Chapter Four

Now Let me Show You Battle

The thunder of guns and the screams of missiles split the air. The steady pounding of the 45mm cannons could be heard along with the chatter of the of the 20mm cannons. The old role of heavy AA guns had been superseded by SAMs. The air force had failed to halt the invasion, as was to be expected for them. The army forces gathered had thousands of armored vehicles and tens of thousands of infantry to halt the TSAB forces. The pre-dawn sky was bright with tracers and missile exhaust. A hundred plus dropships of the enemy were coming. Many had been destroyed, but there appeared to be two hundred dropships left. If the intelligence reports were correct, each could seat upwards of two hundred people. At a conservative measure, that meant about fifty thousand, but a more practical estimate was closer to fifty-six thousand. As the ships drew closer, man portable SAMs were launched. For all they did, the might have been shooting spitballs at the enemy.

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Lt. Col. "Major" Max watched from the hatch of the tank. He was an old man in his sixties. He had light blonde hair in a state of male pattern baldness. He could have been promoted beyond his position to a general, but he liked fighting on the front with his armored batallion. He had sixty tanks at his disposal, three thousand tonnes of armor and guns. The T-70A3 was one of the finest pieces of armor if not the finest according his opinion. Each fifty tonne tank a 127mm electrothermal-chemical combustion light fluid gun alongside a MG-11 coaxial machine guns on a sleek, long, low, angular turret. Tubes of active ordnance defenses formed a ring around the turret along with a few single tubes for smoke grenades. Several electro-optical jammers were also mounted along the turret. A small radar array was mounted on the rear of the of the turret. The menacing metal of a pintle mounted MG-11 protruded from above the turret. The hull was v-shaped with thick sloped armor all around. He buttoned up inside the tank. He wanted to break them with the charge of armored cavalry, but he needed approval to do such a thing. Tank shock was such a wonderful thing.

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Private Marona was knocked around a bit as the dropship hit the dirt. This was a strange battle. Old hovertanks were being deployed against top of the line tracked tanks. However, she was just a boot on the ground with her magical rifle and armor. It was a damn shame that they were going to have to kill the Acturans all because their leadership lacked the sense to back down against the TSAB. She heard and felt the door open. She unclipped herself from the harness and ran out to the darkened rolling hills and plains. Magic turned night to a bright day. She was able to clearly see the ring of Acturan forces. Streaks lit the sky as MLRS rained down their own visible death from above. The CIWS was not a Close-In-Weaksauce-System for once and shot down the slow moving rockets. It again fired against less visible targets. She spotted a hovering APC with members of her squad and ran over to them. Around them, other mechanized infantry were mounting up. Tanks were rolling out to engage the enemies. The ground exploded around them as hundreds of howitzer shells and mortar shells exploded in the area. High explosives sent out hundreds of pieces of shrapnel; concussion collapsed lungs. Men were torn asunder. The lucky died quickly. The unlucky would die perhaps trying to hold in their intestines or trying to breathe in spite of a collapsed ribcage. The screams were horrible. For many, this was their first experience of war. The smell of blood and voided bowels was terrible. This was modern warfare: organized slaughter.

She didn't know how, dazed from the bombardments as she was, but they managed to get moving, a mix of APCs and MBTs leading the advance with footslogging infantry following them. They were to break through the lines of troops. Artillery still pounded on the advance, though without much accuracy. They returned fire with guided shooters, direct fire busters, and rapid fire mana bolts. They too received retribution in the form of guided missiles and a volley of 127mm Armor-Piercing Fin-Stabilized Discarding Sabot rounds from the tanks. Each missile carried an 8.5 kilo tandem shaped charge warhead toward their targets. The magical shields glowed brightly as they slowed the 30mm diameter kinetic energy penetrators. The hovertanks' shields were able to cause the kinetic energy rounds to shatter on impact; however, they brought down the shields and left the tanks open to retaliation. APCs had no such luck and their shields flared before being holed lengthwise by tungsten carbide darts. The rounds would smash through the thickest frontal armor of the APC, leave the crew and passengers a bloody mess, and destroy any important equipment like engines. It was a catastrophic kill. Against the tanks, it merely damaged the thickest armor of the glacis, turret, and mantlet. The missiles struck. APCs were annihilated spectacularly as jets of metal plasma sprayed through armor, destroying all. Tanks managed to turn aside rounds with excellent armor design or simply soak up the damage and keep on rolling.

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The order came to advance. "Major" Max smiled as he ordered his armored battalion to advance. The rumble of idling diesel engines turned to a roar as his battalion of tanks along with many other advanced as one across the hills at full speed, tearing up the partially glassed earthen berms that had been protecting them. He sighted a hovertank in from his commander's sight at 10 kilometers.

"Corporal, load and fire KE round."

"Yes sir. Loading KE. Loading propellant."

The corporal pressed a button and magic teleported a APFSDS round into the cannon. A slurry of liquid hydrogen was pumped into the chamber. The gunner traversed the turret. The sight projected the path to the enemy tank. The gunner depressed the trigger. A small plasma charge ignited the hydrogen slurry. This sent the saboted dart out the barrel. The three pieces of the sabot fell apart and the without the increased drag, the dart began to move at a velocity of 7000 meters per second. It hit the side armor of the turret. Somehow, it managed to penetrate the armor. However, it lacked the power to exit the vehicle and bounced around inside the compartment of the tank, turning flesh and bone into something out of a butcher's shop. The tank floated to a halt, killed.

There was a blinding flash of light against his T-73. Streams of pure magical energy whipped across it. Composite armor flashed red and then white as the beam's savage power fell across it. The tank began to jerkily move once more. Max twisted his periscope around. He saw the hover tank in the thermal view.

"Load HEAT," he yelled.

"Loading HEAT," answered the gunner.

Once more the cycle was completed. The faster hovertank darted away, but the gunner caught it in his sights. The round flew from the muzzle with a long gout of fire. It was at a mere three thousand meters per second, a rather low velocity for the electrothermal-chemical combustion light fluid gun. It crossed the distance in around two seconds. Magical shields flared up against the tandem shaped charge warhead. It resisted the first jet of metal plasma, but the seconds destroyed the shield.

"Load KE Penetrator," called "Major" Max

"Loading KE Penetrator," returned the gunner.

The massive gun barked again as the now reasonably cool buster cannon fired. The tungsten carbide dart slammed though a low hill to penetrate the side armor of the tank. The tank slewed to the side before the side hit tipped downward to flip the tank over. That was a mission kill at the very least.

From a bird's eye view, the tanks were unseen against the dark, but the massive flashes of the 127mm guns and the beams of the buster cannons streaked across a dark landscape. Occasionally explosions could be seen or the burning hull of a tank. Crews attempted to crawl from the burning wrecks of vehicles before getting mowed down by the enemy without pity or remorse. It was a battle of the gods of warfare. The TSAB armor had to slow and stop to deal with the countercharging Acturan armor. This was all part of the plan to tie up the TSAB armored advance so the Acturan infantry would not have to abandon the safety of their defensive positions. During the hours of the air battle, the infantry had not been idle, they had made lines of foxholes, low trenches, and sandbags. Barbed wire had been strung up to slow down the enemy as they were cut down by a hail of bullets. Command detonated mines had been set up to send out shotgun blasts of shrapnel to enemies entangled in the wire. Former fields of peace had been turned into fields of war designed to send thousands of men to their deaths.

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Sergeant John Hennessey gathered his squad behind a sandbag wall. It only waist high, so they had to crouch behind it to be afforded a measure of cover. He rechecked his equipment. He still had his rifle. Frag grenades-check. Smoke grenades-check. Four mags and another one already loaded into the rifle-check. Affixed spike bayonet-check. Combat knife-check. He had all his stuff together. Rockets opened up on the floating APCs. On the thermal view, he could see some dodge and others go up in flames. He cheered along with the others when this happened. It wasn't as if the enemy already knew where they were.

APCs dropped off troops before running back to ferry more troops as the battle taxis they were. He sighted in a group of TSAB troops.

"Fire at will!," he yelled before firing off a quick aimed burst at the group of troops.

"Hey Sarge!," called the squad designated marksman, "These TSAB fuckers can't keep their fucking heads down. Can I take 'em out?"

"Go ahead, show those SOBs why keeping your fucking head down is important."

"Taking shot." He paused for a moment then his marksman rifle barked. "Head ventilated."

"Good kill, good kill," replied Hennessey.

"Firing fragger!" called the squad grenadier. The 30mm grenade was projected from the underbarrel launcher to explode into the distance.

They were not alone in their fire. Tens of thousands of rifles opened up along the battle line. Hundreds of machine guns buzzed, firing too quickly for individual shots to be distinguishable. Grenades exploded around them. Missiles flew through the night air. It was an organized chaos. Streaks of mana bolts returned. The APCs added their scything beams to keep heads down low.

Sergeant Hennessey crawled under the fusillade of deadly light that streaked above him. Some of it was absorbed by the sandbags. He raised his rifle overhead and blind fired into the direction of the enemy. Hopefully he had pinned a few down. He tapped PFC Jenkins on the shoulder.

"Jenkins, crawl out there and try and snipe some of those motherfuckers on their machine gun things. They've got us pinned."

"I fucking know we're pinned down, Sarge. But yeah, I'll do it."

The armored man crawled out from the side of the wall, undetected. Jenkins flipped out the bipod of his rifle. One shot. Two shots. Three shots. He then crawled back to the safety.

"Got two of them, but they're advancing troops into the barbed wire without much resistance."

"Fuck!," cursed Hennessey, "I'm going to call in some arty."

He switched channels on his helmet radio to the regimental Fire Direction Center.

"Hey, Sergeant Hennessey here. I need some arty support down here, the heavier the better. We're getting pinned down. I'll spot for you guys."

"Alright, this is Lieutenant Avery Churchill. What do you need?"

"Target neutralization. 100 round fire for effect mission. I'll give the grid locations but make quick; we're fucked if they break through. Umm, A1-5. We've got a few thousand TSAB guys down here along with a few hundred APCs in the open. Infantry is trying to get past the wire obstacles. Area fire, please. Some 240s and 165s would be fabulous. Fire when ready."

"We'll bring down the pain in about five minutes. Hold on tight."

"You're a fuckin' miracle worker, man. Thanks. I'll buy you a pint sometime."

"I expect you to keep that promise, Sergeant."

"No problem. We'll do our best so you do yours."

He turned back to the guys in his unit, "Guess what, we've got arty support! Kill 'em all."

He swallowed his fears and exposed himself above the sandbags to fire. He was emboldened as his men followed his example, pouring out fire. A stream of green tracers flew out of his rifle. He'd purposely loaded his magazine the last rounds would be tracers so he'd know when to switch magazines. He pulled off the helical magazine, clipped it to his vest, and loaded another. They were immortals, invincible warriors. He ducked bolt of mana and returned with a burst of bullets, given new strength by the coming wrath of the king of the battlefield.

These minutes seemed like an eternity as they dodged the bright lights of mana bolts. The other troops around them too moved from the safety of cover to fight. Piece by piece the valorous example spread and men exposed themselves to death to bring death. The whiz and crack of bullets was augmented by the low booming sound of grenade launchers. Some rockets still fired. Machine guns chattered, sending out a veritable buzzsaw of bullets.

The artillery strike finally came. Nearly every kind of artillery was utilized, 165mm gun howitzers, 240mm mortars, 120mm mortars, 80mm mortars, and Hailstorm rockets. They exploded in a symphony of destruction. They had not been alone in calling upon the king of the battlefield. Shrapnel tore men apart. The earth was ripped asunder as if by the wrath of a vengeful god. Men were blown tens of meters into the air, sometimes trailing ropelike intestines. In but one foul swoop, the TSAB soldiers' idea of a clean war was shattered as they witnessed the full horror of war. It was the classic battle of cynicism against idealism. Laying low to protect from fragments, they crawled, bellies in the dirt further into the wire. There was no retreat. Bullets tore into the blasted soil. In the process of annihilating the penetrating infantry. They returned fire as best they could, but the bright lights of the mana bolts sent more bullets their way. It was a determination that any Acturan could admire. The gears of war turned turned as the TSAB forces, although many were dead, fought past the barbed wire. Bullets ripped and tore, but each bolt of mana flash boiled the blood inside of a person's body. Had they been fighting mages, the barrier jacket would have rendered these attacks merely nonlethal, but the Acturan had no barrier jackets. Acturan soldiers collapsed as they were set alight by the bolts, missing limbs or massive chunks of their torsos, soft body armor that could stop a bullet no match for the lethal firepower of the mana rifles. These rifles needed no ammunition and their only concern was heat buildup melting the components.

"Frag out!" called Sergeant Hennessey as he pulled out a grenade. He pulled the pin from the bottom of the handle and hurled the stick grenade overhand. It soared through the air to land amongst a group of foes. He returned to firing his rifle. Though they had nearly every advantage, they were still being pushed back if only centimeter by centimeter. Ever last one was paid for in blood. The first rays of dawn came about as men fought and died. One of his men, Private Archy was hit by a hail of the bolts. He lost his arms, legs, and the lower portion of his torso; however he still lived. Hennessey ran over to the dying man. He fired over the barrier with hand and held his soldier with the other. He cradled the dying man like a father to a son. The man's face was a piece of dissonant serenity. Most men would have been trying to hold in their entrails, but he had nothing to hold them in with.

"Sarge, I'm really fucking tired. Could I get some shut eye?"

"Not yet Archy. Hang in there. We're going to get you patched up. MEDIC!"

There was no one to answer his call.

"C'mon Sarge, just a little..."

"Sure Archy. Sleep well."

"Thanks Sarge..."

A faint pulse ceased and another life ended. Tears streaming down his face, Hennessey jumped out and fired until he could the gun clicked empty

"Fuckers killed Archy! Let's kill them, all of them!"

His soldiers stood beside him and added their guns to the firing. The hail of bullets poured down onto the enemy troops. The return fire sent them ducking for cover. Orders came to retreat; they hurled grenades and used them to supress the enemy as they ran to waiting transports. Another battle had been lost against the TSAB forces, but it was a pyrrhic victory. Nearly ten thousand men and three hundred vehicles had been lost on the ground to say nothing of those lost in the aerial battle. Bodies covered the ground. The burnt, twisted skeletons of vehicles both Acturan and TSAB covered the hilly plains. Bodies and crashed planes too covered the field of war. It had been a once beautiful land, unmarred by the scars of war, but now it was a vision of hell and desolation.