Foothold:Ch. 1, Wall.

The Marines are Berthed in the belly of the starship, and essential for attack and defense, whether it be on the gorund, or inside the ships during boarding actions. Fighter pilots and ships may win battles, but Marines will win the War.
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Mr. Blackbird Lore
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Re: Foothold:Ch. 1, Wall.

Post by Mr. Blackbird Lore »

The first thing Camilla saw was a small clump of grass and a stray lock of her own hair dangling in front of her face. After blinking several times to try and sort this image out, Private Enos came to the realization that she was on the ground. Private Enos wasn't supposed to be on the ground, nor could she rightly recall what she was supposed to be doing. There was a slight soreness to her arms as they gathered near her waist for a pushup, but it was nothing compared to the crushing pain that surged through her torso when she actually rose to her knees. When it struck, she groaned loudly with surprising agony. Luckily, it was not broadcast to her squadmates. After a couple deep breaths, she found her feet. Once she stood and saw the Hammerbeast, Camilla recalled vividly why she hurt and why she'd been dozing in the dirt. She had flown as best an armored Terran can, flung off her feet by several hundred pounds of force, and spun countless times before hitting the ground. The memory of hurtling through open air for several seconds was dizzying and infuriating.

Private Enos frowned at the idea that she had blacked out, even if for just a few seconds and vowed revenge. Damnit, she cursed, realizing that the Organ Grinder had not come with her, putting a kink in her plan for revenge. In hindsight, that was probably for the best; the Papa was a large and heavy weapon that would have likely made her landing all the more excruciating. Her eyes surveyed her surroundings, which knew all of Foothold, and found exactly what they needed. She was sprinting into the low building as Dom made his request for assistance. "Way ahead of you, Connelly," the Foothold native declared.

The Hammerbeast had done her a favor, though payment had been rather brutal and she suffering the interest. Camilla could easily reconcile a little chest pain with her finding: the forward armory. As Foothold was divided into ring-like segments, split from each other by a wall, each needed its own stock of munitions to call upon should an assault occur. Naturally, the closer to the front lines the fewer weapons were present, but anything she could find within would be better than the pistol at her side.
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Kai
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Re: Foothold:Ch. 1, Wall.

Post by Kai »

Camilla would find the armory to be mostly empty, aside from a number of broken, discarded weapons on the floor that Marines had dropped as they found replacements within. Ammunition stocks were also fairly low, though the ever present Gauss rounds still remained, the stock of them was high enough that they had yet to run out. A few MAW rounds remained, but none of the rocket launchers themselves were nearby.

Aside from a couple of Carbines, the only notable weapons remaining were a single MG3P which had plenty of ammo available- two boxes and several loose belts, as well as a Spammer Anti-material rifle, which seemed to only have the singular battery at its disposal.
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Mr. Blackbird Lore
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Re: Foothold:Ch. 1, Wall.

Post by Mr. Blackbird Lore »

No time to waste! Private Enos slapped two ammo boxes on the machine gun before slinging it slantwise over a shoulder. Then she swept up the SPAMR, gave the battery a slap to ensure a solid connection and rushed out the door. Camilla's plan was to divest the SPAMR upon a squadmate, when she realized, "We don't have a marksman."
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Re: Foothold:Ch. 1, Wall.

Post by CadetNewb »

The whole world spun.

But, all things had to stop spinning. At least, that's how the toy tops Pepper played with when she was younger portrayed it. It was best not to mention planets though, because the tops got jealous at that quite often, and held a grudge against the world for their ability to never stop spinning. Pepper wasn't like that though. She didn't hold grudges! Though, as she groggily got up in a daze, woozy yet still on her feet, the youngest marine had to admit the giant thing that knocked her whole world up and over was the exception. This was an offense in need of payback! Though, how she'd even be able to do that, or even find it since her vision was horribly out of focus and -

Pepper realized she was standing right underneath it, staring the thing down in between the legs as it roared overhead, completely ignoring her while blasting fellow troopers apart with its massive guns.

The others however, would simply see a lone figure rise to its feet underneath the Hammerbeast, raise its gun high, and fire a long burst into the neck's underside.
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Kokuten
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Re: Foothold:Ch. 1, Wall.

Post by Kokuten »

"Ough, this guys a biggun'!" groaned Asher as he tried to maintain his footing. The ragged man stared down the beast, his body deciding every now and then to inject reality in his blood with liquid metal pain. There was a certain scramble around him to contain and kill the creature, but the wild-man could see the wounds, the peeling plates, the sinew which oozed with ichor. Now these were the kind of beasts that the Marines had brought him on to fight. The ones this size were the kinds of horrific monstrosities that his clan liked to call Tarmoths.

Asher closed eyes his only for a moment, and the vibrato of combat became the vibrato of another memory. Men and women surrounding a multi-legged horror on all sides. Usual mutants lived on to feast and devour individually. A Tarmoth was not an individual, but a group. It was the size and shape of a mammoth, with dark, tar-like skin. Faces of mutated human roared and screamed over its back, spittling black saliva all around it. The gaping maw of the beast wau just layered flesh and lines upon lines of serrated, mutated rib cages with a tongue made of deposed and gangly arms reaching out to grab and pull away any poor soul unfortunate enough to get even close enough to it. He remembered orders, barking to shoot off the 'trunk', nothing but a centipede length of mutants flailing claws and teeth to scoop into the maw.

The lumbering Tarmoth was horrific, and people were driven insane just by the sight of one. Asher had even seen one person go catatonic after gibbering they saw family members in the mass of faces.

When Asher opened his eyes, he was actually grateful that he still saw the massive drathonian, the one capable of massacring their squad. The thing was no Tarmoth, but that bristling muscle that was as taut as iron was a quality that the Surandanian horror failed on. They needed a way to get to the soft flesh underneath. Every organism had soft parts. The Surandanian quickly formed a plan, and was about to leap out to the beast before Dom announced for assistance. A quick glance to the tech specialist confirmed it.

Throwing explosives into the big beasts gobber would be loads a better idea than tossing himself in to wreak havoc.

So Asher stepped forth onto some ruined wall and presented himself.

"Hey!" yelled the man as he single-handedly fired his Orc into the air, the weapon howling and breathing pointed fire into the sky. The scent of blood and pain rolled out of his cracked visor and into the air with his booming breaths. "Heeey!"

The Orc fired slugs then into the beasts hide, each shot accompanied by a hip thrust, and sweeping a hand over his lower areas like he was riding a bucking bull.

"Hey!"

Bang!

"HEY!"

Bang!

"HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY!"

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Click! Click! Click! Click!
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Kai
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Re: Foothold:Ch. 1, Wall.

Post by Kai »

The Hammerbeast was confused as Asher landed on its back, and began yelling and shooting at it. The hammerbeast felt the shots- pain, stinging into its back again and again and causing it a great deal of agony, but not killing it. The beast roared again, as loudly and fiercely as it could. That wasn't enough, however, as weapons fire started lancing into its neck, causing even more pain and agony. It reared up on its hind legs, the front limbs waggling a bit in an ineffective attempt to swat the hurting things away, and spun in place, its tail whipping around once more, smacking Camilla again, this time, though, it was harder, and the private and her rifle were flung once more to the ground with a great force, but this time, the girl stayed down- She had not been killed, but she was certainly out of the fight.

Winters watched, however, as the beast spun its way around and faced Dom, smashing to the ground once more- it shook the wall like an earthquake, and lifted Dom and Pepper's feet off the ground, causing them to fall back on shaky feet.

"NOW!" Winters yelled at Dom over the Comms "Throw whatever you've got at the damn thing, Dom!"
CadetNewb
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Re: Foothold:Ch. 1, Wall.

Post by CadetNewb »

RATATATATATAATATATATAATATATATA - CLICK! went her rifle.

The earth shook underneath Pepper's feet, causing the girl to comically float off the ground and land right back on her feet as the beast raged in fury! Desperate, Pepper dropped her rifle, letting it hang off her body by the sling as she ran for cover, desperately fumbling for anything on herself that would save the situation, 'Empty magazines? No! Toothbrush, no! Courage Chocolate reserves? No! Salt pack? No! No, no no! Not the empty canteen, not the - YES!' her mind squeed in ecstasy. The young redheaded marine rose from her cover and wound herself up like a pitcher - "Pineapple, go!" she triumphantly ordered.

A spring loaded spool spun away as the pin was pulled, and the marine tossed it, right at where the Hammerbeast's foot was about to step.
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Straken
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Re: Foothold:Ch. 1, Wall.

Post by Straken »

If there was one thing to be said about being a marine, it is that it grants many more opportunities for new experiences than working as a miner. As advertised it will let you see new and interesting parts of the galaxy, it will let you meet new people, and most importantly it will let you fight for the lives and freedoms of every Terran man, woman, and child; what the brochures leave out are the opportunities such as getting covered in pulverized aliens, or being uncomfortably close to learning what it feels like to be gum on the bottom of a shoe. Despite the persistent dread Dom was feeling as he now stood in the rather hazardous position of facing down an enraged hammerbeast, the engineer was feeling rather lively even if it was because he actually felt like he was contributing to the squad’s combat effectiveness. Riding the high of his ego boost, the young soldier tightened his grip on his rigged detpack as he waited for the right moment to throw it.

As his moment in the spotlight approached, Dom stumbled as a result of the hammerbeast’s flailing, but he refused to be knocked down for a third time by the same enemy. Then finally the moment arrived, cued in by Winters yelling at him, so with a stomp on the ground to steady himself he aimed his throw. Just when the beast’s mouth was beginning to open in another roar Dom wound up, charged forward, and threw the explosive pack with all of the power and precision he could muster. As it arched gently towards the beast’s gaping maw, Dom was clenching his teeth and gripped the detonator as he hoped for the throw to be good on the first try.

“Doctor's orders, take two and call me in the morning!" Dom said as he felt the need to spice things up with a one liner.
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Gwathdraug
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Re: Foothold:Ch. 1, Wall.

Post by Gwathdraug »

Card cursed profusely, repeating an unsavory mantra of phrases over and over again, as she stabbed a knife – it wasn't her knife, she hadn't be able to reach that yet, and as it was a bit hard to see at the moment it might not be a knife at all but just a jagged spar of metal – into the heart, or chest, or whatever lethal point she had just hit, of another wounded, thrashing, rancid smelling Drathonian that had had the stupidity to get stuck in the wreckage of a wall along with her.

Which, Emma began to mutter her litany of dissatisfaction again, if she was honest with herself the whole “along with her” part wasn't speaking that well of, well, herself.

Finally dragging her way out of the heap of junk that had attempted its best to entomb her Card rolled her shoulders and groaned as she crawled out onto the surface of the small scrap metal hill – kicking her right leg out behind her as she swore something tried to scrabble at her through her armour with a set of rather unwelcome claws – the dirt and guts covered private finally was completely free of the wreck.

Only to see Asher riding a Hammerbeast. Blasting away at it with his shotgun. While Dom threw a bundle of explosives directly into the gargantuan enemy's mouth.

That looks fun. Asher gets to have all the fun while I - Card looked down, took in her dented armour, gut, blood, and mud soaked clothes and just let her mind shut down for a moment.

Contrary to what she had believed while trapped Private Emma Card's cursing only got louder now that she was free.
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Kai
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Re: Foothold:Ch. 1, Wall.

Post by Kai »

Dom's improvised explosive sailed through the air, straight into the gaping, roaring maw of the Hammerbeast. He would watch in horror as the current of blowing air from the beast's roar slowed down the bundle of explosives, but then feel the elated relief that came with it landing in the beast's lower jaw, which surprised it, causing it to reflexively close its mouth, and then swallow. The battlefield seemed to then, suddenly, stop. In the absence of the Hammerbeast's roaring, the din of battle felt like silence.

Then there was an explosion, and the hammerbeast's rear leg pitched into the air, causing it to spin in a fury, the damaged pad held gingerly in the air as the other three legs worked to move the humongous beast, but, it would not finish its turn. A second explosion rocked the beast, this time from the inside, blowing out its softer underbelly and covering the marines on the ground with filth.

Asher, atop the Hammerbeast, felt himself pitched into the air by the explosion, and he was launched back, back to the wall from which he had leapt not long before, but he didn't quite make it- as he impacted on the ragged edge, he could feel that he was going to be thrown down to the battlefield in much the same way as a ragdoll might, except for a few pairs of hands. Winters, and the Lieutenant Pichols, had been there, and grabbed onto him, Holding the bruiser by the straps and dragging him back onto the relative safety of the top of the wall.
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