Fireteam Vertex

* Gavin Malkin

> Ah, yes, useless group number 3.
>
> Othinus

A mercenary unit officially formed by Marauder shortly after the successful completion of Operation: Sigma Oscar Sigma II. Having already enjoyed great success on several missions after forming a partnership with Gavin, he sought to expand the informal team into a small squad in its own right. Impressed by  Elena Wagner's conduct during Operation SOS, a mission in which they and several Armor Corps members had been captured, Carcer would later suggest that she join himself and his partner and make their group a more official one.

Come April 2019, Fireteam Vertex acquired it's fourth member, the Dark Elf Maria. Closer to the end of the month, Gavin was let go from the team, once again bringing it to three pilots.

Elena was killed during Operation Letter of Last Resort in November 2019, leaving Marauder and Sangria Prowler as the only two active pilots.

## Currently Active Members

Marauder: Leader and mid-range heavy gunfighter

Sangria Prowler: Scout/Skirmisher

## Former Members

Intersect Thunderbolt: Heavy melee fighter

Yuki: Long range/orbital sniper

## Operational History

*(note: all operations prior to Sigma Oscar Sigma were undergone by the unnamed partnership between Carcer and Gavin prior to the official formation of Vertex, but are nevertheless key points in its history)*

#### Operation Hunt For Chile October

This operation marked the effective formation of the partnership between Gavin and Carcer (that would later spin out into Vertex), following their coup in deceiving both their Traitor foes and the Coalition team they had inserted with and securing their objective with no-one the wiser until it was too late

#### Operation Dogmeat, The Real Deal

An assault mission that was ultimately aborted despite the pair's successful performance due to unforseen complications (they were, however, recognised and paid for their service regardless).

#### Operation Sigma Oscar Sigma

A rescue mission gone wrong that marked Carcer's first encounter with Elena Wagner, whom he deployed alongside in lieu of his regular partner, who was unavailable at the time. His regard for the cool professionalism she'd displayed led him to make overtures toward her and Gavin about expanding and officially dubbing their group, marking the official start of Fireteam Vertex.

#### Operation Mountain Rush

The debut mission of the team. Despite some setbacks they played a large role in crushing the base defences outside the bunker and the assault on the facility itself and were ultimately able to accomplish their bonus objective, though Elena declined to deploy on the underground portion of the mission due to the obstacles the enclosed space presented to her specialities.

#### Operation Holey Moley

An almost surreal off-the-books black op to abduct a Mexican drug lord, their part was minor and consisted mostly of bemusedly following around Ryman as he worked his madness, then carrying out loot afterwards (though Carcer did successfully secure the mark with judicious sticky grenade use).

#### Operation Mile High Club

This mission marked the first and to date only time Carcer was shot down in combat, having being caught up in enemy reinforcements after overextending himself behind their lines destroying mission targets. He was critically injured by a member of the Axem squad, but survived thanks to the heroic efforts of Gavin to recover him. Despite mixed results, the mission itself was overall deemed a success due to the number of enemy transports destroyed. On top of their initial encounter with the Axem prior to their partnership (during Operation Bullet Hell), Carcer and Gavin became firmly resolved to destroy them during their next encounter.

#### Operation Crush and Overwhelm

Carcer and Yuki deployed to hunt a set of superforts garrisoning Shangai in preparation for an AC offensive, though it transpired that of them only the unique Angel Wings superfort remained. Vertex was responsible for a large fraction of the damage done to Angel Wings (including the killing blow) thanks to Carcer jamming its shield open.

#### Operation Vector To The Heavens

Carcer was the only member of Vertex attached to this mission to recon a Traitor base on Ascension island. He spent most of the mission on demolition work before trading blows with the enemy leader Flugel before the battered Coalition forces withdrew.

#### Operation Million Suit March

A slightly slapdash evacuation of a remote Chinese region about to be overwhelmed by puppets, Gavin delayed the enemy solo while Carcer and the AC pilot convinced the civilians to leave.

#### Operation Black Sea Straights

A mission to clear out a small hostile suit presence in the black sea that, unusually, went pretty much by the book, aside from a communications breakdown inducing jamming mishap caused by Carcer in response to a blue-on-blue hacking incident.

#### Operation Ascension Burns

AC's return to Ascension island to destroy it via induced volcanic eruption, this operation was planned by the turncoat Engineer Ellis Castelli and marked the beginning of Carcer's intense dislike of him. Aside from a team death caused by drug overdose on the part of a fellow mercenary, the mission was accomplished with little difficulty (with the base's most prominent defender mistaken for Flugel and reflexively apha-striked by Carcer).

#### Operation Get Dat Fuckin Disc

A mission to recover or destroy stolen data that was fraught throughout with bickering between Ellis Castelli and Carcer, especially given their conflicting mission approaches. The data transpired to have been long since obtained by the mission's start, having been employed in aid of a Traitor bid to transport materials into space to set up an outpost there. In spite of the failure of the original objective, Carcer was able to secure a partial success anyway by intercepting a portion of the resources on the way up, though he was eventually forced to break off by the approach of enemy reinforcements.

#### Operation Between The Frontline And the Stars

Vertex (sans Gavin, at this point on a more sedate border defence contract with the AmC), sortied as part of the Coalition offensive to destroy the Chosen spacefleet and retake the captured Libra space colony. After crippling the enemy flagship Elena and Carcer engaged Flugel, and while the bulk of the work in bringing him down was done by fellow mercenary Loose Sexkiller, his suicidal methods left Carcer an opening to recover both Flugel's brain and that of AC pilot Silver Knight, who had also had his body destroyed. After indulging his curiosity by conversing with the two of them following the mission, he delivered both brains to the Armored Core technician Ryman (the former under the table and for cash).

#### Operation Fortress Of Giants

This mission's actual objective of destroying the escort forts was carried out in large part by Elena, who acquitted herself very well by obtaining multiple fort kills. Carcer, meanwhile, sought out some extra credit with fellow merc Loose by damaging some of the the gigafort's weaponry to lighten the pressure on the others, then infiltrating it and sabotaging its production facilities, as well as obtaining scan data on its possible weaknesses, though they ultimately elected to disengage due to the withdrawal of their allies.

#### Operation Iron Kingdom

This off-the-books mission marked Vertex's third and final encounter with the Axem. Encountering them making their own move on a village they had been sent to secure, Gavin and Carcer assumed their presence to be hostile (though they were in fact there as mercenaries with a similar goal) and immediately assaulted them ferociously before pursing their fleeing ship and obliterating it with a suit combination fuelled punch that detonated an enormous crater in the African wilderness. Though able to secure an end to their vendetta, the pair thus failed to obtain the bonus objective loot present in the area, though they ultimately deemed this an acceptable trade-off.