Sixteen of the twenty human troopers look almost identical. They wear red and black hardsuits adorned with ammunition packs, breaching charges, and knives, and thruster packs are built into suits’ backs. The troopers each carry an automatic rifle, some kind of micro-rocket launcher, and a submachine gun. Their faces are hidden beneath reflective blue visors, and an image of a rabid dog is scrawled on the sides of their helmets.
The other four troopers, though, have more unique kits. One is an eight foot tall giant of a man wearing what appears to be a slimmed-down variant of the suits worn by the others, though he carries the same arsenal of weapons as them. A white skull is painted on his suit’s breastplate. The second is also a larger fellow, though his size may be attributed more to the bulky exosuit he wears, which sports a laser weapon and a grenade launcher on the right and left shoulders, respectively. In his hands, he holds a wicked-looking machine gun, fed by a belt coming out of the back of his suit. The third wears a suit with larger thrusters than the rest, and has a grappling hook on his left arm. A large sword is also stowed on his back, between the thrusters. The fourth has a suite of high-tech scanners attached to her helmet, a wrist-computer attached to the gauntlet over her right forearm, and a pair of cylindrical pods are mounted on her thighs.
Behind the troopers, the enemy mech continues to do battle with Kitai. The hole cut into its back by the Grunt’s laser cannon smolders. Currently, it wields a huge rotary cannon in its hands, though it may have other weapons stored within its frame.
The troopers scatter as LD-L1 lands in their midst, using their thrusters to quickly jet out of the way, lest they be splattered. As the cultist’s borrowed ship peels away to speed back to Iacon, the troopers’ dropship eases back to put all of our heroes within view of its pilots. Its nose-mounted gun whines as the craft lays down a blanket of suppressive fire over the Pulsar’s hull. The troopers group themselves into two squads of ten, with the giant and the sword-wielder joining one squad, and the heavy gunner and the techie joining the other.
The howl of the skimmer’s engines briefly drowns out all other noise in Riveter’s spaceport, growing quieter as Ivory jets out over Iacon’s walls. It would not be long before the detective catches up with the rest of our heroes aboard the Pulsar, though he may have an unpleasant surprise waiting for him when he does…