No Gods, Nor Masters

HITMAN THREE

Halsey loomed over the holo-table as Tyuule and Richard walked in. The woman gazed upon enemy equipment and the present forces currently battling it out near Alnus. For the past few days, the Empire had deployed an army of around three hundred thousand to retake the Hill from the invading Peacekeeper force. Although many she saw below weren't simply Imperial troops. It looked like the bastards had brought their vassals in after their second, sixty-thousand strong army was wiped.

The UN force had set up a perimeter, various tents and gun emplacements, not to mention bringing in self-propelled howitzers and another company's worth of US and SDF tanks. Infantry milled about the place, while gunners manned SAWs and .50 caliber Machine Guns mounted in the nests. Mortarmen had also set up in several pits around the place, while the rest of the UN's joint engineer corps set up a layered defense:Barbed wire, mines, traps and even a few warning signs in the local language and script.

She sighed, shutting off the system, before turning to the Lieutenant and Queen and stating, "Our newfound friends are engaging in a defensive battle against the Imperials."

"Yeah, we heard," Richard noted, then looked over the command table himself and hummed. He said, "Abrams Main Battle Tanks, MTRVs and other US Marine Corps standard equipment, not to mention M4s and other such items. The others are using Type-56 Assault Rifles, old school gear and other items like that. Japanese are probably the weirdest of the lot... Vietnam-era gear."

"You seem familiar with much of the equipment on display," Tyuule remarked.

"I am," He nodded, "Half this equipment was predecessor to the UNSC groundpounder kit you see us running around with. The other half was the mainstay of these armies, but was never really put into place as working equipment that we could really ship in combat. We ditched multi-crew tanks like the Abrams for multiple reasons, including the ease of having single or two-man crews more easily trainable and cheaper than a four or five-man team, each with a specialized role. Not to mention Scorpions are easier to transport..."

"Admittedly, the Scorpion's main gun is the only lackluster item when it comes to comparing them with our friends over here," Halsey stated, bringing up the schematics of the 90mm cannon in the auto-turret of the Scorpion, stating, "Ninety millimeters were good for dealing with light armored vehicles. The 120mm on the Abrams, meanwhile, is meant to deal with tanks of its level."

"Namely the stuff we see deployed by the Chinese and Russians now," The man stated as Tyuule approached and gave a once-over to the American Army's mainstay armored workhorse. She hummed, while Richard added, "The Japanese came with their older kit. Howa Type-64 Battle Rifles and Type-89 ARs with no optics, body armor and camo patterns from way back in the mid-to-late days of the Nineteen-Sixties... And the tanks."

"I presume they didn't want to risk their better equipment," Tyuule noted, looking over the items, "Still. It's fairly interesting to look upon the predecessors to the UNSC."

"On that, we can agree," Halsey nodded, bringing up the footage of the latest battle. Fifty calibers, tanks and howitzers pretty much slaughtered the entire first wave of enemy troops. She hummed, then stated, "Color me impressed, however, that the Imperials have not attempted anything when it comes to us. You'd think that their prince, Zorzal, would come to regain some form of honor in defeating us..."

"I think they didn't expect to get their shit rocked by two firearm-toting peoples, Doc," The Lieutenant smirked, arranging his BDU, "Anyway, doc... You manage to talk to the UN Army over here to see if they wanna show up for a talk?"

"They said they'd welcome the talk once their own Forward Operations Base is set up," Halsey remarked, then pulled up a few items from her req form and said, "And when they are ready, I intend to show full hospitality to our seeming past counterparts, with hope I get to study the effects of the Gate once we've accomplished initial discussions with them."