Urban Decay

[mtjsmith]

A borderworlds transport landed on the airstrip, filled with supplies to help the ground staff repair the Social Credit. It also contained an Odin for Major Ling's use. The Odin was quickly unpacked and Ling took to the sky. He scanned the surface with his eyes and radar.

[color=#FFFF00]"Hmm.. seems we have two in the city and a jeep moving up quickly."


[color=#FFFFFF]He switched his TAC-COM to a wide area transmission.

[color=#FFFF00]"Recognise authentication Ling Li-Tan 1101. Major Ling on Overwatch current bearing 542 mark 239. All units to proceed with caution to main airstrip at Grid Co-ords G342, L551. Heavy hostile wildlife in the area. Message repeats."

He switched the auto-repeat on to ensure that the ground units got the message. The Social Credit came under a barrage of horrible creatures on it's final hop, and Major Ling vowed that no-one else would suffer the late Lt Zupkauskas's fate.

[color=#FFFF00]"Any unit's requiring ground strike can reach me on this channel. Ling out."

---

[Jeremy Hunter]

Jacob picked up his comm.

"Major Ling? Forge here. Looks like you and the Social Credit didn't buy the farm."

Jacob took a moment to untangle himself from the poncho he had used as a blanket.

"It's hell down here...on a slightly happier note, that car who had the rocket launcher? The occupants have been diagnosed with bullet-in-the-head syndrome."

Jacob threw on his pack and picked up his rifle.

"Almost to the airstrip. I haven't seen anyone else, but it's sounded like World War Seven every time it gets quiet for me."

Jacob moved to the building's exit.

"Heading to the airstrip. Forge out."

Jacob kicked the reinforced door down and booked it.

---

May you ever walk in the Light, Shizune.

[Omi]

Lukas poked his head round a building, making sure the road was clear, before scrambling across the street and flattening himself against the wall. His communicator hissed suddenly, startling him, then started broadcasting a repeating message. He listened carefully, then decisively thumbed the "TRANSMIT" button.
"Jawohl, Hoffman here. I read you, comrade-Major. En route to your provided coordinates now."
A bit cliché and blunt, perhaps, but he'd always liked that aspect of the armed forces. What was the point of having all that military jargon if it didn't sound a bit cool?

He heard growling echoing through the streets behind him, and decided to stop his mental soliloquy on the finer points of language. Perhaps later. Now, however, it sounded like there was a pack of wild dogs after him. Hostile wildlife, indeed.
"Safety off, then," he muttered, reaching down to flick his weapon into firing mode. He would have, too, if it had had one. He poked around a bit. Nothing. Better "shooting and safe" than "safetied and sorry" seemed to be the Coalition approach to such things. Despite his soldier's sense, Lukas sort of approved. Nobody ever kept the safety on anyway; hearing the command for "safeties off" was just a formality and an excuse to roll your eyes at the commanding officer's expense.
The growls got a bit louder, and Lukas realised he'd been daydreaming again. Silently berating himself, he set off at a jog towards the RV point, holding his rifle at the ready.

---

[mtjsmith]

Ling had seen that there was a lot more wildlife in the area than expected. He fired up the Kalashnikov's.

[color=#FFFF00]"Beginning strafing runs. Everyone get to the transport now! You have 20minutes otherwise you will be left on this damn rock!"

[color=#FFFFFF]He gunned the treeline down with fire and dropped a homing beacon. The beacon emitted an ultra-high frequency which the radioactive beasts on the planet seemed to be attracted to. Within moments, Ling had his own duck pond in which to shoot.

[color=#FFFF00]"Life's not fair is it beasts? This one's for Zupkauskas."

[color=#FFFFFF]He strafed in and blew them apart before swooping up, ready for the next lot..

---

[Jeremy Hunter]

Jacob ran. Twenty minutes?

"Great..."

He heard a roar. Looking back, Forge ducked and slid behind some cover. He peeked up.

"Great."

The jeep slowed to a stop. Four meb piled out, leaving a gunner. Jacob grabbed his last IED. He lit it with one of his last ten matches.

"Special delivery."

He waited, then threw it. Running, bullets ripped the ground around him. One hit his shoulder, throwing him sideways. As he hit the ground, he laughed.

Boom

The gunfire stopped. Jacob picked himself up and started to run.

Airfield

Jacob stumbled into the airfield, his shoulder crudely bandaged. As a medic looked at his shoulder, Jacob limped to the transport, managing to fall down to his knee at the ramp.

"Major, this is Forge...before I pass out from bloodless, leme say I got here with...fifteen seconds to spare..."

Jacob collapsed unconcious from bloodloss.

---

May you ever walk in the Light, Shizune.

[Omi]

Run. That single word filled Lukas' mind as he did exactly that, his feet beating a steady rhythm as he sprinted along the track. Not far now, literally just a few hundred yards. He could see the silhouette of the gunship ahead, and it filled him with confidence. The deep russet colour of the JiangXi sun at dusk gave the world an eerie tinge, and the gunship glowed like a guardian angel ready to lift him off this world. The gunship was closer now, and he felt invigorated. He'd done it! Buoyed by this confidence, he glanced over his shoulder and saw the dogs a good way off yet. Maybe the dead one peppered with his bullets had given them pause for thought; he didn't really care. At least they'd given him some respite after he'd killed one and scared the others off with shouting and a flaming stick.

He heard a scream of tortured air as a snubcraft flew overhead. Someone was breaking the sound barrier several times over, by the sound of it. He could see a prone figure lying on the ramp of the gunship, and a medic leaning over him, probably about to drag him on board. Was the ramp lifting slowly? He couldn't see clearly in this light. Shame to come this far and get left behind.
"Kameraden! I am here!" he yelled, waving his arms to accentuate his point as he continued sprinting forwards.

---

[NixOlympica]

[font=Georgia]She heard Ling and signalized Pasha to speed up. It was running up on full speed risking that they will collide every second killing themselves. Lachina grinned, she won't stay on this piece of damn rock. Few raiders tried to stop them with a gunfire but she returned it with her shotgun. This repeated from time a to time. But then one bullet got through the shield plate and hit her in the chest. She creamed a little and almost fell from the vehicle.

"Pasha, you are alone on it" she said to the microphone as the blood gushed from her chest. Lachina was trying to stay awake. The view around her was becoming more and more blurred. She noticed Credit taking off. They are too late...

Then she noticed a little natural jump in the terrain. Pasha did too. They will kill themselves ...

She noticed one recruit who wasn't making it. She leaned over and grabbed him in the insane speed.

"[color=#FF6600]Gotcha" she whispered and closed her eyes.

Jump and a hard landing in the Social's bay. She flew from the jeep and hit the wall.

Lachina smiled a little and relievedly blacked out.

[Omi]

"Come on, come on!" Lukas was going at full speed, and he still thought the gunship was taking off. Damned if he'd let it, though. He was pushing himself to the very limits of his endurance, and in his mind, that meant failure wasn't even an option. He heard the roar of a jeep's engine behind him, and, despite his need to reach the gunboat, he looked around.
"Oh -" he began, before an arm grabbed him by the collar and he started skimming over the ground at 80 miles per hour.
"Gottverdammtschweinhundendummkopfen", he swore as his feet dangled dangerously close to the rocky terrain and he saw the gunship leaving after all. They hadn't made it, apparently.
Lukas then saw the mound of earth which the jeep was heading for, intending to use it as a ramp. If he'd had any more swearing capacity left in him, doubtless he'd have used it now. As it stood, though, he just felt a mild sense of foreboding as the vehicle bounced up off the ground, clattering haphazardly into the bay of the SoCred.
"Hooray!" he thought, before he noticed he was still moving very, very fast. He ricocheted off an equipment locker and collapsed in a heap on the floor.

---

[mtjsmith]

[color=#FFFFFF]Ling saw the SoCred climb and climb up into the atmosphere and away from JiangXi. That didn't exactly go to plan he thought, but at least the recruits got the valuable field experience they needed. He entered formation with the SoCred in the upper orbit of JiangXi and moved with them to dock Gorodok for a full debriefing.

[color=#FFFF00]"Congratulations recruits.. You survived. For today anyway."

[color=#FFFFFF]He laughed as they approached the Moonbase. He wondered if there was any of that good Vodka left under the bar, or if it had all been commandeered by the Politburo again.

//Right guys, that's it. I'll discuss things with you on Skype / Forum. Cheers. Lock.

---