“Sixty seconds!” the pilot called out from the cockpit of the Vertibird, Michael looked about the interior of the bird over the muzzle of his Hellfire power armor at the other members of his unit. Regarding them briefly, they all wore either the X-01 line of power armor or the older styled USMC combat armor, all emblazoned with a large ‘E’ symbol wreathed with stars around them “Remember the plan; we’re here to make a clean sweep of the factory. Get in and clear the tribals out, no heroics or excessive damage to the structure and interior systems if possible.” he barked out.

Shortly the doors of the vertibird opened and the crew chief would bring the minigun to bare, he was dressed in the older marine assault armor and helmet, being that he would statistically be targeted first once he opened up, looking through the now open doors he could see the three other veritibirds that were part of their assault team flying in formation break off and switch out to hover mode as they approached the targeted factory, looking down he could see the tribals they had come to clear out were already engaged in a firefight with the local’s that the Enclave had hired to help with the taking of the facility they now were descending upon.

That beautiful rattle of minigun fire would fill the interior of the vertibird as the crew chief began spraying targets on the ground, taking out a small bunch of tribals that had chosen to group together and sending the survivors scattering, the plinking sound of bullets bouncing off the hull of the vertibird in their vain attempt to shoot down what to them must have been some hellish flying metal creature that spat death down upon them, there was a light bump though as the vertibird alighted on to the cracked concrete that had once been the front parking lot for this AM General factory, a few rusted out Corvega sedans and even a Fusion Flea littered the parking lot where they had been parked some two hundred years prior, “Probably belonged to the night shift workers” he mused in his mind as he piled out of the bird, the rest of his troops following suit; they would immediately take up a combat stance, under the continued covering spray of fire from their birds door gun as it took off again to provide air cover, they advanced under fire, taking shots at tribals who were either too brave or too stupid to keep their heads down.

He took note as several went down in a cloud of red mist from the marksmen within his squad, the ones who wore combat armor instead of the power armor that for the longest time had defined Enclave shock troops, they carried relatively new make battle rifles chambered in .308, Michael himself though carried a heavy plasma caster, something he brought to bear as he crashed through the front doors of the office the doors shattering to splinters as his hulking powerarmored frame smashed through the rotted doors that had stood there moments before and in to what had at one point been the reception room; flanked on his left and right by two others in power armor. They were greeted by shrieks of surprise and the clatter of automatic gunfire from the tribals older and poorly maintained weapons, the bullets bouncing off the outer shell of their power armor though, the response being a swift and terrible one as plasma weapons were brought to bare and began spitting out their super-heated projectiles.

Screams of agony and the stench of burning flesh and fur filled the room as they laid waste to those that had gathered to form the first line of defense of the interior, it was odd though as the ones who hadn’t been reduced to a puddle of goo upon contact with the plasma bolts were the lucky ones, those that had been unfortunate enough to be set on fire by the superheated bolts of plasma weaponry would have spent their last few seconds of life in agonizing pain as the entirety of them melted into a puddle of glowing green goo, singing the ground around them. The first salvo was so terrifying that it scattered those who hadn’t been hit in it “First smart thing you yokel fucks have done, pity it won’t help you.” thought Michael as the smoke cleared.

“Front clear, begin advancing.” Michael barked out through the helmet of his power armor, the others would file in “Notch, Baker, Harken; sweep the side rooms. Sunder and Thor, with me.” he said, the three in combat armor he had addressed all signaled acknowledgement through the HUD that was displayed in their helmets and they moved off to the side, the two others in power armor that had entered with Michael through the front would continue on with him as they advanced further in to the offices, they’d switch on their visor lights, the light projecting in a pattern matching the shape of their visors casting eerie shadows in the darkened rooms and illuminating targets that had attempted to use the dark to their advantage only to be blinded by the bright spotlights and cut down by plasma bolts as they were illuminated. They continued to advance through the darkened interior until they came to the factory floor doors, what was left of the resistance in the offices having flee’d through it a few moments before, slamming the doors hut behind them like it would somehow stop three figures in power armor.

“Bravo be advised, small group of tangos are moving in to your operational area.” Michael would say across the wider radio band, his answer came in the sound of muffled screams and the telltale sound that plasma weapons made, “Way ahead of you Alpha, thanks for the heads up though.” came the reply a moment later, Michael smirked under his helm, the soldiers under his command were on point today, “Roger that, Charlie and Delta, report in.” he barked. He didn’t have to wait long before he began getting responses from the other team leaders “Bravo reporting in, we’ve swept the front part of the factory floor, still mopping up a few stragglers.”, “Charlie reporting in, lower factory floors secured, all hostiles neutralized.”, “This is Delta, we’ve managed to take most of the upper factory but we’ve taken some wounded, the last of them have managed to fortify themselves and are probably making their stand around their leader.” Michael frowned some at the last report “Acknowledged, sending backup, watch your fire and don’t bring the goddamn building down around us trying to get in.” he barked. Turning to face the other members of his squad that had just joined them “You three, make your way up top side and get an angle on the holdouts.” he was answered with an ‘Oorah!’ from the three before they made their way out.

Baker, Notch and Harken made their way round outside the building “Heads up, we got three of ours making their way up top, do not fire on them.” came Michaels voice over the radio as they made their way around to the wrought iron steps that lead up to the upper exterior levels of the factory, they held their weapons at the ready as they made their way up but the local militia and the vertibirds flying overhead had done their jobs efficiently, those tribals that weren’t dead were in no condition to fight either, simply offering up groans and expressions that had twisted in anger and pain as they slowly bled out, the soldiers passing them on in cold indifference as they made their way up to where they could climb up on to the roof.

“This is Baker, we’ve reached the roof and we are checking the skylights for the targets now.” Copy that, head for the northwest corner of the roof, that’s where they are holed up.” came the voice of Delta’s group leader over the radio, “Roger that.” Baker simply replied, the group made their way to the northwest corner of the roof and crawled up next to the skylight, Notch would peer up over the lip and down below “Counting about a dozen hostiles down there.” he growled lowly to the others, “Good, that makes almost a fair fight then.” Harken would say, eliciting a snicker from the three. Harken would pull a cylindrical device from a pouch attached to his combat webbing he wore on the exterior of his armor, he’d pull the pin out of the spoon “On three.. One.. two..” and when he reached three, he let go of the spoon and ignited the flashbangs internal fuse, tossing it through one of the broken window panes and on to the concrete floor of the room below them, those inside that had heard the grenade clatter to the floor and had turned to look didn’t have time to comprehend what it was before it detonated.

Howls of shock and pain erupted from the room below as tribals were blinded and deafened from the stun device that had just gone off in their midst, some even lay dead on the floor just from being in such close proximity when it had gone off, but those sounds below didn’t last long as they were soon extinguished by the hail of rifle rounds that came pouring in from the skylight putting them out of their pain and confusion.

It all took but a few moments for them for them to clear the room from their perch “Like shooting fish in a barrel..” commented Harken, it got him a look from Baker that even though his face was covered by his helmet, Harken could feel the stern look on him but it didn’t bother him much though, everyone knew he was the slightly more crass one of the group but he knew what boundaries to not cross. Baker shook his head a bit dismissively before popping out the now empty magazine and exchanging it for a fresh one, having deposited the spent magazine in to the dump pouch attached to his belt, keying his radio “This is Baker to Delta, you all are clear to advance, keep in mind we saw some turrets being set up but they don’t look active, clear to advance.” he said “Roger that, thanks for the assist Alpha.” came the reply.

The trio made their way back to the rest of their group who had fortified themselves inside the offices and had awaited the return of the three, Michael had been monitoring their progress through their helmet cameras, nodding to the three “Good work, I’ve already relayed our progress to command and they’ll be sending in the engineer corps to get this place back up and running.” he stated to the group that had gathered in.