No Gods, Nor Masters

Stray Cat Strut

A patrolling unit of UNSC Marines rolled through the forests nearby the Kingdom of the Dragonborn, their rifles prepped and ready. Reports of both Insurrectionist and Imperial activity in the AO had come through about two hours ago. The QRF deployed from KINGDOM now consisted of a platoon of familiar ladies from the Warrior Bunny Tribes, of which Sarah herself scanned the tree-tops for hostile advances, then checked her BattleNet link.

She spoke, "This is Team Charlie, we're at Checkpoint Zulu. Bravo, you with?" as she saw them on the TacMap. Delilah's fireteam of Marines pushed up next to her, weapon at the ready. Damned if she didn't miss the Queen at this point, though, she thought as she saw Dee's light wink green on her HUD. The two fireteams converged into a full platoon, Whiskey Bravos in the lead while the human Marines brought up the rear as rearguard duty.

"Looks like nothing," Delilah murmured as her eyes darted to and fro. Seemed as though she didn't believe the AO was clear, not by a long shot. Sarah nodded in confirmation, then shifted from one foot to the other, eager, but worried. The enemy would probably have come here for one of the artifacts that activated the Gate. A Slipspace crystal of some kind, going by the reports from Doctor Halsey's away team.

Regardless of if their targets were around, the team still walked forward, taking a staggered column formation, prepared for any oncoming assault. Sarah told Delilah, "Honestly, this feels like it'd be a milk run. Why they had to stick us down here, I don't know..." while scanning the trees. There were reports of some Warrior bunnies also going missing in the area, so...

"The Dragonborn requested the help," The girl replied, "They're old friends and allies to us and the UNSC, so it only makes sense they'd stick us in here while the Queen and Doc are away," while casting a glance at her HUD's Motion Tracker. It still only pinged them and some of the Dragonborn up above, hovering over the target area and providing aerial scouting. The UNSC had finally armed them with standard equipment like they did the Warrior Bunnies.

"Look, I'm just saying..." Sarah shrugged, "Feels pointless to be here."

"You're just looking to meet that US Marine tanker again, ain't you?" Another Whiskey Bravo joked, garnering the laughter of several of the girls.

Sarah, flustered, replied, "Shut it, Rieta!" while Delilah still laughed. She shifted her rifle into her other arm and peered past a tree, then paused, focused, her left ear twitching. Every single Warrior Bunny who saw that froze and a dozen firearms were suddenly set off of safe. The Whiskey Bravo Marines all knelt, scattering in the underbrush and setting up near hard cover like thick-trunked trees and rocks and stones.

The girls gently folded their ears down with the kevlar netting, to make sure that the enemy didn't spot them hidden amidst the shrubs. Delilah heard the com click twice and looked up to see their organic drones give a wave of the hand before touching down on the branches amidst the tree canopies, aiming designated marksman rifles. Their motion trackers pinged, marking several targets in the red.

The targets ahead soon resolved. Despite donning different gear than their usual robes, the mages of Rondel, clad in old BDUs and carrying their staffs, marched forward through the trees. In the lead was a platoon of Insurrectionists, armed to the teeth with assault weapons. Delilah was TL in this case, so it was entirely up to her to give the order to engage.

The mages, male and female, beastfolk and human, looked around, concerned as they walked. All of them lacked the trigger discipline to wield their rifles, but had still been handed them anyway, with one of the leading Innies complaining, "Jesus, Camgirl really couldn't have given us a worse job than this, could she?" as they trekked forward through the brush.