This is an automated archive made by the Lemmit Bot.

The original was posted on /r/hfy by /u/Guardbro on 2025-07-01 18:12:14+00:00.

“Watch your ammo Wheeler, I’m damn near halfway through my pack.” Rhidi called out as the Heavy Onslaught Infantry poured around them both, kneeling and taking up positions to form a firing line.

Wheeler tilted his dagger-helm towards her, still holding down the hammer as he suppressed a group of combatants behind broken engine wreckage. “We’ll time our pack reloads, remember that we have an extra pack each on the pod.”

“Lay it on them!” Sergeant First Class Bloodmourne roared into her ears, the huge Human striding forward while firing his well-battered rifle from the shoulder. “Drown them! Don’t give them time to breathe!”

The Heavy Onslaught Infantry were forming a literal wall of steel, their firing line nothing more than the flash of sunlight on steel and the angry haze of hot weapon barrels. Their enemy, whatever they were, were firing some kind of propelled munition as well that flashed with light as it hit their armor, spattering the air with sparks and leaving a small dent wherever it landed.

Rhidi risked a glance backwards; Three massive drop ships were embedded in the ground or scattered across the torn grass, and bodies were everywhere. Regs were running around, their arms pumping and armored chest plates flashing as they ran to either grab wounded, or rip equipment free of the fallen ship.

Rhidi saw a Reg with an extremely battle scarred breastplate gesturing around himself, seemingly at ease despite the chaos.

“Regs are asking for suits.” Sergeant Flores called out into their communications line, the female Human tracing her weapon and firing with even fingered practice. “Rhodil, Troy, get over there and rip that fucking door off, Rhidi, cover them with walking fire.”

“On it!” Rhidi responded, leveling her MG111 again as Rhodil the rogue Pwah prince and Troy took off at an accelerated run, churning up the ground like sprinting draft horses.

These moth people, whatever they may be, had constructed their roads on high berms, likely to keep the roads free of water and prevent them from being flooded. Rhidi and the rest of the UAA troopers were down in a large, open prairie likely used for grazing, staring up at the high berm roads.

Their enemy had been running down the berms to try and swamp the Regs, and Rhidi had to wonder if they somehow knew drop pods were coming down. It wouldn’t have surprised her, as they were all moving with a practiced tactical acumen. Despite their charge, the one eyed soldiers were now spreading out and finding cover, though more of their kind were swarming over the berm or setting up weapons up on the road.

Rhidi blinked; Those were large weapons, and their barrels looked very mean when pointing her direction.

“Heavy weapons on the berm!” Rhidi called out, hefting her MG111 up into her shoulder proper and spraying lead so it skipped along the road, and tore through anything made of flesh. “Silhouettes on the sky!”

“Shift fire to the berm!” Sergeant Flores howled, and the Human was now moving forward. “On me, 1st pod!”

Rhidi’s fellow drop troopers bounded forward, their legs slowly coming to full speed as the line reacted. A command must have gone out over the NCO communications as 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Pod Sections were now coming to full speed, the entire Platoon charging forward to gain an angle on the berm.

Rhidi continued walking sideways, firing in long bursts as targets presented themselves; She traced along the berm to either kill the one-eyes or get them to cower in cover, then ran her stream of fire along multiple defilades. She managed to catch three one eyed soldiers across their chests, and Rhidi bared her fangs as sunlight briefly glowed through their bodies.

Her ear mics picked up the Regs yelling at Rhodil and Troy.

“Take it! Take it to the one with the ears!” A Human was shouting, and she heard the rattle of ammunition.

“Reload incoming, Rhidi.” Rhodil said with a calm tone, the actuators of his leg armor slowly growing in volume as Troy ripped the door away with a shriek of tortured steel.

Rhidi slammed down onto her right knee and kept the hammer back, spraying along the berm again as a large crew served automatic weapon started barking at them, causing a drop trooper to stumble backwards and clatter onto the ground.

“Medic inbound.” A voice purred over the all-comms, and a female Human came walking from out of nowhere; Her armor was normal, her helmet bright white with a red cross running down the middle of her visor…

… but her mocambre was already sliding out from beneath her palm, dripping with Aloe-8.

Rhidi shuddered in horror as Rhodil came down behind her, the medic stalking after her prey.

“Someone’s about to have a very bad day…” Rhodil murmured as he popped the tray release on Rhidi’s ammo pack and opened the front cover, linking her old belt with a new one.

Rhidi turned back towards the berm to see not one, but two very angry looking weapon teams turning her direction.

“So are we.” Rhidi said with a grimace, turning the shoulder with the gardbrace towards the weapons. “Get small behind me.”

Rhodil chuckled at her in response, the ringing song of moving brass never ceasing. “My dear I am a Pwah, even in this armor they cannot see me with you in the way! Almost done.”

Rhidi saw the flashes from the weapons discharging and leaned forwards, pulling her MG111 to her chest as the rounds impacted against her a few heartbeats later.

“Shit!” Rhidi barked out as the impact of the rounds nearly carried her backwards, pulling her up from her lean and nearly causing her to bowl over Rhodil.

“I got you!” Rhodil shouted, using one hand to keep Rhidi upright and the other slamming her ammo pack shut. “Troy?!”

Rhidi heard Troy say “God damn it! Just use me!” over their comm-link in an annoyed growl, and after three heartbeats the berm started erupting in huge plumes of soil and ripped apart roadway. She risked a look over her shoulder as her helmet pinned her ears for her, and let out a short laugh.

Holding onto two barrels with his armored hands and hefting the rest on his shoulder armor, Troy was acting as a mount for four M2 heavy machine guns. Each Reg was moving them back and forth, their helmets flashing yellow as they held down the butterfly triggers to give Rhidi come cover.

Cover was a word for it, more to the point that they had reduced both heavy weapon teams to bloody, flesh littered skid marks across the now ruined roadway.

“That’s our que.” Rhodil said, coming around Rhidi with his weapon raised and firing.

Rhidi came up onto her feet, then glanced at her weapon status:

• MG111: 12% heat
• MG111: 10000*/10000rnds
• Mount Arm: 91%

“That’ll do.” Rhidi said with a bright smile, then swung her MG111 back out in front of her. She pulled back on the trigger with the bright, bonfire flash of the muzzle brake, her weapon chattering out a maddening buzz as she started walking again.

Behind her more M2s and M260 Boars were opening up, freed from the clutches of their fallen craft, with wounded Regs crawling up to get a little revenge on those who had shot them out of the sky during landing.

Despite the overwhelming firepower, the one eyed assailants were more determined and highly disciplined; More of their own crewserves were opening up from a bushy woodline to their left, while their regular infantry held. Both sides were attempting to hold sway over fire superiority, and it was still coming out to a hard stalemate.

When an enemy munition exploded with a great clap amongst the drop infantry, things were starting to take a turn; It must have been a high angle mortar-like weapon of some kind, the flash bright but very little shrapnel to be found. Whatever did make contact with their armor behaved the same as their munitions, giving off great sparks of light with a concussive force.

Another mortar-like round fell near Rhidi and Rhodil, scratching their armor fiercely and causing them to stumble to their knees. The round may not have had a lot of shrapnel, but it packed a helluva wallop with the pressure wave.

The unit chatter in her ear was constant, everyone reporting in what they were seeing or calling out for targets. A far more authoritative voice cut through them all, one that made Rhidi’s helmet perk her ears without her gesture.

“Guidons, Guidons, Iron Rain 6, take that fucking ridge!”

Drop Officer Duluth had actually used the all-command channel in their helmets, his voice broadcasting to every trooper under his command.

For the first time since she had arrived, Rhidi had received her first Company-wide command. Such commands were rare, used only when delegation of commands would cost valuable time, and she had received one on her first combat drop.

The renewed adrenaline rush caused her fur to raise on end all across her body, and she felt a need to… say something.

“Kafya, drop your bags!” Rhidi called out, steeling her voice as she blinked at the release for her tail bag. “Tails out!”

Without another word Rhidi started forward, her bright yellow tail fluttering free and rustling in the wind as she ran. The sun glittered on the exposed metal of her armor as she fired on the move, the entire gunline of Heavy Onslaught Infantry surging forward like a tidal wave of iron, lead, and steel. Pops of color were erupting amongst their ranks as more yellow, brown, pink, blue, red, orange, black, and green Kafyan tails fluttered out into the sunlight.

Their one-eyed enemy, seeing a hulking line of assault armor com…

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