Battle of Adachi

(Michael)
=He lobbed a grenade at the oncoming GESTR's, slowing them down. Like the Indigo, the other fireteams were running low on ammunition, and the fewer of them that were shooting, the more GESTR's managed to slip through. Michael fired more rounds from his heavy class weapon, this time into their legs. They did have to slow them down after all=
"How much longer?"

(Jennifer)
"Just a few more seconds, H.Q. is giving the word now."

*Command*
"All fireteams in grid J-10, hold tight. Bombardment incoming in 3...2...1."
=The mortar teams within the firebase of the Haven soldiers all fired in unison, streaks of red plasma arcing through the sky and coming to land on the collection of GESTR's within the flat area they had all bunched up within. Dozens were vaporized, melted beneath the intense heat of the plasma. Others were tossed into the sir by the explosions, and still more kept coming, unfazed either by the shock value, or their own injuries they had sustained. But then again, they were taken down as more plasma shells hit the area, their target that entire grid location, hammering the surface with a barrage of plasma fire. After a full minute, the shelling stopped, leaving a dense heat haze hovering over the ground, while the dirt itself was turned to molten glass, lumps of what used to be GESTR's dotting the surface, melted into the ground or sticking out like twigs in mud=

(Eliot)
=One moment, they were about to swarm us. The next, fire and debris exploded out from the tiny pass and the flow of GESTR's stopped=
"Wow. That worked."

=Audible over the comms between soldiers, an almost simultaneous cheer broke out among those soldiers, those fireteams positioned to halt and slow the advance of the GESTR's. It was a cheer of victory=

(Jennifer)
"Alright everyone, don't break out the champagne just yet there's still plenty more to this battle."
=There was a scream of engines, dust was dispersed all around us, and I looked up to see several dropships descend towards us, their IFF tags showing up on my HUD. Dozens more were passing overhead, moving further into the Fields of Hell=

"Command, what's going on?"

*Command*
"You and the other fireteams are being pulled back Indigo, you've earned some rest. We're sending in fresh troops to handle any survivors and to intercept any new units."

(Jennifer)
=She let out a sigh of relief, suddenly feeling just how tired she really was=
"Thank you very much command, that is very well appreciated."

=As the dropships flew over the battlefield the doors to the fortress opened, all three of them. More soldiers, this time Reclaimer soldiers, came marching out. Two blocks of troops per entrance, twenty troops per block, and they were all armed. Augmented with their combat skins, they marched across the distance between their base and the oncoming dropships, moving to take position at crescent shaped outcropping of rock. The Haven ships descended half a klick away from where the Reclaimers took position, their rear doors opening and began to drop off their charges. There were fifteen of the ships, each carrying twenty passengers who then ran out onto the battlefield. Half of them were members of the Phalanx teams, and they moved ahead, shiels forming in front of them while the others got behind them. When the ships were done, they rose into the air and before they left, they fired missiles towards the Reclaimers location, not hitting them directly but keeping them suppressed as the phalanx formations closed in. When the dropships had fallen back and the coast was clear, the Reclaimers popped up and opened fire, streaks of plasma flying across the space between factions, and impacting on the hard-light shields of the lead soldiers. Their response was to hold position, shields forward while the soldiers they protected readied their heavy munition weapons. In under a minute, blobs of plasma, smaller than the mortar rounds fired by the Sentinels, arced across the field and impacted on the enemy. Their cover was either blown up or melted to a smooth, glassy texture, the effect was the same: they scattered, forced into the open or further back. Those caught in the open were taken out by sharpshooters=

--Rear of the Reclaimer Base--

=Alpha Team managed to get to the ground floor, retracing their steps back to the entrance they used to get inside. There were more thumps, louder and stronger, as they got closer to the exit. However, as they neared the exit a security squad rounded the corner behind them, and fired=

(Chris)
"Fuck!"
=Some of the shots hit me in the back, and they quickly dropped my shields. The next two caught me in the leg, and my armor heated up and I screamed in pain, falling to the floor=

(Conner)
"Man down!"
=I spun around, rifle raised and aimed at the enemy. Crowe and Trevor followed the motion, and we fired at the squad, forcing them to fall back=

"Trevor grab Chris and go, we'll cover you!"
=Crowe and I fired more shots as Trevor got an arm under Chris, and pulled her to her feet, helping her walk back to the exit=

"Grenades now!"
=Both Crowe and I grabbed the last of our grenades, and lobbed them down the hallway. They detonated, and the squad went down as a wall of blue fire raced down the hall towards us. We turned and ran, and I could see that Trevor and Chris were already at the door, slamming a fist down on the button for it to open=

(Conner)
=The explosion died down, the fire just licking our shiels as we ran down the hallway. When the door opened, Chris and Trevor were the first to exit while Crowe and I raced down the hall behind them. The moment we passed through the door it closed behind us, but we simply left the frying pan and entered the oven. Outside there were explosions, loud ones, dust and debris raining down on us. My HUD's visor went through several filters before I spotted the Blacklight, making another turn as it came in for another attack=
"Sam cease fire, we are outside the facility! Land at my coordinates asap, we have one injured!"

(Sam)
"Understood sir. Moving to your location now, who's the injured?"

(Conner)
"It's Chris."
=I was surprised when I heard her make a hissing sound=

"Is there a problem Lieutenant?"

(Sam)
=It took me a few seconds before I responded, never actually losing control of the ship so much as.....going to auto-pilot=
"No sir. Was just worried I'd be the only girl in Alpha is all."

=I pressed the button to drop the ramp, opening the dropship even as she descended=
"This is going to have to be fast sir, I can't stay still for very long. Opening the ramp now, so when I get close you guys are going to have to either run or jump aboard."

(Conner)
"Understood. Alpha team, prepare to move fast."
=The dust cloud overhead parted, swirling as the engines of the Blacklight roared. Our black ship came down at an angle as she made a sharp turn and slowed down before us. Her ramp was visible, sticking out from behind as she hovered, turning in place presenting our point of escape=

"Move! Move now!"
=Trevor and Chris moved first, the former carrying Chris' limping form up the ramp while Crowe and I rushed behind them. We had just stepped onto the ramp, grasping the safety handles when I felt the tug beneath my feet as the ship accelerated forward, moving up over the outcropping of rock behind the base=

"Secure her now, and see what you can do for her leg."
=Trevor nodded as he escorted Chris to an open seat, sitting her down. Behind us, the ramp closed=

"Sam, patch me into the fleet, get me online with the Admiral."

--Hyperion bridge--

*Comm Officer*
"Admiral, we're getting a message from one of our drop ships. IFF reads it as Alpha teams dropship sir."

(James)
"Patch them through."
=There was a moment of silence, and then I heard the sound heavy breathing, rumbling metal, and muted engine sounds=

(Conner)
"Admiral, this is Alpha team, do you read?"

(James)
"Roger Alpha, reading you loud and clear. What happened to that transfer, it stopped."

(Conner)
"Complications sir. Server room got trashed and it was getting too hairy to stay put and fix it. We left with what we could grab."

(James)
"Dammit. Alright, it'll have to do."

(Conner)
"Sir, Chris was injured. Shot on the way out, so we're going to need a medical team on standby."

(James)
"Understood, but I can't pick your team up squad leader. It's too hairy up here, and we need to deal with the immediate situation first. Can you get back to the Alpha base?"

(Conner)
"Affirmative sir, I'll send us there now."

=As the dropship flew through the lower atmosphere and above the battle below, Trevor gingerly removed the pieces of Chris' armor from around her leg. The shot that hit her did not penetrate or melt her suit, which was good. But it did heat up the area of her calve by a substantial amount, and when the final piece came off it was clear her leg looked as burned as if it were pressed against hot metal. She clenched her teeth in pain through the whole process, eye shut=

(Chris)
"How bad is it?"
=God, I knew it hurt like hell but I didn't dare look. I didn't want to see how bad my leg looked now=

(Trevor)
"Third degree burn, I think. But you're the medic, so you'd probably know more."
=Using the helmet cam, I linked her in on the video so she could see=

(Chris)
=Sighing, I opened my eyes and saw myself looking at his helmet cam, and through that my leg=
"Yeah, third degree, but just barely. Hijo de puta....reach into my kit, and follow my instructions to the letter, or so help me god I'll cortar la polla y alimentar a la GESTR de."

=The ground battle between Haven forces and Reclaimer went on, as the Phalanx formations pushed forward and encroached on the entrenched positions of the enemy. While the Reclaimers focused on trying to break through the shields, more dropships swooped in to deploy more troops. The increasing numbers began pushing the Reclaimers back further until they were at the doors to their base=

(Conner)
=Our dropship finally landed back at the Alpha HQ, and we got Chris off the ship and to the medic tent. Thanks to her instructions (and a little intervention of her own,) Trevor was able to treat the burn and help reduce the damage, but it still hurt like hell for her. We had to carry her in and then the medics took over. I took a look around, and was shocked at the number of wounded. There were dozens in this tent alone, and I was sure that the others were also filled. I grabbed the closest Medic=
"Hey, what's the casualty report? How bad is it?"

*Medic*
"Sorry, I don't have an exact number. But best estimates point to a little over a hundred have been wounded, some worse than others. We have less KIA and a large number MIA, but other than that, nothing exact."

(Chris)
"Jesus....alright, thanks for the info."
=I let them go=

--Four Hours Later--

=The fighting had begun to die down. After a brief, violent siege, a breach was made in the gates f the base allowing teams to move in. The Reclaimers forces were already exhausted, troops either dead or injured, and their supply of GESTR's eradicated. With no other option, the ground forces surrendered. However the battle in orbit still progressed. The Haven fleet was busy playing cat and mouse games with the Reclaimer ships, as they circled the planet and even the moon. It went on non stop until the Admiral employed a risky tactic: an ultra precise slip-space jump to move in front of the Reclaimer ships. Using the Hyperion, the Admiral managed to jump and then reappear moment later, though their power was drained from the jump. However, the fighters stored within were free to move and intercept the Reclaimer forces, while the remaining fleet caught up and boxed them in while the admirals ship regained power. Unwilling to be destroyed or boarded, the Reclaimers made a jump to slip-space, fleeing the system. In a single day, the battle was won=

(Jason)
=Finally.....finally, the fighting here was over. It may have been the start to a much longer war......but for now, the fighting was done. And we had won. Even so....a casualty list was already being made, and I watched as the numbers danced across the screen before me. By the end of the battle, more than three hundred were wounded, a hundred and seventy were dead, and the rest missing in action. We had also lost a ship, most of her crew surviving though. And we had gained a base, full of who knew what form of intel. For now, I wanted all available dropships working on finding any survivors and getting them to a medical facility, either at the fire base or on the ships. I assigned a quarter of the soldiers still ready and able to secure and guard the Reclaimer base, another quarter to guard the prisoners, and the rest to maintain both the fire base and the Alpha HQ. we'd still be here for another day at best, sorting out all this shit. But we stayed until we got the job done=