Ontarom was beautiful. Or at the very least, it was a beautiful day on the planet. Kelly kept a light jog going as the entire company made for their stand by location, and couldn't help but feel her mind drifting towards any thought aside from the actual fight ahead. She thought about what she would do once she was aboard the Call of Victory again, what she was going to eat tomorrow for lunch, what she did three years prior when she was simply a floating information field agent within Cerberus's ranks. Every time her mind drifted, she had to snap herself back to the present, and was thankful her body seemed to be on autopilot for the time being. She doubted seeing their commanding officer day dreaming while she should be preparing for what was most likely an incredibly dangerous and risky operation would not do well for morale. She gave the slightest of glances backwards, but heard no sound and noticed any odd movement. Of course, she didn't think she would, they would all be using private channels by this point. A part of her wished for someone to talk to right before heading into the proverbial shit, but she knew there was no one here who really knew her. She was, at least metaphorically, alone. It wasn't long before they all started climbing a small hill, and once they were all stationed on top of the incline, she saw what their objective was.
Sitting in a valley that was unnecessarily large for the deceptive visible portion of the complex sat a single building. It wasn't large by any means, two stories tall and looking like a corporate office rather than a weapons testing platform. The only thing that deemed to give it away was the incredibly large antennae that linked their communications to the rest of the galaxy. It dwarfed the building in size five times over, and could have easily held an entire company of marines in it's dish. Kelly surveyed the field, noting that not much of the landscape had changed from the blueprints. Tank traps and trenches still littered a wide area 360 degrees around the complex. No movement could be seen, heard, or scanned from where they were standing, and Kelly doubted it would have been that easy. She knew there was also mines in the valley, but they were not visible to the naked eye. Being Cerberus issue, she hoped that their suits systems would at least detect them from a safe enough distance, but she still had her doubts. Overall, the scene was much like she expected. It was meant to lower their guard, to make it seem all too easy. The expected became reality, but what worried Kelly was the fact that there was nothing unexpected at all. Everything matched the blueprints almost to the letter, as if there hadn't been any preparation whatsoever. She paused, surveying the scene with an inquisitive eye. As she was doing so, Sergeant Carson came up to her. "Ma'am, are we green?" She held up a finger, not giving a verbal response. Carson simply gave a nod and took a couple steps back.
"Lieutenant O'Ryan, are you in position?" Kelly asked over the comm. channel.
"Yes ma'am, the radio is filled with minor static though." Leonard's voice came through, and as he stated, there was some slight white noise mixed in with his voice. They were right, the satellite dish had been converted to a large scale jammer but close range transmissions within it's area of influence were able to punch through to each other.
"What are you feeling?" Kelly asked, and there was a slight pause as O'Ryan most likely paused at what she was asking before understanding what she meant.
"If you mean everything looks too much like the blueprints, based on what this guy's IQ is supposed to be, I don't like it. Something doesn't add up."
"I have the same inclination. The problem is we don't have the time to sit and think as to what he could have done..." Kelly stated as she let her avenger fall to her side.
"We proceed as planned?"
"We proceed as planned. Initiate assault Lieutenant. Good luck."
"Same goes for you ma'am." Leonard cut the connection and Kelly looked to Carson, giving a single nod. He returned it, and looked to his marines.
"Alright marines, arm up and get your running boots on! Keep an eye on your squad, keep them safe, and stay alive.
Let's go!" Carson took off running down the hill as the rest of the company followed. Kelly easily kept up to the front of the pack, refusing to get lost in the middle rather than show the others that she was there, in front, leading them through example. While her form lacked nothing in terms of looking like a foot soldier, her mentality was different. Her mind was racing with possibilities, inconsistencies, and thoughts of failure as she reached the bottom of the hill. She lacked the mental ability to think like a soldier, see one goal, and pursue it with an almost fanatical determination. She was a thinker, and she was afraid that her hesitation based on her thoughts of 'what ifs' were going to get her killed.
As they reached the edge of the complex's kill zone area, there was a slight pop as they crossed the threshold. Suddenly, a single blue ball launched from the two story building, and it had every soldier looking up at it as it continued it's ascent into the sky, before exploding into a beautiful fireworks display. Kelly stared at it for a moment, before her thoughts turned to something different and looked down too see MG emplacements rising from the ground on retractable gun platforms. At the head of each one was a Cerberus traitor. "Heavy weapons! Down!" She shouted as she slid into place behind one of the tank traps and heard the sound of death as the MG's opened fire.
It was like a symphony, one she had heard before many times, but refused to believe in it's beauty. The company scattered, spreading out to avoid taking too many causalities, but causalities were inevitable as the amount of bullets shredded some of the marines where they stood as the others managed to get to tank traps or trenches. Kelly looked around the tank trap long enough to see a man three feet away have his leg blown off from one of the Cerberus mines placed there. She took a deep breath, and rounded her makeshift cover, firing a couple rounds as she went but they were obviously wide as bullets blazed by her. Adrenaline was flowing through her body, but despite the whole rumour of time slowing down, it didn't. Had her amps been switched with that of Horn's, she knew it would have. In reality, everything simply speeds up and your body matches the pace. She was unused to this feeling, the pure energy inducing fluid running through her veins. She half stumbled, half jumped into one of the trenches, only to find the bloodied remains of the unfortunate marines who had jumped in there first. She looked around, and saw shards of metal jammed into the earth. "Marines!" She broadcast on an open channel to the entirety of the assault force. "The trenches are mined! I repeat, the trenches are mined!"
There was an explosion as one of the MG nests went up in flames from a tank shell fired from the Mako coming up slowly behind them. There was a slight cheer as one of possibly dozens of MG nests was taken out. Kelly prepared to lift herself out of the trench to continue, only to hear a high whistle above the cacophony of gunfire. She looked up once more, only to hear more than a few marines yell; "INCOMING!"
Mortar shells detonated among the marines, sending a few flying and a few more completely obliterated as they were hit dead on. A shell hit dangerously close to her trench as she ducked under the hail of dirt and rocks that threatened to bury her alive in her tiny little hole in the ground. She wiped the grime from her face mask, and crawled her way out of the trench. She shimmied along the ground, managing to see there was still a good 200 yards before they would be able to even breach the defensive line. For the moment, all that counted was making it there to begin with. A bit more crawling, and she rolled into another trench with a couple other marines who were taking the time to fire their assault rifles at the MG nests stationed at the defensive line. Rockets and tank shells were also flying towards it, but at this range, only the Mako could make accurate shots. Already another 3 MG nests were out of commission, but it still wasn't enough. The fire was simply too thick for the company to make any real progress, and every inch was paid for in quarts of blood.
She took a moment to assess herself, a shell had nearly hit her dead on but she had survived. When she took that second of a breather, she found herself hyper ventilating. The read outs on the HUD of her armour indicated that her heart rate was elevated a great deal more than what even this situation should entail. In all rights and respects, she was on the verge of shock and the worst part about it was the fact that she recognized it. She took a few moments to calm herself, to slow her breathing, the constant marine chatter on the public channel making it hard for her to slow her heart rate down to a non-life threatening state. However, as she looked up, she saw something that was enough to bring her heart beat right back to the near shock state.
Eclipse gunships, about 4 of them came flying in formation over the hills, blasting apart the killzone with missiles and machine gun fire. Missiles were fired from the marines as they passed by, and the sheer number of them going after the gunships was too much for even the pilots to avoid. 3 of the 4 gunships were taken out almost immediately after they did their strafing run, but the fourth turned back towards the battle and launched more missiles. These ones were directed at the Mako which, despite it's manoeuvrability, was unable to move in time to avoid the brunt of the impact. Missile after missile hit the broadside of it's hull, and once the smoke had cleared, the Mako was nothing more than a smoking ruin. Kelly could do nothing but stare at what had been their best chance to punch a hole with the least amount of causalities sitting there and burning. There wasn't supposed to be any air support, but then again, those were Eclipse gunships. That meant they were dealing with more than a possible fifty marines inside the complex. They could be dealing with just a large a number as they were throwing at them. It made her want to scream, to break something. Instead, she sat back down in the trench as the MG's lit up the area even more around her. She was starting to break down ever so slightly as she felt her hands tighten around her weapon to point of wanting to snap it in half. However, she looked over to her right, and noticed the three other marines in the small trench with her, staring at her. Her mirrored visor made it impossible for them to gauge her face, and her theirs. They sat there, staring at each other for a moment before Kelly managed to regain enough of herself long enough to crawl out of the trench and take to a crouching stance.
She ran, her elbows nearly touching the ground as fire flew around her and pinged off her shields a few times. She brought up the numbers about the companies, and was surprised to see that despite the attacks, ambush, and loss of the Mako, the companies were still faring much better than expected. The only problem was the fact that they weren't moving. The machine gun fire was pinning them in place, allowing for baby steps forward that would not be feasible with the mortar fire pounding on them every step of the way. She looked around, and found a single squad crouching behind a couple of tank traps. "You! With me!" Kelly ordered over the comm. and the squad simply obeyed. As they fell in behind her, She stood up and holstered her Avenger. She held out her hands, palms up and felt the biotic energy flow around her as her amps on her armour flowed in tune with the power being generated from within. A blue shimmer appeared in front of her about the size of a small car, and bullets seemed to simply bounce off it's surface. She walked slowly, more marines picking up the hint as they fell in behind her. However, as they started to crowd behind her, the guns started focusing on her to the point where the sheer force pounding on her shield forced her to stop. The marines quickly broke away from Kelly and searched for cover as the shield eventually broke and Kelly watched as the bullets came flying at her.
A few managed to get through, sparking her shields and causing them to fail before another blue orb surrounded them. She was on one knee and leaning to her side using her hand as a prop. Nerita came into her vision, her umbra visor glowing a deep blue as she took a hold of Kelly and dragged her behind the nearest tank trap. "That was risky Operative." Nerita said, her tone completely neutral despite everything that was happening around them.
"It was necessary, how much ground did we gain from that?" Kelly asked, sidestepping the statement slightly.
"Only a few yards." Nerita answered as she ducked from a few MG rounds that peppered their position. Kelly took deep breaths, but couldn't believe it. The exertion she felt, it must have been a couple dozen yards. As she looked back though, she saw she was only about ten yards from where she had started, nothing that would be ending this fight any sooner, and she didn't have the strength to continue to do that. She took out her Avenger rifle and rested her back against the tank traps, only to hear Nerita say something else.
"Shit." Her neutral tone betraying her this one time as actual anger and fear seeped into her words. Kelly bent over and looked around her cover to see LOKI mechs rising from the dirt a few yards ahead of the closest marine. Each one had no insignia, but as they rose, yellow armour could be seen from where the defensive line was that was without a doubt of Eclipse origin. "Eclipse mercenaries. They must have hired them while we were en route." Nerita stated, her voice back to her surprising tone of uncaring.
"Wait..." Kelly stated as she looked over at the woman. "If that's Eclipse, and they weren't already here before the base was here..." Kelly stopped talking, and looked upwards towards the sky.
"Shit." Nerita stated once more.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"Do we have any idea how they're doing down there?"
"Once again Helmsman Bretton, I am unable to break through the jamming signal generated by the land based satellite dish that was converted for just such a purpose, that being we wouldn't be able to know 'how they were doing'."
"Yeah...still don't like it...and stop talking down to me." Harold Bretton stated in frustration as his hands moved across the display in front of them. He wasn't moving lazily in any way or form, but lacked any real direction. For all intents and purposes, he was simply sitting here, waiting for either Operative Invaru to contact him, or for enough time to pass to indicate that they were no longer among the living. Either way, he was of no use up here and was simply trying to make himself busy so he didn't think about the people fighting and dying down there while he got sit in a cozy chair talking to something that could at least be classified as a female in the loosest sense.
"Your heart rate is elevated Mr. Bretton. Is there something wrong? Should I contact Dr. Grass?" Nikki interrupted his thoughts.
"What? No!" Harold stated a little loud, earning a few stares from the closest techs which he ignored. "I'm just...feeling a little useless right now and it's making me edgy." Harold looked back at the CiC, and noticed an Operative simply pacing around the Overlay of the planet. "She makes me edgy."
"Operative Buchan? She has done nothing to incite any feelings of anxiety or stress."
"I know...it's the fact that they don't necessarily have ranks. That, and she's backed by the Illusive Man himself. She's an assassin, I hate assassins." Harold stated as he glared at her for a moment.
"That seems to be a personal issue Mr. Bretton." Nikki retorted.
"I guess. Assassins just rub me the wrong way, their job is solely to kill people."
"Soldiers kill people Mr. Bretton." Nikki stated.
"No, soldiers fight. Their job isn't always to kill people, it's to sometimes save people, items, etc. Their objectives vary, and while there are the bad soldiers who simply don't care, most of them don't go out of their way to kill people." Harold pointed at Vala for a second. "Assassins on the other hand, that's all they know. They kill, they kill, and they only kill. Hell, met a few of them before, half of them were crazy and the others were sadistic." Harold shook his head. "They're nothing but trouble."
"We have trouble." Nikki stated.
"I know, I just said that." Harold replied.
"Lieutenant Bretton, I meant I have detected energy signatures on the edge of Ontarom." Harold went wide eyed and whirled around. His hands immediately went flying across the display, several forms popping up and giving him more and more information. "They appear to be Frigate class Eclipse war ships. They are firing." The ship rattled from the impact of weapons fire from the Eclipse ships, but Harold ignored it.
"Nikki, get me a firing solution. Apply power to our shields until we get a lock, move us on an intercept course and keeps us out of knife fighting range. Leave a display showing the delay between their shots, anticipate for the switching of weapons." Harold fired off as his hands did half the work before he finished speaking.
"Done, course locked and timer activated. They are firing again and moving." The ship rattled as Nikki updated Harold and the techs could be heard talking to each other in forced calm voices. Harold was halfway through calibrating the mass accelerator cannon to fire on the first target when Nikki spoke up once more. "I have managed to predict their flight path Lieutenant Bretton. They are moving on a course that stations them directly on top of the bunker complex Operative Invaru and the marines are currently assaulting."
Harold weighed his options in the fraction of a second that he had. He couldn't move into the position displayed in front of him to intercept the frigates, the Cruiser would inevitable fall into the atmosphere of the planet and crash into the surface below. They couldn't pull away and force them into open space because if they were smart they wouldn't follow them and would then be free to fire on the ground forces. They were already entering medium range, and from The Call of Victory's position, by the time they were in position they would be a few hundred kilometres shy of knife fighting range.
"So we fire at them before they get a chance to get into position!" Harold stated as he was already moving the ship into position to fire.
"At their current speed, you will only get one shot before they are in position."
"Well then we take it! How are the GUARDIANS dealing with their torpedoes?"
"So far the fire is manageable, but they are more focused on getting into position rather than assaulting. Once they are able to focus their fire, there will simply be too much ordnance for the GUARDIAN system to counteract, along with having to deal with their mass accelerator cannons."
"A fine would have done just as well Nikki. Firing!" Harold let loose the first barrage of fire from the Victory, a mixture of their Mass Accelerator cannon and torpedoes. Harold didn't bother watching, knowing it was anything but a killing blow. The Victory outclassed the frigates independently, but together they managed to output more damage than the Victory could hope to manage. The only thing currently going for them was the fact that they were already in position, had an AI on board, and were more heavily armoured.
"Target one has taken moderate damage, their shields are down to 34%, hull damage minimal." Nikki recounted the data for Harold as he was moving through the controls.
"Kind of figured." Harold stated as Nikki started a countdown.
"Targets in position in 5...4...3...2...1...targets are locked in position, preparing for concentrated fire."
"Nikki, get me a god damn firing solution that has the least possible ratio to hit the planet!" Harold yelled as he tried to figure it out himself.
"Lieutenant Bretton, not only is it against the Citadel Conventions to fire large kinetic weapons intentionally towards a habitable planet, besides that the risk of hitting the marines on the ground is exactly 73-"
"Nikki, do not fucking argue with me! I need a firing solution, or so help me god I will ram those sons of bitches and fire that gun at point blank range if need be!" Harold yelled at the computer, not liking the fact that his own ship was arguing with his tactics. He didn't have time to sit here and think through all his options, limited as they were.
"Calculating...done. There is an 89.564% chance it will connect with the enemy ship."
"Good enough. Firing." Harold looked up for this one, watching as the Victory came alive with missiles and cannon fire pouring on the Frigates. Some of the missiles missed their target, soaring into the planet below them, but would burn up and explode long before they hit the ground. Luckily the cannon found it's mark and pummelled the Frigates' shields.
"Moderate damage. Target one is currently without shields and target two is down to 64% shields." Nikki stated. Harold was already on the comm.
"Lieutenant McKrain! I need those guns reloaded as quick as you possibly can! We're sitting ducks here if we intend to stay!" There was a slight pause before the response came.
"We're getting it done, stop talking!" The comm. channel was cut as Harold ignored her statement aside from the confirmation they were moving as fast as they could. Instead, he looked up in time to see a mass of hurt coming his way.
"Enemy ships have locked firing solution. GUARDIAN systems can't stop all of the incoming fire." She then went onto the ship wide comm. "All hands, brace for impact." Harold took the brief moment to make sure he was secure in his chair before returning his hands to the displays and continuing with the firing solutions and defensive positioning when the entire ship shook like it was hit with an earthquake. Some of the techs were thrown to the ground from the impact, and red warning lights started blaring through the halls. "Ship damage, shield is holding, hull integrity intact." Harold was straightening himself on the chair when Nikki hit him with the worse news. "Warning, ships are switching to alternate firing...I estimate 7 salvos before this ship is rendered inert."
"Well I guess we'll just have to do it in 2." Harold stated as he started moving the ship off and preparing for more deft evasive manoeuvres.
"Our estimated chances of survival are less then 35% Lieutenant Bretton."
"Nikki, if you haven't heard of the word 'Morale' I highly suggest you look it up and keep that shit to yourself." Harold replied through gritted teeth as he sent another salvo towards the frigates. Unfortunately, they too were attempting slight evasive manoeuvres, and Harold was having to deal with the firing solutions being exact for little chance for error. He grimaced as he watched the mass accelerator round fly by the ship, and missiles impact on the hull of the ship. Had that shell connected, it would have done major damage to the mercenary ship, luckily Harold had already been moving the Victory off to the side. If he was right, the shell would impact miles away from the fighting on the ground and do no harm to the marines.
He hoped.
"I will attempt to hold back my logistics Lieutenant Bretton." Nikki stated in a robotic tone. Harold didn't bother to respond as another salvo managed to rock the ship. "Shields are still holding, hull integrity still intact." Harold let loose several curses as his hands moved as quickly as someone could think.
"I am picking up a third signature, frigate class, Eclipse verification bearing in opposite direction targets 1 and 2 came from." Nikki stated, and Harold's jaw tightened to the point it looked like it would crack. Another volley of fire peppered the Victory, and Harold took a brief moment to look up at the screens before switching to navigations controls. "Warning, shield strength failing...hull breach on the fourth floor. Section sealed." Harold was about to respond when Jessie broke over the ship wide intercom.
"Medical teams report to the batteries! TJ! I need your strength down here now!" Harold hadn't known the armourer long, but he doubted she would like being ordered around like that.
"I'm on my way." The woman replied over the intercom, much to Harold's surprise. At least it seemed she was able to push past her anger long enough to get through the mission when it was happening. Dr. Grass was most likely on his way to the batteries as well, but Harold didn't have time to monitor the situation.
"We're doing a hard burn around the planet, we need to buy ourselves time..." Harold looked towards the fire controls once more, before bringing them over and quickly entering a firing solution. "But first...let's do a one timer." Harold fired the main cannon only, able to get a solution in quicker without having to worry about the missiles. Much to his pleasure, he was rewarded with a hit on the weakened frigate as the round took a chunk out of the bottom portion of the frigate. It wasn't a crippling blow, but it sent large pieces of the ship burning into the atmosphere as Harold turned the ship back around and made for the dark side of the planet.
"Are we running Lieutenant Bretton?" Nikki asked and Harold simply shook his head.
"The batteries have been breached, Lieutenant McKrain will need time to reload the guns and worry about the wounded. Our shields also need time to recharge, and I only managed to wound one ship out of three. Normally a frigate against a cruiser wouldn't be a problem...but now there's three out there..." Harold set the course on automatic, making sure the frigates weren't following him, and placed his face in his hands. "He's been planning this for a long time. This amount of Eclipse forces...he must have promised them some amazing amount of tech."
"We were warned he was a brilliant man Lieutenant." Nikki replied.
"Yeah, but we underestimated just how many forces he was willing to commit to this...apparently we have our answer."
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Bullets flew by the very rim of Kelly's visor as she flinched with every audible ping of a round hitting the concrete tank trap she was hiding behind. She would step up to take a few shots at the LOKI mechs that were scattered on the battlefield. The soldiers up at the defensive line must not have cared how many mechs they destroyed, seeing as they would easily mow through a few of them to get to a couple of soldiers. However, the mechs were slowly but surely stopping their progress as they were forced to deal with such an intense frontal force. Kelly ducked back down, her breathing heavy but even although her eyes were erratic as they shifted from one thing to another. Even now, through all the chaos, her mind was running through plans and scenarios. Possible situations after this one, and after that one, and so on. She simply couldn't stop it long enough to really focus on what was happening right in front of her.
"Operative Kelly?! Lieutenant O'Ryan here!" Leonard came through on the comm. and Kelly placed a hand to her ear.
"I'm listening Lieutenant." Her voice was strained to remain neutral, and lost a lot of it's punch with the adrenaline coursing through her body.
"Ma'am, Titan Company is getting beaten back here. Causalities are still relatively low, but the amount of fire on us is preventing us from getting a good foothold. We will attempt to correct, but I fear we may lose the north section, do you read?!" Kelly sat with her back against the tank trap. If the north was forced out of the fight then all the enemy forces stationed there would come to the south, making an assault impossible from down below. Kelly took a gulp as she nodded to herself.
"Acknowledged Lieutenant! Keep me appraised!" She cut the comm. and fired a few more rounds, downing a couple more LOKI mechs. She went back down, and looked back to see sergeant Carson quickly making his way towards her. When he got to her, she simply looked at him, waiting for whatever it was that he was about to tell her.
"Ma'am, I hate to be the pessimist here, but if we don't make a move soon, we are going to lose our ground. We need to make a push!"
"A push is more likely to kill us then it is them..." Kelly sat there for a moment, her hand coming up to pinch the bridge of her nose before realizing she had a helmet on and let her hand drop. A mortar impacted a few feet from them, making their shields flicker and covering them in dirt. "Sergeant, take a few squads and start circling around to the east. We will push as hard as we can here, focus them on us. Once you hit the east, do one of two things. You run until you breach the defensive line, or get close enough for your missile launchers to be effective and start taking out those MG's!"
"And what if it gets too hot ma'am?!" Carson asked.
"Would you prefer to remain here and see just how hot it's going to get sergeant?!" Kelly asked, the adrenaline breaking through her neutrality for just a moment. "One way or another sergeant, we are all going to be under heavy fire until we breach that defensive line. Get it done!" The sergeant simply nodded, but right before he could move, a massive explosion miles away caught their attention. They both stared at what appeared to be a nuclear weapon going off, but Kelly knew what it was instantly.
"It looks like the Call of Victory has run into some trouble up in orbit." Kelly stated, her face twisted into a grimace but hidden behind her reflective visor. Carson simply looked at her for a moment before running off to grab some soldiers. Kelly took another peek around the tank trap, flinching back as several rounds flew past her head. She took a deep breath, and pushed herself around the cover.
She half ran, half crouched to the next trench as the fire around her threatened to overwhelm her psyche and force her to panic. A few feet from the trench, she felt a round hit her hard in the shoulder, and she spun to the ground with her shields blaring red to tell her she was without protection. She was laying on her back, and quickly flipped herself over and crawled into the next trench. She took that moment to listen to the comms of the marines. For the most part, it was surprisingly calm for people who were yelling and screaming at the top of their lungs. There was military lingo being tossed around, but the pattern she was receiving was that everyone was getting stopped in their place from the LOKI's pressing down on their position to the MG's to the Eclipse mercs adding their fire to the already suppressing amount.
She then heard of references to the sky. A few people were seeing some things in the sky, and Kelly took the time to look upwards to see fireballs falling from orbit. They were moving too slowly to be ordance, and too varied in size to be a dropship raid. She ran through the possibilities in her mind right up until one of them impacted the ground on the north side. Then another way out beyond the hills, and the another a few more miles away. They were parts of a ship, which ship she couldn't tell, but they were definitely chunks of a space faring vessel. She was watching another piece when one dropped right into their killzone, creating a large gouge in the earth and burying itself partially into the ground. Luckily, it was further up and was completely beneficial to the marines as they were pressing up. It was as tall as Kelly was, but only a couple feet wide. Already, a few marines were taking advantage of the situation to press up behind the odd piece of salvation, and Kelly followed suite although she was forced behind yet another tank trap as the cover there was already too crowded. She fired a few more rounds forward, downing a few more LOKI mechs and using her biotics to amplify her shields, but even just that amount of action from behind her cover was enough to warrant a full assault on her position. She ducked down as the tank trap chipped and started to give way under the sheer amount of MG rounds. She gave a diving roll off to her side, ending up in a sprint which she then slid feet first into another trench.
She landed, and the previous rule about time speeding up was cancelled as she looked down to see a mine a couple feet from her. It started beeping rapidly, and Kelly pushed her hand out, creating a mini shield around the device in the split second she had. The explosion rocked the trench, and she blacked out for a moment. When she came too, she was covered in dirt and her suit was giving off warnings of shield failure. A few moments later, and her shields came back online. She sat there for a moment, simply looking into the sky and watching as round after round followed by the occasional mortar passed over head. After a few seconds, she assessed herself, finding that she had managed to avoid most of the damage. There was possibilities of fractured bones and internal bleeding, but the suit wasn't equipped to deal with those possibilities. She forced herself to think of something else for the moment, and with a fair amount of pain, managed to right herself in the trench.
She brought her head over the lip of the trench, and looked up to see that the soldiers had actually managed to make some ground in the amount of time she had been out. She looked at the time, and noticed that she had been out for only a few seconds, but it definitely felt longer. The falling debris from the ship was being partially beneficial, as some of it was creating cover, while others were actually falling on some of the less observant Victory marines. Inch by inch, they were approaching the defensive line and for the most part, the LOKI mechs had been taken care of. Just when it seemed like they would be at assaulting distance to the defensive line, Kelly watched with a cold neutrality as Eclipse marines poured over the lip and rushed out to meet the Victory marines to prevent them from actually getting within the base. Judging from the sheer amount of them climbing over the trench, Kelly had a feeling they were going to be pushed back, which would mean taking more causalities, which meant not completing the mission. It had been ages, but finally something snapped slightly within her as she looked at the situation.
"Fuck."