Before he sets off he runs one final diagnostic on his armor and weapons, the impact was very bad, coolant subsystem on the nano ammo forge was damaged, ammunition for the Retribution will be limited to 20000 rounds, so he houses the weapon and readies the Stryker instead.

He moves slowly, too slow to his liking, pausing every so often to check the motion sensor and the surroundings, his armors on-board computer scanning the surroundings, checking for any sort of contamination or evidence of what might’ve happened to the population, New Dawn is a relatively small colony, only about 1500 people so someone must still be around, as nothing hazardous is being picked up.

As he crests a ridge he spots movement, engaging the magnification on his display he sees the investigation team, Lucia and Evelyn taking cover behind a structure, looking further north he sees a Rhine Schlange IFV, he thinks to himself “not so fast” he moves closer to the effective range for the M227, engages the entrenching system on the armor, readies the weapon and unleashes a torrent of firepower that shreds the vehicle in seconds, warnings appearing on his displays that the nano forge has over heated and all ammo production has ceased having expended all 20000 rounds in a single 5 second burst, he disengages the armor entrenching system, stows the weapon and readies Storm Breaker, charging into battle, the hammer connecting the first Rhine shock trooper that survived the vehicles destruction, the shields collapsing and the armor crumpling under the force of the blow and energy discharge from the hammer, the second trooper then raises his hand right hand and launches a ball of aetherised fire at him, his shields straining under the impact, he diverts all available energy to his shields and engages the aether. Evelyn now having broken cover moves in behind the trooper who is distracted by Gunner, opening fire with her Judge combat pistols to drop the shields, she closes the gap and uses her power daggers Twilights Edge one slipping between the neck seal and the base of the helmet finding the carotid artery and the other finding a gap on the chest plate, plunging into the heart, the troopers aether abilities useless against her. The third trooper levels a MP-430 Sturm assault rifle at her and opens fire, Lucia engages her armors jump jets and clears the destroyed building, launching two fireballs at the trooper which disables his shields before landing just behind him and decapitating him with her great sword Morning Star, 15 more troopers charge the area opening fire, Gunner readies his Stryker shotgun and engages the enemy while Lucia with her Executor assault rifle and Evelyn provide cover fire, over the comms all she hears is “Dodge left” which she does, mere seconds later one of the troopers shields collapses and a massive chunk of his armor is removed as a round from the massive Vostroya rifle used by Anastasia rips into him, and the next soldier next to him getting impaled with a volley of arrows powered with her zephyr powers from her war bow Heaven’s Gate before she switches to her Matryoshka assault rifle and joins Lucia and Evelyn by the vip’s. From the left flank Amber wades into battle using her lightning blade Thunder Child, overcharged with her conduit powers the energy from the blade crackling like a thunder storm and Angel engages from the right flank using her weapon Mistral Destiny and the integrated Tanto smg’s in her armor, her fighting style looking more like she is dancing than fighting as she dodges and using her powers as a glacier to speed her movement, after 30 minutes of fierce combat, they regroup with the Bretonian investigation team and secure the area.

As they take shelter in one of the nearby buildings Lt.Col Brandis speaks “Commander, we are 5 hours away from the last known transmissions from New Dawn, once we get there we will check the computers for any information in regards to what has happened, hopefully these Rhine dogs did not purge the information yet.” He adds “we are going to check our gear, make sure nothing was damaged in that skirmish.”

Gunner says in response “Good idea, we’ll do the same”

Once out of earshot Brandis whispers to one of his subordinates “The moment an opportunity presents itself I want you to stick that Amaterasu bitch in the back.”

The sergeant nods silently

Unbeknownst to the Bretonians they were being watched by Evelyn, who was recording the whole conversation while her armors stealth systems were engaged.

Silently she moves to the entrance, appearing out of thin air before announcing “All clear, no enemies detected in our immediate vicinity.”

Satisfied her story is convincing enough she opened an encrypted comm line to Lucia “Ma’am, we have a problem, these guys are going to try and kill Angel, after their little display on the Hannibal, the commander asked me to keep an eye on them and her, just recorded this” she plays the recording.

Lucia responds “And you are telling me why?”

Evelyn says “You know what the commander would do.”

Lucia then says “Ok, I’ll handle it”

She walks over to Angel and taps her on the shoulder.

Angel looks at her and says “Did you need something?”

Lucia explains the situation quietly and motions for Evelyn to come closer.

Evelyn responds “So, the plan is?”

Lucia says “Nothing, we stay on mission, we’ll have to deal with it if something arises, until then stay cool and Evelyn? Not a word to the commander, understood?”

Evelyn replies “Yes Ma’am”

She then moves to Angel who appears visible shaken.

Evelyn sits down next to her and asks “Really this shook up that someone is trying to stab you in the back?”

Angel shoots a glance at her that could freeze her heart and says “No but the fact that someone we have to escort is trying to do it is what bothers me.”

Evelyn shakes her head, smiles, gives her a reassuring hug then walks away, disappearing into the shadows to watch the Bretonians every motion.

Meanwhile Gunner and Anastasia have been working on his armor, attempting a field repair on the damaged coolant system for the nano forge in his armor, they close up the panel and he runs a start-up check, waiting for a green check.

“C’mon, work damn you” just as he states this the diagnostic cycle completes and the nano forge powers back up.

Anastasia takes off her helmet to breathe in the cool mountain air, revealing her face, it had a rough angular beauty to it, her gold coloured eyes and spiral iris and pupils the most striking feature, her hair was bright red and she had it cut short and cropped “Good, at least we’ll have some firepower for the next fight”

Gunner says “Yeah, 5 seconds is too short.” While going over the after action report he was sent from the Hannibal.

Frowning he states “2 frigates and a battle cruiser and down here no more than a light patrol, yet that battle cruiser has space for an entire battalion, Rhine came here for something and the Bretonians know why. We need our own copy of that data, whatever is happening here it is big enough for them to silence 5 whole colonies over, this could very well escalate to full blown war.”

Anastasia scanning the horizon with her rifle and looks down the scope “movement, 5 clicks due east, 55 troopers, and 2 Schlange and a Ratte heavy tank…” she trails off.

Gunner asks “Where are they going?”

Anastasia checks the satellite images “They are heading towards Kingston space port” Curses something in Volgan and continues “Exactly where we need to go, they’ll be there in 2 hours”

Gunner sighs and says “No choice now” keys the comm and calls the Hannibal “War God actual this is Alpha 1, requesting dropship and close air support.”

Captain Reyes responds “Alpha 1, message received Spectre gunships and Raider dropship deployed, commencing DEAD from orbit, transmitting targeting coordinates now, keep your heads down, it’s going to get loud, War God Actual out.”

20 minutes later the Raider drop ship lands and they all get in, Gunner being the last to get on fixes the Retribution to the mounting pylon, steadies himself and keys the comm “Pilot?” “Echo 521 Commander, Warrant Officer Sheila Pulaski, reporting for duty” she responds

“Warrant Officer, get us to these co-ordinates, Hannibal has commenced Destruction of Enemy Air Defences, follow the path painted by Onyria, once on site the Spectres will take care of enemy armor, find us a place to set down then we will handle the rest from there” Gunner states

Warrant Officer Pulaski responds “Roger that Commander, taking off now, we will be at the target in 45 mikes, hang on”

As the drop ship takes off Gunner switches channels to the gunnery line to listen in on the progress of the orbital strikes and use surveillance drones that were deployed show the extent of the bombardment, Ravager bombardment cannons pound the enemy positions into dust, thinking about the no destruction of civilian infrastructure “well there goes that out the window”

As they approach the area the radar warning receiver goes off, Warrant Officer Pulaski’s voice spiking over the comm “Enemy SAM, 4 o’clock low, deploying counter measures, hold on!” as she banks hard right and goes into a dive to gain speed, the missile streaking passed as it cannot manoeuvre fast enough to keep up with the drop ship, moments later the launch site is obliterated by another Ravager volley from the Hannibal.

Pulling out of the dive, the ship now flies just above tree top level, streaking past numerous AA sites that cannot track it fast enough, closing on the drop point she pulls back hard to bleed some air speed before correcting and coming into a hover to deploy the squad “This is as close I can get you Commander, you’ll have to cover the last 5 kilometres on foot, flaks far too heavy for us, Godspeed. Echo 521 out” Warrant Officer Pulaski says into the comm

Gunner replies “You too Warrant Officer and damn good flying”

They disembark and quickly set a perimeter until the drop ship engages its orbital burn rockets, once the dropship and both gunships are clear they move on.

Gunner keys the comm “War God Actual this is Alpha 1, request picture”

Captain Reyes responds “Alpha 1 this is War God actual, Kingston Space Port is heavily defended, battalion sized force guarding, recon drones show 15 Ratte Heavy Tanks, 20 Schlange IFV’s, no air support sighted, enemy vehicles in close proximity to main building, Onyria advises against orbital strikes. Mission outcome in doubt sir”

Lt.Col Brandis then responds “Commander, if we cannot get in there we’ll have to abort.”

Gunner says “Noted Lt.Col, Lucia a word please?”

They step out of earshot and talk.

Lucia says “I know what you are thinking and the answer is no, you’ve done enough, don’t throw your life away now, you know I can stop you right?”

Gunner responds “We have to do something, we have no idea what is going on, attempted assassination of the Empress, war possible looming between Amaterasu and New Bretonia, Rhine running rampant and whatever else is going on here, drastic action is needed.”

Lucia pleads with him “It’s not worth it Gunner, damnit, why won’t you let this go? Your hard headedness is going to kill you and today is that day.”

Before she can continue he hugs her and says softly “Lucia, thank you but we have to try”

Lucia fighting to hold back her tears says “I just don’t want to lose you”

Gunner then kisses her on her forehead, releases his embrace, puts his helmet on, keys the comm and says “Onyria, any hills surrounding the space port with good vantage point?”

Onyria responds “Designating now Commander, Enquiring about your course of action?”

Gunner responds “Going to deploy the Retribution from that hill, provide cover fire and a distraction for the rest of the team so that they can get in and get the information and extract”

Onyria responds “Commander I advise against that course of action, once the enemy outflanks you…”

Gunner cuts the comm and walks out of the building and sets off to the small ridge overlooking the space port, once he arrives he checks to ensure the area is clear and reactivates the comm

Engaging the armors entrenching system he readies the big gun, saying into the comm “Alpha 1 in position”

Lucia responds in a sombre tone “Alpha 2 here, approaching staging area, waiting on the fireworks to start”