ARES:Gods of War

Contact Part 1

The North-East. Former Interstate Highway 95

It wasn't standard for the UNSC to travel through this place yet, so Alyosha and his squad found themselves riding an Oryx, a standard-issue UNSC IFV armed with a shrouded 30mm cannon and fire-and-forget AT missiles, alongside a convoy of UNSC Marines from the Spirit. These squads were heading out in order to build an outpost farther along the road, so that meant some heavy firepower. The convoy consisted of two Oryxes, half-a-dozen Warthogs and two Grizzly MBTs, one at the front and one at the rear of the formation, as well as one Sun Devil AAA Tank.

Orbiting above were two Hawks that were escorting a larger lifter transport ship. Alyosha listened to the IFV's crew speaking over radio, "Warhawk 1-Actual to all advancing Warhawk elements, BattleNet is active. Scanning for targets," And the hydraulic whirr of the tracked battle vehicle's turret filled the hold. The gunners turned the weapon about to the point the spall liner separating them from the twelve-man hold where the infantry was sat had gotten hidden behind a wall. The commander radioed again, "Advise Outpost and Delta Hotel, Package is aboard and en-route to dropoff point..."

"Didn't think we'd already be rolling outposts this far North!" Anis called out to a Marine sat in front of her. She looked over to a couple more on Neon and Rapi's left and said, "You guys sure you wanna do this!? The Raptures are gonna start hitting you the moment they learn you're out here! Just ask the girls in the Northern Base about it, the bastards are ruthless!"

"We know!" A female Marine cradling a BR75 replied, weapon pressed against her shoulder, "It's why we're headed here! Covering the base's right flank and acting as a checkpoint for any Rapture forces pouring in from the North! We're apparently going up the Old I95, so if the Rat Bastards wanna push troops down south into the Old States, they'll have to go through us!"

"Hoo'rah!" Cheered the Marines and a few of the Nikke aboard, looking to one-another. Anis grinned at that and extended her hand toward the Marine, balling it up into a fist which the female Marine gladly bumped her own into. The two gave each-other thumbs-up as Anis started checking her launcher. Rapi, meanwhile, held close her rifle and felt the new armor they were wearing. UNSC BDUs included modular armor plating meant to protect any and every important part. She'd picked thorax and stomach protection, as well as a lightweight helmet.

Anis had picked out a Grenadier loadout, though the chest armor seemed a bit tight for her. That meant she had extra grenades loaded in her armor plate pouches, as well as an M6 sidearm strapped to her chest. Added protection also came in the form of a Helmet with a VISR system that she'd picked out herself. At least her hair could still poke out from under it.

Neon had picked the heaviest loadout, surprisingly. She'd modified her Shotgun with parts from standard-issue M90 CAWS, including the tubes for the eight-gauge Soelkraft flechette shells and AP Slugs the UNSC carried as a standard. It lowered her ammo count, but the extra punch from the modified twin-barrel shotgun was the perfect tradeoff after her.

She also had two layers of kevlar topped off by full-body plate armor and a helmet. The only thing not concealed were her face and glasses, which glimmered like her teeth in the red light of the transport. The young girl giddily giggled as she pretty much danced in her seat. Alyosha, meanwhile, had picked out a more standard kit, basically the same type he'd worn during the Crisis.

Light armor, a helmet and an MA5k, not to mention an M6 pistol. He clenched and unclenched his fists, prepared to head out into the biting cold again as the vehicles rolled forward. They all felt the vics turn left on the road, the Commander reporting, "All Warhawk Elements, actual. We're descending from I95. Watch your sectors, check your fire. It is unknown at this time if the allied patrols haven't just had a Loss Of Contact in this AO. FORGE-1-1 and FORGE-1-2, prep to drop payload... We're committing to the RV with BEACON Element now."