[SKYRANGER CABIN TRANSCRIPTION]
Broden: I have a very bad feeling about this.
Hipster: Hey, who's the new guy?
Harmony Lad: They thought two snipers would make sense on this so Black is tagging along.
44: Does "tagging along" mean a vote of confidence?
El Fenrir: Does "they" mean a vote of confidence?
Ironside: Come on now, back to business. Intel says it's like an apartment block that fell from the sky so expect anything.
Hipster: Explosives are no-go, then, if it's not shot down? Council puppeteers want new toys...
Ironside: We'll see how it goes.
[TRANSCRIPTION ENDS]
Indeed. The landed UFO was big. Really big. Skyranger dropped the squad nearby what the pilot expected to be the loading bay. He was right; the loading ramp was down and from this close this looked like a huge cargo ship of a kind. A supply ship for what? Aliens seemed to be strengthening their invasion for real and nobody had any idea what to expect inside. All other doors and walls were sealed as the team touched down in the woods.
The team spread out quickly and it took whole three seconds for the first chryssalids to appear. They rushed through the doors high on the side, straight into the murderous crossfire and that encounter ended as soon as it started. Harmony Lad was suspecting more visitors straight off so he took off to the sky in his archangel suit and landed on top of the ship. From the rooftop he had perfect 180-degree view as Hipster took post on the mid corner and the rest of the team went in the ship. A group of floaters and mutons appeared as soon as Ironside approached the side door and it felt like the ship was swarming with extraterrestrial life. Mutons and floaters got dealt with equally fast and the team of four advanced inside.
Hipster had a terrible post by the mid corner. He was hugging the deep corner as tight as possible and trying to make himself as small as a human being in a titan armor can. He heard terrible grunting and stomping nearby, but he held his ground. The noise grew louder and got nearer, and then he heard the familiar sound of a plasma sniper rifle gaining momentum. Just as the silhouette emerged around the corner, it was met by a bright green flash and disintegrated in a blink of an eye and Hipster knew it's Harmony Lad who's gone to work from his rooftop post. The pair of mutons met their end practically on the same spot.
Inside the huge hangar, El Fenrir and 44 supported the assault duo of Ironside and Svensson. Methodically moving from corner to corner, wall to wall and section to section, the hangar side proved clear of any further resistance. There was a door leading to another part of the ship and stayed behind to have a bead at anything that moved beyond. Ironside and Broden manned the upper platform, while Harmony Lad made his way on the roof towards the same edge. All of a sudden three heavier-looking muton soldiers emerged from a corridor ahead and threw a few shots at the doorway. 44 took a direct hit from seemingly heavy plasma rifle, but his armor held. Assault duo hurried around corners to seek opportunity for crossfire. El Fenrir missed with her heavy plasma gun and 44 took another direct hit. This time his armor cracked and he fell to his knees behind the rail.
[TACTICAL COMMS TRANSCRIPT]
44: I'm taking heavy fire, cover me!
Harmony Lad: Can't get a shot from here, how's El Fenrir?
El Fenrir: Trying to flank them around.
[TRANSCRIPT ENDS]
44 managed to down one muton elite and other two decided to retreat to the same side El Fenrir was heading to. Suddenly, the muton elite decided to drop off the platform into the ground and it was El Fenrir who became flanked. The muton elite roared, brandished its heavy plasma rifle at El Fenrir and let go. El Fenrir's armor was reduced to a sticky fluid in an instant and she fell down in a smoking and bleeding heap. Hipster nailed the muton elite from his post, but the damage was already done.
[TACTICAL COMMS TRANSCRIPT]
El Fenrir: Hheeelllp mm--
Ironside: Medic, we need a medic!
44: I can't really move, I can't feel my legs or anything and I hear noises ahead. Try to cover me, I try to get up and going. Is she bad?
Ironside: I'd elaborate with something like well done...move it Black, double time!
[TRANSCRIPT ENDS]
44 tried to stand up, but immense bolt of pain sent him back to the floor. He was deemed to keep an eye on the corridor ahead of him while El Fenrir was bleeding to death. Ironside and Broden advanced along the rails on both sides of the apparent cargo section, that was constructed from six big compartments. Waving at each other at each end the last pair proved the source for the noise. Broden stumbled on the slope directly in the middle of something totally unexpected. Two flying drone-like robots were patrolling around the compartment and the corridor was guarded by the last of those muton elites, but majority of Broden's visibility was blocked by the biggest robot he had ever seen. It seemed to move on two legs, have missile launchers and Broden reacted in an instant. He unloaded at it with his scatter laser twice, but the result seemed to be far cry from the usual. Laser beam clusters cut into the metal, but it was too thick to break. Then it responded by shooting something from its chest. Ironside could see the red glare to the far side of the platform and Broden was engulfed in fire and death. His armor dissolved and should that still have been the old carapace model, that would have been the end of Broden. Titan armor is made of something else and it barely held together.
[TACTICAL COMMS TRANSCRIPT]
Broden: Jesus Christ I'm out of here! This hurts like hell and laser does nothing to it!
Hipster: Get out of there and bring it in the crossfire!
Harmony Lad: Got a bead on the corner if you just get it here, go go go!
El Fenrir: *unintelligible groaning*
Ironside: Can't you 44 reach?
44: Negative, can't move.
El Fenrir: Hhehhh--
[TRANSCRIPT ENDS]
Broden was out of the compartment back towards the mid section as soon as he had got there. His titan armor smoldering he rushed past dying El Fenrir and the robots started moving. The small ones flew out directly out into Hipster's and Harmony Lad's lines of fire, but the big one took a big step backward and rushed into the center corridor and turned to face the immobile 44. The muton elite jumped back straight at Ironside, who managed to down it with two well-placed shots, but the big robot was on the move towards terrified 44, who kept on firing at it and missing. By the corner of the first compartment - it was surprisingly fast for such a humongous construct - it turned towards Broden at the end of the compartment and fired its big cannon again. Broden felt the rushing heat scorching his face, but that's all the missed shot did. That was also everything 44 needed. He drew a deep breath and finally placed a perfect shot in the head of the robot. It stumbled for a while and then crumbled down on the corridor. It was over. At a cost, but still. Over.
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