ARES:Gods of War

Material Momentum Part 2:Oh-Five-One

Great Deserts, Old United States

Elysion Unit, Callsign:'The Scouts', Detachment Two, callsign:Rozvidka

Despite it all, this place had been one of the lands where the United Forces of Humanity had fought the very bloody last battles of the War. Sprawling across the deserts, amidst the peakless mountains and plateaus and hills and on the sandy dunes, destroyed vehicles, ancient skeletal remains and the corpses of century-old Nikkes lay, half-buried by the sandstorms that now permeated this place.

Distant craters still glowed a faint emerald on the Night Vision systems of the girls' eyes. Nadya cradled her Kalash-style, heavily modified rifle in her arms, watching the distant shapes of the destroyed armor and dead men and women of the Old War pass them by, alongside the corpses of the dead Raptures they'd managed to kill.

She rode atop an Oryx, a UNSC Infantry Fighting Vehicle that was powerful enough to even the odds against the Raptures and provide them cover. One of her legs hanged off the side of the vehicle as she looked around, then licked her lips. The dry cold of the desert chapped her lips, a strange experience even for a Nikke.

The quiet strum of a guitar filled her ears, one of her girls gently playing a tune and singing in a long-lost language her parents and those of Nadya knew. She looked back at the troop, maybe a dozen 'Mass Production' Scout models meant to supplement Delta and Signal and back them up, though those girls rarely needed it.

Even less now, being part of the famed Lucky Strikes. They still kept up correspondence, though, as did Stella. It was wonderful to know the girls were all doing so well. Doubly so that Aly was alive and more than just well. That he was the Commander of the Counters, the Up-And-Coming, the possible new Legendary Commander.

"You really grew up, huh, Aly?" She mumbled to herself, taking a deep puff of the Cigarette between her lips. She looked over at one of the other members of the MP Squad reinforcing the Scouts, then said to her, "How are the Drone links?" while, in the heavens above, a thermal cam from a drone peered over toward them.

"Green across the board, Tavarisch kommandir," The woman replied, smiling. She pushed a strand of black hair from between her eyes, patted down her beret and the headset of her com device, then looked at the tablet again. She checked the feed of three separate scout Wombats on one screen, stating, "And the Raptures are maintaining their distance."

"Good for us," The girl replied, then cast a glance back at three other ground vehicles behind them. There were two Scorpions with newly-mounted and experimental 120mm magnetic cannons and 14,5 MGs based off of upgrades meant for the SRS series of snipers. One was at the rear. In front of it and behind the second tank, there was a behemoth of a transport vehicle.

Colored desert tan for the environment, like the other vehicles, with splotches of darker browns and even a little red mixed in to fit with what was once the Nevada desert area, an Elephant Mobile Forward Operating Base gently rolled on its massive tracks, gunnery crews manning anti-air and ground defense weapons, which now included railguns based off of the Stanchions and Anti-Tank(or Rapture) Guided Missile tubes.

The vehicle bay within the massive transport was also covered by Goddessium armor, reinforced and painted the same tan to provide desert camouflage. Their intended target was a nearby plateau that would provide them line of sight for their intended targets. Even as their tracks crunched sand and the remnants of old battles, they only thought of their intended targets.

"This is Laika Actual to all Laika elements," Nadya spoke over the radio, "We're approaching our deployment zone," before shifting her rifle off of her back. She jumped off the vehicle, stumbling forward two steps before springing back into proper step. She marched in-time with the transport, the rest of her squad joining her as they walked.