Nivka had to admit, that as assignments go, she had gotten the better end of the deal this time.

  Oh, sure. Their objective was extremely important to the planets defense. The mass driver would be used as an impromptu planetary defense gun. It's usefulness couldn't be overstated.

  The thing was, the innies likely knew it too. And while some of their number were extremists of the highest order, they didn't want the planet to burn. It was their home after all.

  Though it was important to note that such things haven't stopped the insane ones from doing shit to ruin the war effort before. That's why the driver had an outpost. To both protect it from aliens and terrorists.

  Still, she expected minimal contact. Over the days, she was proven correct, as while on patrols, she had personally encountered one group of the terrorists. Others had encountered roughly the same as well. There wouldn't be an assault.

  Guards around the entire outpost also removed much of the treat of infiltration as well, though she reckoned that was a more likely occurrence. The guards had spotted movement, and they changed patrol schedules randomly. Not much else to do unless they shoot at them.

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  That changed when a call rang from the perimeter.

  "LT, we got a noise out there, sounds like a vtol." A grizzly commander said.

  What? There weren't supposed to be any around here, she didn't think. Still, might be she forgot...

  "Affirm, assume contact as possible hostile. I'm heading to you now."

  "Yes lieutenant."

  As she rushed to her mech, just in case, she called over comms. "This is Lieutenant Nivka, can someone confirm vtol traffic in the area?" She called to the outpost hq.

  As she got the mech activated and up, the reply came. "Negative on traffic, lieutenant." Nivka cursed.

  "Sound the alarm, possible inbound threat north East." She said.

  "Affirm."

  Ten seconds later, the outposts alarm sounded. People scrambled, getting armor on and guns loaded as they ran for their posts as she stomped her way to where contact was sighted.

  She could see the thing on her onboard radar, and it was approaching fast. She couldn't identify it yet, but when it got to 700m, she got the info she needed.

  "AV 14, northeast inbound, contact iminant." She called out. She switched to open channels and said. "This is Lieutenant Nivka, unsc army. You are in a restricted airspace. You are ordered to turn away or be fired apon."

  The craft kept coming, and she repeated. "This is lieutenant Nivka of the UNSC Army. This is your last warning. Trun away or be shot down." She said calmly.

  "Piss off and die, whore." A voice replied before gunfire opened up. Tracers came from the AV-14, stitching along the cover they had set up, barely missing or getting blocked by the cover.

  The warthog replied by finding the target and firing back. The vtol swerved, dodging the multiple lines of tracers, before Nivka locked on. She fired a missile, and it streaked out. Even while joining this way and that, the missile struck.

  The vtol erupted in a ball of fire, and it fell out of the air. A ways away, she heard a boom. The threat was clear, but they all stayed on guard until the all clear was given.