AWD #319: Round Up on Aerilon
Round Up on Aerilon
Summary: Orion's marines respond to a QRF in a hot zone.
Date: 07/05/2016 (OOC Date)
Related Logs: None
Callum Daphne Dreyer Knox Lleufer Mallas Phaeton Rakes Randy 
Aerilon Forest
It's a forest. On Aerilon. Use your imagination, soldier!
Mon Nov 21 2005 (AWD #319)

There was an emergency Raptor that trapped about fifteen minutes before. The whole thing was shot up badly. Five minutes later the ship's Marines were alerted to arm up. The HQ became a roiling mass right away as the armory lockers were cracked and weapons were tossed out with ammunition and heavy weapons. A call was raised out from a very sweaty Raptor pilot:

"Marines! We've got a special forces unit cut off on Aerilon! The QRF," quick reaction force, "was blown apart by SAMs. We've managed to clear out the SAMs but they are about to be overrun. The unit was suspected destroyed two nights ago. Half an hour ago we re-established radio contact. There are two survivors involved in a running gunfight with Centurions. We're dropping you into a hot LZ and we need you to get the survivors out. They're both badly wounded. We don't have the force commitments from Aerilon to help them right now. You're it! Forget air support, too. Once they are ready for transport, we'll be orbiting just outside flak range. Get to the waiting Raptors," he finishes, speaking loudly the whole time. The Marine CO looks nervous but directs everyone to the birds.

When the Marines finally make it to the Raptors, the ships' crews look haggared and tired, but jacked up. Their eyes are bloodshot as if they were on stims. Maybe they are. Take-off goes without an issue, as do the three jumps back to the colonies. But the last one is jarring. The aircrew are clearly native-based because they aren't wasting a moment. The jump brings them into atmo and the Raptors all rock heavily, nearly toppling anyone standing. They immediately nose over towards the ground and it becomes clear they didn't just jump into the atmosphere they nearly jumped into the planet's crust. They're barely at 2000 feet and diving for the deck while the afterburners on the back roar. Far in the distance is a treeline with tracers flying mostly from one direction.

Welcome home, Sergeant Kilgannon. Phaeton's hand grips the chicken handle of the drop Raptor tightly, a last check of his gear as the roar of the Raptor's engines all but ruin verbal communication as he waits for the hand signals from the Marine CO as he grits his teeth for a moment and settles back down. Without looking at the map before the drop, the Engineer isn't sure exacly how close he may be to his home, but just the idea of being back on Aerilon is enough to keep him motivated.

Knox grabs himself a rifle and loads up his kit with AP ammo and frags. He tucks a couple of smoke rounds and a Willie Pete into his pack and kits up with the radio. There's barely a glance to Rakes as he does so, getting radio freq's in the meantime. Once in the 'air' he has a seat and just waits. The guy is carrying a huge amount of equipment, including an extra box of ammo for the MG's. nobody should be able to move like that, but he remains nimble. When they hit atmo, he jerks hard to the side and his eyes go wide. His finger moves to the radio button on his chest and turns it on. Oh wow. He stares at the door and flips through the channels while sounds of battle pour in.

Well, guess it was time to go back into the shit. Fun. Callum has a calm expression on his face, keeping his mind off of the mission by checking up on his gear, doing double and triple checks, just making sure everything is there. While he's doing that he does what he can to entertain the Marines next to him. "Hey, did I ever tell you guys that I tried to join the marines? There were a couple of problems. First, my head wouldn't fit in the jar. Second? My parents weren't related." He tries to grin at the two but he's not entirely sure that they heard him. Oh well, it was worth a try.

Daphne's pretty quiet as she gets her stuff, checks everything and falls in to head for the Raptor. Once seated she yawns, a hand lifting up to cover her mouth before she shakes it off. She takes to watching the others, her fingers drumming a quiet beat against one leg.

Ever since operations over Aerilon began, the marines have had their own forms of Alert Ready. Just in case. Just in case. Just in case of a call like this. When the call goes out, Anton Dreyer isn't standing guard duty somewhere on the ship that he suspects is chosen at random by his CO. He's in the Batallion HQ, checking over equipment for the tenth time since he went on duty. The Sergeant snaps upright and nearly steps right out of his own boot. Ahem. After the initial 'oh sheee-it,' the man gets his shit together and starts loading up kit. Primarily his rifle and munition. Aboard the Raptor, he's all jitters. A precious few may know why. When they jump in-atmo, he nearly falls over. One of those unlucky sots on their feet. Instead his arm just braces and his knees partially buckle. But he doesn't fall. His other hand just tightens to the equipment strapped to his front. "Frak." His eyes are all whites beneath the helmet. Gotta start somewhere, right?

Mallas listens to the briefing with a 'you have got to be frakking kidding me' look on his face. "Here we go again…" the Private grouses, even as he's gearing up. Armor, helmet, SAW and extra ammo, plus a couple grenades and a pack. Mallas does not look like he's banking on a short, easy trip. "You guys look like shit," he informs the raptor crew as he boards, then straps himself in and secures his gear for the trip. "Ha. Ha," he says, smirking at Callum's joke. After that the young grunt rides relatively quietly, muttering to himself under his breath and tapping his feet impatiently. The jolt of their final jump earns a loud, "Frak!" But otherwise Mallas is busy prepping to disembark quickly.

Randy listens to the briefing, saddled up with gear and ready to go. She seems zero-ed in, but smiling just a touch. This feels like something familiar. Once in a bird, she checks and secures her gear. Probably a little too late to be doing final checks, but she shrugs it off now. For the landing she creates a triangle shape between where she planted her feet and where she holds her upper body. It allows her just enough of a platform to have her knees wobble. Not a word from her yet. One look at her eyes and it's evident the gears are warming up.

Corporal Demi Rakes. Echo One-Niner. Fourth ANGLICO. Her stomach is rolling with the massive turbulence as her boots click together at the heels, hooking the strap of a loaded assault pack placed between her legs. She doesn't even hold her rifle for the carbine is slung down her front and that leaves her hands to maintain positive pressure on the webbing that keeps her in place. She never jumps standing. Now she's almost inverted and sideways. Rather than talk, she stops herself from upchucking. That doesn't remove the moment of giving Callum a rude hand gesture. The antenna on her radio bobs back into view with the Raptor's jerking and she tilts her chin back to dodge it. At least her machete doesn't fly around. Or grenades.

The Raptors continue their dive as flak begins busting all around them. One of the rounds explodes next to the lead Raptor and the whole ship flips over onto it's back, trailing smoke. It peels off while there are frantic radio calls. Meanwhile the other birds charge in with zero regard for the speed. Mach Two? Mach Three? They fly towards the rear LZ and suddenly each one slows as the throttles are chopped, jarring each person within. Each one circles the LZ in a line while tracers fly in every direction around them. Every Raptor can hear rounds plinking off the outside armor before they fall below the treeline for the landing zone. They've barely touched down when the doors open and the ECO's start yelling for them to all get the frak out. There's no room for propriety with who is off first. It's a shoving match.

When they kick out of the Raptors, they're dropped into a grassy field about 20 yards from the treeline while is at the flank of the trapped and wounded SF Marines. The Marines are defending that treeline on the other side. There's no telling how long until the Centurions can get cans around to start a flank which will kill them all. Or worse, capture. But ahead, they can hear the yelling from the SF troopers, each one yelling in anger and bravado while the pair of MG's bang out round after round. Cowboys.

Jumping from the back of the Raptor as soon as he's able, Phaeton hits the ground and rolls to make sure the rest of his body takes the rest of the blow as he moves to his feet. There's a glance to where the wounded Raptor went spiraling off on fire and the engineer flicks on his radio finally, brining his rifle towards the sounds of the firefight with the special forces troops. "Frak." he mutters to himself, looking around to see who may be immediately at his side. There's no yelling or calling out from the Sergeant, instead, he taps the side of his helmet, gestures with two fingers towards the SF troops. With that, he starts to move through the grass towards the treeline, waiting for Dreyer to give out the orders.

Mallas doesn't shove. He knows the exit drill and his number, but if someone really wants to go ahead of him into the unknown, he's very gentlemanly about it. When he does exit the raptor the Private double-times it for the nearest cover, the tree line ahead. There Mallas takes a knee and stops to look around, double checking their aren't big silver robots in sight. Seeing none, he props is LMG against a tree and orients towards the sound if the firing, waiting for a target or orders to move out.

Callum secures his gear and his weapon as they near the shit. Bouncing around with the others. Damn Air Wing. You'd think they'd be able to give them all a comfy ride to the LZ. He lets out a grunt as he grips his gear tightly to him after a particularly bad bit of piloting from the Raptor pilot. Luckily that's the last of it as it was time to clock in. Following Phaeton, Callum is out of the Raptor, rifle raised and following the others.

Knox jumps off the Raptor and moves, just as fast as his ass can. This is where people may see the skinjob ability. The man moves like he's trucking no weight. He runs for the treeline and takes a knee, aiming his rifle ahead. The guy speaks into his radio quickly and then aims into the forest towards the gunfire.

Daphne follows the others out, adjusting her grip on her rifle as she makes a break for the treeline along with the others. She takes a quick survey as she heads for the treeline, pausing just at the trees to crouch and wait for the orders to be given.

Randy doesn't follow anyone else except for Dreyer. She made sure she was on his bird and situated behind him. "I got your six," she yells as they finally come out of their woosh and spin down. It's like one of those silent moments that a dude might use to brush past differences aside. She says nothing of his jitters. Everyone is dealing with the situation the way that works for them.

Honestly, better it wasn't their Raptor hit like that. Standing marines, flipped ass over tits? No one wants that. Even if it did happen to some of their compatriots, Dreyer can't help but be a touch thankful. The man is one of the first out and it's once his boots hit the ground that he realizes oh, right. The CO tapped him before they left. For a couple breaths, he freezes and takes it all in. Then, a deep breath and a shake of his head. He makes sure a number of their group splits for the treeline, much as some already have, and leaves a few words with those staying behind to guard the exit LZ. "Hold tight." And then the man is coming to a stop at the treeline, down on one knee, near where Knox has stopped. "So when do I stop being jealous?" Because he's breathing a bit heavily. A check of rifle and he has it up at his shoulder. "Move in two groups. Fast, light step, but leave a trailing watch as you pass." He cants his head to Mallas. "Take point for the first group, with-" a point to Phaeton, Daphne, Knox. "Basilius is your tail." And for the others? He points to Randy, "Point for second group. I've go the tail. Rakes and Ward with us. We want to come in alongside the SFs, provide support."

The more that Rakes listens to her headset the more she wishes she had filled her radio with the wrong frequency sets, but she hasn't and she knows that Knox hasn't either. For those attempting to suffer through standing, she continues watching them. She blinks through the radio chatter and the Raptor evens out, further signaling her into undoing the front latch to her harness and standing up. Door open, she moves out and slings her pack. The rifle is adjusted into her offhand and then primary once she has keyed her mic twice. She's easy to spot given the long-whip bobbing behind her, folded to stand a decent foot or two overhead.

As the group picks up and moves through the forest, the sound of the MG fire grows louder from the two wounded SF Marines. As they get closer they can hear that one is a female and the other a male. But when they hit the point of about twenty yards from the front, the bullets from the Centurions are thwacking hard into the trees around them. It's also when they find four bodies of dead Marines. Each one wears the lightweight helmets, one without a weapon, and the three males all have thick beards. There's no more time to waste.

Ahead both special warfare Marines are lain out in the prone position with kit bags feeding the MG's with belts of ammunition. Both of the barrels are glowing orange and nearly melted. The rounds are inaccurate, but just enough so that they can still aim and score hits. "GeT SOME!" the female belts out while the guy laughs, working the 240 across the field…

…The field. Ahead of them are three dozen Centurions. All of them are marching in a slow formation, firing from their right arms. This is bad. Very bad. There were a lot more tracers shooting at them as they landed. Every single Marine knows that there's a lot more than the ones marching in front of them.

When the order gets set out Daphne falls into place at the tail of the group one, her rifle held ready, and her attention sweeping to the sides and behind them as they move forward.

Callum tries to take cover so he can get into a decent place to return fire. Or at least make sure he can run to an injured Marine in a reasonable amount of time. Making sure his rifle's safety is off, he glances to the Marines near him and nods. He'd have to find that balance of shooting off some rounds and patching up any of the grunts that managed to get themselves hit. He'd have to think of some jokes to start rattling off here soon.

Knox runs up on the pair and flops down at the far southern edge. He takes a position just behind a tree and brings the rifle up. Maybe he hasn't been spotted yet. The guy doesn't wear a helmet so it's a bit easier to pick him out, but definitely more with wearing radio headsets strapped to his head.

Unslinging the rifle that Phaeton is using, the sergeant searches out a spot in the treeline to look for a good field of fire. Watching the tracer fire being exchanged, coupled with the female SF's callout, he moves slowly between the trees, finding a spot to set up that gives him a bit of cover for a moment as he sets up to give Mallas an overwatch so that he may advance.

"Frak." Dreyer comes to a stop once his point man does. They can at least see their targets, but getting to them? He clucks his tongue a bit as he settles down behind a tree, settling within an easy distance to Rakes. "Can you get them on the radio?" Meaning the two SF personnel and their about-to-be-slag MGs. "Try to get them to fall back to us." Otherwise? Well, the man has his rifle up and into the pocket of his shoulder, ready to let loose on the Centurion in his line of sight.

Mallas gives Sgt Dreyer a bitter look in thanks for being 'volunteered.' "Frak…" he mutters as he looks towards the three that are supposed to be following him — Phaeton, Daphne, and Knox. Just to make sure they're ready and he isn't setting off alone. Steeling himself, Mallas rises to his feet and moves forward at a quick pace, brushing through the woods towards the sound of the guns, LMG raised and ready. Then he's ducking low as incoming stars to snap past them, and finally Mallas dives prone just inside the woods, setting up the bipod to get the LMG firing. "Another Godsdamned heap of Canners," he curses and prays at once, "Ares Lord of War, here come today's offerings!"

Randy is like Dreyer's little shadow till she gets orders. She shifts her rifle a little and checks her mag before nodding up at Dreyer. She may not have a strong frame, but she's light on her feet and knows how to move through the woods quiet enough. It's easy for her to mask herself by ducking behind a tree so she can make sure everything is going on well behind her and take cover from the Centurions' bullets. She gulps in a few breaths and then sneaks a look from her cover. "I don't think we have any chance but to lay a shit ton of cover for them as they fall back. It'd be best if we coordinate to move up. And if we had a distraction," she is spitting ideas out obviously, chewing at her lower lip in thought.

Rakes runs. Rakes stops, then she does the same again and each time she plants a shoulder into a tree and chances a brief glance before looking around to the others. She can spot Knox just up ahead and then another marine- Randy, next to her a tree and a half over. The JTAC huffs under her breath. She doesn't initially fire either but instead spools up her radio. "Haymaker One, Echo One-Niner, packages secured. Directly engaged by multiple contacts. Moving to suppress, over." She has to cycle frequencies in order to search for the SF but that also means trying to blindly fire thanks to incoming fire, but she can follow Dreyer's wishes.

<COMBAT> Dreyer fires a 3 round burst!

<COMBAT> Dreyer attacks Cent6 with Rifle AP - Moderate wound to Abdomen (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Dreyer attacks Cent6 with Rifle AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Dreyer attacks Cent6 with Rifle AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas fires fullauto!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent4 with LMG AP - Light wound to Abdomen (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent4 with LMG AP - ARMOR on Chest stops the attack!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent4 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent5 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent5 with LMG AP but MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent5 with LMG AP - ARMOR on Right Arm stops the attack!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent6 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent6 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Cent3 attacks Phaeton with LMG Tripod - Light wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Randy attacks Cent6 with Rifle Ap and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Phaeton fires a 3 round burst!

<COMBAT> Phaeton attacks Cent3 with Rifle AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Phaeton attacks Cent3 with Rifle AP but MISSES!

<COMBAT> Phaeton attacks Cent3 with Rifle AP - Moderate wound to Left Arm (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Knox fires a 3 round burst!

<COMBAT> Knox attacks Cent2 with Rifle AP - Light wound to Neck (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Knox attacks Cent2 with Rifle AP - Light wound to Left Hand (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Knox attacks Cent2 with Rifle AP but MISSES!

<COMBAT> Daphne fires a 3 round burst!

<COMBAT> Daphne attacks Cent5 with Rifle Ap but MISSES!

<COMBAT> Daphne attacks Cent5 with Rifle Ap and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Daphne attacks Cent5 with Rifle Ap and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Cent5 attacks Daphne with LMG Tripod and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Cent1 attacks Callum with LMG Tripod - Moderate wound to Left Hand.

<COMBAT> Callum fires a 3 round burst!

<COMBAT> Callum attacks Cent1 with Rifle AP - Light wound to Right Arm (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Callum attacks Cent1 with Rifle AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Callum attacks Cent1 with Rifle AP - Light wound to Abdomen (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Cent6 attacks Dreyer with LMG Tripod - COVER stops the attack.

<COMBAT> Cent2 attacks Knox with LMG Tripod and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Rakes fires a 3 round burst!

<COMBAT> Rakes attacks Cent4 with Rifle AP - Light wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Rakes attacks Cent4 with Rifle AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Rakes attacks Cent4 with Rifle AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Cent4 attacks Rakes with LMG Tripod - Serious wound to Right Leg.

<COMBAT> Rakes has been KO'd!

The radio calls can be heard in the headsets of the JTACs, "Echo-One-Niner, copy your traffic. Let us know when there is a pick-up. Orbiting three mikes your position, over." meanwhile the Centurions keep on marching.

And it's in that cover by Rakes that Dreyer hears the fire shredding bark, but when the JTAC next to him drops, well? He swears. A lot. Like, really a lot. A lot a lot. For a moment, the man is unable to issue orders. When he recovers himself (barely), he's waving at Callum, pointing at Rakes. "Cover us!" Then it's looking up and across the field to the two SF. To the bodies. To Knox. "Have two of our cover at the LZ come up and start retrieving them." The downed members of the SF team. Maybe if the rest of their team is at the LZ, they'll be more willing to fall back. Plus, if they're already out, it lets everyone move faster, right? He stands up a bit straighter, providing cover over Rakes and the corpsman.

The SAW rattles away as Mallas traverses a series of long bursts across the front of the advancing Centurions. He's more concerned with giving them something to think about, and hopefully some reason to slow down, rather than killing them one at a time. There's a brief pause in his firing as he looks to see where the rest of the team is, and then he hesitates as he catches sight of one of the wounded SF Marines. "Oh frak no," he says to himself, then shouts towards Knox. "Skinny! Niner!" Whatever that was supposed to mean. Mallas is back on the SAW, spitting out armor piercing rounds.

Back before the war, the stinging that Phaeton feels in his chest might have been a bee sting. Now, it's a bullet that burrows into his armor and knocks him off his feet and the breath from him. Pulling himself back over to use the ground as partial cover, the engineer resets himself to draw a bead on the Centurion that shot at him earlier before he prepares to fire again.

Callum waits until there's an opening and then he squeezes the trigger, firing a burst into one of the canners. He can't be bothered to see if he hit yet or not mostly because he's been hit. Damn, why'd it have to be the hand? Could be worse, could be a sucking chest wound or something. Spotting Dreyer flagging him down, he flicks the rifle's safety on and goes running over to Rakes, sliding right beside her. "Suck it up Marine, it's just a flesh wound. You'll be fine." He goes digging into his kit for some supplies, and then starts treating the wound.

"Frak!" Daphne exclaims as shots are fired, and she ducks behind one of the trees to take cover before twisting around to fire back. After her shots miss she starts to curse again, baring her teeth as she holds her anger in check, lining up another shot to give cover to those that have been hit.

<COMBAT> Dreyer fires a 3 round burst!

<COMBAT> Dreyer attacks Cent8 with Rifle AP - Light wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Dreyer attacks Cent8 with Rifle AP - Serious wound to Right Leg (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Dreyer attacks Cent8 with Rifle AP - Moderate wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Randy attacks Cent2 with Rifle Ap but MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas fires fullauto!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent7 with LMG AP - ARMOR on Chest stops the attack!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent7 with LMG AP but MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent7 with LMG AP - Moderate wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent8 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent8 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent8 with LMG AP - ARMOR on Chest stops the attack!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent5 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent5 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Knox fires a 3 round burst!

<COMBAT> Knox attacks Cent2 with Rifle AP - Light wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Knox attacks Cent2 with Rifle AP - Light wound to Right Hand (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Knox attacks Cent2 with Rifle AP - ARMOR on Chest stops the attack!

<COMBAT> Daphne fires a 3 round burst!

<COMBAT> Daphne attacks Cent5 with Rifle Ap - Moderate wound to Left Hand (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Daphne attacks Cent5 with Rifle Ap and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Daphne attacks Cent5 with Rifle Ap - Moderate wound to Left Hand (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Cent8 attacks Dreyer with LMG Tripod - Serious wound to Right Hand.

<COMBAT> Cent7 attacks Mallas with LMG Tripod - COVER stops the attack.

<COMBAT> Cent3 attacks Dreyer with LMG Tripod - Moderate wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Cent2 attacks Randy with LMG Tripod - ARMOR on Chest stops the attack!

<COMBAT> Callum treats Rakes:

<COMBAT> Phaeton fires a 3 round burst!

<COMBAT> Phaeton attacks Cent3 with Rifle AP - ARMOR on Left Hand stops the attack!

<COMBAT> Phaeton attacks Cent3 with Rifle AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Phaeton attacks Cent3 with Rifle AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Cent6 attacks Daphne with LMG Tripod but MISSES!

<COMBAT> Cent5 attacks Randy with LMG Tripod and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Cent4 attacks Dreyer with LMG Tripod - Serious wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Cent1 attacks Daphne with LMG Tripod and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Dreyer has been KO'd!

Knox hears the call. "Rodeo-Four, bring it up! We need buku extract with four bodies! And we need frakkin fire support, over!" he calls to Lleufer. The guy lifts up a bit and comes out from behind the tree. He stops talking on the mic and fires again.

Rakes is perfectly fine with firing her carbine. She has to hold though in order to prepare another salvo of words into her headset. Incoming tracers lance up from dirt to tree and she turns- not fast enough. The pain is searing and she's taking an awkward knee behind the remains of the tree as dirt and wood splinters around her. She's bleeding out faster than she is able to reach for one of the tourniquets resting near to her left shoulder, rubber-banded to her plate carrier. "Oh, shit- oh, shit." She reaches for where she believes her rifle is but misses and tries again, finds it, and tilts her torso forward from now sitting down. She intends on firing back. "Shut the frak up, turd." She yells at Callum. "Try getting blown up next time."

Callum finishes securing the bandage in place on Rakes' legs and then slaps the woman's shoulder. "Now go shoot some shit." Grabbing his gear, he makes his way over to Dreyer who just became something of a pin coushin. "Looking rough there Marine. Let me guess, didn't get your coffee this morning? You Marines, always forgetting the really important things, like what 'Marine' stands for. Say it with me Sarge: My Ass Rides in Navy Equipment. There we go." As he's talking, he's getting to work, attempting to bandage up the two wounds in Dreyer's chest and the one he's taken in the arm.

It's getting a little too hot for chatter, so even Mallas shuts up and focuses on the Toasters down range. Tracers arc across the field and into the big silver robots as he continues to lay fire into the newest and least damaged of the Cylons.

"Frak, frak, frak." Phaeton mutters as he tries to steady his aim and there's a glance over to Daphne, a nod given as she gets a hang of her weapon and starts scoring hits. Switching from his rifle, he calls out, "Frag out!" he calls to those nearby as he switches weapons and pulls the pin. Lobbing the gernade out, he pulls behind the tree to prepare to fire again.

Really, there's two routes a man can take in Dreyer's posiion. Hide, while your corpsman has to focus on treating someone… or provide cover for the two of them. Anton goes for the latter. It does allow him to get a nice line of sight on the Centurions approaching, but it gives a few of them line of sight on him. And it's not the hand so much, no, it's the two hits in the chest. Armor and all, he just sort of… crumples against the tree. "Oh." That's all the young man can manage for the moment. Honestly, it's probably very, very clear to those near him? He has never been injured before. Not like this. Luckily, training does kick in and while he leans back against that tree, he tries to keep arms up to fire at the nearest Cylon. "Rakes. You still with us? Tell them we're getting the rest of their team to the LZ and they need to fall back now."

"Yeah!" Daphne exclaims as her shots hit, and she keeps on target, only a brief look when she overhears the call.

Randy isn't able to hit the broad side of a barn, but the broad side of the barn isn't hitting back either. "Did she ever get word to the SFs?" she murmurs to herself right after taking cover, a Centurion /tearing/ into the trunk she's behind. She looks over in the direction of where Rakes fell, but can't see her and doesn't dare move at the moment. She waits to cross over and join Dreyer in providing cover.

<COMBAT> Cent5 attacks Knox with LMG Tripod - Light wound to Right Leg.

<COMBAT> Rakes attacks Cent4 with Rifle AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas fires fullauto!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent1 with LMG AP - ARMOR on Chest stops the attack!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent1 with LMG AP - Light wound to Abdomen (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent1 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent4 with LMG AP - Moderate wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent4 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent4 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent3 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent3 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Dreyer fires a 3 round burst!

<COMBAT> Dreyer attacks Cent8 with Rifle AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Dreyer attacks Cent8 with Rifle AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Dreyer attacks Cent8 with Rifle AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Cent8 attacks Dreyer with LMG Tripod - ARMOR on Chest stops the attack!

<COMBAT> Cent2 attacks Daphne with LMG Tripod and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Callum treats Dreyer:

<COMBAT> Randy attacks Cent5 with Rifle Ap and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Knox fires a 3 round burst!

<COMBAT> Knox attacks Cent2 with Rifle AP - ARMOR on Abdomen stops the attack!

<COMBAT> Knox attacks Cent2 with Rifle AP - Moderate wound to Right Arm (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Knox attacks Cent2 with Rifle AP - Light wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Daphne fires a 3 round burst!

<COMBAT> Daphne attacks Cent5 with Rifle Ap and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Daphne attacks Cent5 with Rifle Ap and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Daphne attacks Cent5 with Rifle Ap and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Cent7 attacks Phaeton with LMG Tripod and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Cent6 attacks Randy with LMG Tripod - ARMOR on Chest stops the attack!

<COMBAT> Cent4 attacks Lleufer with LMG Tripod and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Cent3 attacks Callum with LMG Tripod - COVER stops the attack.

<COMBAT> Cent1 attacks Randy with LMG Tripod and MISSES!

<COMBAT> EXPLOSION! Far From Cent3 - Light wound to Head (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Cent3 - Light wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Cent3 - ARMOR on Right Leg stops the attack!

<COMBAT> EXPLOSION! Very Far From Cent5 - Light wound to Head (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Cent2 has been KO'd!

<COMBAT> Cent4 has been KO'd!

<COMBAT> Cent5 has been KO'd!

As the flash of the explosion illuminates the woods, Phaeton calls out. "We need to unass the AO, people!" he mutters as he switches back to his rifle and raises towards the Centurion that's advancing on his position.

"Appreciate it, Doc." Rakes remains where she is, tourniquet grabbing too-tightly at her upper right thigh. The strap itself is wrapped tightly with bandaged and she ignores the immobility in favor of wrapping around the half-destroyed tree she's using for cover. She keys her mic again, "Ranger Eight, Echo One-Niner, fall back to known position, marking with- frak- panel. Stop lazing about, asses. Covering fire incoming, over!" Another shot is fired. She hesitates under the billowing plume of red-orange that marks shrapnel loosed by a grenade. She adjusts fire.

When the one that she had been shooting finally gets exploded, Daphne ducks back behind the tree, counts to three then steps part of the way back out to find herself another target.

Rakes tucks back in behind the tree rather than fire, because she can use a brightly-colored piece of fabric attached to a rock to throw out from cover: mark her position, let the others fall back to safety.

"Stay still, frak you." Callum grumbles as Dreyer seems intent on still firing his rifle. Hey he's trying to close up some chest wounds here! Working as fast as he can while still doing his best, Callum's able to stop the bleeding from the chest wounds. Dreyer's antics prevent him from doing something about the hand but oh well. "Your chest is closed up. Keep it that way. Your hand'll be fine. I think." He grabs his stuff and rolls to the side, intent on patching up his own hand now that he has a little breathing room.

While Lleufer comes up, two more Marines come with him. The each look at each other from the crouch while gunfire rages around them. They duck close and then stack bodies. One by two. They run them back towards the rear LZ. Meanwhile the two special forces members continue their withering fire. The female seems particularly apt, though no surpise to what Mallas had identified earlier. The two are running clearly low on ammo, though, but neither seems willing to leave just yet. Or even close to it.

From the direction of the LZ, Sergeant Ynyr comes with two other guys. They stick to what cover they can as they make their way through the trees and have their eyes peeled for the action heating up. Lleufer looks around to try and find Dreyer or Knox, gets directed to Dreyer's location. Ynyr gives Dreyer a quick look over, "Sergeant. Having fun over here, aren't you?" His rifle is in hand and he uses a tree for what little cover it will give him, down on one knee. Ynyr picks himself out a target and starts shooting back.

For all that is holy, this hurts. Dreyer's sights go off-target as Callum works on his sucking chest wound and that just makes things all the worse. "Frak!" It's shouted in the Corpsman's face, but really. It's all said with terrible burning pain. At least he doesn't kick PO Ward. When his hand is mentioned, he looks, and wishes he hadn't. For a long, long few seconds, it seems like the young Sergeant might lose whatever he ate before this all went down. The rifle is drawn up tight as he settles down close against the tree. When Lleufer arrives with two others, the man does look over and points them to the four bodies. "Get them back to the LZ!" He gives his fellow MP an upnod and a grimace. "Drinks in medical later?" Just ignore the shine in his eyes. He really is trying to keep it all together.

A few of the Centurions finally fall, and Mallas risks another quick check around. Looks like they're holding tight, so he gets back to work. Shifting his fire again, he squeezes off a long burst and sweeps across the relentlessly advancing robots.

<COMBAT> EXPLOSION! Right Next To Cent11 - Moderate wound to Head (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Cent11 - ARMOR on Right Arm stops the attack!

<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Cent11 - ARMOR on Right Hand stops the attack!

<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Cent11 - ARMOR on Neck stops the attack!

<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Cent11 - Moderate wound to Right Arm (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Cent11 - NEAR MISS!

<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Cent11 - ARMOR on Chest stops the attack!

<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Cent11 - ARMOR on Left Arm stops the attack!

<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Cent11 - ARMOR on Left Hand stops the attack!

<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Cent11 - ARMOR on Chest stops the attack!

<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Cent11 - ARMOR on Left Leg stops the attack!

<COMBAT> EXPLOSION! Pretty Close To Cent3 - Serious wound to Head (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Cent3 - ARMOR on Right Hand stops the attack!

<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Cent3 - Light wound to Left Arm (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Cent3 - Moderate wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Cent3 - Serious wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Cent3 - ARMOR on Left Hand stops the attack!

<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Cent3 - ARMOR on Right Hand stops the attack!

<COMBAT> Callum treats Callum:

<COMBAT> Mallas fires fullauto!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent7 with LMG AP - Light wound to Right Arm (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent7 with LMG AP - Moderate wound to Head (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent7 with LMG AP - ARMOR on Neck stops the attack!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent6 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent6 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent6 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent1 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent1 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Lleufer fires a 3 round burst!

<COMBAT> Lleufer attacks Cent7 with Rifle AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Lleufer attacks Cent7 with Rifle AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Lleufer attacks Cent7 with Rifle AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Knox fires a 3 round burst!

<COMBAT> Knox attacks Cent7 with Rifle AP - ARMOR on Left Hand stops the attack!

<COMBAT> Knox attacks Cent7 with Rifle AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Knox attacks Cent7 with Rifle AP - Light wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Dreyer fires a 3 round burst!

<COMBAT> Dreyer attacks Cent10 with Rifle AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Dreyer attacks Cent10 with Rifle AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Dreyer attacks Cent10 with Rifle AP - Light wound to Right Arm (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Cent8 attacks Lleufer with LMG Tripod and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Cent11 attacks Rakes with LMG Tripod - COVER stops the attack.

<COMBAT> Daphne fires a 3 round burst!

<COMBAT> Daphne attacks Cent1 with Rifle Ap - Light wound to Neck (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Daphne attacks Cent1 with Rifle Ap and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Daphne attacks Cent1 with Rifle Ap and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Cent7 attacks Lleufer with LMG Tripod and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Cent3 attacks Dreyer with LMG Tripod and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Cent1 attacks Mallas with LMG Tripod and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Phaeton fires a 3 round burst!

<COMBAT> Phaeton attacks Cent3 with Rifle Ap and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Phaeton attacks Cent3 with Rifle Ap and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Phaeton attacks Cent3 with Rifle Ap and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Cent6 attacks Rakes with LMG Tripod - Moderate wound to Right Hand.

<COMBAT> Cent10 attacks Dreyer with LMG Tripod - COVER stops the attack.

<COMBAT> Cent1 has been KO'd!

<COMBAT> Cent11 has been KO'd!

<COMBAT> Rakes has been KO'd!

Randy spares a glance for Dreyer, Rakes, and Callum working to patch them up while they work. She pops up from her cover, lays down some cover fire, and then while moving one way, a bullet tags her in her chest in her armor, sending her to the ground for a the second time today. One hand comes up and she pounds her fist into the bruised sternum. "Fine. Let's bring out the fireworks." She grins when she hears she isn't the first to think of the idea. She tucks in for the frag and hops up to her feet to let one loose, "Frag!". After she lets loose, she's already taking position to take advantage of the confusion.

Knox fires off his burst and gets on the radio. "Haymaker One, this is Mike-Six-Four!" he shouts. There's a glance back to the wounded, then forward. One hand on the rifle, the other on the mic. "Haymaker One!!! We need immediate extract at the LZ! NOW! We've got wounded and Kilo India Alpha! Land 'em all! We are Oscar Frakking Mike!" The guy looks over towards Dreyer and gives a hand signal to back the hell out of here.

<FS3> Callum rolls Body+Body: Good Success.

Dropping the magazine from his rifle, Phaeton starts to change it. "Find a Marine, pull him out! Mallas, cover for a few more seconds, then start to withdraw. If they're too close, leave the weapon behind." he sends out as he glances towards Daphne. "Basilius, you have anyone near you to grab?" he asks as he pops in a fresh magazine.

Mallas is busy firing, the repeated roar of the SAW downing out a lot of shouting and screaming. There's a grim smirk from the young Private as he sees more Centurions toppling over, but there are plenty more out there. But he does catch Phaeton shouting at him, and has the presence to look up long enough to nod to the Sergeant. Back to work.

Patching up his own little hand wound is uncomfortable but Callum manages to do it. Now he's ready to stand up and take a few shots, or he would be had Rakes not decided to go and get herself shot again. "Damn it Marine." He gets all his own shit situated and then kneels beside her. "Don't think about how much this might hurt, ok? Great." Even though he knows she's wounded, getting her out alive is better than leaving her or letting her try and make it out on her own. He grabs her and tosses her over one shoulder. "It's going to get bouncy so hold on." He then starts hoofing it towards the LZ.

"The frak?!" Dreyer looks over towards Team Alpha. "WHAT THE FRAK." Both to Knox and Phaeton. It does halt his firing ability to an extent, but at least he's not hit in turn. What's done is done, but there's a finger pointing right towards Phaeton. It's a sort of 'LATER.' gesture. The MP is not happy. Anyone who comes near Dreyer to help him out? He points to the downed SF members. Them first. But the call has been made and the man takes a deep breath. "I'll cover," he tells Callum. Getting Rakes out? That one makes sense. For sure. But he's going to make sure Callum has the cover to do it with.

<FS3> Daphne rolls Body+body: Failure.

By the time Rakes is pulling her arm back, she's also looking at more blood. That was not how it went out from cover. It also hurts, a lot, and she has to awkwardly attempt to treat herself from a first aid kit at her flank. The barrel of her carbine drags in the dirt with her shifting here and there, using her teeth to tear into a bandage and then tape to seal her hand. She then returns her mouth to trying to contact Ranger One, because they ignored her the first time. Or maybe they didn't. She doesn't know. There's a lot of blood staining her camouflage uniform right now.

"I'm not leaving till we get these men out or I have different orders. If you aren't laying down cover, get your ass in gear people!" Randy shouts as she bites a pin from another 'nade. "Follow orders!" But when Dreyer falls in line with the current impromptu plan, she does too. "You're next Sarge!" she shouts a few feet from Dreyer.

"Yeah, I can grab one." Daphne replies when she's asked, lowering her rifle to sling it back to her back as she looks for the nearest body to grab. She then heads over to try and hoist them up. Key word, try. She doesn't get a solid hold and ends up dropping them with a curse, gritting her teeth.

Lleufer is intent on not getting hit, but his burst misses his target and he swears. He glances fast at Dreyer, "You able to walk? I can help you get out - carry you if needbe." No way he's leaving until he sees Dreyer out first. Ynyr sees Dreyer indicate the two bodies and aye, he can go for one. While he's itching to shoot some frak'n canners, Lleu sucks a breath and goes for one of the bodies to see if he can heft and carry. His left leg better hold up.

<FS3> Lleufer rolls Body+body: Good Success.

<COMBAT> Mallas fires fullauto!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent10 with LMG AP - Light wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent10 with LMG AP - ARMOR on Head stops the attack!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent10 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent6 with LMG AP but MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent6 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent6 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent7 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent7 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Cent8 attacks Dreyer with LMG Tripod and MISSES!

<COMBAT> EXPLOSION! Far From Cent3 - Light wound to Head (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> SHRAPNEL! Cent3 - ARMOR on Chest stops the attack!

<COMBAT> EXPLOSION! Far From Cent8 - Light wound to Head (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Cent7 attacks Randy with LMG Tripod and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Cent3 attacks Dreyer with LMG Tripod and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Dreyer attacks Cent3 with Rifle AP - ARMOR on Right Hand stops the attack!

<COMBAT> Cent6 attacks Knox with LMG Tripod and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Cent10 attacks Lleufer with LMG Tripod but MISSES!

<COMBAT> Cent3 has been KO'd!

<COMBAT> Cent8 has been KO'd!

<FS3> Daphne rolls Body+body: Good Success.

"Frak…" Daphne grunts as she tries once more to get a good hold on the body, and starts to haul it up. Lift with your legs and not your back. She then shifts the body up over her shoulder with a grunt of effort.

The look from Dreyer is ignored for now. Phaeton lays down the orders to get the Marines and SF's the hell out of Dodge. He'll take whatever heat from it later as he fires off a few shots towards the closest advancing Centurion. "Someone get the special forces to peel back, they can help with the others!"

Ynyr manages to heft one of the bodies. He grits his teeth as gunfire zips past him way to close not to be shooting back or under cover! But he's not hit and once the body is up over his shoulder, he gets his ass moving, careful of the terrain with his left leg. He heads back towards where Dreyer is and moves on past with his burden.

Callum keeps running, Rakes over one shoulder. Run Callum Run. Such are his thoughts right now. That and please don't let me get shot. That'd suck. As he runs, he decides to try and lighten the mood a little bit. "What. Have. You. Been. Eating?" There's a pause between each word as he tries to maintain his breathing. It wouldn't do to get worn out and then drop her.

The Marines are trying to withdrawl but the Centurions keep on coming. Meanwhile behind them the scream of the Raptor's engines can be heard in the back. They're coming in full afterburner. Flak can once again be heard bursting ahead of them. Meanwhile the two SF Marines up front continue firing. Only the occasional glance back gives any indication they are paying attention to what's happening.

Mallas looks up again to see if everyone has pulled out yet. No. "Are we leaving or not?!" shouts the grunt. This must have been rhetorical, as he's back over the LMG again before anyone can answer. "Frak…" A burst goes into the nearest Centurion. "Frak, frak, frak." Another series of burst rattle out of the SAW. "HEY ASSHOLES," he pauses to yell at the SF pair. "MOVE YOUR FRAKKING ASSES GODSDAMNIT!"

"Well why don't you get your ass out there and drag them back yourself, Kilgannon?!" Dreyer, out of fucks to give. The SF folks have been ignoring the calls on the radios. The MP Sergeant does give a sharp nod to Lleufer as he goes on by with one of the fallen. All four on their way back to the LZ now. Dreyer's hand is pretty much a moving mass of blood at this point and he's running on pure adrenaline. Just as he's taking a deep breath to shout, Mallas is doing just that. So Anton just grunts and continues to cover the retreat of those with the injured and dead.

"Go on, I'll take cover and rendesvous with them as we fall back!" Perhaps it's the massive waves after wave of tin cans bearing down on them that makes Randy think they'll be better off with more than two SF. "We'll need cover at the end for a final evac bird!" she shouts to Dreyer and anyone near by enough to hear. Then instead of falling back, she strategically waits to join up with the SFs, making herself known according to protocol. "Not alone! Friendly! We're getting your people out of here!" she shouts to the two SF. It never hurts to have over communication right?

<COMBAT> Randy attacks Cent6 with Rifle Ap - Light wound to Chest (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Mallas fires fullauto!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent13 with LMG AP - Serious wound to Abdomen (Reduced by Armor).

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent13 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent13 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent12 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent12 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent12 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent10 with LMG AP - ARMOR on Neck stops the attack!

<COMBAT> Mallas attacks Cent10 with LMG AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Cent7 attacks Mallas with LMG Tripod and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Cent6 attacks Knox with LMG Tripod and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Cent12 attacks Callum with LMG Tripod and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Cent10 attacks Randy with LMG Tripod and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Dreyer fires a 3 round burst!

<COMBAT> Dreyer attacks Cent12 with Rifle AP - ARMOR on Abdomen stops the attack!

<COMBAT> Dreyer attacks Cent12 with Rifle AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Dreyer attacks Cent12 with Rifle AP and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Cent13 attacks Mallas with LMG Tripod and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Phaeton fires a 3 round burst!

<COMBAT> Phaeton attacks Cent7 with Rifle Ap - ARMOR on Left Arm stops the attack!

<COMBAT> Phaeton attacks Cent7 with Rifle Ap and MISSES!

<COMBAT> Phaeton attacks Cent7 with Rifle Ap - ARMOR on Head stops the attack!

<COMBAT> Cent6 has been KO'd!

<FS3> Randy rolls Body+Body: Success.

<FS3> Dreyer rolls Body+Body: Great Success.

At some point, Rakes realizes that she is on someone's shoulder. It takes her a long moment to realize that the pain from being bounced along is trying to compete with being shot. She clutches her right hand near the middle of Callum's back and her chest, and her rifle flops much like a limp noodle in their wake. "Drop me at Haymaker One. Go back for the others." It's all obvious. She could say more, but she gets hit in the face by her antenna and has to close an eye. So she just curses instead.

The ones told to retreat and the ones carrying the wounded or dead have a nice view. Above, in the sky, they can see the Raptors busting the Mach as they dive in The vapor cones off them are easily visible as they roll in towards the team on the ground. 'Haymaker One' is actually six different Raptors. Miniguns and empty missile racks hang off each wing. Three of them have open doors and the doorgunners are firing into the distance over the heads of the extract team. All but one lands, the tall grass blowing down as the other doors open. They touch down and the doorgunners and ECO's are in the doorways gesturing like madmen(and women) for the people to board. The single Raptor overhead begins to turn inbound to strike the Centurions. The doorgunner unclips the .50 and steps out onto the wingtop, aiming the fifty. The rounds clatter away while the tracers bark out. They're just passing over the wounded and extract when there's a distant -WHOOSH-. A vapor trail climbs towards the overwatch Raptor while the gunner adjust fire. She tries valiantly to try and shoot down the missile but it hits the cockpit and explodes inside.

The wreckage tumbles down towards the ground in a rushing ball of flame, the gunner dead but still firing the fifty as it impacts. The explosion rolls across the terrain no less than 100 meters away, knocking down trees.

Meanwhile the Raptors are on the ground waiting for the wounded and dead to be evac'd. The doorgunners don't even bother waiting for a target. They fire over the heads of the retreating Marines, blwng the trees apart and knocking branches down on top of them while they try to defend anything and everything.

"Frag out! Mallas, time to go!" Phaeton orders as he tosses the grenade. Once he does, the engineer waits for the Private to be clear before he's following after Mallas to clear the area and get aboard one of the Raptors.

For all that he practically mocks the person attempting to undermine and call their own orders, Dreyer is soon taking off into the field. Head low, rifle up and providing what he hopes is suppressive fire until he reaches the side of the male SF and his slag-ified MG. "We got your team! Your ass is coming with me." And really, despite his wounds, Dreyer is still running on some good adrenaline. Enough that he is able to get himself up under the man's arm, an arm around him, and drag him away. The crashing raptor and the gunfire over their heads covering their retreat should be enough to light the fire under the SF's asses. Back at the Raptors, he shoves the man ahead of him and more-or-less just faceplants after.

A few shots go whizzing past Callum, but thankfully nothing's hit him. He suspects nothing's hit Rakes either but who knows, maybe she'll be riddled with holes after having served as something of a human shield. Reaching a Raptor, he hops into the back and gets Rakes down and in a secured position. "Nope, can't get rid of me that easy. You're the one getting all the holes in you today, the others aren't, so you're stuck with me while I make sure you stay alive long enough to see a real doctor." He wasn't going to have a Marine die on his watch.

As soon as she breaks the cover of the trees Daphne is hauling ass towards the Raptors with the body slung over her shoulder. She doesn't look back, and she doesn't slow down her steps. She just moves her ass as fast as she can with the weight on her shoulders, huffing and puffing as she reaches the Raptors and shoves the guy in before scrambling in after.

Once Knox see's the Marines getting the SF people out, he hangs back and fires off the rest of his mag, trying to hit anything. Too far into the woods, he hits nothing. The guy turns to see what's going on, checking, before he really turns and hauls ass. He runs for the least-clogged Raptor nd dives aboard, hoping he has a solid ride out.

Lleufer is not keen to leave the others when there are wounded under fire, but he carries one of the dead and somehow manages not to get shot by Ares grace. All the gunfire an yelling, the sound of Raptors, it's like a flicker of flashback from Santos Ridge - and yet, not. Thankfully not. Ynyr heads for the LZ and spares a glance back to see if the others are pulling out. Then there is a Raptor landing ahead of him. Lleufer hustles to get over there and get the body into it. He goes back to the door to help others get their asses in. His eyes are sharp, looking to count Marines, looking for Dreyer, Knox, others he knows and ready to jump out and go help them if they are short.

"I'm invincible." Rakes casually unsecures herself for the wing of one of the Raptors and mutters incoherently to herself. She places a hand to her head and then realizes that only smears blood from a red bandage across her sweaty skin and short hair to her temples. Another curse escapes her. Her right leg is useless right now. She's fairly useless right now. The JTAC sucks on her bottom lip and flexes her right hand's fingers. It hurts too much to use her forefinger so she adjusts to the middle, propped against the waiting Raptor's flanking doorway to provide far security into the treeline as marines begin appearing from it. Something high-pitched sears overhead. It's behind her, but it washes over and down the frame of the Raptor with the heat of a fireball: another Raptor down? She cannot tell, not yet. Her headset is at a rakish angle along her neck as she reaches forward for her carbine's charging handle upon automatically reloading a dry weapon. She can get pulled back in when there are no others left.

Mallas' fire picks up as soon as he hears Phaeton's shout, trying to suppress the Centurions as everyone bugs out. In a few seconds he burns what ammo is left in the belt, and then he scrambles to his feet to run. It's a mad dash through the trees, bent low as he can as rounds fly over him in both directions as he lugs a smoking LMG. The wreckage of the downed raptor doesn't even get a second glance. He's too out of breath to talk and there's nothing to say now. Mallas he stumbles into the nearest raptor before he takes a knee and grabs onto the nearest hand hold. "Frak … this … man …" he wheezes.

Ultimately, it's the Raptor that Rakes and Callum have made it to that plays host to Dreyer and the man he's brought in from the field. Yep, a pretty much useless MG has been left behind, but the targets themselves? All aboard. At least from what stock Anton was able to take before he collapsed in the doorway. The man ends up needing help to complete the way in. Getting to the Raptor was 'mission complete' and what adrenaline remained flushed itself from his body. The man sort of flops over in his seat and against whoever happens to be next to him. "Oh, Ares' balls, this hurts." That was meant to be a thought, but instead it comes out mumbled as he clutches his hand to his chest. The hand Callum didn't get a chance to treat.

"Shit," Randy mutters under her breath as she immediately sizes up the SF. It's punched out of the sonic airways by the burst of heavy gunfire. She drags the SF to behind more sufficient cover and then heaves him into a fireman's hold. It takes two times, but he makes it up there. Then when the raptor bites it, it forces her to lean into a tree…well kind of fall slam. There's a moment where she could just let him slip. She's not sure if she's dead either way, but she shakes the ringing from her ears and keeps her eyes on the evac raptors, finally dumping the SF into the last Raptor before hopping in like a fish on the deck of a fishing boat.

Lleufer reaches out to help Mallas aboard, a grimce and a squint given to the debris of the Raptor that rains down plenty close. "You hurt?" Ynyr's looking over his fellow Marine, then swings his ass into the closest seat. The door gunners are going at it and Lleu keeps his rifle in hand if the canners rush up before the Raptors spring back into the air.

Once the whole team is aboard, with dead, the Raptors scream their engines. Not a single one of them bothers with a safe take-off. There's only fire left and the sixth burns with an oily black smoke in the treeline nearby. The sheer force of thrust and maneuvering overrides the artificial gravity. Each one throws a screen of flares and chaff as they depart the area, running north away from the combat zone. Meanwhile each Raptor is hit relentlessly with gunfire. The rounds prang off the outside. But its the flak that gets people… No Raptor is spared. Not one. Each one takes a massive flak hit on the departure. Engines hit redline, smoke billows inside. It's ugly while people are trying to be treated. Especially while the ECO's try and charge the drives to jump and hiding the coords. Each Raptor is filled with yells and needs while the black clouds burst around them. Two Raptors hear the sound of a SAM inbound, screaming in their ears….

Then nothing. Jumped away, the crew and their carge is left in empty space. The first jump of three. They made it. Barely. …And in one Raptor is a Skinjob Model Nine. Bleeding out, having returned fire, she's one of the few surviving members of the SF team. She chokes, adrenaline dying, and by the time they hit the third jump she's in cardiac arrest. While the flight of five Raptors fly inbound, a Nine is dying in the backseat. It was hard to tell with her helmet on, but there she is.

<FS3> Callum rolls First Aid: Good Success.

Randy is unhurt, save for some heaving bruising she can't feel yet, but she's catching her breath when she feels the blood of the SF skinjob seep into her hair from beside her. The smell reaches her nose like a trigger and she twists over like a quick little rat. "Callum…where is he-?" Her arms rush out to assist if needs be. She hasn't even taken time to really register who the SF is. "My hands are wherever you need them…" she offers to Callum.

Mallas blinks as someone helps him into the raptor, then looks up at Lleufer to give the Sergeant a quick nod in thanks. The question causes him to hesitate, and then quickly pat himself down. "I don't think so," the Private concludes. "Thank Ares." Then he remembers something and takes a quick look around, but he's ended up in a different raptor from the skinjob. "Hey," he tells Lleufer, "You might wanna tell the pilot that one of those Marines was a Skinny. A Nine. She's on a different bird I guess."

Sensing that he was needed elsewhere, Callum makes sure Rakes is in stable condition before moving to the back. "I'm right here." He says to Randy, glancing down at the woman having a cardiac arrest. Well… sort-of-woman. Or something. Kneeling down, he rifles in his gear and pulls out what he needs to get to it. Hooking up an IV and readying some paddles, it takes several attempts before a weak pulse is found. He continues working, doing everything he can to make sure that pulse stays.

Oh hello there. It's a Nine. A Nine? This takes some time for Dreyer to process and the man sits up straighter once he does. Frak. A nine? He grabs for the ECO's sleeve and mumbles. Likely making sure they are aware as well. Then it's the pilot, even if he has to tumble his way there. His hand. His bloodied, gross, 'oh hey that's bone' hand falls to the Raptor jockey's shoulder. "Hey. On the way in… Let them know we have a Nine aboard." His words are a bit slurred, but the point gets across before, well, the floor looks like a good place to sit aaaaaaaand Dreyer Out.

Uninjured, Daphne stays on alert until the Raptors take that first jump, and as soon as they do she allows herself to relax just a fraction. She rubs a hand across her face, wiping the sweat away before she finds herself a place out of the way to tuck herself for the ride back, staring grimly into the air in front of her.

That gets a blink out of Ynyr, "A Nine? Like Ceres?" Yeah, he'd met her since he was among the original Orion crew from before the start of the War. It's been a pretty rough ride but now they've gotten through the gut heaving first jump, he looks around and then moves forward to go and tell the pilot so he or she can radio the other Raptors. Lleu can stay up there and describe what a Nine looks like, if there are questions.

The Raptors continue in to land on the Orion. As they begin to be lowered to the hangar deck, the alarms start going off. Not for a skinjob, but for wounded. The greens flash with white light lights to indicate there are wounded. When they hit the hangar deck, there are no Marines to stand guard. There are only members of medical ready to transport. Maybe the warning hasn't been passed yet. But the Nine in the Raptor is barely alive. The paddles clearly saved her. When the hatches open, the medical crew rushes forward for all the wounded with no discrimination. Apparently word had not yet been passed or was unable to be.

Looking between Daphne and Mallas, Phaeton gives Daphne's shoulder a nudge with his own. "Good shooting out there, Coporal." he offers as he nods to Mallas. "And good eyes." he says as he reaches up to rub the hole in his armor. "frak." he mutters.

Randy mostly just stays out of Callum's way, but also helps do things like assisting in stabilizing the woman's position, etc. Once Callum's got a good rhythm, Randy turns back to check on Dreyer. "Frak me. Callum. Should he be passing out like that?" She pulls out her handgun and moves herself to where she is between the Nine and the pilot, keeping the safety on. Once they land, she re-holsters her gun and she shouts, "Her first! Her first!" in case priority had not been relayed to the medical teams. "Critical." Then she sinks into the background, away from the Nine so more people with expertise can help. "I've got one passed out in the bird here!" she yells out over her shoulder after turning towards her bunk mate.

Once they are landed in the hangar bay of the Orion, Lleu thanks the pilot and ECO for coming and getting their asses. He waits to let Mallas disembark first, then Ynyr steps out. He eyes the Raptor first, then looks with concern at the wounded being unloaded. The MP Sergeant stays out of the way of the medical personnel but keeps a sharp eye out.

"Woo!" Rakes makes it all of six inches- a step- outside of the Raptor before she collapses into something. It turns out to be a person and that person happens to be helpful enough to steady the critically injured marine and keep her upright. She wheezes out a laugh. "We're all frakked, you know. In the worst of ways." Her leg is a righteous mess, her right hand's bones are mostly shattered, and she lacks the adrenaline to keep going, so the medical team continue along for her. Away she disappears with little fanfare.

Daphne hops out of the Raptor, giving Phaeton a nod at what he said earlier, then she moves quickly out of the way of the medical team. She lingers for the moment, making sure that she's not needed for anything.

Private Mallas trudges out of the raptor, taking a deep breath and looking around the hangar bay. He mutters a quiet prayer as he hops down and looks at the other buses that came in from Aerilon. Medical is swarming all over the wounded, so Mallas just watches. The SAW has cooled by now, and the kid gives the faithful LMG a fond pat. "Made it back again," he tells the weapon. And then he's off to turn in his arms and go through debrief. Maybe if he's quick he can sneak in some rack time.

Randy sticks with Dreyer until someone from medical has gotten him in the swing of things and onto a gurney. She's watching for things like blue lips, weakened pulse. She keeps her fingers to his neck and says to no one in particular, "Sorry about the other day. I was on the rag." After /those/ words, she's quiet for a few seconds and then nods to the medical staff that takes him away. She sticks it out for about 45 seconds before she's getting asked to leave by Deckies, albiet politely. Then she follows their advice and starts to head towards medical to wait for a checkup on her chest.

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