Flight Deck Firefight Round 5
All
Frank sights, shoots and sees that he gets some hits on a Para readying a LAW who is instead forced to move instead of firing. He then takes in the tactical situation.
He sees that the Paras must now surely realise that they are outnumbered, outgunned and outmatched - but still they remain (willfully blindly?) mission focussed and attempt the impossible. Two or three drop back from both the now reduced assault sections as an anti tank rearguard and attempt to engage the warbots with RPGs and underslung grenade launchers. The range is way beyond optimal and the 'bots seem to have no intention of closing it. RAM grenades and RPG/LAW track across the flight apron but find no targets. Meanwhile, the warbots reply with a lethal rolling volley of fire that kills a Para with every hit. He sees that the enemy still attempt to force their assault on the Gatehouse while they are now pursued by a reinvigorated SEMC who, led forward by the QSM, press their enemy hard in a counterattack.
Jess senses the battle turn and properly and ruthlessly leverages the tactical advantage. She sees that the Paras (with surely some degree of tactical blindness?) labour onwards toward the Gatehouse despite the fire from their front but also from the advancing SEMC to their rear and, given the slacking of their suppressive fire, now also from above as the Scout Snipers gamely lean out over the Spire's top to pour in yet more fire. She puts a long burst into a retiring Para and gives him something to limp about.
(NB It's not Int it's Autofire - now there's a message for humanity... 
But with the ACR it's +2 
).
While
Prerna, possibly unsighted holds fire (she would be engaging
through HQ/First Squad!!!), her rooftop team are gamely encouraged by what can only be Beau. He stands fully exposed on the ramparts waving his cutlass while encouraging the Recon squad to pour more fire into their stricken foe. Beau is indeed audible on the command net
"Ooorah! C'mon marksmen pour it on! Now's not the time for fancy!"
Klaus, casting a glance toward the Spire top, determines that although he hasn't yet met Beau
that just might be a Marine! He fires his grenade and although going over his intended target it seems to stagger a Para further forward. He sees events unfold and joins the SEMC's victorious "surge".
Freya also contributes a snapshot which she's sure was on target but is too busy with first aid care to observe the result.
Kit likewise gets a sense that SEMC are on the up as his wound is stabilised then dressed. Ink swims into his consciousness as the pain meds cut in she rapidly says something in what must be Collace
subhive then plants a chaste kiss on his cheek muttering what Kit remembers as
"You kept us all alive hidalgo when we surely should have died. It is... regalo de muerte..."
The firefight rages on as the Avastan Paras execute their surely doomed assault. Some collapse quite literally shot to pieces while others press ever forward. The few staggering remnants of the leftmost/southern squad seem to at least get within range of a final rush on the southern Gatehouse bastion but just as they throw everyone forwards in a last effort they are all cut down by 30mm autocannon fire from the remaining and apparently still functional APC.
What might now be called the a forlorn hope of the remaining Para squad grimly close on the Gatehouse staggering forward through Ma Deuce fire which has given up any attempt at "controlled bursts" and is well into barrel melting "sustained fire". Another Para drops simply battered into ballistic trauma inside his still whole armour.
Then, amplified by the confines of the road tunnel, a fearsome roar challenges their advance. It's an ursine basso growl pierced by a chilling female keening that is truly unsettling. What must be the remaining fighting strength of the Rangers boils out of the roadway tunnel. They have naturally formed a vague wedge shape headed by a lightly armoured Tourmaline wielding a laser pistol and her axe and Gaughan who, emptying his LAG from the hip on the charge, drops it to draw the falx from his shoulder screaming
"Faugh a Ballagh!"
The Paras immediatedly make to counter and engage but those with weapons in hand find they malfunction - and then the "Wild Hunt" is upon them. Their most capable combatant dies as he closes on Tourmaline and, as she screams inchoate rage, is simply driven into the Flight Deck plates by a force that his armour but not his body can withstand. Those Paras who can draw sidearms, fix bayonets or clear their jinxed weapons try to fight on but the advantaged and furious Rangers kill and keep killing, driving through the initial combatants behind the bloody pair of Tourmaliane and Gaughan to dispatch the remainder of the unit. They go hard at their sanguine work until, now just as exhausted as Tourmaline and as bloodspattered and breathless, they meet the advance of First Squad/SEMC HQ.
Behind the furious and bloody wedge walks Lannigan wearing a dusty black coat. Seemingly casual he watches as he walks for the unlikelihood of any enemy still being alive in the Morrigan's wake. He is armed with an underslung gaussrifle.
It would seem that SEMC has not only won a signal victory but are also in possession of the field.
