[Jayde Moon]

Two-man carry? Chante thought to herself.  Got one better.

With a thought, she dismisses the air spirit with a wave of gratitude and then takes a moment to summon a small, but sturdy Spirit of Earth.  She manages to do so while still moving rapidly towards the extraction point.  As it forms in the ether beside her she welcomes it before requesting that it aid in carrying their fallen comrade onto the helicopter.

<<@Team: Earth Spirit inbound to assist with the carry, I'm right behind you.>>

Chante scrambles forward, sneaking a glance behind to see if she can make out anything in the darkness.

[Jayde Moon]

The Spirit of Earth manifests next to the fallen Ite and quickly hauls him up.  Moving slowly, but steadily, it makes its way to the helicopter.

Now to just hold these guys off long enough...

[GloriousRuse]

Submachineguns .Most of them were carrying submachineguns. That was NOT a standard UCAS infantry squad weapon set. That could just mean they were a military police unit that did site security a lot. It could mean that the UCAS had decided to save some money by kitting out its rear area staff, logisticians, and tech heads with cheap weapons. But those guys probably wouldn't be hunting down saboteurs in a blizzard. There were other types of UCAS units that used submachineguns though - and those units were scary, the premier infighters and close quarters killers. The type of people who really benefited from a short barrel and a quick swing, and got past that pesky "might not go through armor" problem by putting the vast majority of their shots into their target's head.

Swoopy really hoped it was one of the first two options. He gave the situation a quick glance; if he opened up, there was no way that he could get all of them before they turned Ite - and frankly, Swoopy - into hamburger. Might be able to make it so no one could shoot well though. He decided to toss an EMP grenade and a smoke grenade. Just the thing to buy enough time for Ite to get on the bird.

His fingers went to the grenade pouches he had so meticulously checked before jumping. Never went on a mission without grenades, and they were always in the exact same place on his kit. He could throw a grenade by reflex in...well...in a blizzard, at night, come to think of it. or, rather he could if the pouch wasn't empty. That was a problem. When did that happen? Probably during the jump.

Swoopy actually tapped the pouches again, and no shit looked down, just to be sure. Not having them there was like finding out you didn't have your link on you. Nope, definitely not there. Some Kansas farm field would no doubt have an unhappy accident years from now.

He looked up..they weren't shooting yet, that was good. Every second without shooting meant a few meters Ite got closer to the bird. No need to kick things off early if it was going to be a suicide by firing squad type of choice. Still, he found a nice tree to get behind and picked out an orc who looked like he was in charge of things. That guy would be his target if things went pear shaped.

Com'on..just keep things copacetic..don't need to eviscerate that very clearly downed troll...a few more meters..

The rip of a drone rifle tore the night and tossed chunks of ice and snow up around the squad. Soldiers scattered, barrels swung. Ite's life expectancy looked like it was going way down.

Firefight after all.

Bad luck for the orc. Swoopy fired. The first rounds caught the orc in the chest plate. Tough SOB didn't go down. Would've been better for him if he did. Instead he was kneeling coughing in the snow. Swoopy barely had to adjust his point of aim to put the next burst into the orc's face.

[rednblack]

Shiriki pulls himself into the cockpit as the firefight begins anew.  With the forceful winds, any auditory promise of the new arrivals had been lost on him, and in his singular focus to get Ité on board while he's still breathing Shiriki had neglected to see just how close his harassing roto-drone had come to their present location.

Frag, they must have been right on top of us.

Shiriki keys off the wireless connectivity toggle on the Dragon, and slumps into his chair, feeling the comforting controls of his roto-drone flood his consciousness.  The drone is still in a leeward pitch, most likely dodging the likely direction of an incoming attack, and the rigger identifies and places pins on a number of attackers. 

2, 3. . . 4, 5, 6, frag there's a lot of 'em.

Below, Swoopy pops into view and lets loose with two short bursts of gunfire, barely a breath between them, point blank on the leading soldier.  Shiriki swings his reticle to the left, catches another ork-sized soldier in his crosshairs and lets loose with two bursts of his own.  The first harmlessly dimples the snow at the figure's feet, while the second catches him in the shins.  Flying past the first target, Shiriki acquires another.  He's staring down the barrels of both Dobermans, but can't see which one he'd hit previous through the snow.  Picking at random, he rushes himself and fires between the two before climbing into the blizzard and turning back east for a second approach.

[Jayde Moon]

Chante continued moving through the snow towards the helicopter.  The rush of Soldiers and their drones was worrying, but she'd seen worse odds than a single squad of legs and a couple dog brains.  The bullets pinging off the Earth Spirit she had summoned made her cringe.  The Ice Spirit was a bit more concerning.  Hey, that's a medical non-combatant! she thought to herself with a mental shrug.  She'd have to keep it from getting shot to drek.

On the plus side, leave it to a bunch of legs to clump.  She grinned as she brought the Ares Alpha to her shoulder and pulled the trigger on the underbarrel grenade launcher.

<<@Team: Flash out >>

Maybe the old school emoji was over the top, but if she could keep things light, she hoped the team would respond.

The flash landed right in the midst of the squad.  Two of the soldiers managed to dive behind cover, but two others were caught squarely in the blast and were knocked off their feet, one of them now laying still.  The drones kept rolling through, of course.

"THANKS FOR CLUMPING!" she yelled towards them, maybe they'd hear her over the storm, but they wouldn't over the ringing in their ears.  She saw it as a teaching point, really.  Those four would never ignore spacing in their tactics again.  It would probably save their life when the enemy was using frags instead.

[Tecumseh]

Chante waves her hand and dismisses her eagle. With a snap of her fingers she brings forth a spirit of earth while running. She points to Ité, then to the waiting chopper. The spirit materializes and obeys.

Chante turns to check her six and finds a squad hot on her heels. There's a half-dozen soldiers who glow brightly on the astral, a spirit of ice, and two drones. A watcher trails behind, potentially to keep track of the targets. The captain quickly updates the map on the tac HUD shared by the team.

Swoopy comes running from the chopper with a comically undersized stretcher for Ité. Swoopy's chameleon suit renders him almost invisible in the storm, but his aura makes him obvious.

The pursuers continue to pursue. Shiriki's rotodrone opens up and the soldiers dive for cover in the snow. Swoopy follows suit as the soldiers return fire, blasting chunks out of the spirit of earth and Ité's armor.

Chante, invisible and untargeted, has an opportunity to flank the soldiers and nail four with a single mini-grenade from her Alpha. Two have their faces down and ears covered in time, but the other two are left dazed and confused. "THANKS FOR CLUMPING!" she yells, just in case they couldn't hear over their new cases of tinnitus.

Dan-Dan rushes to check on Ité but the conditions are wretched. Not only is Ité a moving target because the spirit of earth refuses to stop, but the only exposed skin on the troll is his face where Shiriki removed his ballistics mask. Between the dark and the wind and the swirly snow and the cold, there's nothing Dan-Dan can do for his comrade at the moment. The troll's best chance for survival will be to get to the Dragon before being riddled with bullets.

A quick scan of the battlefield shows that one of the soldiers has been KO'd. Despite the furious cascades of automatic fire back and forth, none of the Wildcats' biomonitors indicate any new damage. Ité icon flashes red but that's due to an intracranial hemorrhage, not bullets.

Shiriki feels a jolt as the wind suddenly shifts directions. Warm, wet, rising air from the Gulf of Aztlan mixes with the arctic blast descending out of Algonkian-Manitoo Council. The swirling wind moves out of the north and shifts to blowing from the south. A blessing in disguise? The wind had been pushing you toward the base and the GMC Thunderhawks and Gryphons racing in your direction, but now Wakan Tanka seems to be urging you toward home.

[GloriousRuse]

Swoopy watched as the group scattered and went to cover after Chante's grenade went off. They were still all visible from his position, but most had at least found a dip in the ground or something solid to put between themselves and the wall of fire coming out from the cats. Good news was they were no longer advancing on Ite. Bad new was they were actually already plenty close to perforate him and would now be harder to hit.

The machinegunner up until now had been firing tight little aimed bursts. Just the thing for a target range. Any moment he was going to come to the realization that he had hundreds of rounds in his belt, this wasn't the target range, and a great way to stop the cats from pounding the shit out of the squad was to fill the air with enough lead that even invisible ghost grenadiers and men behind trees that were barely perceptible wouldn't want to stick their heads out. The the rest of the squad could get on with the business of murdering everyone else in relative peace. 

Swoopy figured he should stop that from happening. His first shot was a great shot; everything felt right. The machinegunner had picked a great rock; the shot splattered harmlessly off. Swoopy adjusted tactics to "keep the sights roughly in the target area and put the bitch on full auto". Quantity, apparently, has a quality all its own.

[MDMann]

Dan-Dan ghosted through the trees, Ite fixed in his metaphorical target reticule. The squad had engaged and seconds counted. Worse, the dog brain on Swoopys medkit had administered anticoagulants, a synthetic diapridomol mix. Which had caused Ite's feeds to plummet. It had simply played the odds. It read a massive stroke and applied the 80% effective treatment. It lacked the diagnostics to determine more. Cheap, effective and great if you were in that 80% and suffered a intercranial infarction. Of course it was lethal if you had had an haemorrhage. Like Ite. The only thing worse would have been thrombolysis. Thankfully, that was too expensive.

No doubt, the blood was now bleeding freely into Ite's brain, with nowhere to go, crushing his grey matter and making it a squishy pink mess (when exposed to air). The treatment of course was simple and very effective. Drill a small hole in his head to relieve the pressure. A few problems with that of course. One, he was a troll, getting through that thick skull was going to be no easy matter. Only last week he'd been hammering nails into a board for a bet. With his head. They were pretty drunk at the time. It could need an industrial drill. Two,  it needed absolute precision. Miss the spot and compound the damage. That meant a good scanner, MRI, CT or Gooseegg. Three. Just the little matter of a firefight...

[MDMann]

Right. Simple threat assessment. Bunch of soldiers with a mix of small arms (and some heavier stuff but nacht). Check. Couple of drones closing fast. Check. Ice elemental. Check.

Ice elemental it was. The others would have to deal with the rest. They'd struggle to hurt the elemental. If it went invisible they might not even see it. Which made it Dan's.

Slight problem in getting to it without being seen. Dan was happy he could slip by all the meat concerned. However, that elemental would be watching on the astral. Which made things tricky.

So it was time  to be tricksy himself. Dan-Dan revered Cat (in her aspect of the Mountain Lion or Lynx), so he liked sneaking, grooming and deceit. There was no way he could get to that Ice Maiden (whoever summoned it had strange ideas) unseen. So, he'd go unnoticed. This would look really strange to the unawakened.

Danyes screwed up his aura and was the cat. He couldn't mask it properly so didn't try. He just became.

<<@Team: Flash out >>

Perfect. Dan jumped straight at the Ice ruin. Just like a startled cat, scrambling from the flashback.

"MRWOWWWWGRRW!"

Battlecry screaming he leapt on the elemental,  knife hacking deep into its scaly hide. Bullets had spanned off it and his knife looked puny by comparison. It made a few slight cracks into its back as it turned to face him. In the astral it glowed as a bright raging fire, painful to look upon. It carved away great crashing chunks of its aura, sloughing off its the ether.

It lashed out with a claw ligtning quick in repost, which Dan ducked under as it telegraphed it's move in the astral. Dan scored his knife deep along its exposed flank, great cracks spreading from the impact. In the meat a few chips pinged away into the night.

[Jayde Moon]

"Drek!"

Watching the Spirit of Earth go down was infuriating.  These guys were being very annoying.  Chante didn't doubt her odds of getting out, but every setback was increasing the odds against Ite.

She took a deep, steadying breath and then worked her will to call out to another spirit.  She put more into the effort, reaching for something larger, stronger.

A moment later, the earth ruptured before her, though it was only visible on the astral.  The Spirit of Earth towered before her.

My companion is injured.  Assist in putting him into the helicopter, then join us in our battle so that we can escape.

Particulars weren't necessary, the link between spirit and summoner insured that the spirit had an idea of what she wanted.  She had never had issues with spirits like others claimed, spirits that were capricious or malicious, following the letter of the request but not the intent.  She presumed they had treated their spirits poorly.

Snow began to spit plumes in the air just behind her, walking her way fast.  She dove back and avoided the spray.

Head in the game, Chante!

[GloriousRuse]

There was a definite increase in fire coming his way now. And any moment  Swoopy figured someone was going to come up with something more creative than blasting away ineffectually. Or the blasting would become effectual. Or someone would figure out all the rounds zipping were just gel, and figure what the hell, a few bruises might be worth it to stuff the muzzle right up the ass of their unknown attackers. 

Either way, time to move.

Fresh mag in, real bullets this time. Gotta keep them honest. For three seconds the colt spit sound and fury, rounds ripping across the UCAS squad positions. Probably wouldn't hit much, but it would force some heads down for the next part. 

Swoopy rolled down the backside of a local dip and started crawling hard towards a new firing position, trusting that the suit and a low profile in a blizzard would make up for those few moments when the terrain exposed him.

   

[rednblack]

The firefight was fast turning into a battle of attrition.  Someone, maybe Chante based on the location, had tried to eek out an edge with the proper placement of a flashbang, but getting bullets to stick to anything other than snow was proving to be a fool's errand on both sides.  And a fighting stand is not a tactic they have time for.  Not with Ité stroking out and the full weight of the UCAS military no doubt on their way to avoid any PR embarrassment -- not to mention the liberal use of explosives and depleted uranium rounds they would no doubt be bringing with them.

Frying pan, meet fire.

Which meant what, exactly?  In for a penny, in for a pound, I guess, chumps, Shiriki thinks, wondering just how many people alive today know what the frag a penny is.  He jumps out of the roto-drone, adjusting its standing orders to focus fire on the soft targets, leaving the opposing drones to the Dragon's machine guns and its APDS jacketed 7.62 X 51 miniguns, and into the Dragon.  He focuses in on one of the dobermans immediately, its assault rifle firing rather haphazardly as potential targets enter and exit its sphere of control with no discernible pattern.  Dodge this, he thinks, letting loose a long burst, but the dogbrain does just that.  Or does it?  Without tracer rounds and the general chaos, Shiriki can't see exactly where his rounds end up. 

He notes a quick change in the wind, now coming out strong from the south.  With limited matrix access, he's sure the smartlink systems haven't had time to adjust, and Shiriki places his reticle downwind of the doberman.  It flashes red, <<No target acquired>> but Shiriki fires again, his ammo counter dropping dangerously low.

The doberman rocks in place as at least three rounds puncture its "breastplate" and blow chunks of circuitry and oil in its wake. 

Closer to the action, Shiriki's roto-drone continues its strafing runs.  It rains down stick-and-shock rounds on one of the female combatants, catching her once in the thigh and forcing her to take a knee.  On its way out, the un-maimed roto-drone fires its assault rifle at the aerial drone, but a flurry of snow confuses its sensors and the rounds peel off harmlessly into the night.  The process is repeated on its next approach, leaving the drone untouched and the shooters nonplussed.

[MDMann]

Dan-Dan moved aside as the elemental struck at him, vicious shards of ice lancing the frigid air where he'd been moments before. Again it left itself open to attack and Danyes quickly took it the pommel of his knife striking it hard again it's mountainous chest.

CRACK! 

The icemaiden exploded, shards and splinters flying through the air as lethal hail, Dan diving through the space where it had briefly stood. It's howl as it was wrenched back into the ether sounding like nails scraped down a chalkboard.

Dan exploded through its heart, icy tears spinning into the void of its passage and collecting along his outstretched blade.

A cracking rent the air as one of the soldiers took a potshot at him, Dan swaying to one side as the round sailed harmlessly past to dig a furrow into the frozen dirt. A hail of lead then split the air as a doberman barked a hail of bullets at doctor Danyes. Tumbling, he hit the dirt rolling under the spinning rounds coming up charging at his assailant!

MRWOWWWWGRRW! Dancer charged, lashing out with a flurry of blows towards his assaulter. It was cats v. dogs.

As he ran towards the metal mutt, it's packmate slung a torrent of fire directly at Dan, turning the air black with spitting death. No way could Dan avoid the sheer weight of metal filling the air. And yet, somehow he did. Twisting, slipping, using the bullets own momentum to move through them. He slammed into the tincan canine, landing a solid blow against its gnashing jaw.

[MDMann]

Interlude.

Holensfield looked out of his office window. It looked set to snow. The gangly man with his shock of unruly hair looked deeply unmilitary. He was musing on his sister Raditha, whom he loved dearly. He was also intensely competitive with her. As was she with him. Both were ambitious. And neither looked it. Often course, unlike his sister he was awakened.

The major turned off the tridset where his father had been pontificating. The wellspring of the family. Or at least the source of its ambitions. The senator had been reelected of course, but it was a safe Republican seat. No his eye was on a bigger prize. And this announcement might just tip it for him in his bid for the gubernatorship when old man Cousins finally retired. It was bound to remain Republican but who got through the primary was very much at question.

First of course he had to deal with the repercussions of his dear old da's machinations. The major put on his stiff cap and went in to face the meeting. No way could they prove he'd leaked details of the radar installation to his father, despite being assigned their to head awakened operations. It could easily have come from TerraFirm (not a policlub), the building company his father held controlling interest in, one of several awarded contracts to build the base (fulfilling another campaign promise to source local providers). Of course, they didn't either. No, that was down to his sister, who wasn't even in the military. Of course, he wouldn't tell the leak inquiry that.

Afterwards he was exonerated of course. Good since he hadn't done it (not that he wouldn't have). Of course to make example they concocted a punishment anyway. He was confined to quarters for 'administrative leave'. In other words unofficial, thus political. It didn't really matter that he wasn't guilty as long as some sort of punishment was seen to be melted out, setting his father's campaign back again. Which is all it was really intended to do.

Solitary confinement was no sort of punishment for a mage. The major doubted the colonel cared even if he knew. That wasn't the point.

As he walked to his confinement, Major Reagan Holensfield passed the Earth Elementals he'd summoned to speed the construction. His deputy Captain Crook would have to mind them during his confinement. He'd passed the old orc control of them for while they stuck around. He'd had few prospects that orc, until he'd awakened but that was a valuable resource and he'd made officer despite his background. Of course, because of it he'd progress no farther than he already had, no matter his skill. So the major made him about offer. When he took his stipend in a could of years he'd join the family business. In the meantime, he had a reliable subordinate.

A mage in a plain box with nothing but water has only himself for company. Naturally, he spent his time meditating, reflecting. He consecrated the cell as a spirit lodge,  because what else was he to do and concentrated his power within himself.

When the raiders struck, the major returned to the active duty list as his earth spirits were cruelly dismissed. Connor Crook released him and appraised him, so he set the old Crook to binding a watcher whilst he summoned an ice elemental to hunt them down. Like most of his sevants it looked like his sister or her essence. It's banishment was wrenching.

Sod this, though what an opportunity. Carefully he mustered his power in his new lodge and pushed.....

A small flicker came into being. In the astral it was intense, the burning flame, it still looked like his sister.

From its depths stepped Efreetiti, Greater Spirit of Fire...

[Tecumseh]

INTERLUDE

"Angie, are you INSANE??" he said as he slammed his palms on the President's desk. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was wild-eyed, practically frothing as the mouth.

"No, he's crazy," she responded calmly, ignoring the major breech of decorum.

"I agree that he's a real nut job and that you're under a lot of pressure, buy you can't just fire him like you can a US Attorney or a -!"

"I'm not firing him; I'm arresting him," President Colloton corrected.

"He's a sitting Senator from your own party!"

"He's one of them. He's a national security risk."

"Everyone is going to have a field day with this! The Democrats, the Technocrats, the Liberarians, the New Century, the Archconservatives!"

"Yes, George, and even our own Republicans too. But for the national good, yours and mine included, it has to be done."

"What about his daughter? Or his son for that matter!"

"That's why I'm telling you now, so that you can get ahead of this."

The General couldn't believe what he was hearing. He grasped at straws. "At least let me get someone to do it off-the-books. We can frame it so the Sioux take the blame and so there's not a giant flashing arrow pointing directly at -"

"Shadowrunners? No, tsk tsk tsk," the President tutted. "We're going to do this out in the open, right where everyone can see it. And in the end, they'll thank us. The Deputy Press Secretary is lining up news stories from The Hub to help provide cover so we can weather the storm."

The General paced about the Oval Office, his hands on his head as if it would keep it from exploding. He spun back to the President. "Did you think of the parallels that they're going to draw with the knock on the door in the middle of the night? The NAN, the megas, the Corporate Court?!"

President Colloton rocked back gently in her chair, the barest wisp of a smile on her face. "They're not going to knock."

END INTERLUDE