Chapter Text
I don't think it would ever cease to amaze me just quite how fast things could go from being somewhat chaotic to damn near absolute mayhem. Said mayhem was currently being caused by the enormous reptilian monstrosities that the Locust used as living assault tanks. It seemed that everywhere I looked I could find at least one Brumak trying to either destroy or tip over an Assault Derrick. I did what I could as I fired shot after shot from my BFG with each shot either killing or seriously wounding the target all whilst my teammates did what they could to extract survivors and transport them to other Derricks.
I think it was after I had killed the fifth Brumak that Control came on over the comms, "All forces, commence attack on Landown. Repeat, commence attack!" Well I guess that we were now going to be heading there as fast as possible without stopping for anyone. Which to be honest had pretty much what we had already been doing by this point.
A King-Raven circled over one of the Brumaks as the door gunners poured chaingun fire into the beast, "There's too many of 'em! We need some backup, we need..." the transmission from the pilot was cut short as a bunch of rocket hits tore apart the cockpit with a fiery explosion and smashed the chopper into the dirt below.
"Control, we're being overrun. Recommend evac'ing all rigs directly to the city, over!" Even after all this time and all the shit I had been through, I don't think seeing/hearing other people somehow being able to remain so calm even as everything burned down around them would ever not impress me. I mean yeah that's partly what all the training is for so they can actually operate in high stress environments but still.
"Copy that Three-Six! All rigs, move to Landown. I repeat, all rigs, break off and move to Landown!" Yeah, that made decision actually made perfect sense. If we were taking too many casualties then the best course of action to take would be to go as fast as possible whilst trying to avoid getting bogged down.
It was just after we went around a slain Brumak that a fucking Corpser came bursting up from underground within literal spitting distance of the front of my Derrick. Of course its dumbass decision to just stand there screaming at us meant that it got a final meal that consisted of unstable Plasma Energy. Unfortunately whilst we were able to successfully deal with the one in front of us the Derricks that took a slightly higher route to the right were not so lucky. As tragically their entire Assault Group were literally jumped on by a whole bunch of the ugly freaks and swiftly pulled underground.
I quickly looked behind me to make sure the Delta Squad wasn't in serious danger....again. Of course my attention was brought back to what was going on ahead of my Derrick when a swarm of Brumak rockets were caught mid-air in both yellow and purple Solver emblems. I didn't even need to ask to know what Uzi and V were planning to use those munitions for as the two simply sent them straight back at the Brumak that had fired them in the first place. I think they must have hit the ammunition storage on that creature as the resulting explosion was pretty damn substantial and sent bits of the creature absolutely everywhere.
Still, the way was now (sort of) clear and we could proceed to Landown to continue with the assault. Of course we wouldn't be going the exact same path as Delta due to our Derrick being significantly larger than theirs and thus not be able to fit through the tunnel that was along their assigned route. So we would be splitting off on the outskirts before linking back up with them in the vicinity of the central monument.
My teammates and I waved them off as we went our separate ways once more. I would later learn that the rearguard Derrick called Lola would be destroyed by a swarm of Tickers almost as soon as they entered the outskirts of Landown. Still even if we had known about Lola's fate it wouldn't have stopped us from pressing ahead.
It didn't stop me from keeping an ear open for any news of Delta Squad needing assistance. They always seemed to be right in the middle of some form of bullshit or other kinds of shenanigans. There was a brief report from K-R Five-Zero and then a second one from K-R Three-Six of Nemacyst being in the vicinity but that was pretty quickly cleared up by Delta Squad.
There was a second radio report from Delta Squad a few moments later saying that they were pinned down by heavy fire from their left flank. That was swiftly dealt with by one of the Centaur Tank escorts that were with Cole's Assault Group. So again not something that we needed to concern ourselves with. Hell there was barely anything to actually be concerned about. The only thing we could do was keep an eye open for anything on those empty dirt roads but as the minutes and miles ticked by it seemed that the Locust were either beaten back or more as was the more likely case waiting for us to stop before trying to swarm us.
So once again we were just standing around and waiting for something to actually happen. Which was always the absolute worst part of any Combat Operation. Just sitting or in our specific case standing around waiting for something to happen. After the frantic madness that had occurred just a few miles from the outskirts of Landown the dead silence was both a blessing as it gave us the chance to reload and an unnerving experience due to everyone's nerves being pretty high strung from the recent combat.
I wasn't entirely sure exactly how long it took us to reach the Drilling Zone but we eventually made it. The monument was pretty big but it was also pretty generic with eagles, angels and cogs covering its surfaces. What did confuse me somewhat was the fact that there was a symbolic flame that was somehow still lit despite the area being under Locust occupation for about ten or so years. Surrounding the monument however was a massive graveyard which spread out in all directions. Apparently a lot of the graves here were from soldiers who had died in various battles in the Pendulum Wars. I'm absolutely sure that some of the currently present Gears were wishing that those soldiers were still alive right now.
Alas they were not alive but we were and like it or not the forces that we had available were what we had to work with. Even as the drivers began working on getting the Derricks properly aligned to deploy the underground Assault Force I could see various elements of our force setting up a defensive perimeter around us. The air was thick with tension and it was obvious that everyone was on edge.
According to snippets of radio chatter Delta Squad had gone through a rather unpleasant experience getting here including several dozen Tickers, a Reaver, at least a dozen Locust Drones, eight mortar teams and a fucking Brumak to top it all off. So as usual it seemed that most of the bullshit was aimed squarely at them. I wasn't exactly sure why that was the case but it was what it was.
The uneasy silence was soon broken however when the ground began to rumble as multiple E-Holes began to open up all over the place. The air was quickly filled with sound of ferocious fighting as the soldiers manning the defensive perimeter did their best to hold off the attacking Locust forces.
The decking of Ava rocked slightly as the three Disassembly Drones went airborne to rain explosive missile fire down into the enemy ranks below as our forces worked to seal off as many E-Holes as possible.
They were of course not the only friendlies up there as King-Ravens began circling overhead with the door gunners using the chainguns to help keep the defensive positions clear and free. Though unsurprisingly J, N and V were doing an extremely good job at suppressing the enemy forces whilst the Lifts and Pods were being prepared to deploy us into the Inner Hollows far below.
I myself ran to the railing and began shooting at anything that even so much as twitched outside the perimeter. The Combi-Melta's Bolter component roaring loudly with each shot fired. I kept my focus facing out the way and didn't even need to look behind me to know that at least half of the squad of T-45 Gears were keeping their Mulchers pointed at the sky incase any Reavers decided to show up.
"K-R One-Eight here. We need to make this quick, we're running low on fuel!" Ah, balls that was going to be a bit of a problem. Still from the sounds of things the Drill Zone was being held at least somewhat successfully so it wasn't a complete disaster. A fact that was hammered home when another load of Locust were blasted apart by a tank squadron.
Soon enough though the methods of deployment were ready to go and it was time for us to head underground for the next stage of the Operation. The T-45 clad Gears entered the Grindpod first as the rest of my teammates returned to the decking. We didn't really say anything even as we boarded the pod and secured ourselves in place with the restraint harnesses.
Whilst the rest of Sabre Team had the experience of being face-to-face with each other I was stuck with one of the members of the other Squad that had been assigned to Ava. He didn't say much to me and the same was true of myself as well. There was no need to say anything anyway.
The Grindpod's interior was soon plunged into darkness with the only illumination being provided by a set of small red lights above each of the openings. I drew in a deep breath to try and calm my nerves as I felt the entire pod shake as it was raised into the launch position at the top of the launch tower. This was it, the moment we'd been waiting for since the assault began earlier this morning.
I tilted my head up as the shaking stopped with a noise that sounded like a mix between a click and a clunk. My fingers curled and uncurled around the side bars of my harness as a low beeping countdown began to echo throughout the interior. The feeling of anticipation grew with each beep as we got closer and closer to launch.
Thinking quickly I activated a private Comms Link to my teammates, "Alright listen up Sabre Team. When we land I want everyone out as fast as possible. No loitering by doors understand?" I continued without waiting for a response from any of them "We go in, deal with whatever is sinking the cities and we all go home in one piece!"
I don't know if anyone was going to respond I think I heard V start to say something but it was completely drowned out by the Grindpod rocketing down into the ground. The initial impact was fierce and the while damn contraption began to shake as we tore through the mud, rocks whatever else we came across on our way to the Inner Hollows.
Honestly this had to be the roughest ride I had ever been on in my entire life. And I had been in Vertibirds that had been shot out of the fucking skies by enemy fire. Yet somehow this made those incidents feel like extremely smooth and gentle in comparison. If it wasn't for the heavy-duty harnesses I'm convinced that we would be been bouncing around the interior like a deranged ping-pong ball.
I'm not at all sure just how long we were stuck in that pod as it tore through to the Hollows but absolutely knew when we'd reached a cavern of some kind as we suddenly went into an actual free-fall. I could feel my internal organs move upwards inside my torso which yet another sensation that I really didn't like experiencing.
Thankfully though we didn't have to experience it for very long before our Grindpod slammed into the cavern floor with an almighty bang. The violent shaking caused by the impact hadn't fully faded by the time the restraint harnesses had successfully disengaged. About a half second later the ramps to our pod lowered as the whole thing opened up like a mechanical flower and all of us charged head first into the very lair of our foe.