Session 3, part 1: Warehouse Assault

"Oh boy!"

Before Col. Strong could second-guess himself, Hetzer dropped into hi-torque mode and kicked the throttle all the way forward. 

The 1,800kg walker struck the side of the building moving almost 20 kilometers an hour, the walls were made of a cheap prefabricated material designed for nothing more than keeping vermin out.  Needless to say the walker barely slowed as it smashed through into the interior, opening a massive breach and shaking the entire building. 

Inside, the warehouse was virtually bare.  On the ground level there was a long, low concrete loading dock with a single old cargo hauler parked in one of the bays.  There were a few scattered piles of supply crates around, and a narrow hallway along the back wall led deeper into the building.  Suspended above the main floor was an elevated metal deck with a thick railing.

Gunfire erupted almost immediately from several positions on the second level.  Col. Strong peeked around the corner and made a rush for the nearest cover.  He took up position and began laying down supressive fire as the rest of his crew advanced to positions in cover around the warehouse.  He popped up and surveyed the area, he identified four separate firing positions above them. 

During Final Protective Fire, the lightweight but
heavily-armed  Lucifer's main viewport can  be
completely obscured by muzzle flash.

"Sgt, I'm marking targets, I want them gone."

"Roight, I'm on it."

The Lucifer came to a stop near the center of the main floor and set it's feet.  Tilting up the torso, Hetzer opened up on the second level with both of them walker's main weapons. Hundreds of rounds ricocheted off the upper deck.  The heavy autocannon tore huge chunks from the walls and roof.  Several of the enemy troops broke cover and pulled back.  Tobey was waiting for exactly that and managed to hit one of them in the back as soon as he popped up, the huge round punched through the standard infantry armor and tore through the mans entire chest.

Hetzer huddled in the darkness of the walker cockpit, grinning malevolently.  His eyes glazed as over as he fixed on a target.  Suddenly a piercing wail penetrated his psychopathic haze, he had just enough time to glance at his threat panel when the anti-armor missile slammed into the walkers left side. 

"Uh-oh," he said inanely as the world spun around him.

"Shit!" Col. Strong watched as the walker took the hit and was flipped upside down and thrown back almost ten meters.

"Over there, by the loading dock!"

Col. Strong fired off a long burst from his rifle, but the missile team was hunkered down behind the loading docks concrete. 

"Does anyone have a shot?"

Forrester was crouched behind three heavy crates close to the dock, he pulled a fragmentation grenade from his belt and armed it, released the safety catch, and waited for a count of two.  Then he lobbed it overarm towards the loading bay.  He smiled to himself as he heard the grenade hit the side and bounce in, followed by a short scream terminated by the explosion.

After the grenade went off, the gunfire slackened.  Doc' Merrill sprinted over to the burning walker and began trying to dig out Hetzer, Colonel Strong led a rush up the stairwell to the second level.  As he mounted the last steps, a burst of rifle fire spanged off his armor.  He saw the shooter duck back into the dorrway of what looked like a foreman's office.  Not wanting to give the shooter time to prepare for him, he sprinted forward at his top speed and did a flying leap through the wide observation window.  Fully armored, he weighed over 200kg and he slammed into the merc going almost 30km/h; there was no need to check for a pulse.

Immediately checking his surroundings for additional threats he scanned the room.  Then ducked back out to check the rest of the upper level.  He say Fang and Tobey come up, but no other hostiles.

"Clear up!" he shouted over the comm.

"Clear down," came the response from Forrester.

"Merrill, what's Hetzer's status?"

"I've got him, he's out but I don't see any major damage, I should be able to get him back on his feet in a few minutes."

"Good, when he's back I want you two to check out that back hallway.  Fang, Tobey, you two check the upper hallway."

"I have a bad feeling that we might be having more company in a few minutes, I'm going out front to keep watch," said Forrester.  He jogged out to the main door and took up a cover position.

Col. Strong knelt down to examine the body of the merc he had crushed.  He had a sneaking suspicion who they were and he knew just how to check it.  He removed the man's helmat and pulled back the collar of the armor, sure enough, there was an elaborate tatto at the base of the neck, these men were Black Hats...Hecatan Special Forces.

Gritting his teeth against the hate, he rifled through the room looking for anything that might give clues about their mission here.  He found a small computer sitting on the desk running, checking it he saw that it was looked with some very advanced cryptographic algorithms.  He pocketed it so they could examine it later at their leisure.

Down below, Hetzer and Merrill were walking down the lower corridor, alert for any threats.  It ended at a T-junction and they decided to split up to save time.  Hetzer went left and tracked slowly down the hall. 

"Hey, help me."

Hetzer froze, his mind spun as he realized the door to his left was talking to him. Maybe he'd taken a rougher hit than he'd thought, or maybe this was some kind of high-tech android door.  Either way he decided to kill it just to be sure. 

"Ahh!" the door screamed as he punped a short burst into it.

"Don't shoot, I'm unarmed!"

"'A-course yer unarmed, you ain't got no arms ya silly bastard."

"Sgt, report."

"Killin a talkin' door Colonel."

"...A talking door, do you think maybe there might be someone behind the door that is talking to you?"

"Oh, yeah maybe...should I kill 'em then?"

"Not just yet Sgt.  We need information, see if you can take them alive."

"Aww, roger that Colonel." 

The Viper urban scout car is highly regarded for its
carrying capacity and rugged construction.

Out front, Forrester crouched down in the enclosed entryway, scanning the empty street outside.  He could here his companions rummaging through the warehouse through the thin corrugated walls.  Within minute he became aware of another sound.  Almost imperceptable at first, it soon grew to be unmistakable; an  approaching ground car.

Preparing for the worst, Forrester plucked out another one of the many grenades he had secreted about his person and primed it.  As the car came into view it skidded to a halt directly in front of him and the doors on the far side opened.  Not waiting to see what emerged he depressed the arming key of the grenade and tossed it underhand out into the street.  Gunfire slammed into the heavier material of the entryway as the newcomers opened fire on him. 

The powerful plasma charge of the grenade went off almost directly underneath the ground car, lifting it two meters into the air and flipping it over.  Unfortunately the former occupants were fully armored and far enough away that they escaped the brunt of the explosion.  Firing off a few quick shots from his weapon to keep their heads down, Forrester retreated into the warehouse.

"We've got company, is there a backdoor?"

"There's a fire escape up here that leads into an alleyway," came the reply back from Fang.

Col. Strong's voice came in over the radio, "Alright people, we are leaving. Sgt, do you have the prisoner?"

"Yeah, I got 'im, he's a weirdo. You sure you don' want me ta kill 'im.?"

"No, rally up here, we haven't got long so don't let him slow you down." 

With that, the Colonel peered his head out the rear window searching for a potential ambush. Seeing nothing he crawled out onto the flimsy metal of the fire escape and led the party out into the darkened streets.