"Red Star, this is Hammer One, locals have been pacified. Preparing for touchdown, over."
"Roger, Hammer, proceed as planned, over."
"Confirmed, Red Star. Hammer out."
The Landing Castle landed with a loud thump – the first landing in the war where a castle touched the ground without extinguishing thousands of lives in a ball of fire.
"Red Star, this is Hammer One, we have touchdown, send in troops, over."
"Roger, Hammer. Troops are inbound, over."
"Hammer out."
Lieutenant Colonel Nikolai Kamarov sat on top of his T-90's turret. The all-too-familiar cold wind blew snow in his face, but he was used to it. A thud was heard in the distance. The vibration caused some of the snow that accumulated on the tank to fall off the hull. It had begun.
The static noise from the radio was silenced. "Red Star to all Sickle elements, move to target. I repeat, all Sickle elements move to target, out."
Nikolai lowered himself inside the tank and closed the hatch. It was time to address the unit. "This is Podpolkovnik Kamarov to all units, it's time! Sickle One, move out!" He turned to his crew. "Time to make Motherland proud, comrades. Forward!"
"Da, tovarich komandir!" spoke the driver.
"We will bury them!" said the gunner.
"Uspokoit'sya, Boris. We are to capture enemy base, not destroy. Spetsnaz have done their jobs, is time now we do ours."
Nikolai spoke into the radio again. "All units, report, over!" The radio creaked.
"Sickle One Two. Artilleriya, stoya prikazov!"
"Sickle One Three, tracks are rolling."
One by one, each Sickle One unit reported in. They were ten minutes away from the target.
"Komandir, is true that Martians took Moscow? My family lives there." The Loader was a young boy in his twenties. He had a scared look on his face. The Russians had regained some of their communication abilities but the fog of war was still thick. Few soldiers managed to contact their families. The commander didn't answer. "I'm scared, Podpolkovnik…"
Nikolai pondered for a moment. He then turned to his radio operator. "Sing, Nonna," he said. "Sing like you would before all this started." Nonna, despite being almost as young as the boy, was with the unit from before the war started. Heaven's Fall had taken a huge toll on the Soviet people and the army was forced to accept women into their ranks as well. It had proven a wise choice. Sickle One had a fair amount of women, most radio operators, as it was the most gender neutral job.
"Da, tovarich." The girl took a deep breath.
The advance was silent but for the roars of the engines and the howling of the wind.
"Rastsvetali yabloni i grushi,
Poplyli tumany nad rekoy;"
More voices joined the choir. The women of the unit began singing one by one.
"Vykhodila na bereg Katyusha,
Na vysokiy bereg, na krutoy."
Slowly, but steadily, the loader relaxed. It would not be the first time Nikolai had the women sing to calm and cheer up his men. They were good at it.
"Vykhodila, pesnyu zavodila
Pro stepnogo, sizogo orla,
Pro togo, kotorogo lyubila,
Pro togo, ch'i pis'ma beregla.
Oy, ty pesnya, pesenka devich'ya,
Ty leti za yasnym solntsem vsled,
I boytsu na dal'nem pogranich'e
Ot Katyushi pereday privet.
Pust' on vspomnit devushku prostuyu,
Pust' uslyshit', kak ona poet,
Pust' on zemlyu berezhet rodnuyu,
A lyubov' Katyusha sberezhet."
"Komandir, we're almost on target…" said the driver.
Nikolai was silent for a moment. "Let them sing."
"Rasshchvetali yabloni i grushi,
Poplyli tumany nad rekoy;
Vykhodila na bereg Katyusha,
Na vysokiy bereg, na krutoy."
Silence once more, just in time.
"One minute, komandir," said the driver.
"This is Podpolkovnik Kamarov to all units, break formation and secure your area. Infantry, get ready to disembark and move into castle. This is it, comrades. Our moment of glory is here. Kamarov out."
Yuri held onto his VSS Vintorez tightly. It was second in value for him only to his comrades. It had saved his life and those of his teammates countless times. He was the only one with a sniper rifle. The rest of his team were equipped with AS Vals, but they were all laying around the floor of the Landing castle as his team was too busy hugging the comrades from the infantry battalion that came to hold the enemy mobile base. Yuri preferred to hug his gun.
The men sang. Cheer was in the air. It was their first victory.
"Slav'sya, Otechestvo nashe svobodnoye,
Druzhby narodov nadyozhnyy oplot!
Partiya Lenina – sila narodnaya
Nas k torzhestvu Kommunizma vedyot!"
"Yuri," called a voice.
"Podpolkovnik Kamarov, seeing your men lifted stone from my heart. Welcome to captured Landing Castle."
"Where is Vladimir, Yuri?"
"Komandir is on main deck with rest of Hammer One. Somebody has to keep Martian crew from revolting."
"I say we shoot bastards."
"Not my call, Podpolkovnik."
"What took you so long to confirm that you hold Castle? I almost called artillery strike on your asses."
"Equipment malfunction, sir."
"They don't make them like they used to." Nikolai turned to his tank. The entire strike force was almost loaded on the Castle. "Nonna, radio in. Tell command we are done. General armii Saburov would like to hear this. I can't wait to find out what Marshal Sovetskogo Soyuza wants us to do next. I still can't believe we captured one of these monstrosities."
"Any mission, any time, any place, Podpolkovnik," said Yuri.