It was nightfall. Rina and her team were looking at the Palembang base from behind the trees on the edge of a cliff. They had brought the 6th Australian Rangers and the Indonesian 3rd regiment with them. Commander Nandi must have been very generous to send all of his troops from camp to the assault. Arthuria looked through the binoculars and spotted some tanks moving out of the base. The base had a small helipad and several concrete buildings; which sat on the ruins of Palembang, which didn't survive the nuke.
"Nationalists are sending their armor out," said Arthuria. Then Jones popped out from the jungle bush.
"Hey, mates. What have we got?" asked Jones.
"Look through the scope," said Arthuria. Jones looked into his scope.
"There, there and there. See those watchtowers? They seemed empty right?" pointed Arthuria to the watchtowers on the North, South-West and South-East of the base with its door facing south.
"Yeah, pretty empty," replied Jones.
"Now look through these binoculars," said Arthuria, handing her binoculars to Jones. Jones peered through and the scenery appeared green. There were hot spots glowing on the watchtowers.
"They've got stealth troops within the vicinity. I suggest you get a night-vision scope for this assault. You've got to cover us from 30 of those troops on the grounds, Jonsey," snickered Arthuria. Jones sighed and added an extra lens in front of his existing scope. Arthuria got up and left the area. Rina whispered in his ear.
"We're counting on you. You'll have Namine and Diva at your disposal," whispered Rina before handing out her radio. Jones nodded and took the radio from her and looked at the base through his scope. Rina grouped up with Arthuria and the rest of the 6th Rangers and 3rd Regiment. The teams were armed with Ak-47 and Steyr Aug rifles with laser paints. There were several of them that carried RPG-7s.
"Everyone, get your night visions turned on. There are stealth troops crawling on the grounds. Watch out for them, and good luck," said Rina. The troops pulled down a contraption hanging from their helmets to their eye level. There were green glows emitting out from those contraptions, making them look more like cyborgs rather than soldiers. Arthuria and Rina also wore the contraptions and set them up. They ran to a ditch near the Western base fences that was shielded by leaves. Arthuria grabbed her radio and spoke into it.
"Fire when ready." Gunshots were heard and some bodies appeared from nowhere and fell on the base grounds. A Ranger stuck the detonator and threw a plastic explosive to the fence.
"Fire in the hole!" announced the Ranger as the bomb blew up. A gaping hole was created so that the teams can get in.
"Go! Go! Go!" exclaimed Arthuria. More gunshots fired. A few more bodies appeared and dropped dead on the ground. Rina and Arthuria appeared from the ditch and aimed. They saw moving hotspots and shot them. Two Nationalist troops fell dead. The rest of the teams came out and raced into the base and fired their weapons while bullets passed by them. One Ranger was shot through the head coming into the base. The sniper smiled to himself.
"You won't be smiling any longer," commented Jones as he spotted the sniper and plucked him out. The Rangers and the Regiment took cover behind crates and massive containers. Gunfire from a Nationalist machine gun emplacement kept them hiding. Arthuria spoke into the radio.
"Namine, get that machine gunner!" radioed Arthuria. Namine aimed and took a shot at the machine gunner. The machine gun stopped, allowing the Rangers and the Regiment to come out of hiding. They fired at several stealth troops and continued to push forward. A Regiment soldier launched an RPG-7 at the wooden control tower. The tower swayed under the explosion and tumbled down, burning the small tarmac of the base. Noises from the sky alerted the teams. An Apache appeared before them by surprise.
"Take cover!" yelled Rina. The Apache launched its Hellfire missiles and blew up some of the retreating soldiers. The rest took cover from the helicopter. A Ranger tried to launch an RPG-7 but the helicopter gunned him down. The helicopter hovered around the base to wreck havoc, destroying any obstacles that may cover the teams.
"Snipers! Get that chopper!" yelled Arthuria on the radio with the bullets ricocheting louder than she could scream. The snipers aimed at the helicopter and fired. The bullets hit the chopper, but missed its vital parts. The helicopter turned to search for the troops that fired at it. That at least distracted it for Arthuria to fire at the tail. The tail started smoking, and the chopper started swaying side by side, but continued to fire at the troops, pinning them down. A Ranger managed to grab hold of an RPG-7 and fired it at the helicopter. It was a direct hit and the chopper came down bursting into pieces. Scrap metal fell down like rain. The troops quickly gained footing and rushed to the command centre at the far end of the base. Some stealth troops fired at the teams, but the snipers took them out quickly. The teams later took cover because they were pinned down by machine guns.
"Not again!" exclaimed Rina. Rina fired at the machine gunners but missed. Then the radio crackled.
"The tanks are coming back!" said the radio. Rina then shouted at the teams.
"Fall back! Fall back!" she yelled, waving at the teams to fall back into the jungle. The teams started to pull back into the jungle. The Nationalists were rejoicing at their victory in battle. The teams managed to get back to the ditch they came from and took cover from there. Nationalist troops started pursuing them, running after the teams. The teams quickly gunned them down from their defense spot.
"Dammit! When's it coming?!" exclaimed Arthuria as a missile went past through and hit the ground not far from them. A Regiment trooper aimed an RPG-7 at the tank that was approaching them and fired. The RPG just bounced off from the tank's armor, and its main gun poised at their position.
"Oh shit!" exclaimed Rina as they ran as far as possible from the ditch. The cannon fired, causing an explosion near Rina. Some troops that were there at the moment were decimated. Rina was thrown off her feet. Arthuria, on the other hand, was well away, trying to flank the tank with an RPG. She shot the engine, disabling the tank and also injuring some of the nearby troops.
"That's one less tank to worry of," commented Arthuria. Arthuria started to run, but her foot got tangled in between roots of a tree and fell. The cannon turned and pointed at Arthuria. She closed her eyes and felt her heart stopped beating when the tank exploded. She looked at the burning tank and saw some drones flying by. She slumped to the ground.
"I love those aircraft carriers," thought Arthuria as she wiped a sweat off her face and quickly cut herself from the entangled roots. Rina, who was hiding behind a tree after she recovered from her fall, saw the Nationalist troops running away.
"About time! Rangers, Regiment, assault!" Rina screamed her war cry. The Rangers and the Regiment troopers quickly regrouped and attacked the retreating Nationalist troops. Those Nationalist soldiers that fell down were shot by the teams, and those running away were hit by the drones' bombs. The troops raced towards the command centre and captured it, killing off all its occupants and captured those who surrendered. The teams claimed victory on the base, immediately calling the camp to move into the base. The drones hovered around the base, and by daybreak, most of the debris has been removed and the camp in the jungle had moved into the captured base. Rina was sitting by the command centre steps and looking at the base grounds, filled with pock marks and debris from the battle that ended early that day. Commander Nandi Andhika walked towards Rina to congratulate her.
"Thank you so much, Rina. Your team had led us to our first victory in four years. We owe you our gratitude," said Nandi, shaking Rina's hand. Then he left to see the command centre. Arthuria came by and sat beside Rina.
"That was one hell of a battle," commented Arthuria.
"Yup, sure is. Sure is," replied Rina. They both looked at the crack of light that pierced through the clouds and reached the base grounds.
"The winds of fate have changed," commented Arthuria. They both smiled while looking at the light that started to emerge from the cloudy sky.
As the weeks passed, Sumatra fell into Eurasian hands. The other bases in the island were destroyed and captured and the remaining Nationalist soldiers surrendered or killed in battle. Troops from the peninsula were dropped in to secure the island. A small landing strip was made just outside Palembang a few days ago and an aircraft landed. Out came troops and supplies that could make the island last through the war. Commander Nandi Andhika was inspecting at the captured command centre, with all the equipment wired up and communications set to relay to the centre in Kuala Lumpur, when Rina and her team came to meet him.
"Commander Nandi, thank you for your hospitality. But now we really have to go back to the peninsula as duty has called us," said Rina.
"Sure. I hoped that you could stay with us a bit longer, but as we say; duty calls. It cannot be helped, but if it brings us one step towards victory, then God be with you," replied Nandi. Rina and her team waved goodbye to Commander Nandi as they head to the airstrip to be airlifted out of the island.
"South East Asian people are so friendly," commented Kairi.