"Sky hawk, where are you? I repeat, where are you?"
A voice was heard from the helicopter's radio, nearly unheard because of the buzzing sound of the helicopter's engine.
"Siegfried, this is Sky hawk. We are currently 15 minutes from your location. What's your situation, over," the pilot of the helicopter replied the voice on the radio.
It was clear enough from the scenery and the desperate voice of the person on the radio that the situation was very critical. But it was a standard procedure for every person who would enter the battle field to ask about the situation, and also to make sure of the situation so one can prepare for any situation in the combat zone.
A blast could be heard from the radio followed by a sound of machine gun being shot endlessly. An explosion was seen from the window of the helicopter, engulfed by a thick black smoke. Some buildings around the explosion side was shaken and damaged severely, some of it was even turned to pieces by the explosion.
"We got 2 men down in a critical condition. Need medic treatment, A.S.A.P." The voice from the radio spoke again, this time a worried tone was clearly heard from his voice. "The fortress hasn't been breached, but the 1st line of defense was devastated. We are retreating to the 2nd line now and it will only be a matter of time before the enemy breach the 2nd line without the reinforcement. We are also low in medicine. We need an immediate evac for the injured, over."
"Roger that Siegfried. Can you confirm the number of the injured over," the pilot asked again, making sure that they have enough capacity to bring back the injured.
"17 people were injured quite severely, I think they'll make it, but they're in no condition for battle. 2 in critical condition and need immediate medical treatment, over."
"Roger that. We got a medic in our helicopter. Get the injured near the helipad; we'll bring them inside the helicopter as soon as we land. Just hold on a little while longer, over."
"Roger that sky hawk, over and out." The transmission was ended, and replaced by another sound of machine gun and the screaming of people.
A door behind the helicopter's cockpit was slid open revealing a tall man behind it. The man stepped inside the cockpit, taking his place behind the pilots, and stood there just to make sure that his presence wasn't a nuisance for the pilots who were busy to keep the helicopter up in the air.
The man was 6 feet tall, with a very muscular body to support his height. His appearance was a bit messy, with his beard shaved recklessly, and a scar on his right cheek. His hair was cut short, nearly bald, the common hairstyle on the military. His brown eyes, the same color as his hair, stared outside the cockpit's window to scan the surrounding area before he shifted his gaze back to the pilot in front of him.
He was wearing a grey military suit, with a black protector covering his chest. His right eye was covered with a cyber-scope which provided him with extra wide vision and a night vision for any night operation that also served as his communication device. With another set of protector on his shoulder and his elbow, all black colored. On his right elbow protector, there was an emblem with a picture of a one eyed fox carrying a ring on its fang.
"What's the situation at the Siegfried colonel?" the man asked the pilot. He had been briefed by the commander before he left for the mission, but he would need to know the newest situation report if he was to succeed this mission. After all, he got the responsibility to bring back his subordinate through this mission safely, not to say that he wanted to get through this mission and back in one piece himself.
The colonel, upon hearing his question was about to answered when another explosion occurred about one mile from the helicopter's current position. The blast distracted his attention for a while and he scanned the surrounding area just to make sure that there was no potential threat to the helicopter around. After he make sure that the surrounding was clear, he glanced at the man before turning back his attention to the front.
"The situation is pretty grave captain. The Siegfried was able to hold off the attack, and they are engaging the enemy as we speak. But the 1st line has been devastated, and the 2nd line is busy keeping the enemy on bay. Two men were down, and we will need to bring them back to the HQ immediately after we land you guys. Their medicine supply is running low there." The captain nodded after the colonel finished his situation report. He had been briefed that the situation on the Siegfried is very grave, but at least he was a bit relieved that they were able to hold off the enemy behind the 2nd line. He had expected that the Siegfried defense forces were held up inside the fortress after the 2nd line was devastated also. He smirked by the slightest hope that he and his squad will be able to live through another battle now.
"What's the estimated time of the arrival colonel?" the captain said again, looking at the smoke that came out from the explosion site.
"E.T.A., 11 minutes," the colonel picked up his communication device, held it in front of his mouth and pressed the switch at its side. "Little bird, this is Sky hawk, do you read me?"
He waited for a while before another voice came out from the speaker, bringing another voice from the other helicopter. There were 3 helicopters, two small helicopters which carried one squad each in it, and one last helicopter which was larger then 2 other helicopters, bringing with them a medic team and a squad. "This is Little bird. What's your situation Sky hawk?"
The colonel explained the situation to the other end, making sure that there was no information, even the slightest one that he forgot to mention. Information plays big roles in battle. Even the slightest misinformation in battle could bring about a devastating end for one side. That's why an information technology plays a critical role in battle, and no sane general would make a decision to send out his men to battle without enough information on the enemy moves and the battlefield.
The captain went through the door and head his way to the backroom. There, 5 people were sitting on the chair which was arranged on left and right side of the back room. The chair was stacked to the wall, and has a safety lock to ensure no casualty would happen to soldiers who sat there, even if the helicopter was shaken roughly. A weapon slot was placed beside every chair, making it easy for the soldiers to reach out their weapons in case of emergency. There were also two slide doors one at each side, and a machine gun 50mm caliber behind every door. It was used to make sure that the area around the landing place was clear from any enemy, so the helicopter can land safely.
Every men in the room looked at the captain who had just entered the room. They wore the same outfit as the captain, complete with the fox emblem on their right shoulder protector. Some with their helmet on, but some are not.
"Okay people, listen up!!" the captain shouted as to get the soldier's attention. "We will be arriving at Siegfried in 10 minutes. Check your equipment, and when you are ready, sit back and enjoy the view like a good boy!!"
As soon as the captain finished his speech, every soldier took their weapon and check it, making sure that no damaged and malfunction was found on their weapon, and made sure that the lock had been released. It may look simple, but the soldiers knew that even the slightest thing could mean life and death in the battle zone.
"IceCage, Motormouth!!" A blonde haired young man looked up as he was called by the captain. His blue cerulean eyes traveled from his foot to meet the captain's sight. IceCage was his call sign, everybody in this troop had their own nickname, and all of them came from the captain's mouth. He didn't actually like his call sign, but he wouldn't bother to find his own call sign. The captain always made a call sign for his subordinate, and like it or not, the captain always kept them, said that it was his way to acknowledge his subordinate but in truth, it was his way to express his bad taste of jokes. His right hand was still holding his weapon while his left hand was holding an ammo magazine. His facial expression was cold and showed no emotion as he inserted the magazine into his weapon.
"Captain Hamilton, how come my call sign is as lame as motormouth? It doesn't suit me. I would prefer to be called blaze or maybe hotguy, I think it suits me better," said the other young man holding his hand under his chin while nodding continuously, thinking how cool it would be if he changed his call sign. He was probably at the same age as IceCage, and around the same height although he was a bit shorter. He got a brown spiky hair and a pair of black eyes. Unlike IceCage, his personality seemed a lot livelier.
"Are you saying that you don't like the call sign that I gave you soldier?" captain Hamilton glared at Motormouth.
"No sir. I'm just saying that you might want to look at the dictionary to find some cooler vocabulary for our call sign sir, that's all." Motormouth grinned widely at Captain Hamilton. He loved to tease at his captain, just to lighten up a bit of the situation before the actual combat. The soldiers chuckled upon hearing his comment; it sure was on way to relax their nerve a bit.
"No can do soldier. You better try to live up with it, now zip it. Your whining is killing my ears." Captain Hamilton looked at the soldiers who were laughing now and smiled inwardly, focus was needed in battle, but he didn't want his soldiers to wear out because of the tense. He shifted his gaze to the two soldiers that he called earlier.
"I want you to provide a support fire for the ground team in Siegfried. Go to the 50mm, and be ready to fire as soon as you got their ass in your range of fire. Make sure that you toast them good so the ground forces can conduct a counter attack." The captain pointed out the two machine guns. "The rest will come with me and climb down using the ropes, regroup with the ground forces and push the enemy back to their graves." The captain glared at his squad, hoping to see a slight nervousness from their face, he was glad when he didn't find any. He shifted his gaze back at the two who he called earlier. "The two of you stayed in the helicopter until the helicopter land, keep up the support fire until we make it to the ground and regroup with us as soon as you got your asses on the ground. IceCage, you will lead Mothormouth until we regroup, make sure you don't get yourself killed out there. Any question?"
Silence was the only answer for the captain's question. Everybody understood clearly their role in this war and nobody had doubt about the captain's decision, they believe their captain's decision, because they had made it this far by following his decision. They feel no need to question his ability to make a decision anymore.
The captain nodded his head in understanding. A minute later, an announcement could be heard from the speaker.
"We will be arriving at Siegfried in 5 minutes. We got a visual on the enemy; it's the phantom, sphinx type."
The captain shifted his gaze from the speaker back to his troops. "I guess that's our call. Go to your position!!"
Everybody scrambled back to their seat. IceCage and Mothormouth took their position behind the machine guns and opened the door infront of them. A platform came out from the chopper, bringing with it the machine gun and both IceCage and Motormouth.
"Holy god…" Motormouth said. In front of them was now the scenery of the battle field. It was ruined everywhere. Ruins of buildings was scattered across the land. Some vehicles were upside down and a baking effect could be seen from it. Some were even completely destroyed, leaving only the pieces of it behind. It seems that the car was caught in an explosion, and got blasted by the explosion, or maybe it was the car which exploded, no one knows. Smokes were coming out of some buildings and ruins, some even still caught on fire. There were lots of bloods splattered around the scene. Some were new, and some were old traces. Bodies were scattered, even though the number of the bodies weren't equal to the amount of blood splattered.
IceCage looked around to find the ground forces, still fighting bravely, firing every bit of ammo that they had. They were forced to retreat to the 2nd line of defense, and now holding themselves inside a bunker or behind some sand bags that serve as their shelter. 4 heavy machine gun were placed beside each bunker and were sprouting their ammo as if there were no yesterday. The 2nd line was placed at a higher altitude then the 1st line. Using the topography, the Siegfried was built on top of a small hill, with a concrete wall surrounding it. Except the 1st and the 2nd lines which were only guarded by a spiked fence.
IceCage looked at the direction where the soldiers were firing and there he found the reason why he was sent on this mission. A horde of phantom was moving to the 2nd line. There were so many of them, around 200 in estimation, as if the land was covered in shade of gray, the color of their skin. Their fang was coming out from their jaws hungry for the flesh of human, their favorite food. Their oval shaped head had four eyes on it, and a body which looked like a tiger's body, only without fur and very skinny. Tail was coming out from behind, and at the end of it was a knife shaped structure. Their paws were like those on human, except they got less number and had some long sharp claws coming out from it. The phantom, as the human called it, was responsible for the decreased of the human population to 60 in the last 15 years.
The phantom was still hold up on the lower altitude where the 1st line used to exist thanks to the hard work of the ground forces, but it will only be a matter of time before they breached the 2nd line and reached the Siegfried itself. After Captain Hamilton gave his command, IceCage and Motormouth started to fire at the enemy, blasting out every phantom in their line of sight. One by one the phantom went down by each bullet fired at them. Some phantoms were even splattered to pieces because the impact caused by the bullet on their body. Green bloods were coming out from their body as each bullet shot through their flesh. The other helicopters soon followed their lead and started firing at the phantom with their own machine guns, painting the battlefield with more green liquid from the phantom's body. IceCage and Motormouth had to work extra hard, swinging the machine gun in every direction, moving from one target to another, not wanting to let even one of the phantom to escape their shot.
After the chopper stopped moving and hovered over the battlefield, Captain Hamilton stood up from his sit and walked towards the door. "Ropes, ropes!!" he shouted, telling his subordinate to bring some ropes. One of the troops, understanding his captain's command came up with 2 ropes, tied them on the platform and threw the rest outside the helicopter until it almost reach the ground.
"Go, go, go!!" One by one, the troops went down from the chopper using the ropes. The 1st one who hit the ground took a combat stance and scanned the surrounding area, making sure that the perimeter was clear for the other troops to come down. The rest of the troops on the other helicopter soon joined them on the ground and less then 2 minutes, all troops were safely landed on the ground.
The shooters on the helicopters had kept up the support fire, blasting any phantom that started to back down a bit after the devastating assault from the helicopters. The helicopters still hovered over the battlefield; thousand empty slots of ammo came down from the choppers, raining the ground below it with sounds of metal clashing against the ground.
After 5 minutes that felt almost like forever, and the troops had been able to regroup with the ground forces, all 3 helicopters retreated back to Siegfried and landed on the helipad where a group of soldiers had been waiting and bringing with them the injured.
IceCage stepped outside the helicopter, followed by Motormouth on the other side of the helicopter. A soldier came to IceCage, giving his formal salute which was replied by IceCage with the same salute.
"Welcome to the hill fortress of Siegfried. I'm Colonel Frederick Fritz. Thank you for your great air support earlier," Fritz lowered his hand which was followed by IceCage.
IceCage nodded. "I'm 2nd lieutenant Takeru Takaishi of the Eustrias's 42nd tactical squadron, Foxhound. Are this the injured colonel?" Takeru took a glance at the people around him who was laid on their back. The medic from both helicopter and Siegfried came out and carried the injured inside the helicopters.
"Yes, 2 of them need immediate medical treatment, but we can't treat them here because our medicine supply is running low. But if brought by the helicopters they may still have some hope," Fritz replied while frowning at the injured. He was stressed out because of the condition they were in, and was very glad when he heard that reinforcement had arrived.
"I'm sorry lieutenant, but I think I must leave now, I must talk with the pilot of the helicopters," the colonel gave Takeru another salute before walking away to meet the pilots.
Takeru replied the salute and walked outside the helipad. Mothormouth caught up beside him and looked at the blond boy. "So, we need to regroup with the rest of the team, right Takeru?"
Takeru said nothing but nodded as he reached up to his left ear. The scope was also acted as a communication device, the scope reached up to cover his left ear and left eye. Takeru pressed a button and a small stick came out from it, serving as a little microphone.
"This is IceCage, we have landed inside the Siegfried. Requesting your vector position over," Takeru waited for a moment until another voice was heard from the speaker, it was Captain Hamilton's.
"IceCage, this is FoxLeader. We are on vector 12. Get your ass moving and come here!!"
"Roger that FoxLeader. We are on our way to vector 12. Over and out," Takeru moved his hand from his ear and raised his weapon, holding its handle on his right hand and another end with his left hand. He stood there for a while, trying to search out the direction to vector 12.
Motormouth was about to say something again when Takeru stopped gazing and walked one step to the front.
"Daisuke, let's move out"