Alpha squad part 3 - Grand Theft Auto

[Sonny]

Alpha squad returns, now with swearing in two languages . You can find the whole series, as well as other Planetside 2 lore stories on my website here: www.talesfromauraxis.com

Alpha squad part 3 – Grand Theft Auto

The three exhausted soldiers leapt off their vehicles, stopping momentarily to catch their breath at the bottom of the steep, icy hill. Marius awkwardly clambered off the front of the ATV, clutching his locked, swelling arm tightly, as Nakano hauled a pair of ammunition belts off the seat. The giant, Vickers, tip-toed carefully over the ice, still cradling Isla’s motionless body in his arms.

“FOWLER!” Marius barked at a trio of shadows who were peeking nervously over the crest of the mound 5 metres above them, as automatic fire whizzed overhead. One of the figures ducked and turned at the sound of his voice and carefully scrambled down the hill, arriving at the bottom knee-deep in the snow.

“Sir?” he saluted.

“Fowler, I need you to do what you can for Isla, it’s urgent.”

The medic glanced un-easily at the slack, ashen body. Vickers offered the corpse to him, expectantly.

“But sir, I’m out of nanites, there’s not much I can do…” his voice wavering as he took stock of the extent of her injuries.

“I know Fowler, I just need you to keep her alive until we take this Sunderer.” Snapped Marius.

Fowler paused, uncertain.

“I’m a combat medic, not a doctor. The manual doesn’t –“

“Jesus Christ – I’m not asking for surgery, just stop her bleeding!”

“INCOMING!” came a cry from the ridge. Sergeant Gregson and Corporal Banks, the last bastion of the New Conglomerate offence on the mound, were bowled over backwards as a grenade lodged itself in between two bare rocks. A blast echoed across the plain, closely followed by the firework-like contrail of a Terran light assault trooper streaming over their heads, executing a perfect mid-air pirouette while somehow keeping his weapon perfectly aimed at the prostrate pair.

The soldier’s face turned to panic at the sight of the four unexpected adversaries crowded at the bottom of the hill. He fired his afterburners backwards – but it was too late; before the Terran could move a metre he was battered by a hail of fire from Marius, Vickers and Nakano. The trooper sagged, and the out-of-control jetpack buzzed lazily to the ground, depositing the corpse into the drift with a lazy puff of white snow.

“WE NEED SOME BACKUP HERE!!” cried Gregson from the summit. Marius nodded to the pair next to him, now down to his second-to-last clip.

“Alright – Vickers, Naka, come with me, let’s finish this.”

With difficulty, they clambered up to the peak, where Gregson and Banks were slowly regaining their composure. Marius glanced over the ridge. An enormous black metal armoured truck rested upon a flat, rocky clearing 30 metres beyond the rise of the hill. The entire left side was emblaisoned with the red triangle of the Terran Republic. In amongst spent grenade shrapnel and shards of broken glass, an engineer calmly re-surfaced the bent and smashed skin of the front cab. A double-barrelled machine gun turret on the roof pointed menacingly at the spot where the NC platoon waited.

“There’s five of them left, I reckon.” spluttered Gregson, wide eyed. “It’s the Basilisk cannon that’s keeping our heads down, we can’t stick move an inch. There’s just not enough of us. It’s over!”

As if on cue, the rhythmic TAK TAK TAK of the roof-mounted .50 cal heavy machine gun peppered the rocky hilltop with another barrage of metal, ricochets bounding over the heads of the cowering group. Marius had no idea what to do. Overwhelmed, powerless, he had no comforting words for the squad.

Vickers butted in “I can take out the Sunderer turret if I can get a distraction. Gregson, get out there and do your infiltrator thing.”

Marius flashed him a glare “Vickers, I have command…”

Vickers scowled at him “I think it’s time for someone to lead who doesn’t get everyone killed, eh?”

Marius’ face went red with impotent rage.

“But…”

“Shut it scrub, know your place.” Marius recoiled in shame before the giant. “Gregson, get out there.” Vickers continued.

Gregson, his eyes as wide as two bowls, shook his head in incredulity, froth wisping from his slack jaw.

“Me… No… On my own?!… I didn’t come here to die…”

“Shut the fuck up Gregson and follow your fucking orders!!!” screamed Vickers, his craggy face bulging with red rage.

Marius, enraged, suddenly found his strength.

“VICKERS! Stand down… I have command.”

Vickers turned his wild eyes to the young MAX suit operator.

“You have command?! Says who?? The last words of a suicidal captain who sends his platoon to die in the wastelands?!”

They were interrupted by a sudden shouting from beside them. They both turned to look to find Gregson standing atop the hill, fluttering white canvas in hand.

“WE CAN NEGOTIATE!!” he cried, casting a forlorn, pot-bellied shadow over the desolate steppe.

The Sunderer cannon halted to glance curiously at the lone soldier stuffed into the bulging infiltrator suit. It wagged side to side twice.

“Tire-toi! ” came the muffled response, in a thick Hossinian accent.

TAK TAK TAK!

Gregson made it to the floor just in time, Banks hauling him back behind the summit. A smoking tunnel bore directly through the top of his curly hair. He shouted in panic and patted maniacally at his sizzling scalp with fresh snow.

“What… the… hell…” Marius and Vickers both stared in disbelief, momentarily forgetting their hatred. But not for long.

“Nice idea, asshole…” Marius couldn’t resist. Vickers gritted his teeth for the second round.

“NOW YOU LISTEN –“

“BOYS!” shouted Nakano, shaking her thin-featured face in disapproval. The pair halted their sparring “Stop bitching. Cover me.”

“Naka, what?”

Before anyone could react, Nakano had paced steadily over the head of the ridge, rifle raised to her eye.

“NAKA!” Marius cried, half in panic and desperation. He scrabbled to the ridge-top as fast as his broken arm would allow.

Nakano paced calmly across the open field. The Terran engineer was still nonchalantly working on the front door. TAK! He fell wordlessly, a bullet in the dead centre of his back. A heavy assault trooper was lighting a cigarette at the back wheel. It fell from his mouth as he caught sight of the silent figure. TAK TAK TAK –a burst of Gauss slugs slammed square into his helmet; he fell to the ground, groaning. The remaining Terrans cried out.

“À la gauche!!”

Marius made out three pairs of boots racing for the far end of the truck. The Sunderer gun turret grinded slowly to face her, alone and without cover in the middle of hundreds of miles of open, frozen wasteland.

“GET IN THERE!!” Marius shouted in agony.

The four NC soldiers on the ridge burst into action, firing randomly at the Sunderer in a desperate effort to distract the Terrans. Vickers sent a rocket crashing into the creaking gun barrels on top of the vehicle, disabling it with a shower of sparks and smoke. Marius engaged his charge button and he bounded at full pelt toward the middle the open field, his good arm bringing his heavy shotgun to bear on the truck, his hanging left arm bringing excruciating tears to his eyes. Banks burned overhead, his jumpjet gunning for an angle above their heads.

Marius heard the rapid buzz of Terran rifle fire. I can’t see them… I CAN’T SEE THEM – he screamed to himself, willing his shaking legs to somehow give him a burst of extra speed. Ten metres ahead, Nakano suddenly jerked up her scope to face the three unexpected arrivals. Her first shot clipped the shoulder pad of the lead medic, the second punched into his torso –

Suddenly, Nakano’s hair flowed into stillness as the strong Esamiran gale ground to a halt. A bullet struck her deep in the right shoulder before she could let off a third shot, followed by a hail of machine gun rounds that nicked her armour from all sides. Silently, she leaned backwards, hanging there for what seemed like minutes, before gracefully tumbling into the tundra.

“NO!” Marius cried, tearing forward in order to place himself in between the hail of bullets and her falling body. The Terran trio turned their attention to him, ploughing bullets into his weak side armour and he felt sharp pangs of torment his under suit once more. He wildly blasted his last hacksaw clip at the crouching group, who desperately covered their helmets under the rain of razor-sharp shotgun pellets. However, the leader, a skull-faced horror of black and white with bloody-red arm and shoulder pads, laughed off the salvo. A four-pronged respirator jammed to the front of his mouth made gave his face the form of a permanent scream.

“Va te faire foutre!” he roared.

Suddenly, Banks was over their heads, going full-auto with a clip from his sub-machine gun, sending the two remaining Terrans scattering from their cover. The back of the Terran infiltrator’s head was crushed by the first burst. The skeleton-faced monster, unperturbed, drew himself up to full height – a full seven foot of bulging muscle and blood red armour. The small-calibre bullets bounced harmlessly off his flickering shield. With one hand he pointed his LMG up at the hovering Banks, pounding him mercilessly in the side. Through his tears, Marius made out the contrails spinning uncontrollably towards the earth, Banks’ body pranging the side of the Sunderer on the way down. With a terrified gasp Marius heard the final CLICK of his hacksaw cannon. He was out of ammo.

The skull-faced goliath brought his machine gun to bear on Marius without a second’s hesitation, popping his torso again with heavy slugs. With a last gasp of strength, Marius burst the 5 metres that separated him from the lone giant; slowing, weakening with every step. Bullets tore through the front armour now, penetrating the shield capacitor, sending sparks flying into his body and face. Blaring red alarms filled his vision from all sides, hot smoke pouring up from all around him, through the open crack in his visor and into the freezing atmosphere.

There was a click somewhere in front of him as the glowing LMG barrel was exhausted – The Terran flailed around for his second clip. Stumbling, Marius took a final lunge at the fading behemoth. He clasped onto an elbow pad; and turning his shoulder towards the back of the Sunderer, he flung the body of Terran into the hull with all his might, cracking the skull helmet straight down the middle.

“ENCULÉ!” it bellowed, grabbing at its head for protection. With its left hand, it pulled out a shimmering knife and plunged it deep into Marius’ left arm.

With a final roar of effort, Marius grabbed hold of the neck with an armoured grip and forced the monster a second time into the back Sunderer with all the power that his MAX suit hydraulics could muster. He heard a CRACK as the soldier slammed into metal, the neck snapping like a thick twig. Marius stumbled backwards and the behemoth flopped harmlessly to the ground.

The alarms blared intensely “OVERLOAD IMMINENT! IMMEDIATE SHUTDOWN ADVISED!”. Marius grimaced with the raw heat emanating from the front generator. Through the black haze, he frantically bashed around for the emergency exit button. There was a series of loud clicks that popped from right to left over his head. With a PRANG, the suit launched him backwards and he slid atop his cushioned back plate to come to rest on the sodden ground, several metres behind.

The abandoned MAX suit fizzed and sparked with growing intensity. A lick of flame curled around the front of the chest plate, culminating in a sudden spasm of molten white shot that burst from the concealed shield capacitor. In seconds, the giant figure was ablaze from head to foot, turning nearby rocks molten among the rapidly-retreating snow.

Marius wheezed painfully; his arm crying, his chest punched, battered and bloody. His coughs made him curl over in agony. Through pulsing and bleary vision, he made out an iron-encrusted glove in front of his face. Tentatively, he reached out to grasp it with both arms. Slowly rising, he wiped his eyes and found himself face to face with Vickers, a cigarette shaking through his thick beard and light machine gun crossed behind his back.

“Not bad, scrub. That was a pretty badass charge you did there. Just as Landiss would have done.” He hovered awkwardly for a second “About the whole thing on the ridge...”

Disoriented and bleeding, Marius wasn’t in the mood for a heart-to-heart.

“Nakano ?!”

And haltingly, he limped as quickly as he could out into the snow in his torn, paper-thin undersuit, oblivious to the tearing wind and the raw cold that mercilessly numbed his exposed fingers and toes. Gregson was crouched over Nakano, making faltering conversation. Upon Marius’ approach he looked up, and coughed in surprise.

“Oh… Another walking wounded! She’s ok, just needs help propping herself up. Wait here – I’ll get a med gun from the truck.” And after a second, disapproving look. “and maybe some clothes…”

He gently passed the prone, semi-conscious Nakano to Marius’ better arm and jogged away towards the stolen Sunderer. His weakness forced Marius to hold Nakano up with his right knee. She sagged into his arm, powerless to support herself. Her thin lips and eyes were pursed in quiet, painful fortitude.

“You could have got yourself killed, Naka.” Marius laughed wearily, the heart-pounding adrenaline starting to ebb away. Tears seeped down either side of her face. For a brief second her dark eyes burst open. She forced a weak smile under his gaze.

“To get out of this war? All the better.”

A lump formed in Marius’ throat at the thought of losing her. He managed a forced smile, gently clearing her long, dark hair from her face.

“You can’t leave me here. You promised to show me a Searhus one day…” He cradled her slightly tighter, the frigid air starting to get the better of him, his breath frosting in front of his face. She grimaced silently, biting her lip as she drew his left hand into hers. For the first time in months, Marius felt the unyielding stress of kill and death thaw a little. Vague memories of something more – a distant, happier life – welled up inside of him.

The gale buffeted Marius’ face. To the north, the impenetrable smoke from Nott amp station blotted out the sun like a volcanic cloud, the distant sounds of tracked vehicles ominously backdropping the desolate whistle of the open range. Marius knew that the Terrans wouldn’t let Alpha squad’s insult lie; their escape had only just begun. Kilometres to the east, a winter storm was bubbling up over the coast, menacing the open plains, the perfect cover for a stolen Sunderer. At least someone was smiling down on them today.

Gregson hurried back to the pair with a pile of thick blankets in hand. His hair was still comically split and smoking down the middle.

“Come on Naka.” Marius spoke softly, breaking the peaceful silence. “Time to get out of here. Let’s go home.”

[CraazyCanuck]

Most Excellent! Keep'it going Sonny!

[Micro]

YES! Keep doin' these, as this series is awesome!