One of the smaller ships in the impromptu fleet of The War Guild streaked through the atmosphere, the player at the front pulling up to level out as the ship slowed down "Ha!" he laughed, looking back to his three allies "First to arrive!" he steered the ship to land, not looking ahead for a moment while his friends cheered and snickered as well.
There was a loud bang as bullets began to hit the ship's shield, causing an alarm to blare. The leader, War Of Pride, looked forward only to see that there was a helicopter with a machine gun spraying at the glass window of the ship. "Dammit!" he tried dodging, but the gun kept tracking, this ship was a standard issue cruiser, it wasn't built for combat, and that showed in how quickly the shields for it were draining.
The other three players were quick to open up the back and jump out, dressed in lightweight exo-armor. Custom fitted to them all and made for combat, they each held high powered rifles as well, the shock absorbers stopping them from taking any damage when they fell. They moved to turn their aim at the helicopter, only for one player each to hit them.
They were lifted up by the barrel of the stun rifles, and shot, causing the suits to lock up from the sudden rush of electricity. The players dropped them down then, making them fall onto their backs, cracking them against the ground. They were suddenly paralyzed, and unable to move their top half. They were forcefully logged off after that. Their moment of glory lasted no more than three seconds.
The leader watched the ruthless work of the three soldiers, and tried to pull up to take off, only for the shields to finally go down. A spray of bullets punched through the glass window, most of them impacting him and leaving dents, as well as injuring him. He fell back as the ship continued upwards, falling out of the ship. He was slammed faster into the ground by one player coming above him and punching down, he was logged out as well after the injuries and being paralyzed.
More players flew out of the helicopter at each intercepted spaceship, always they moved under the cover of one of them firing the machine gun while Jackson flew and maneuvered the helicopter. They stuck with the knocked out players as extraction teams carried them out, before flying to meet up with the group again. They were rewarded for not killing, but incapacitating the war guild members.
Mission: Secure as many players as possible for The Ark Organization, so that they can be studied as aliens and questioned.
Rewards: Any player you knock out or help knock out will be treated as five EXP, and if all players are knocked out in the assault, not one dying, you will receive a single level up
Failure: Killing them does nothing, but this mission will fail if the Ark falls, and all pending experience will be forfeit.
Notes: It would be easier to give up you know
The incentive kept them fighting, most players in The Ark Organization were treating this as a raid, choosing to ignore the notes.
The incentives were far greater for The War Guild however, as the flagship, taken over by one hundred more members, made it's way to the battle site at a fast speed. The leader of the ship, War Himself, a rather egotistical player who enjoyed being the leader of the massive chaotic faction, looked at the mission he received, smirking. Everyone in The War Guild got it just before they made land fall onto Larian, and they were already reaping benefits, as not every single one was attacking The Ark HQ right away and getting destroyed, some were smarter and fighting, or they were attacking elsewhere.
Mission: Destroy Larian for their transgressions, not just The Ark, and especially kill the infamous and weakened Ultima
Rewards: Killing a player will award you ten EXP, killing Ultima will give a free level up to the one who lands the killing blow or the blow that will eventually kill him, every nation that falls under the control of The War Lightforms will be an additional twenty EXP, even the smallest ones. If the entirety of Larian is overtaken, or destroyed, an additional level up will be awarded to every member of The War Lightforms.
Failure: Retreating is failure, move forward and fight.
Notes: Fight on!
War smiled as he laid back in the captains chair "Is everyone ready? Get geared up!" he announced through the speakers, his voice ringing through the ship "We are attacking Ultima first thing and getting our captured friends back!" he said, causing cheers to erupt aboard as he laughed, the navigation said they'd arrive in just one more hour.
Lapis sat up quickly, the thing about The War Guild is they weren't shy at all about their plans, meaning most of them were streaming. He had logged in and opened War's stream, and because of that he heard the plan and knew how long they have. Amber and Seeker were both the same, looking at the smug captured two players, as well as the oblivious Gareth who was speeding towards Ark HQ, and Alex who was staring quietly up at the sky.
"They're going to, attack us for sure you know" Lapis said quietly. Gareth froze up, but nodded "I know, we started this in a way, but no matter what alien stuff they have, we will have to try our best with what we've got" he said, sighing. They didn't have much in the way of equipment. This mission had gone from simple but hard, to out of this world in difficulty, quite literally. Gareth wasn't sure what else to say.
Alex stared at the sky "How many Lapis? How many alone are coming to attack us?" he looked over at him, staring.
Lapis gulped "One hundred, in, in their biggest ship, just to get us" he said. Alexander sighed "I see...brutal isn't that?" he said, and Lapis saw him close his eyes, clearly deep in thought.
"Listen, maybe, maybe if we give up the rebels, we can live?" Amber suggested, but she knew that was a lie, there was no way the giant group would also pass up the chance to kill Ultima, probably would be the leader who took that. The war was going to likely be longer, it's not like killing Ultima meant the war guild would win. They had a small fleet, a lot of players, but the thing was every NPC they killed meant one less ally, and they were not going to just attack The Ark. They didn't lack people who were also making their own plans to join in on the fun, or nations who thought this was the perfect chance to submit and gain some power over other nations. It would be close no matter what.
Several minutes passed before Alex stood up, looking at the sky "We aren't that far from HQ right?" he asked. Gareth shook his head "At the speed we are going, maybe in about one hour" he said. Lapis spoke up "When we arrive at landfall then, they'll have arrived and be ready to attack us" Lapis said. "Well, we will be on friendly land for that fight then won't we?" Alex hummed.
Alex clenched his fist, deep in thought as he processed some things. For one, he really underestimated how many people wanted HIS group dead, this must be the strength of sudden surprise and overwhelming tactics. Gareth would stay dead if he died, the players would revive, but he...he knew he reincarnated, so what if he died? Maybe he'd just do it again, but regardless of knowing that for sure or not, he would go down fighting. The version mission seemed to have taken a backseat to the assault on Larian.
