"Alright! All squads! Saddle up! We're moving out!"<br/><br/>A teal green painted marine seated himself on his makeshift chair on the front plating of the siege tank. The number of bundles and sandbags he and several of his men put together were not comfy, neither were they meant to absorb the shock of a bumpy ride, but it allowed the tank to carry 4 more passengers. 4 more sets of guns. 4 more poor souls to put to good use rather than letting them rot on base guard duty. Together with the 12 others in separate armored ground transports, the twin cannons of the siege tank and 3 pairs of autocannons on 3 brand new Goliaths, they were ready for a fight. A big one at that.<br/><br/>A feminine mechanical voice called out on the PA system. "Beta Squad 2. You are clear. Register number 3-1-3-4. Proceed."<br/>The marine banged on the turret of his ride with the flat of his armored palm, and radioed the tank interior, "Roll em, Turkey. Get this bucket of bolts to the objective. We got an unidentified to fry."<br/>"Affirmative, Sarge."<br/><br/>The sudden lurch of the metal frame caused all 4 of the additional passengers on board to brace themselves on the ridged plating, hanging onto whatever they could get thier hands on as the tank cleared the bulkhead doors. Into the Badlands they rode, leaving a dust trail behind and the safety of New St Angels like a flotilla of ships leaving port. Behind them followed the rumbling of their escorts, on tracks and large bipedal feet, keeping a close distance to the tank, providing support in travel positions. They reformed thier formation into a line, with the 3 Goliaths taking flanks, and all moved full speed towards their query: the ruined capital city of Mar Sara.<br/><br/>The sergeant ran through a train of thought as the world rocked and shuddered around him. It was too much of a response to an unidentified landing. Normally, standard procedure would be to follow up with Vulture patrols to assess the situation. Normally, any unidentified tended to be rogue meteors or space debris. With all the things happening with the terraforming and debris field demolition, it wasnt surprising that things start falling from the sky with the slightest change in atmosphere and the smallest demolition charge. This time around though, the top dogs immediately brought out the heavy muscle like it was some sort of invasion. All they told him to do was to 'deal with it'. The typical evil corporation way of doing things that meant 'kill everything you find'. They made no mention of what he would be up against. Just gave him troops to command and 'deal with it'.<br/><br/>Troops and that creepy woman that sat next to him like a statue, never moving an inch or uttering a single word. She was clothed in a gunmetal black outfit that very much resembled a cross between a civilian and Ghost bodysuit. Not a single glimpse of flesh on her, covered from head to toe, with a helmet that he had never seen as standard military issue. Black market issue maybe. The special kind. The kind that big money can buy without flashing even a name on any credentials or bank accounts. Definately not for show, from the looks of the gear, and he was not prepared to find out what those gizmos did. That was without even looking at the modified C-10 that was slung around her slender shoulders. That thing looked like it fired more than just standard ammunition.<br/><br/>Just what was the Combine hiding now? Them money grabber types never make it easy on them.<br/><br/><div align="center">--------------------------</div><br/>No alarm went off when Shadir removed the airlock doors. There was only a still silence, a stale sense of motionless dread. Besides the area where Pyre was, the corridor that Shadir and Gonathi were in was relatively deserted. It appeared as if that section of the base was left that way for a reason, as if someone<em>wanted </em>intruders to enter. In all sense of direction, there were no signs of life or a fight, only strangely active pieces of machinery, dust and some overturned pieces of non electrical equipment. Some doors were even left jammed open, whole sections left exposed for anyone to freely walk in and around without obstruction.... until a dull click and a rapid whirr of servoes echoed at the junction far ahead of the duo. The wall section spun and slid open, revealing a launcher array of low yield anti-personal missiles attached to an electrical conduit. 8 missiles in all.<br/><br/>Even if the alarm did not sound, someone had set the automatic defence systems to red alert. The missile array let loose a pair of payloads towards them, hurtling at full speed, spinning through the air. They did not seem to be heat seeking, but the moment the first two missiles fired, another two seemed to be prepared to fire, as air and dust blasted out of its ventilation ducts. A deadly barrage of explosives at long range.<br/><br/><div align="center">--------------------------</div><br/>Out in orbit, the Wraith squadron that attacked the Overlord circled, before they suddenly veered downwards to enter the atmosphere of the planet.  The other escorted the Churchill's shuttle down to the surface, whereever they may be landing. Elsewhere, however, a Combine science vessel in the distance was present during the whole scene. Whatever it was doing, it did not seem to be moving anywhere, a long distance away from the Churchill but close enough to them to only be slightly visible. For those who know their history, its exact location was where the old Mar Saran Jacobs science insallation was destroyed, right in the middle of its debris field. On the opposite side of the Churchill came several cargo freighters impulsing their way towards a far away mooring platform, all of which registered as civilian merchant craft. It seemed that the Combine were making a lot of business here. Who knows what kind of things were going on and off planetside....