<strong>GS Danko - 3rd Squad - Outside the Colony Compound</strong><br/><hr/><br/>Flicking the targeting lens for the smart gun down over her eye, Riska brought the gun into position as the doors began to slide open, leveled right at the widening space.  Her grip on the gun was firm, muscles bunching, standing out in relief against the coppery skin of her bare arms as she took a wide stance and then dropped her weight, ready for the familiar feel of the gun’s eventual kick.<br/><br/>When the motion sensors began to go off, Riska set her thumb against the M56’s trigger and shifted position to get a clear shot of whatever was coming around the other members of the squad.  Shots rang out from inside the compound before anyone even had a chance to sneeze.  There was more than one type of gun by the sound of it, pulse rifles and at least one shotgun.  As usual, Danko was glad of the advanced combat armor she wore, along with the heavy-duty polymer chest plate, trusting both to protect her from the worst of the incoming fire.<br/><br/>Most of the shots went wild, suggesting to Riska that whomever was firing was either inexperienced or scared to death.  Their targeting was for shit.  One round took Cooper square on, but it looked like it had failed to penetrate his armor, thank fucking god.  Without hesitating, Riska opened fire directly into the dark chasm between the open doors in a series of controlled bursts as she swept the opening from right to left.<br/><br/>It was as she moved that Danko caught sight of a flash of red light in the rear view mirror mounted to her gun frame.  Ganked from an old motorcycle that she’d owned several years back, it had saved her ass more than once.  There was a strange sound then, almost like a fuse blowing and she glanced back over her shoulder just in time to see the beam cut across the air above them at an angle and then drive straight into the Lieutenant’s shoulder, go right through his armor and come out on the other side.<br/><br/>“Holy shit!”  Danko rumbled, turning towards the source of the thing that had hit the L.T., stepping out to one side to avoid the Sergeant at their six.  As far as she was concerned, what was behind them was far more dangerous than what was behind the doors. Just a few inches higher and the man would have been dead on his feet.  Standard guns and rifles she could understand.  Whatever this was, she’d never seen anything like it before and she didn’t appreciate the almost casual way whatever the fuck it was had fired on her commanding officer.  No wonder the colonists had sealed the compound up tighter than a virgin’s ass at a rodeo.<br/><br/>Trusting that her squad would dish out the hurt on whoever was firing from inside the colony, not to mention cover her back, Riska raised her gun and began to fire in the direction of where the red beam had come from.  The rounds from the M56 tore into the rocky outcrops behind them, blowing apart the formations and chipping the stone as if there were paper while Danko watched.  As the rubble flew into the air, she could have sworn she saw something that looked like the surrounding rocky outcroppings, but at the same time was just slightly<em>off</em>, as if a heat mirage wavered over its surface, causing a rippling distortion.