Somewhere behind Helghtast lines
1st Platoon had regrouped once getting over the trenches and headed straight into Helghast controlled territory . Of the twenty men, only twelve remained. Sargeant Davies walked with a bullet to his wrist and had to switch which arm he used to fire his rifle. Rios took point with the platoon guiding them through a maze of bomb craters left by their own Skycalw fighters and abandoned equipment of war that was either destroyed or broken down beyond usage. Heckler had never seen such a wasteful sight. War was greedy, a consumer of everything that was thrown into it. Man and machine alike. His squad per Davies orders and Rios advice, they collected ammo and grenades from their dead and what wounded where too bad to move. A couple of medic where left behind to tend the wounded. Of Bravo company's original ninety men, seventy-two continued the probe. If there would be any more firefights such as that, the cost would be far too high for the location of a few mortars.
Gator chomped away at a piece of gum he pulled from a pocket as they made their way around behind Helghast lines. It was a situation that no one wanted to be in, especially when they had no air or tank support. The Helgans had a thing for armored vehicles, and they made good ones too. Many veterans could have told new soldiers horror stories of having a "light" tank take out an entire platoon in a minute with its 100mm cannon and three chainguns and heavy AT guns. Heckler felt as if every crater held a squad of Helgan soldiers that would pop out and ambush them once they passed by. Even with Mack and his SAW pulling up the rear of the column, Heckler felt uneasy about the probe and its start. But yet at the same time a wave of confidence had flown over him after his first firefight. Yeah I walked through a wall of lead…
"Yo Mitch, no flat tires man!'' Joked Gator who has had Heckler's feet snipping at his heels for the past minute or two of their march. Heckler apologized weakly and tried to shift his focus on their current task. Up ahead, Rios's vigilant green eyes scanned back and fourth, securitizing the smallest of details in the landscape. Like trained soldiers they walked in his footsteps, leaving a single foot trail in the sloggy mud. Rios had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that something was going to go awry very soon for them. He kept his index finger very close to the trigger of his rifle.
In the middle of their line next to Lieutenant Robby "RR" Robinson, was their radio operator who carried the long-range, high-frequency, SATLINK radio. Their personal radios where only good for a short, limited range where as the SATLINKs could communicate with vessels in outer space. The radio squawked and the operator grabbed the receiver and handed it to RR. The lieutenant took the handle and put it to his ear and listened intently.
"Yes sir, understood sir. Heading to you now sir." RR responded to the higher ranking person on the other end before tossing the receiver back to the radio operator. Gator leaned closer to Heckler.
"This can't be good." He whispered softly. Heckler agreed with him seeing the serious look on the lieutenant's face.
"Ok guys gather up." He waited until what was left of his platoon gathered around him before carrying on. "Captain Smith wants us to regroup on his position. One of his recon teams found some mortars… he's going to launch an assault once we get there."
"Fuck me sideways." Groaned Gator kicking at the mud in complete disgust. Heckler felt bile rise up into his throat. What the hell is wrong with this day! I wasn't sent to hero school, why the hell can't we just bomb those mortars into a pile of ash and be over with it? Heckler wondered to himself. Sargeant Davies glanced over to the young private who was pale faced.
"You sick private?" Heckler shook his head no. "Good because don't complain about shit got it? I'm walking around with a bullet hole so if you do I'll give you one too." He growled raising up his wrist which had a bloody white bandage wrapped around it. Heckler took a few deep breathes and tried to remember why he had volunteered. He remembered not having enough money to continue on with his second year of college and how his stuck-up parents didn't want to give him any money because they where too busy partying. How the news ran clips of the brutalities that the Helghast army committed. It seemed obvious to do, especially with their tuition fund when you got out. Sara was mortified when he told her. Tears streamed down her angelic face from wet blue eyes.
"Why Mitch they have plenty of soldiers, just ask your parents again." She pleaded. Mitch snorted in the hilarity of the idea.
"You know my parents Sara. Why would they give money away when they can buy margaritas."
"Ask the bank for a loan?" she suggested, trying to make him change his course of direction.
"I can't even pay off the first one!" exulted Mitch in a loud, frustrated voice. Sara closed her eyes and sniffled.
"I'm sorry Mitch but I just can't live with this." Sara told him softly. Mitch took her hands in his. They were soft and warm.
"I don't really have any other choice. I promise I'll come back." Mitch told her, his voice secure in that promise he made to her. Sara looked up, her blue eyes streaked with red from crying. It made Mitch's heart wrench. She leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek lightly.
"Maybe Mitch, maybe. I just can't live with waiting to know whether your alive or not. I love you, but I can't do this alone."
Up ahead Rios felt a slight vibration in the soles of his worn boots. His sharp eyes heard the rumble of heavy tracks slogging through the mud. He had heard the sound before… and it wasn't a welcomed one.
" Cover!" He rasped loud enough for the squad to relay the warning to the rest of the platoon. Rios dove into a crater with Davies and Yearland who had mud splattered all over the front of his blouse.
" What was it?" Yearland asked angrily as the hunkered down in the crater.
" Tanks." Rios said. Yearland's face went pale with fright.
"Tanks? "
" Light or heavy?" asked Davies peering over the top of the crater. Rios shrugged.
" Probably light."
Gator, Heckler, and Mack all lay prone inside a bomb crater when they heard the metallic rumble of tank tracks forcing their way through the annoying mud. Heckler saw his first glance of the fifty ton, black steel, behemoth that was considered a light tank. Upon seeing all the weapons that stuck out from its low profile dome turret, Heckler decided he didn't want to know what a heavy tank was like… nor did he wish to see one. A dozen light tanks slogged their way down the muddy road, some had Helghast soldiers sitting on the turret or backside of the tanks while an entire company of Helghast soldiers clothed head to toe in what looked like a black trench coat marched by. No one dared fire for fear of having a 100mm cannon being turned on them. Heckler tried to make himself as small as he possibly could. He could hear them talking amongst themselves, their voices sounding grossly distorted through their breathing apparatus. Their dome, skull-like helmets had their rims drawn just above their orange goggles. In a way they reminded Heckler of jet pilots because of the way their breathing apparatus covered the lower half of the face exposing not a single inch of skin. It made his skin crawl just looking at them. Nothing about them seemed human. Their actions were almost robotic as if they had been brainwashed from birth.
Minutes passed as the armored company passed them. Once they had passed, Gator rolled onto his back and wiped away the beads of sweat that had formed on his forehead.
" Damn that was close." He whispered as if he were still afraid they would hear him. Heckler didn't answer. He felt like pissing himself, but the fear had frozen his bladder. He noticed the barrel of his rifle had a slight tremor to it. Looking down at his hands gripped around it he realized they were shaking. Breathing out in heavy, deep breathes to rid himself of the fear, Heckler clamed his nerves. Meanwhile, Yearland was up and getting the platoon to move out despite Rios persistence until Yearland turned on the powerful war fighter.
"What the hell has you so worried Rios? I outrank you so your opinion doesn't matter to me." Yearland snarled pompously, jutting his chin out. Rios glared down the skinny man with fierce green eyes burning with rage.
"Its called sweepers."
"Sweepers?" Yearland laughed, "What the Helghasts are going to clean something up around here."
"Yeah and its us. They lag behind to make sure they aren't being followed." Rios told him in his usual dark manner. Yearland snorted and waved Rios off.
" Well you go buzz off and leave this to people with rank." Yearland told Rios who stalked off in the thin mist that was drifting across them. Heckler and Gator had seen the whole ordeal and it puzzled the green soldier.
"Is it true about sweepers?" Heckler asked. Gator gave him a grim nod.
"Yup. Rios has been doing this a long time, killing orangies I mean, he knows his stuff. Must've been in his DNA I reckon." Gator said, mostly to himself pondering on the thought and memories of other planets and battles.
" What is that then." Heckler asked trying to pry into the shadowy lifestyle of Rios. Gator looked at him with a puzzled look that said how do you not know.
" War sonny."
After twenty minutes of marching towards their company's position, Gator noticed Rios was not in their ranks until a figure sudden appeared out of the mist, the distinct outline of a M82G in one hand and the other clutching a handful of something else. Rios went right over to Davies and Yearland and shoved a fistful of orange tinted goggles into Yearland's chest.
"Five scouts. They have been following you for the last twenty." Rios told them. Davies spat into the mud while Yearland closed his eyes.
" How many got away?" Yearland asked looking at the bundle of Helghan goggles. Rios's steady gaze confirmed the count.
" None."
"RR!" shouted Davies, "Get on the horn and tell…" Davies stopped mid sentence and stared straight ahead. They had found Bravo company… in their final resting place. Bodies lay scattered over the area, mixed in with craters from explosions still smoking from impact.
" Find survivors!" shouted RR as the platoon scattered out. Heckler saw a SAW gunner in a crater riddled with bullets, but a pile of spent casings was new to him along with ten dead Helghasts another ten meters away. Gator found a line of corpses neatly lined up in a row and shot in the forehead with a single round. Each of the bodies all had minor wounds.
"Shit!" rasped Gator angrily, "Fucking murderers!" Heckler saw Captain Smith among them. Beside the red hole in the center of his forehead, he seemed at peace, his mouth agape. Heckler vomited on the group, bile spilling out over his lips. As his throat burned Heckler noticed Rios looking down at the bodies.
" Is it always this bad?" Heckler asked him looking up into his cold, vacant eyes.
"Yeah." Rios whispered softly starring off into a personal abyss. Gator bent down and began to remove the ammo pouches from the executed soldiers. Rios snapped out of his personal stare and grabbed Heckler by the shoulder with a strong grip.
" Gather up as much ammo as you can. SAW belts, Gs, frags, whatever." He said aloud so the others could hear him too. Heckler bent down and grabbed the pair of SAW belts that where draped over an executed soldier's shoulders. Gator was scurrying around the battle site gathering up frag grenades when he saw a dozen, black clad, Helghtast soliders jogging straight towards him.
"Contact!" he shouted raising his rifle and letting off a long burst that sent the lead soldier flying off his feet, blood spilling from half a dozen holes in his flak vest. Gator knelt down and drew a bead on two more and dropped them both with another long burst when a furious barrage of snappy bullets from the Helghtast's Sta-52 assault rifles turned the area around into a cyclone of lead. Using his offhand, Davies aimed his M82 at a pair of soldiers firing at Gator and fired off a rifle grenade. The explosion sent two Helghans flipping through the air. Gator dove into a ditch only to see more Helghasts running towards them across the open ground.
"Shit there's more of them1" he shouted a warning to everyone who was taking up cover where ever they could find.
Rios bent down and lifted a SAW from the cold hands of a dead SAW gunner. Half a belt remained in the weapon.
"Mitch how many belts do you have?" Rios asked calmly even as the fire intensified. Heckler ducked his head under the crater more as some rounds snapped too close to his helmet.
"Two."
" Good. Now when I yell out you load the SAW, clear?" Rios asked him, his green eyes starring into his brown eyes to make sure it was clear he understood. Heckler nodded. Rios smiled and propped the SAW up on its bipod and began to blaze away at the assaulting Helghasts. The platoon let loose with rifle grenades and heavy automatic fire. Another dozen Helghasts fell as their assault continued. Heckler could hear the empty casing of Rios's SAW tinking off his helmet as he waited with another belt.
" Empty!" shouted Rios scooping up his own M82G and continued his barrage. Heckler hadn't loaded a SAW since basic, so slowly his hands fumbled with the belt that kept on twisting as he loaded the first few rounds of the belt into the feeder.
" What the hell is taking you so long?" angrily asked Rios as he slapped a fresh clip into the stock of his rifle. Heckler finally slapped the lid of the feeder down and jerked the bolt back loading the SAW.
"Done!" he screamed picking up his rifle again. Rios went behind the SAW to see a dozen Helghans charging towards the ditch Gator was in. Working the stream of tracers from the left to the right, the black clad soldiers fell as 7.62mm tracers ripped into their flak vest that could stop only two or three rounds from ISA weapons. Gator could see the stream of tracers race over his head as he heard the muffled screams of Helghast soldiers crying out as they died. As soon as Rios stopped firing, Gator popped up and but a burst straight into the masked and goggled face of Helghan soldier. The black mask exploded in a puff of red mist. Another five squadmates reinforced the ditch as the Helghasts kept coming.
Rios kept up his stream of fire when he saw two APCs roll up with two or three squads of soldiers behind them. At first he thought things were bad, but he found himself wrong. A couple rifle grenades stopped the first APC just as the gunner turned his Scylla 13mm chaingun towards the ditch and let loose a hail of heavy bullets. Rios drew a bead on the gunner and exploded his head with ten rounds and the stream of fire stopped. Gator curled up as the earth around him exploded as the heavy rounds tore into everything by him. He felt something heavy land on his back when the second APC opened up on them, this time directed at the pesky ISA soldiers in a crater with a machine gun. Rios ducked in time as tracer streaked overhead and showered them with dirt.
"Holy shit!" screamed Heckler as dirt showered over him.
"Stay down!" ordered Rios pressing an arm over the back of the green recruit to be sure he didn't rise up.
Gator rolled over to find the upper half of RR on him. The only difference was that it was missing a head. Rolling the body off, Gator yanked a frag from the upper breast clip and pulled the pin and began to cook it. Like Helghan grenades, the ISA fragmentation grenades had a five second delay fuse with five slots that would turn orange with each passing second. Once it reached the third slot, Gator lurched up to his knees and flung the grenade into the open top APC. The gunner in the APC was so intent of killing the scum that had killed his comrade in the other vehicle that he never noticed the lemon-shaped grenade land behind time with a clank. The grenade detonated with a powerful blast that could kill anyone inside ten-meters, which instead was confined into the tight space of a APC .
Hearing the stream of firing halting, Rios raised his head to see the burning APC… and the horde of Helghast soldiers running towards the ditch.
"Gator move your ass!" Rios shouted into his comm link in his helmet as he shoulder the SAW once more. Gator rolled up onto his feet and sprinted towards the crater as Rios blazed through half a belt to cover Gator. Heckler raised his own rifle and added short bursts towards the Helghtast charge. Most of the men in the ditch were dead. The last remaining soldier fended off the best he could before a hail of bullets and shotgun blasts from their Sta rifles finished his stand short.
"Empty!" cried out Rios picking up his rifle and launched a rifle grenade towards the onslaught. Gator crawled to the rear of the crater to find a dead soldier with a SAW belt draped over his back. Grabbing the belt, Gator crawled back to Heckler and slapped him on the back
" Here you go boy, I'll find some more." Gator grinned before dashing off a stream of automatic weapons fire following him. Rios emptied a clip at the Helghasts making them dive for cover as bullets tore into the pointmen of the assault. Heckler pulled the SAW bolt back when a round glanced off his helmet. The impact of the glance knocked him flat on his back with a scream. Rios looked down and saw Heckler fumbling around to try and find his helmet.
"Leave it and shoot back!" he advised as he got behind the SAW again.
What remained of the platoon was seven men with two SAWs and five rifles with plenty of grenades against a force of at least fifty Helghast soldiers. With their Lieutenant dead, Davies and Yearland shouted orders to the outnumbered soldiers. Rios and Mack laid down a steady stream of tracers into the advancing Helghasts, slowly dwindling their numbers… but when one went down it seemed as if two replaced the fallen. Gator came sprinting towards the crater with a handful of SAW belts twisting out behind him as bullets sprayed mud up all around him. Rios had about twenty rounds left in the current belt. Heckler had five clips and a single round for his G-Pack, which is what ISA soldiers often called their under-barrel grenade launcher. It wasn't much to fend off a Helghast assault of a company or more.
"Out!' shouted Rios and Heckler hurriedly began to reload the SAW. Rios began to pick off what seemed to be officers directing the attack with precise single shots to conserve ammo. Gator leapt into the trench with the SAW belts and threw them down nest to Heckler.
"There you are sonny." He laughed picking up his own rifle and began to put rounds down range. As Heckler slammed the loading well down, he heard a familiar, loud, clanking, rumble. Rios and Gator felt their stomach sink in despair. A few hundred meters away the low profile of a dozen light tanks and at least a company of infantry came up into the distance.
"Someone grab the radio!" screamed Davies as he fumbled to reload his rifle with his bad hand.
"Cover me!" shouted Gator as once again he sprinted out from the crater towards the ditch where they had stopped the Helghasts only a mere few meters away. Every soldier left let loose a salvo so furious and precise, thirty Helghans lay dead a few seconds later as the two SAWs burned through their belts, tearing bodies apart. Gator dove into the crater just as a bullet glanced off his helmet knocking it off his head with a loud clang. Landing ungracefully, yet alive into the ditch face first, Gator wiped the mud away from his eyes and began to crawl around the dead soldiers that lay there to find their radio operator. Next to RR's headless and legless torso was the radio operator, his head a mess of blood, gore, and skull fragments. Gator wrenched off the small radio pack and slung it over a shoulder and sprinted back towards the nearest crater, zig-zagging to avoid getting shot. Rios put the last five rounds of his belt into a soldier trying to draw a bead on Gator. He toppled over backwards, blood spraying from the fatal wound in his neck. Gator leapt into the crater and flipped on the power switch, pressing the receiver to his ear he heard the hum of a waiting signal.
"Two-Three Lead this is Fifteen-Bravo-Three, Broken Arrow, I repeat again Broken Arrow. Engaged with a company or more of infantry supported by light tanks. Requesting close air support." Gator yelled into the receiver to be sure he was being heard. A second later a calm voice came online.
"Fifteen-Bravo-Three, we're spread thin for air but we got a couple of birds in your area over, activate homing beacon." Gator looked on the side of the radio and saw a cover which he flipped up and pressed down on the button that was beneath it. "Air will be there in two minutes."
" Air will be here in two minutes guys!" screamed Gator.
"If we aren't dead in two minutes." Grumbled Heckler as a few close rounds splashed mud up into his face. Rios kept on firing short bursts. Then the 100mm cannons of the light tanks began to open fire. The first twenty rounds landed by the ditch, spraying mud all over the area, but soon the gunners began to adjust their aim and the rounds kept getting closer and closer. Heckler felt his whole body vibrate with each explosion. Everyone was covered in mud now and each of them was in their own way terrified. To their left, Rios heard a scream and saw a pair of bodies and missing limbs twisting in the air amidst a muddy explosion. Cowering down deep into the crater, Rios waited for the Helghast to come rushing in to finish them off. But the time never came as the shells kept raining down. A couple shells hit so close to them that Heckler had a ringing sensation in his ear drums. Trying to make the annoying muted sounds go away he shook his head, but it did nothing. Vomit rose into his mouth from the beating his body was taking on the inside from the concussion force of the falling shells.
Inside his crater, Gator was curled up with his rifle aimed up at the rim of the crater incase the Helghast charged them, when he saw a pair of sleek outlines in the sky of the wicked Skyclaw fighters. Each Skyclaw fighter was a pilots dream, faster, more agile than the Helghast Lufteagle, it could also carry a heavier weapon's load out than the Lufteagle. With four internal 30mm rotary cannons that would cover a football field in seconds and an assortment of air to air and air- to ground weaponry, it was a brutal ground attack jet. Streaking in at mach 1, the fighters let loose a salvo of Dragonbite anti-tank missiles that streaked in across the sky for their intended targets. Those inside the light tanks never heard or saw the smoke trails rushing for them. Half a dozen tanks exploded in spectacular fireballs as their ammunition cooked off adding to the destruction of the missile's warheads. Gator saw the jet's wings lit up as they fired their cannons at the glob of infantry that was assaulting them. Hundreds of the 12oz high-explosive rounds rained down on the unsuspecting Helgans. A single shell could explode a full size man as a balloon would if filled too much. Gator saw a majority of the murdering Helgans disappear in a freakish display of erupting mud and body parts. As the Skyclaw fighters continued their assault the survivors grabbed whoever was wounded and began to run back towards the ISA lines. Up from the sky a Vulcan dropship swooped down and quickly landed on the muddy battlefield a few hundred meters away. With a close resemblance to the bird of prey, the Vulcan was .the back bone of air transportation for the ISA. Able to carry a platoon and a Wolverine fast-attack vehicle several hundred miles behind enemy lines.