This story takes place in 2078, 2 years after the events of the "Recall" animated short. At this time, the beginning of the second Omnic War, has begun and a lot of the fighting has begun on the Northern outskirts of Russia. Humanity is fighting a losing battle against the new and improved Omnics and a nuclear option seems imminent. Throughout the Russian front, tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed and the country has grudgingly accepted the help of American, Canadian and British special forces. Several Overwatch agents have also joined the fray, however they are being used more as propaganda than anything else.
Talon has become less of a worldwide terrorist organization and has turned into a private army that has a shaky alliance with the Omnics (they will some presence in the story, being more of a shady accomplice to the Omnics.)
The following story is about RCAF pilot David Mcallister and his squad's attempts to help defend the Russian front.
I own nothing.
July 20th, 2078, Arkhangelsk, Russia, Canadian/British FOB 07:12 MST [2] days before the confirmed MIA report for RCAF pilot : David "Jackal" Mcallistero was filed.
I awoke to the sound of the warning alarm system. I listened for a moment to decipher the pattern… three seconds of the deafening noise and then a 1 second rest. That meant an urgent deployment for my platoon and I.
Finally, some action I thought. Me and my wingmen had been stationed at the same FOB for more than a year now, yet we had only seen combat 4 times and, at that point, I was sure that I would die from hypothermia before I was even wounded in combat.
As always, it was snowing outside, which shouldn't have been a surprise considering I was stationed in Northern Russia. From the barracks, I jogged with my squad mates, Lee, Alex and Danny into the briefing area, where several other squads had already gathered. The rest of the infantry trickled out one by one until all the squads were standing quietly in front of the Captain.
"Alright, men, today this platoon has the honour of taking back the city of Arkhangelsk," he said, pausing for the murmurs of disbelief to die down, "now I know what you're all thinking; 'that hell hole is impossible to get near to'... and you're goddamn right! So I have made the executive decision to use a German-style Blitzkrieg strategy, which will at least give us some chance of not getting fragged as soon as we step into the goddamn city!
Wait what the fuck?! Arkhan-fucking-gelsk?! Jesus that's city was one of the most dangerous places for air forces and armour alike. How the hell does he expect a 1940's era attack to work?
The tension in the air was so thick you could cut it with a knife. Every time the Captain read out a mission assignment either a sigh of relief or a solemn silence was heard, some squads knowing full well they would not make it home alive.
"Charlie, Delta and Echo you will be capturing hostile MG positions, Alpha and Bravo teams, you lucky bastards are on artillery support.
The Captain dismissed the GI troops and turned to the CRAF and RAF teams; out squad and RAF squad Bravo were to protect the bombers as they made their way into the heart of the city.
"Today's mission is very important to the overall capturing of the north coast of Russia," he explained, "Jackyl, you and your squad will be escorting the first bomber group, while Mctavish's squad will becoming in with the second bomber group.
"Won't they see us coming?" Lee interrupted, "They have something like a million Flak guns out there!"
"Take it up with parliament. I didn't issue these orders, kid," the Captain snapped, "I'm just doing my best to get as many of our people as I can out of this alive. Now suit up and mount up! Dismissed!
July 20th, 2078, [20,374] feet above Arkhangelsk, 16:37 MST.
"Preparing to drop the load in 20 seconds"
By this point, my squadron of Super Hornet MKIIIs were hidden in the dense clouds above the city, closely trailing about a dozen B-79 Jet Bombers, each of which had a 8000 lb "present," just for the Omnics.
Like Christmas Day.
"Passing above the bomb zone now, fuck em u-"
That's when one of the bombers exploded and everything went to shit.
"Flak rounds incoming! Scatter the bombers and scramble the fighters, hostile drones are gonna be on our tail soon," I yelled over the radio.
Panic consumed the less experienced bomber crews, causing them to drop altitude or try to RTB, allowing the Flak cannons to pick them off easier. My squadron of elite Super Hornet pilots had too much experience to crack under pressure, we had too many missions under our belts, we had already watched too many of our friends die. We were numb to this shit.
So what's the harm in a few more casualties? Hell, they were new, we didn't know them on a personal level.
Lee, Danny and I veered into an arrow formation, preparing for a forward attack from the deadly Omnic drones that we were sure were going to emerge out of the clouds and finish us off.
We held the tight formation for a good couple of minutes, Flak constantly exploding around us as it reached it's designated altitude. Eventually, the Flak stopped firing and we assumed we had passed out of the city's limits.
"Bombers report in," I called into the radio static, expecting to hear at least a couple of replies, "anyone still alive out there?"
The deafening static was the only thing that replied to me.
"Shit, man, are we it?" Lee asked, "they can't have all been dusted by Flak."
"No way in hell," Danny said over the radio, "gotta be a SAM launcher or some drones hiding in the clouds."
Just as Danny said that, I saw them, their trails of flame glimmering in the evening sky like stars, if stars had 20mm cannons and heat-seeking rockets attached to them, TGR 7 drones, about 20 of them.
"Well, holy shit, we're screwed," Danny muttered.
I imagine that from the ground, the exchange of fire that followed looked like a meteor shower. Thousands of rounds were fired in a matter of seconds, those dumbass Omnics couldn't get a single hit on us with our superb maneuvering. We, however, didn't miss one shot and our bullets destroyed several of the drones. Just as it looked like things were turning in our favour, however, all of the remaining drones pulled off, positioning themselves a couple of kilometres and unleashing dozens of rockets.
"Eject! Eject right fucking now," I yelled, knowing that if we didn't, those heat-seekers would rip us to shreds.
My vision blurred as I was ejected out of my cockpit at hundreds of kilometres per hour. As I detached myself from the seat and put my arms and legs into a diving position, I glanced up and my face was immediately blasted with the heat of all 3 of our jets exploding, each being hit with several missiles.
"Radio check, come in Danny, come in Lee," I said into the headset built into my helmet.
"Radio check, Danny here."
"Radio check, Lee still kickin'"
I sighed in relief with the knowledge my squad mates were okay, but my sigh quickly turned into a gasp as we broke through the clouds and I saw the hellscape that we were going to land in.
"Toss me a 'nade, Danny," I yelled, "I got a dozen more shredders on our left flank!"
"I'm all out of grenades, Lee, you got any?"
"I'm out too, I got some C-4 though."
"No, save that for the big ones," I reasoned as I unloaded 2 magazines of 7.62 depleted uranium rounds into the assailants, each shot hitting it's mark.
Almost immediately after we landed, we had been ambushed by a entire company of Omnics who were moving to the front lines to help hold off British forces. We had holed up in a small, burned out house and were shooting out the basement windows at the waves of various Omnics that were advancing on our position. We knew we couldn't hold out long though, as our ammo was quickly being depleted.
"I'm fucking out!" Lee yelled as his .50 cal HMG clicked, signalling the end of the ammo.
Without the constant 2000 rounds per minute of covering fire, the Omnic units began advancing, peppering our windows with various bullet calibres, pinning us down.
"Fuck this, man I ain't dying here," Danny cried, firing his last M1911 clip out the window.
Deciding Danny was right, we followed him as he kicked down the house's back door and ran into the alley behind the house. Danny ran ahead, dashing across the street to get to the next back alley. What he didn't notice, however was the Pillbox that had been set up the end of the street, which housed 3 sentry-mode Bastions. He was dead before he hit the ground.
"Fucking shit!" I screamed, grabbing Lee's collar and pulling him back from the street, behind a house.
Lee broke down crying and murmuring about how we were gonna die, I just stared at Danny, who's body had been almost ripped in half by the bullets. I didn't say it, but I believed it too: this was our last mission, we were completely boned.
Just then, as if to prove the point, 3 plasma grenades rolled around the corner. Lee and I stared at them for a moment, dumbfounded, coming to my senses I jumped behind a pile of firewood that was sitting in the yard. Peeking from my hiding spot, I saw that Lee had just then started to move away from the grenades.
"Lee fucking move!" I yelled, but I knew I was too late, I watched in horror as he was engulfed with white flames.
Heya, readers! Hope you enjoyed the first chapter, admittedly it probably isn't that good, as it is my first fanfiction and I'm not very good at writing in general. Make sure to leave any comments or suggestions in the reviews :)
Thanks for reading
-leaf