X With Tim X
"But why would they show up just now?" Kim asked. Though her fighter wasn't in my sights and the mountains could cause interference, her voice was loud and clear.
"Recovering maybe?" Eddie suggested. Apparently, just because he could wobble along on damaged legs, he could also fly, so they insisted. He hadn't crashed yet though, so maybe it did make sense.
"Nah." Dominic interjected. "They wouldn't have taken this long."
"Who cares? Let's just whack the bastards." Darren said. Now that was thinking!
"Focus on the task at hand: establishing air dominance." Stone cut in. "We'll find out details later." Several 'Yes Sirs' replied.
The fighters, traveling in their own formation some ways off, were to clear the skies and make sure they stayed clear. The bombers were staying grounded for some reason, but the Sky Raiders were with the fighters, and were responsible for softening up targets and then supporting ground targets. They'd probably get their first, and steal all the good kills.
I could've probably beaten them there, but all the helicopters had to stay in formation. "We'd go faster if those damn Chinooks weren't here." Four Chinooks flew along our three attack helicopters. Two had some commandos on it or something, the third had a platoon of leathernecks on it, and the third had engineers and crewmembers. The latter's task was to establish something resembling a runway near the fighting. The troops would land, and then it would be up to us to help them. Three transports, three attack copters. It all worked out. "Now if we could just hurry up and get there."
X With James X
The helicopter rocked and shifted has it made its way through the mountains. Mountain fighting was something else we (or at least the original members) trained for, but with temperatures even colder now, I sincerely hoped we wouldn't have to. "But what if the Lazurians occupy the mountains?" I frowned to myself. It was impossible to dislodge mountain troops unless in close combat. "There can't be that many Lazurians." The thought had been at the front of my mind since we left.
Why were they here? Who were they attacking? How many were there? What shape was their country? If, by some cruel means, the meteors had mainly hit us and left Lazuria alone, then they would have absolutely no resistance in taking over the country. "But they would've done that by now." I realized; a year was too long for a area this close to the coast. Then again, the terrain was unwelcoming… I shook my head. "Focus." I told myself. We'd win the battle and then ask what the hell was going on. I couldn't really act scared in front of my squad, what kinda message would that send?
"Though they're probably as nervous as me." Indeed, all of them were just staring at the floor. I probably didn't have to worry that much; they were all decent kids.
Private Fredrick Cerutti was 18, short, and a bit sloppy. He had very good accuracy, considering his glasses, though he was just a little bit jittery around explosives. However, Sgt. Anderson had commended him on fighting the raiders during the battle over the river. He also was very social. I didn't have any complaints about he kid, save that he didn't think about contacts.
Private Alan Nies had been one of the recruits that fought with Sam and me in the town nearly a year ago. I'd never really noticed him before we settled, so I had nothing for comparison, but his behavior was worrying at times: very anti-social and quiet. They're quite a few people that were very uncomfortable with the living arrangements, and so I assumed he was the same. Hopefully, he would grow out of it. And, as our lives literally depended on it, I hoped that it wouldn't carry on to the field.
Private William Renfew, in contrast to Cerutti, actually seemed to enjoy explosives, hence him being one of the 10 soldiers in Sgt. Anson's whole group to carry a RPG in combat (I was also amongst this list). He also had received training in demolitions from some of the engineers. He was talkative, loud, and eager to use his new knowledge. He also had taken on a habit of swearing like a sailor. This transition from the quiet nervousness of a year ago left me a little off, same as his eagerness worried me; a soldier had to be in control. But he did act with discipline when required, so no red flags in my view… "For now anyway."
This battle would be a real test of our fully trained, disciplined, and morally excellent company. High morale was good, but in some instances, it could make soldiers careless. In our instance with younger soldiers, it was definitely something to always look out for.
Private Zackery Karst had also been one of the recruits to nearly be crushed by the renegade bomber. In spite of being nearly the smallest in the unit, he handled his sub machine gun with deadly skill. His show of marksmanship had even drawn positive remarks from Sgt. Anson, which, as we all knew, was no easy feat.
Private Helen Windley was very compassionate, very nice, very skilled medic. In truth, though, her combat performance was less then favorable. A particularly haunting incident a few months ago when she'd thrown a grenade far too short and nearly injuring five people proved this, though even single-rolled soldiers had trouble. I suppose we should've considered the possibility in the first place; being a skilled medic was tough, as was being a skilled soldier. Very few could balance the two out. Peter was her teacher though, so I believed she'd improve eventually.
"Do we have any intel on their exact numbers?" Captain Brenner asked. I perked an ear to the back the helicopter. We all another reason to be nervous: The Captain was with us. Always the dedicated commander, he would be leading from the front. As the helicopter carrying the engineers was full, they would ride with us. Across from him sat the Lieutenant. Beside him sat a younger kid wearing a cadet uniform. I frowned. His name was Will, and he was coming to have a minor role in commanding the battalion; Already he'd commanded several of our search and rescue missions.
Personally, I disapproved of the whole thing. Civilians and kids being soldiers? That was manageable. Kids being pilots? Dangerous, but manageable. A kid being an officer? To be the one to decide the strategies that could mean the difference between life and death for soldiers? "Ridiculous." Youth were adaptable to certain roles, but commanding on such a large scale? That should be reserved for older people. The kid wasn't the self-centered type, but he was overly cautious. If there was the slightest sign of danger, we could forget moving. It was both irritating and insulting. War is terrible, and no person should ever enjoy it, but we knew what we were getting when we signed up. To keep us from doing our duty was the ultimate insult to a soldier, in my opinion anyway. I shook my head.
"Nothing exact." Lieutenant Lin responded. "But there's a lack of aircraft and their naval vessels have been destroyed. It should strictly be a ground battle, Captain." He nodded.
"That's good." He looked over at all of us. Everyone immediate tried to look tough and ready. This would've been the first time most of them fought against Lazurians.
"What can I say to reassure them?" I didn't think many of them actually saw a day like this arriving when they agreed to start training. Well, this wouldn't be so different from the raiders; we'd be fighting to save lives.
"10 minutes." Sgt. Carpenter warned. 10 minutes and we'd be fighting of sworn enemies again. Why did there still have to be fighting? Our energy should be going into rebuilding. But there must've been someone on the other side or the channel with an axe to grind. "5 minutes." I barely noticed the time had passed.
I glanced over to where Sgt. Anson was sitting. While most of the helicopter was stuck in uneasy silence, Sgt. Anson acted as if it were another day. Having fought Lazuria for so long, something like this mustn't have seemed so sudden or unexpected. He noticed me watching him and nodded, patted the Sergeant chevrons on his shoulder. I nodded by. I was an officer myself now, meaning I had to lead. I was leading a new generation of soldiers, and I was still young myself. It was funny how plenty of things were still backwards even after a year.
There was a swooping sensation in my stomach as the helicopter started to descend. "This'll be where the engineers are landing." Sgt. Carpenter called. The ramp lowed and the helicopter touched down on soft sand. The Captain and his staff got up.
"Good luck." The Captain turned to edge us on before he disembarked. The ramp stayed down, but the helicopter went right back up.
"Alright folks, place we're landing is gambling central: casinos, restaurants, pawn shops, and a whole lot of alleys." Sgt. Carpenter spelled out the sight below as the helicopter started to descend again. I'd heard a lot about these places even if I'd never been to one. Crime had been a major problem. I wondered how the people and the buildings had faired during the meteors; they probably had starved to death, cut off entirely from the rest of the world.
Though as the helicopter touched down, I could see that the city had a very weathered look to it, literally! Everything was strewn around, and the buildings showed signs of destruction and decay, but on a scale lesser then the meteors. If I had to bet on it, I'd say a massive wave had wiped out the inhabitants.
"Remember: stick to cover, and let the enemy come to you." Sgt. Anson called.
"And remember that those survivors are depending on us to rescue them!" I added. Sgt. Anson nodded in approval.
"Good luck." The crewmember said the same thing as always. I nodded to him as we quickly moved out into the street. Everyone automatically moved to any spot that offered a surprise route, to any object that could serve as cover. My squad followed me and we all took cover behind an overturned delivery van. Every alley, shop, and roadway was being watched. Landing zone secured.
"Trained just like the old unit." Maybe I was worrying for nothing. The Chinook took off and one of the Apaches took its space.
"Buzzard 7, can you hear me?" Sgt. Anson made contact.
"We can see and hear just fine, sir." One of the pilots responded. There were three attack helicopters, and three groups on the ground, so everyone got a guardian angel of their own.
"We aren't familiar with this area, what can you spot?"
"Your group is the furthest back." He explained. "The roadway through this town is the only way for Lazurian forces to group, and it looks like a convoy is about to enter the town. There's a large avenue to the east, they'll probably use it." If it were the fastest way to regroup, they'd take their chances.
"Understood, go help the other teams." He ordered. Several private temporarily turned to look at him as he ordered our support away.
"Sir?" The pilot seemed just as surprised.
"We might lose the element of surprise. Help the other teams, and we'll ambush the enemy." Sgt. Anson outlined his plan. It actually made sense: if they saw the helicopter, they'd avoid open roads. The element of surprise would've also given us an advantage a helicopter couldn't.
"…Understood, we'll be ready to fly right back if you need us." With that, the helicopter turned and flew off.
"We need to secure that avenue." Sgt. Anson pointed to one of the alleys. "Everyone move." He ordered. As the group moved out, Cerutti asked me,
"Is this such a good idea?" I quickly explained how it could be a good idea. It seemed to put his mind at ease.
"Just remember," I told him. "Sgt. Anson has done this before; he probably knows exactly how the enemy thinks."
X With Tim X
"Hell of a number they did." I muttered. The two twerps in the Sky Raiders had actually done a bit of damage. Oil and scrap metal floated about a mile off the coast where a Lazurian Cruiser had previously sat. Several buildings in the distance both ways were burning, and the smoldering remains of what might've been a convoy sat on a road below us. They'd stolen all the good kills…
Still, we were needed. Apparently, the Lazurians had turned some Casino near the tip of the island a barracks and a field hospital of some sort. Now the Sky Raiders and the Destroyer were both firing on it. It was a pointless attack; the building was too big. Sky Raiders didn't carry that many bombs, and Destroyers weren't considered heavy combat ships; they barely matched a light cruiser. They were more suited for protecting bigger ships or supporting troops on land. And yet the idiots were hammering a building that definitely wouldn't fall down. "More for us."
If there was anything left. It had taken us some time to be here, and there was no telling how many Lazurians had been here at first, let alone how many had already retreated. Considering there might've been only 300 Marines we were rescuing, and that we were fighting in a area better suited for planes and ships, there was little reason for ground troops to be here. And since the sea and sky were already clear, did we really need to be here?
"First time we get to fight in a whole fucking year, and there's nothing to shoot at." I complained.
"Hell, we'll find you something to shoot at!" The Sergeant below called. There was a stretch of road from a town behind us to a town ahead of us. The helicopter troops below were just meant to make sure no one was hiding on the road.
"Make it damn good, cause I didn't fly out here for nothing." I called as the troops started advancing.
"Jumpy?" Sarah asked.
"I've been resting so too long. I want some action, damnit." I said. "What the hell are they doing here?" I watched as another Apache started hovering nearby.
"Yeah?" The Sergeant barked over the radio.
"The other group commander dismissed us to come help over here." It was Lance and Sofia.
"Great, competition."
"Hell, if Riley sent you, just keep on going; the Marines up ahead could use a hand."
"Actually, we'll go give them a hand." I volunteered quickly. Those guys usually got the most of the fighting.
"Good luck with that." And we were off. In the town, bright traces of gunfire flew back and forth, and three buildings sat in flames. I could see Jessie and Darren's helicopter firing down on something a little further away.
"You guys need any help down there?" Sarah called.
"Shit guys, this is our zone!" Darren called.
"Plenty to go around down here!" The Marine radioman called. "Got RPG fire from the loan building, got machine gun fire from the pawn shop, hell, just level every damn building!" He called. A barrage of rocket fire from Darren's helicopter destroyed several buildings on one side of a street.
"Zirnitra 2 hears you." Jessie laughed. "Fuckers are burning."
"Sarah?" I asked pointedly.
"I ain't far behind." She responded, sending a missile streaking down into another building.
"All units, we have confirmed that enemy forces already evacuated east. Let's just finish the ones already here." The Captain ordered.
"The bastards cut and ran!" I said. Damnit, first action in a whole fucking year…
"Pussies." Jessie agreed with me. "Let's just kill the rest of these guys and get the hell home."
"Home's boring though." I sighed inwardly.
X With James X
"Renfew, take cover behind that van, hurry up!" I called. The group was setting up on the avenue. My squad was tasked with protecting the flank. The enemy was smart, and they'd definitely try to sneak up through this alley.
We had taken cover near the loading dock for a small convenient store. I was taking cover behind a dumpster, Karst behind a stack of crates further up. Renfew was knew the back of the group with Helen, and Nies had discretely climbed the external air conditioning vent to a good vantage point on the roof. Cerutti had found some cover behind a section of the building that protruded out slightly. "Not to shabby." I supposed.
A mixture of rumbling and humming signaled the arrival of the Lazurian Convoy. "All teams hold fire." St. Anson ordered. I took aim with my rifle, focusing down the alley where the enemy could come from. The noise got closer, and closer, then… "Open fire!" Assault rifles and RPGs fired all at the same time. Several explosions sent flames and scrap metal into the sky, before disappearing back behind the building. After some delay, a Lazurian machine gun started responding.
"Focus." I called. Our time would come. Another rocket fired and the Lazurian machine gun stopped. It must've been pure carnage out there. An artillery shell landed on a hotel in the distance, causing it to collapse. "Oh damn." I covered the back of my head. They must've had a artillery gun hidden somewhere out there. A slight panic gripped the group. Sgt. Anson quickly got on the radio to call back the Apache.
"Sir!" Helen called. I looked back up. Several Lazurian soldiers were stalking up the alley in crouched position.
"Fire!" I yelled. The soldiers stiffened; they didn't know we were here. I swung my rifle and made sure the sights were over the torso of one of the Lazurians before squeezing the trigger. Of the five soldiers, two were hit and crumpled down. The other three quickly ducked into the cover offered by the alley: crates, delivery vehicles, and dumpsters. One un-slung a rocket and leaned from cover. Before any of us could hit him, he fired.
The round connected right with the dumpster I was hiding behind, propelling it right into me. I fell to the ground, winded and with pain flaring in my chest. Before my senses fully returned, Renfew and Helen had already hauled me up. Bullets were still flying, both in the alley and out on the avenue. Another artillery shell hit the building. Shrieking in terror, Nies was pushed from the roof and bounced off the top of the van and onto the concrete, dazed. "Son of a bitch!" Renfew said. Standing up, I pulled a grenade off my vest and hurled it over the dumpster.
"I got one!" Karst called at the same moment. The grenade detonated, and the sound of flesh being torn apart told me it'd done its job. One lone AK still barked, meaning that there was still a Lazurian out there.
"Surrender!" I yelled, taking aim. They couldn't possibly have any hope left for escape or victory, and maybe we could get some answers.
"So you can kill me to?" An accented voice yelled back as another artillery shell crashed into the avenue. "Fuck you, Rube!" The warhead of another RPG appeared.
"Take cover!" I warned, shrinking against the wall. Renfew and Nies both retreated as the rocket hit the van, engulfing in a massive fireball. I quickly leaned out of cover, firing at the Lazurian as he leaned back into cover. Even from here, I could see flesh and blood fly off where the bullets hit his left arm.
The Apache returned, guns blazing. Explosions rocked the avenue. "Follow me." I motioned to Cerutti. Carefully, we both approached where the Lazurian was hiding. The gunfire on the avenue had ceased. Now if we could just get a prisoner…
I motioned for Cerutti to stop short and carefully circled around to face the Lazurian, making sure to stay at least twelve feet away from him. The Lazurian was leaning against the wall of the building. His breath was ragged as blood pulsed from his torn up arm down onto the concrete. "Put your other arm up!" I ordered. He looked up at me, a snarl on his face. I froze. His face was just like the Lazurian I'd cornered in the woods nearly a year ago. "He's looking at me like I'm some sort of evil." Soldiers usually saw each other as equal. "Put it up." I repeated.
"Fuck…you…" He breathed. He was losing a lot of blood; the bullets must've torn up a major artery. "You think I…will prefer…to die in your hands…like a dog?" He forced himself up.
"What is his problem?" "Stop!" I ordered, bringing my rifle up.
"To hell with you!" His right hand drew a combat knife with surprising speed and he lunged at me. I had no choice but to fire. Cerutti fired at the same time. Hit several times in the chest, and from the side, he collapsed side ways and the knife clattered to the ground.
"Sir?" Cerutti asked weakly.
"I'm fine." I said quickly, taking a deep breath. That was too close. "Why didn't he surrender?" We joined the rest of the group one the avenue.
"Holy shit." Renfew whispered. Jeeps and APCs were scattered across the road, all of them either a burning wreck or inoperable. Bodies were just as equally strewn about. I quickly looked at our own troops. Several people were down, but not out, while a few were limped or holding a arm. That was bad, it could inhibit their ability to fight.
"Windley, start helping the wounded. The rest of you, go double check those bodies." I ordered, walking over to a private lying on the ground. "At least 100 dead and dozens wounded. For what?"
X With Tim X
"Hey guys, we could use a hand out here!" Dominic called.
"What do you need?" Darren responded.
"The ships started evacuated those Marines was the island they were shipwrecked on, and now we're the only ones to stop a bunch of landers and gunboats evacuating troops. We're out of bombs, man."
"You boys okay down there?" Sarah asked.
"Hell, we've got em running!" The Marine replied.
"Time to go ship hunting them!" I declared. Evacuations were still fair game, especially now. The evacuation wasn't much; in fact, it was only a light cruiser, two landers, and a gunboat. The cruiser was the problem.
"Ah hell, how are we going to get close with those AA guns blaring at us?"
"Do I look like I know?" I responded. I scratched my head. Helicopters did not match up well against ships, hence why the navy really only used them in limited search and rescue missions.
"Are we going to let it get away?" Sarah asked.
"All units, return to the temporary HQ, this battle is over." Captain Brenner declared over the radio.
"Damn." Jessie muttered. "Why are we letting them get away?"
"They aren't our objective." Stone interjected. "This was just a rescue op."
"Waste of our talent." I thought. Rescue ops, probably the only damn thing we'd get to do. I pitched the helicopter back towards the beach. "Look at the good side: spilled a lot of blood today."
X With James X
The helicopter touched down and sunk slightly into the sand. The ramp went down and we all walked down onto the beach. All the aircraft had already landed, as had the troops some of them were carrying. The Marines that had been pinned down were coming ashore, either on the gunboats, or wading in from the Destroyer.
"Bastards put up a hard fight." Sam said as he came over, Peter behind him. "They fight hard, they die hard. I must've shot at least 10 of them."
"More along the lines of three." Peter corrected.
"What do you think those Marines were doing way out here?" Helen came over. Sam rolled his eyes and moved over.
"They might have heard our transmission?" I suggested. "The Lazurians could've intercepted it as well." I said as an after thought. "Would they attack the shelter?"
"Not likely." A 12 Battalion Marine came over, clutching a rag against his bloody head. "We saw a bunch of sunken ships near the coast, and those boys are carrying a lot of supplies. They got to have come from somewhere with supplies just like us."
"That looks bad." Peter looked at the wound. "Let me see."
"Shit, this is nothing!" He removed the rag, displaying a nasty gash across his head where a bullet had grazed it. "It's like a brotherhood; if you see fellow Marine in trouble, you fight tooth and nail to help him."
"Helen, get some disinfectant and come over here." Peter ordered.
"First name basis." Sam whispered in my ear.
"Grow up." I retorted. "If they had a stable source, then they probably came out here looking for us, or other survivors at least." I carried on the conversation.
"I'd say they're a small part of a bigger force." The Marine said.
"Why?" Sam asked.
"Cause no sensible Marine would accept a toothpick like that for an officer unless someone more important said so." He pointed towards the beach. Being dragged out of the water by two Marines, a young officer coughed and weakly stumbled onto the beach. He didn't look so young as Will, but he was definitely younger then me.
"Maybe the government re-established itself somewhere further east?" Peter suggested. I pondered the thought. It was very possible the military and civilian officials had established a new government.
"And it's possible the new government declared war." I said the last thought out loud.
"Bullshit." A Marine called from the beach, walking towards us. "Those assholes swung first, killed women and children when they couldn't even tell what was happening. We're defenders, grunt."
"Sounds like them." Sam said bitterly.
"Why would they do that? They won the war, they have no reason to be bitter."
"Yeah, the 12th Battalion's been hiding under a rock, so we didn't expect you guys to know."
"How do you know who we are?" Helen asked.
"We didn't till a few months ago. The President heard you were out here and sent us to find you. Wars been rough, those fuckers are pulling a lot of tricks."
"War? What's this I'm hearing about war?" Sgt. Anderson came over, Sgt. Anson right behind.
"War broke out a year ago between the survivors or Rubinelle and Lazuria." The Marine explained. A admiral in the Capital took control of the government and formed the NRA, the New Rubinelle Army. We've been fighting for a year now, and we came out here because we needed you help. You guys got something pretty nice here for a armored Battalion." Sgt. Anderson and Sgt. Anson turned and started talking to each other, but we couldn't hear it.
"So, we'll be fighting them after all. Guess the training wasn't for nothing." Sam said.
"Hope you remember it well, cause you'll need it. War's been in a stalemate, and we're gonna need all the firepower available." He limped over to where his own comrades were.
"Well I'll be…" On one hand I was happy, and on the other I worried. The government had been re-established; civilization was already very far along on it's way back to normal; I could stop worrying about whether or not I was making a difference. On the other, this war could end the last of civilization, or make things worse then they were before.
"Well, we always expected this, right?" Sam asked. "A war with Lazuria? It'll be just like before the meteors, we won't even remember we're in a new world."
"Don't count on it, Garcia." Sgt. Anderson came over. "This war will be very different then anything we ever trained for."
XX Author's note XX
Another small skirmish, but now the stage will shift to large cities, dense forests, and mountaintops. I should also warn that the whole 12th-NRA-Lazurian war will be very long, and complicated, so the chapters will be a lot longer, and not all of them will be combat or levels from the game.
If anyone is interested, I have decided to start the NRA let of my Days of Ruin trilogy early, since it has a lot of connections with this leg. Please take a moment to go read it if you so choose.
