, both ships were to arrive at their destinations at the same time and begin mission in tandem. Carver, Grayson, SAL, Tobi, Marcus, Lataniva, Ian, Tibulus, the Ren platforms and Raisin on the Revenant as the ground team, and Stryker, Ace, Taleste, Amy, Kira, Lexi, Harriet, and Kaeci on the Maelstrom. The few remaining stayed on the Revenant, planning to take the ship into low orbit one the ground team disembarked to get some topographic scans of Sovereign's Valley.

On Serros, the Maelstrom team donned the Sol-style armor and picked their way through the streets until they found themselves a gaggle of Farek's men, drunkenly stumbling out of a pub. They wasted no time, dragging the drunkards into an alley and slitting their throats, they arranged the bodies beneath a banner bearing Sol's mark. When Farek discovered this in the morning, there was no doubt the easily-tempered pirate would spring to action against Sol, seeking revenge despite the latter's protests to any wrongdoing.

On Rokarr, the Revenant ground team, all clearly bearing Farek's colors for the opposition to see, committed to a soft assault, throwing potshot after potshot at the militia men stationed along the walls. After a time, the Revenant swooped down and fired a lobby of hellfire against the walls, giving the ground team ample time to board and make their escape. Both ships reunited several hours later, and the crews retired to their respective bunks for a well-deserved rest. The seeds of war had been planted, now to see how quickly they would take root.

Phase 4: War
The battle lines shook out slowly over several days, traffic above Serros becoming increasingly crowded as Sol and Farek both recalled the many ships in their respective fleets. Rumors trickled down to the Revenant-Maelstrom joint crew through Vanderos' pirates that Amon Haresal, another pirate captain with a sizable crew of his own, had declared the 15 ships under his command to Sol's army. Meanwhile Leonid Skilca, the last of the big 5, having apparently decided the whole thing was a colossal waste of time, was staying neutral in the conflict, choosing instead to take his men and ships off into the stars, word was they'd return when the matter was settled. So that left Farek friendless, outnumbered, and in a prime position to be stabbed in the back. Orders were handed down for Vanderos to declare for Farek's army, posing as a friend while plotting his downfall.

As the various pirate groups began to fight it out in the streets and in the skies, the crew managed to insert a team on the ground, they did everything in their power to evacuate civilians from the immediate danger zones. Despite a devastating death toll among both the fighters and innocents over nearly four days of open hostilities, countless more lives were saved by the efforts of the team on the ground.

Dawn of the fifth day. The day Hadrian Sol would breathe his last. Again, Stryker called it a plan that was simple in its complexities. The Revenant would slip in to the open combat above Serros, joining Farek and Vanderos' side of the fight with the Maelstrom, already cloaked and engines hot, magnetically attached to the hull. A small crew would remain aboard the Revenant to man the guns, everyone else was on the Maelstrom, locked and loaded for the fight.

It was a hot landing to say the least, the Maelstrom breaking orbit and forcing its way to a landing zone while keeping its cloaks actuve enough to avoid fire. The crew spilled out into the streets, moving as a cohesive unit, carving a path to the place the two crews had met, Sol's bar and his main headquaters on Serros. Blood of all colors imaginable stained the streets. Stryker, Carver and all the rest knew that it would end today, here and now if possible. The conflict had escalated in a way that the captains should have expected, and already too much innocent life had been wastefully torn apart. As they arrived at the heart of Sol's HQ, their initial suspicions were confirmed: the coward had fled. Slipped away in the fighting to retreat to his fortress on Rokarr. The chase was on.

Thanks to some nifty flying from Tibulus and Ace, the ships were able to safely navigate their way out of the combat zone just as Sol's long anticipated flagship showed up, a massive military-grade dreadnought, too large and dense to ever land on a planet, and fully equipped with every sort of weapon imaginable, including nuclear capability. Stryker made a call for Vanderos to evac his men in an attempt to save their lives, but all they got in return was the static of a dead line. Serros faded in the distance, the fates of everyone left behind completely unknown as the two ships pushed on for Rokarr, and the final battle with Sol's forces.

"Alright everyone, I'm gonna keep it short and sweet" Stryker's voice echoed through the ship as the crew prepared themselves "You've seen the scans and the recon imagery, Sol and his people are dug in deep. And they'll be expecting us, so here's the plan. As we speak, Carver's got his people gearing up and prepping to dock his ship onto us. The Maelstrom's stealth systems should allow us to get planetside without detection, we'll be going down in groups of 7, closing in on them from all sides to spread their defenses weak. They outnumber us greatly, but this way we could tip the odds in our favor. One last thing, Sol should have all of his top people down there with him, Vendra Nekten, Mavarros Sylva, Kovitar Qresh, and Wrenti Karr chief among them. All of them need to die alongside Sol if this mission is to be a success. If yor team spots any of them on the battlefield, engage immediately. Good hunting everyone, see you down there."

The Maelstrom linked up and one by one the teams made their way down to the battlefield. The rocky valley was doused in sunlight. It was a beautiful day on Rokarr, for many in the crew, it would be their last.

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

@Silver Carrot

"A great storm is coming Taleste" Lataniva said cryptically "I can sense it approaching more and more as we continue down this path. I fear this mission could be our end if we are not careful."

@Xandrya

"Yeah, no complaints" Grayson said as they walked along, still hand in hand "Had me runnin' overwatch. Too damn easy with this eye of mine. Takes the fun out of it after a while, sorry sobs don't have a chance when the cybers are calculatin' out the perfect killshot, but that's life innit?"

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

@Damo021 Yeah absolutely, I'm gonna be opening it back up to new applicants as soon as we're finished with this chapter of the story that I'm trying to get resolved!