Massasauga

Halo: Edge of Midnight

Lucy sat there in the seat. She was quite pleased with herself, having gotten herself the ire of the MPs once again. They'd have to try harder than that to get her. What she didn't expect was for one of the Sangheili to take up a position behind her and talk of taking her to the brig. Lucy looked over at him and gave him her best smile. She'd trained long and hard to be able to stand up to the highest Covenant enemies. She would love to surprise him with what she'd learned over the years.

But the briefing was underway, and that drew her attention. The briefing was short and concise, but there was room open for questions. This op had "ONI" written all over it. Little information was given beyond basic standing orders and formation assembly. Lucy was nonplussed, and so happily voiced her concerns when the floor was opened to the team.

"So what gives, then?" She asked. "Are we getting any support? A Prowler, maybe? Should we expect EVA operations? What's our infil and exfil plan? Do we have options for secondary and tertiary exfil? What's the CASEVAC procedures should anything catastrophic happen? And, most importantly, is there anything you're not telling us that we need to know before we go in?"

Lucy rattled off the obvious questions. She knew that the Commander had these answers, and that many of them were meant to be unspoken, but this op was not sitting right with her already. She wanted the information out in the open now, for everyone to hear and understand, before any orders could be superseded mid-op. Sure it was a ghost ship, but any number of things could've happened to it in the years following the end of the war.

Even though Lucy had her Sergeant stripes pulled when she was discharged at the end of the war, she still had learned quite a lot from being an NCO for a short time. And one thing was that you couldn't count on the officers to tell you everything you needed to know unless you asked. And sometimes, not even then.

Shattered Steel - Armoured Fist. An RP about modern armoured vehicles in an alternate world- ON HIATUS

Honestly I think I know how to spruce it up a bit but the groundwork is already laid down. I’ve always been good at polishing and improv when working in an existing setting. Making a new thread would mean either we do a completely different setting or bring you in to credit you.

Halo: Edge of Midnight

Lucy gave Finnian a side eye before obviously ignoring him and going back to her half-finished meal. They hadn't been sitting for more than ten minutes, and she wasn't barely ready to leave the D-FAC yet. She preferred not to inhale her meals, but damn Finnian for his incessant conversing. Had she known she was going to be summoned for a briefing in the middle of her meal, she would've ate faster and asked Finnian to 'feck off' in so many words. As though to keep the pressure on, Artemis showed up on the table with a spiel for her to hurry up. Lucy stared at her with her fork halfway up from her plate and gave her a look at could kill. She wasn't having it.

"Gimme five minutes." She told the AI.

In that time, she stuffed her mouth full of all the food on her plate including the biscuits and washing it down with her cola. It took her three minutes, at which point she saw a pair of MPs approaching her table. She didn't mind. She'd kick their asses too like she did the Lieutenant's and many others. There was a good reason she was an instructor for combatives. The MPs both flanked her from behind just as she finished making her peanut butter sandwich.

"Let's go, Lance Corporal." One of them said.
"Yeah yeah, I hear ya." Lucy replied.

She stood up with her plate and cup and let the MPs escort her off to the exit, while she munched on her sandwich. She tossed her plate into the window where the kitchen staff were and walked out.

"Food isn't allowed outside of the Dining Facility, Lance Corporal." The MP spoke up.

Lucy turned to look at him as she bit into the sandwich once again. The MP brought out his baton and extended it, to which Lucy took off running. It wasn't a fair deal for the MPs, honestly. She was faster from all her training and personal workout time. As she took off, she skirted past a Major with the two MPs hot on her heels. She took sudden turns and doubled back until, through persistence, she shook them off her tail.

She finished her sandwich and quickly found the briefing room. As she slipped in with a shit-eating grin on her face, she heard footsteps loudly approaching the door. She took her seat and put her arms behind her head, leaning back in her chair as the two MPs burst into the doorway and saw that unmistakable head of blazing crimson hair taking up one of the chairs. Lucy looked to them and waved.

"Thank you, boys." She said in a sing-song voice.

The MPs looked like they were about to blow a gasket, but the presence of the Commander kept them cool-headed for now. They waited to see if he would dismiss them or have them go in for the detainment.

Shattered Steel - Armoured Fist. An RP about modern armoured vehicles in an alternate world- ON HIATUS

Well admittedly, tank combat isn’t as flashy as dogfights.

Shattered Steel - Armoured Fist. An RP about modern armoured vehicles in an alternate world- ON HIATUS

The boss was curt as usual. Maddy had a lot on her shoulders as it was, and Ash was only adding onto it. These mercenary outfits were always bumping through contracts with tanks that seemed like they were barely holding together. Hell, Ash had heard that the girls had to source the coaxial guns for the M60 as well as a new engine and transmission. They put a lot of their own money into Belladonna to keep her up, running, and happy. Yet Belladonna was a picky bitch and always a bit temperamental. Ash tried to keep her happy, but there was only so much she could do on her own.

As the Might Jalopy and Belladonna moved down the road, Roxy put the music back up. Darla was visibly on edge. Velvet was as well. The music was to help calm them down, which worked wonders. Velvet was looking for telltale signs of IEDs alongside Darla who was keeping an eye on their direct front. Ash was the only one totally at calm as she kept her eyes on the surroundings to try to spot any would-be day-ruiners. All it took was one well-placed RPG into their side and they'd be knocked out. Darla was always complaining about a lack of infantry support at times like this, but she was too focused to care right now.

There was a quiet. A hush. The entire crew went silent. Only the music and the engine could be heard. Something in their minds alerted them, like the split-second before a lightning strike. Then bullets started bouncing off the armor. To their credit, no one in the crew flinched. Maddy shouted her orders, to which Ash replied "Copy" and nothing else before switching back to thew crew channel.

"Fangs, coax, two story building on the right."
"Identified!"
"Pull the trigger til they don't get up."

The machine gun rattled as Darla sent rounds downrange. Ash swiveled her cupola to the left and lit off with the M2 Browning at the other building, peppering it with .50 cal rounds that chewed the walls up.

"Haymaker, keep your hands near those shotguns. We may get drones soon." Ash instructed.
"You got it."
"Doll, keep steady on this heading and get us a bit of distance from the others."
"Sure thing, boss!"

Halo: Edge of Midnight

"I've tango'd with both Spartans and Elites, McGowan. The Elites are taller but the Spartans have better speed. At the end of the day, the Sierras are a lot harder to work around than the Elites are. It's all about reactions. If you're slow, it doesn't matter how big you are. And as far as the gear goes, it never pays to rely on the gadgets."

Lucy smirked to herself. The expression was short-lived as she was called to the conference room along with others. She outwardly groaned and looked down at her plate, which still had half of her meal on it. Damn McGowan for getting her yakking away like that. But, in her usual fashion as a Lance Corporal, she endeavored to inconvenience her superiors the tiniest bit at every possible point. Skating was part of her skillset, and she used it effectively.

So she sat. Eating and enjoying her meal as was uncharacteristic. Chow halls were meant to be used and left as quick as possible, but Lucy didn't take kindly to her sacred time being interrupted. Besides, the announcement said "as soon as possible," and whatever they were going to have her do, Lucy knew that she'd need as much energy as she could get. Besides, even as a Lance Corporal, she carried herself more like a Sergeant that she used to be. Experience was a great teacher, and she was part of the old breed now.

Shattered Steel - Armoured Fist. An RP about modern armoured vehicles in an alternate world- ON HIATUS

The crew had been, for the most part, very quiet about what had just transpired. Tank combat was personal, to a point. It was also impersonal, to a point. What Ash had done bridged the gap between both. She made it very personal, and yet acted as if it was just another part of the job. The crew had a newfound fear and respect for her. To charge a tank as fearlessly as she did, even if it was knocked out by mobility kill, still took a lot of guts and stupidity. They were still figuring out which it was as Roxy and Darla went about tossing the empty casings out of the turret. Doll had inspected the hull and turret to find a shiny new streak of raw steel that she'd have to repair later.

"Doll. New orders. Regroup on the command tank."
"Yes, mom."

Ash didn't respond to the slight, but figured that Velvet had made a Freudian slip. She pulled the M60 around as Ash instructed which way to go so as not to grease their treads with friendly infantry. As they neared to saddle up alongside the command tank, Ash got on the horn.

"Maddy, this is Hex. Belladonna's acting up. FCS failure on SABOT rounds seems to be a recurring issue. We're going to have to put in for an upgrade soon before the manual firing device stops working. Be advised that we will be relying on you more so for main gun support. Belladonna's pretty much taken her lion's share anyway. I don't think she's very hungry right now."

Halo: Edge of Midnight

Given the state of the UNSC in 2560, veterans would be recalled to active service after intense losses. Same thing happened to Lucy.

Halo: Edge of Midnight

Lance Corporal Lucy Holden
Anvil Station

Lucy sat and listened to Finnian as he asked her why she didn't go for the Spartan program. There were many other answers to that question. The one she gave the recruiters was, of course, "You guys are really trying to get me killed now." The idea of being a Spartan was very conflicting, but there was a lot she didn't like. She really especially didn't like how they used them for everything under the sun but without much in the way of support. In the later years of the Human-Covenant War, she had worked with the Master Chief in passing but also noted how he was always sent off alone most of the time. She preferred the support of the platoon, personally.

There was also the idea behind it. Sure it would let her become stronger and better able to fight the Banished one on one, but then she'd be under the Navy's thumb even more. And, to a greater extent, ONI's. Being a Spartan would basically mean Lucy would have to give up on having any sort of civilian life for a long time, and she couldn't have that. She loved being a vocalist in her band. If she couldn't do that, then she'd soon go crazy. No amount of strength was worth that to her. Besides, she had worked her ass off to prove that even regular humans, when given the know-how and training, could take on Sangheili or Jiralhanae in hand-to-hand combat. It was tough and required a lot of luck, but it was possible without being a Spartan.

But as she looked on at the two Sierras mingling with former enemies, she knew what answer to give Finnian. She threw her gaze over at him. She would've been a Gunnery Sergeant easily now if it weren't for her "sparkling attitude." She didn't give a rats ass about getting rank, though. She had lost her Sergeant stripes just as easily as she had earned them, and it didn't make a difference to her anyway.

"McGowan, if I wanted to have command up my ass all the time, then yeah I'd join the Spartans. But I don't want to. We're troopers. We're the best of the best without having to be some super-roided out scientific plaything for some ONI fuckheads. Nah, man. I'm fine right where I'm at. With the boys and girls of the ODSTs. Spartans don't know that kind of brotherhood and camaraderie. It's not something you can be taught. You have to be in it. And those who left to become Spartans? Well, I think that they were the black sheep looking for anyway out they could get. Let them be some power suit jockey for the SPECWAR command. We'll still be there to pull their asses out of the fire when they bite off more than they can chew."

Lucy stoked the inter-service rivalry. Whether through ingrained malice or simple abrasiveness, it was hard to tell. But the feeling was the same, deep down. You just couldn't get this anywhere else. Lucy found a home among the troopers, and she wouldn't give it up for all the money in the galaxy.

Shattered Steel - Armoured Fist. An RP about modern armoured vehicles in an alternate world- ON HIATUS

The sprint up the beach was anything but. It was times like this that Darla was happy to have a stabilizer in the vehicle. The M60, though not officially known as a Patton but nicknamed such anyway due to intense similarities, was the last of the old breed. When the Army moved onto the M1, they finally started using composite armor. But the M60 still had rolled homogeneous steel construction, much like the Shermans and Pershings of yesteryear. In the face of peer adversaries, the armor was adequate. But the T-72s, and by extension T-80 and T-90 series tanks, could punch holes right through the armor with ease.

It was for that reason that Darla zeroed in on the T-72 currently showing its flank to her. She pulled the trigger after releasing and watched the HEAT round streak toward it, striking it in the side. The ensuing fireball sent the turret rocketing off the hull to land discarded on the desert floor some distance away.

"Haymaker, load SABOT." Ash commanded.
"SABOT UP!" Roxy yelled after locking the breech.
"SABOT indexed!" Darla shouted as she re-indexed the main gun to keep it from sending the kinetic round sailing over the heads of their target.
"Fangs, battlesight, two tanks, left tank first." Ash said.
"Identified!"
"Fire."
"On the way!"

Click. Nothing. Click. Nothing again.

"Shit! FCS down! Stand by!" Darla shouted.

She grabbed the manual firing device, colloquially known as the "master blaster", and twisted it, sending an electrical charge down to the gun that ignited the round in the barrel. The tank rocked. Darla watched the SABOT streak through the air and smash into the engine block of the left tank. It caught fire almost immediately. Before Ash could order Darla to fire on the second T-72, the tank shook as a loud bang sounded inside the turret. Velvet rocked in her seat as Roxy and Darla braced. Ash dropped onto the turret floor on her ass, earning her indignation immediately.

"Status." She said loudly above the noise in the turret.
"Up!" Velvet cried.
"I'm up!" Darla shouted.
"I'm not out yet! Everything seems fine!" Roxy called out before she stooped down and helped Ash back onto her commander's seat.

Ash stared through the viewport and spotted the T-55s running adjacent to the T-72s. One had its turret cranked all the way around and was aimed squarely at them. The other tanks were still cranking theirs around. Ash wiped blood from her busted lip and set her vengeance in motion.

"Haymaker, load plastic."
Roxy looked at her like she had two heads, but shrugged her shoulders and grabbed one of the HEP shells.
"Doll, shift it into second gear."
"Copy!"
The tank lurched forward at renewed speed, pulling out in front of Maddy's tank.
"PLASTIC UP!" Roxy yelled.
"Fangs, tank, you know which one." There was venom laced in her words.
"Identified!" Darla shouted immediately after.
"Re-index."
"Indexed!"
"Relaze. Aim for the turret."
"Lazed!"
"Fire, fire SABOT."
"ON THE WAY!"

The HEP round sailed forward and smashed into the T-55's turret mantle. The other tanks would be made short work of by their allies. But Ash wanted this kill to be hers. Special. Personal. They had challenged Hecate's words in her heart. That was not something she let go lightly.

"SABOT UP!" Roxy yelled again.
"Doll, pull up to the tank and keep it between us and the others."
"Oooookay!" Velvet replied shakily, hoping that Ash knew what she was doing.
"Fangs, take out their track."
"On the way!"

She had to resort to the master blaster again, but sent the SABOT round into the right track and sprocket. Back at Fort Knox, they called it a "mobility kill." But Ash wasn't done.

"Fangs, engage at will. Do not fire on the wounded tank. I'll be back." Ash said, unplugging her CVC headset from the tank's intercom.
"You'll what?!" Darla whirled around in her seat just in time to watch Ash's feet disappearing up out of the commander's hatch. "What the hell is she doing?"

Ash ran off at a quick speed. Her feet carried her across the entire barrel of the Belladonna, knowing that it could be moved at any second. But at the very end of the muzzle, she jumped off and felt it leave her feet. Fangs had acquired a new target. That was fine. Ash sprinted like the wind and reached the T-55 in seconds, grabbing the tank gun and swinging her whole body up to plant her feet onto the engine block. The commander's hatch opened and the ISL tank commander stood turned out of it. Her eyes dilated and she darted toward him. He saw her coming. Maybe it was the striking face tattoo. Maybe it was the gleaming silver dagger in her hand. Maybe it was way she scaled up the turret like a big cat closing the distance on its prey. Maybe it was all of the above. But for whatever reason, he was shocked. Mortified, even beyond any rational thought.

He tried to pull himself out and throw his body over the side of the tank, only for Ash to snatch him up and drive the dagger into his neck. She forced it out and slit his throat wide open before she let his limp form carry on off the side of the tank and onto the sand. She then stepped up to the commander's hatch and drew her pistol, the nickel-plated finish gleaming in the desert sun and engraved with cult iconography akin to her tattooed skin. She disappeared into the turret. Three shots rang out, then silence. Ash pulled herself up out of the turret. The driver, still alive, pulled himself out through his hatch and started to run from the wreck. Ash pointed her pistol at him and fired just as Darla found a new target and sent another SABOT out the cannon of the Belladonna. As the driver fell and sprawled out onto the sand, another tank exploded in the distance.

Ash looked on for but a moment before she headed back to the Belladonna. Much as she would've liked to stay and bask in the victory, there was still much to do. It promised to be a long day, and it had only just begun. She took one of the red smoke grenades off the ring around the commander's cupola and tossed it into the open hatch of the T-55 as the passed it. Red smoke soon poured out from the tank, indicating to company salvage crews later that it could be serviced if repaired. And if not, it would certainly be a nice bonus to sell off to another country.

Roxy popped her hatch open and made a whistle to signify how impressed she was. After all, what Ash had done was nothing short of insane in the middle of a combat zone. Doll had also been observing, but ducked back down when she saw the commander coming back. When Ash sat down and everyone buttoned up again, Roxy was the first to acknowledge it.

"Damn, I'd hate to see you on a bad day."
"No one messes with my crew. No one." Ash replied.
"It's not often we get to bond with the newbies after first light. But...I think we know what to do now." Velvet said from her seat as she pulled the tank away from their most recent kill.
"Yeah. Regular little ritual. Once we get done with this engagement, hand us your helmet."

Ash said nothing in response and waited for orders to come down from Maddy.