64 Shiki of Howa manufacture raised a hand and paused to survey the land ahead. This entire valley was wooded – an advantage for the Griffin dolls, perhaps, but also something that made 64's core tingle with apprehension. Yew Team had disappeared in a forest, after all.
To the northwest was the suspected location of the Sangvis stronghold that Griffin was now encircling. Intel on this operation was minimal, no thanks to SF's healthy number of unaccounted-for SAM launchers watching the skies and their shiny new Ringleader which had so recently terrorized Griffin's base of operations. To her credit, 64 Shiki was determined to overcome the nagging sense of trepidation that she had felt ever since news of this "Gestalt" had been sent around to Area S17's T-doll battalion. Leaders had to be sure of themselves – and as leader of Arnica Team, it was her duty to see the operation though, and her echelon along with it.
For all her ability as a doll, however, 64 was not too confident of this offensive. S17's capabilities had been stretched thin since the raid, and conducting this operation while under full strength was a poor choice on Commander Kerr's part – at least, that was how 64 saw it.
But orders were orders.
"FNC!"
"Here," said the doll, not far from where 64 eyed the land ahead.
"We'll set up a central position along this edge here, with additional dummies pushed farther out in case Sangvis attempts to slip in between. See to it that 6P62 has a good spot for her dummies to fire from, QBU-88 as well. You'll stay and direct efforts in the center, PP-19 and I will roam as needed.
"Understood." The echelon XO hopped to it, and 64 could sense the directions being handed out over Zener.
64's own network buzzed with activity. "Arnica Team, this is Throne, over." Makarov's clipped tone came from within her head.
"Throne, this is Arnica Team, send, over."
"Report on your status, over."
"I've reached the phase line and have begun setting up positions along our section of the cordon, over," 64 replied, working her way back up the incline as she replied. These trees are too close to see anything more than a few dozen meters away.
"Roger. See that you link up with Edelweiss and Dogwood teams if possible. Report on the logistics net when necessary. Out."
Throne. 64 Shiki was not entirely confident with Makarov at the helm of this operation, but Commander was probably around in the command center anyhow. It is still odd to have a doll in command. 64 was an old hand at all this, nearly pre-Butterfly, but there was nothing natural about being commanded by a doll. But, the AR doll reasoned, Makarov was putting her trust in 64 the same way 64 put her trust in Makarov. It was the least she could do to have confidence. For my own sake as well as hers.
Pings on the Zener net meant that the far-ranging dummies sent to Arnica's left and right had met up with similar probes from Dogwood and Edelweiss teams. The thinly stretched cordon was a necessary risk given the large area that Griffin hoped to contain. Every doll in S17 stretched fingertip to fingertip would barely cover a quarter of the perimeter of the cordon that Makarov had ordered to be established. Luckily, the teams would start advancing soon, closing the cordon like a noose around Gestalt's neck.
All in good time. 64 paused for a moment and observed through Zener as the rest of her echelon made ready to begin the advance. She had been saddled with 6P62 in place of SAR-21, who had been compromised after the Sangvis raid. The damage to the databanks had been so significant, in fact, that it was difficult to make new backups, thus putting too many dolls on rather uncertain footing. 64 was lucky to have dodged such a fate, but SAR-21's loss had meant temporarily making FNC her second-in-command and learning all about 6P62's rather unique place in an echelon.
"Everyone's ready," FNC reported, confirming what 64 already knew. She's a good XO, just not trained for it. "We made contact with skirmish elements of Edelweiss and Dogwood, over."
"Roger. Get in position, the advance is commencing soon."
Now they would wait for word from Makarov and hope that Sangvis wasn't coming to them. Arnica was a capable team, no doubt, but without Fairy support they would have trouble with defensive actions. Regardless, she was ready to do whatever was ordered of her. Kerr's speech a few days ago had roused most of the dolls on base who might've previously been reluctant to contribute for one reason or another, which was good for morale but bad for the echelon leaders like 64 Shiki who now had to handle overzealous dolls hungering for a taste of the revenge the Commander had mentioned.
64 crossed the wooded slope to where PP-19 was. The doll was surveying the terrain ahead the same way 64 had, her face betraying only a hint of what was surely careful consideration going on in her Digimind.
"PP-19, once we get underway with the assault, I'd like you to keep an eye on the area around QBU and 6P62. If Sangvis units get in too close without them noticing, it's on us to keep them safe."
"Understood. I hope we aren't going to be advancing too fast, it'll be a pain to have them constantly changing positions."
I know. "I trust that won't be necessary."
"This is Throne to all echelons and combat teams this net: the assault is commencing now. I repeat, the assault is commencing now. Throne out."
64 Shiki took a deep breath, taking in the quiet of the forest for the last time. "Arnica, it's time. Move out."
The foliage rustled as everyone broke cover and started moving forward. FNC, 64 Shiki and PP-19 took the lead, scanning for threats while 6P62 and QBU-88 followed behind. With their combination of range, mobility, and weapons capable of taking on armor, 64 was confident that they could wipe most any Sangvis element they encountered. That would not be the case if Gestalt took to the field, however. 64 hoped that wouldn't happen, that the special operations echelon being deployed from the southern end of the valley would deal with the Ringleader first.
They were moving at a brisk pace, no thanks to the necessity of covering potentially dozens of square miles of ground. 64 Shiki pushed out an order to slow over Zener so they didn't leave Edelweiss and Dogwood – slower sniper echelons – behind. From far ahead, the muted whump-whump of explosions reached the ears of everyone in the echelon – the initial hurricane bombardment that the human battalion's mortar teams were executing. Any Sangvis doll lingering in the bombardment area would likely be torn to pieces if not filled with shrapnel, lessening the strain on the Griffin combat forces. 64 Shiki only hoped it worked.
"Contact front, one hundred meters, Vespids!" FNC called out.
"Contact left of the boulder, Rippers," PP-19 intoned.
"Slow and engage," 64 Shiki ordered. She raised her own rifle and squeezed off a shot at the horde of grey-white Sangvis dolls weaving between the trees like ants, watching with satisfaction as the lead doll toppled. The crack and taktaktaktak of the weapons around her grew in intensity and frequency until 64 dampened her sound and fought on in blessed peace, only feeling the kick of her battle rifle against her shoulder and the whisper of Zener as it fed her combat information.
The Sangvis dolls feel like leaves, but there were always more yet to come, more to be felled. QBU and 6P62 had taken up position in the rear, sending shots downrange to nail the bigger Guard units before they could get their shields up. No Dragoons yet, 64 thought, thankful that the mounted skirmishers weren't joining the battle this time. They're such a pain.
"Clear!" FNC reported.
"Clear," PP-19 echoed as 64 pulled out her empty magazine and stowed it away, slotting a new one into her gun. Their sector of the cordon was quiet again, but 64 knew that Sangvis would come again.
"This is Arnica Team to Throne, over."
"Throne to Arnica Team, send, over."
"Engaged and destroyed one enemy unit, composition Vespids and Rippers, estimated 50 downed, no casualties, over."
"Roger. Proceed with the advance until grid 18067 15655, at which point you are to hold until further instructions, over."
"Wilco. Arnica out."
Those grid coordinates weren't too close. 64 gave the order to resume moving and began considering their situation in the meantime. That engagement had eaten up about what was expected of their ammunition – Lieutenant Salmela had projected that each echelon would be able to engage about five times until they ran out of ammunition, after which they would need to pause and get resupplied. This amount of ammunition they packed with them was light enough that they could still move effectively, but not so little as to hinder their combat ability.
What worried 64 Shiki a great deal more was the issue of repairs. If anyone in the echelon was damaged beyond what their limited self-repair technology could fix, there was no way to get them out of the battle safely. Past battles often had designated points where medevac helicopters could land and take damaged dolls back to the base, maybe even return them to battle after repairs, but in the heavily wooded valley that Operation Hammerhead was taking place, such a feature was a luxury, if not nonexistent.
Another round of explosions was heard, this time a bit farther away. One of the other echelons calling in fire support. All of the mortar teams the Commander had at her fingertips were deployed on this operation, bolstering the forces already in the field. She really did go all out, 64 Shiki mused. Counting the rearline echelons, well over twenty echelons of dolls had been sent out on this operation, though only about twenty of them were actually on the cordon with the rest either standing by as reserves or deployed alongside Hunter Squadron on their hunt for Gestalt. As the noose tightened, the pressure on both Sangvis and Griffin would increase, and 64 anticipated that Arnica would be one of the echelons kept on the frontline while less capable teams like Dogwood retreated.
They were still a few hundred meters out from the grid coordinates Makarov had given when PP-19 called out another contact. "Front, seventy-five meters, Jägers and Vespids!"
"Halt, take cover!"
I cannot afford to lose them to sniper fire. 64 tapped Zener again, gave orders for FNC, PP-19, and 6P62 to draw the Jägers' attention. QBU-88 and herself would take them out. Even through the trees and bushes, 64 could pick out the Sangvis snipers and tagged them on the squad network for QBU-88's benefit. With careful precision, they began picking off the Sangvis as quickly as they could.
"Dummy down," PP-19 said. 64 cursed herself for not taking out the enemy snipers sooner. Her rifle was good, but ultimately a poor choice for sniping enemies that were taking cover behind tree trunks and boulders. QBU-88 was having more luck, but the onslaught of enemies was making it tough to do anything else but shoot back and hope that there were less then there were before.
"Intensify fire! Keep them suppressed!"
"Arnica, this is Throne, over."
Not again, not now.
"Throne, this is Arnica. Send, over."
"We are detecting two large Sangvis forces making a breakout attempt. One of these forces is heading in your direction, ETA seven minutes. An advantageous position has been located one hundred meters to your north-northwest. Your orders are to push for this location and set up a defensive position. Dogwood and Edelweiss teams will move to support you, over."
That can't be right. Sangvis must've been able to tell – known that their sector of the cordon lacked fairies, lacked a proper elite echelon – 64 Shiki was not happy.
"Roger. We are currently engaging a Sangvis sniper unit but resistance is tough. Will attempt to comply, over."
"There will be no attempt. Get it done. Throne out."
She sounds a little stressed, 64 thought, but figured that Makarov was right. If they failed in their defense, the entire operation could fall apart. What little consolation there was lay in the fact that Edelweiss and Dogwood would be backing them up.
"Arnica, new orders: we're to push forward to a position 100 meters north-northwest of my position and then take a defensive posture to fight off an incoming Sangvis breakthrough attempt. We'll break this Sangvis unit here and push through!"
Easier said than done. 64 sent out the necessary orders on Zener and started to move, aggressively pushing the Sangvis positions until they were on top of the Jägers and 64 could practically hear the marching of the next wave. PP-19 finished off the last fireteam of Sangvis snipers with a few shots as the forest became quiet again. Dogwood is still engaged. The crack of rifles to their right meant that the sniper echelon must be stuck on Sangvis the same way Arnica had been.
It was just a minute up to the position Grizzly indicated, but even that was too much time lost for 64. "Everyone, in position! Dogwood and Edelweiss are enforcing us from the sides, so don't worry about the flank!"
"Let's hope WA2000 is as good a sniper as she claims to be," QBU-88 said scornfully. "I'm blaming it on her if this defense fails."
"Now's not the time," 64 reprimanded as she adjusted the sights on her rifle. The forest was thinner here, and she'd be able to shoot at the Sangvis from farther away. We've got the high ground here, and they're coming to us. 64 assured herself that this would be a victory. My fears are for naught.
And yet, she felt the ever-present doubt in the back of her Digimind.
"In position," said 6P62.
"Picking up Sangvis signals on the periphery. It's an assault all right, maybe a couple hundred headed our way," PP-19 said.
That you can see. Still, what was Sangvis playing it, splitting their breakout attempt into two different forces? One large force would have a much better chance at breaking through, almost guaranteed…
Gift horses, 64 told herself. The doll shifted position so she could get a better view of where the Sangvis force was approaching from, kneeling down and raising her rifle in readiness. There, the column snaking through the trees and boulders, Sangvis dolls packed shoulder to shoulder as far as the eye could see, and then some. Unlike the last few groups, this assault force was better put together, with Guards leading from the front, Rippers sticking close to Jägers as escorts, and machine gun-toting Strikers, with Scouts hovering on the flanks and in the vanguard.
"PP-19, I want you and FNC up there to break their line. We'll support from behind. If necessary, we'll pull back under sniper cover and call in mortar fire."
A few hundred dolls. This won't be too bad.
Far to their left, a rifle cracked and one of the leading Guards stopped in its tracks and fell onto the unit to its left, which had also gone inert as the same bullet pierced its cranium. The collapse of the two dolls caused a brief halt amongst the Sangvis as the dolls behind the fallen awkwardly paused, stepped over the bodies, and kept going. WA knows her stuff better than QBU, 64 mused before she gave the order to open fire.
The forest erupted with a cacophony of fire as everyone let loose downrange. If they weren't taken down by precise shots they were overpowered by the sheer volume of bullets that filled the spaces Sangvis was attempting to get through. They were bottlenecked for the moment, but 64 didn't doubt for a moment that the more agile dolls wouldn't find a way around, and then the defense wouldn't be so easy.
"I see Brutes coming over the rocks!"
Damnit. That really wasn't something 64 wanted to deal with. "Throw a grenade, make ready to fall back!" They couldn't take on the Brutes in close quarters, so shooting as they retreated to keep their distance was the best bet.
PP-19's frag grenade blew just in front of the massive boulder that the Brutes had swarmed over, throwing several into the air and knocking more to the ground. Some still made it further until 6P62 cut them down, but the ones that were still up by then set upon the three frontline dolls with unmatched ferocity. 64 sensed one behind her and spun just in time to block its knife with her rifle, landing a kick to its stomach that sent it staggering back far enough away for 64 to put her rifle to her shoulder and a round through the Sangvis' head.
More of them came, so 64 fired a few more well-placed shots before she turned and made for where the others were retreating to. The incline put the advancing Brutes at a disadvantage, but they still moved at least just as fast as 64 and were not at all dissuaded by the few rounds she threw down at her pursuers. Ahead, FNC and PP-19 were dealing with the same thing, barely escaping the knived grasp of the Sangvis attackers. 64 could only hope that the more fragile Edelweiss and Dogwood had not been taken apart by the attackers.
"Черт Сангвис," PP-19 cursed as she rolled a Brute corpse off her. "It gets worse every time…"
"Stay focused."
"Their main force is coming up now," QBU-88 said over Zener.
"Engage, delay them as much as we can." 64 Shiki turned her attention from the twitching Brute corpses in front of her to the horde of Sangvis making their way towards Arnica's position. Distant rifle fire – the other two teams are still in play. That boosted her confidence a bit. "Once we repel this, we'll push forward and get back on the line with Dogwood and Edelweiss. Makarov better have orders by then.
They would be doubly low on ammunition following the end of this engagement. 64 hoped that there would be a chance to resupply soon, since pushing further into heavily defending Sangvis territory wasn't something she wanted to do with less than half the ammunition supply they'd been deployed with.
"They're in range," 64 observed. "Fire at will! Advance when possible!"
QBU-88 had the first shot this time, straight through the head of one of the Vespids. Everyone else followed soon after, PP-19 and FNC taking up positions that were concealed by rocks and bushes so they might better surprise Sangvis as the enemy drew closer. Stay calm. Panicking was not an option. They would push back this force and continue on. 64 knelt and worked on breaking up the nearest formation of SF foot soldiers, sending them into disarray and making it easier for QBU to pick them off.
They're split up. Better push forward while we have this chance. "Go, go! FORWARD!"
Even over Zener, 64 could make the intensity of her orders known. Behind her, QBU and 6P62 picked themselves up and moved forward while PP-19 and FNC broke cover and started forward, firing as they went. 64 stood and rushed forward to join them, rifle raised.
So the two forces clashed. Like a wave crashing upon a rocky shore, Sangvis swelled in front of Arnica, and Arnica met it with weapons blazing. For a while, there was no movement, but slowly, steadily, 64 could discern a widening gap between Arnica's positions and the Sangvis frontline. "Keep it up!"
Just a little more. We can do this. They were now at their original defensive lines, and with Sangvis being pushed back, they could now move forward with tightening the cordon, so long as Edelweiss and Dogwood were still fighting. Hopefully it wasn't as intense for them.
The familiar pinch in the neck was a reminder that 64 had to pay attention. Good leaders pay attention. Losing any dummies was hardly something that should be happening, no matter what. It was unprofessional. 64 stowed another empty mag, inserted another full one. They were really reaching the bottom of the barrel now, she realized. A resupply would be necessary if the Sangvis push continued for much longer.
"Grenade out!" PP-19 lobbed another hand grenade in Sangvis's direction, landing it right in the midst of a pack of Scouts. The spindly drones hardly had the presence of mind to move out of the blast zone and 64 caught the horrifically satisfying sight of one of the Scouts flung forward to impale a Ripper with its long, pointed legs.
"Nice job!"
"64! Sangvis is falling back! They're retreating, we've won!"
The doll couldn't believe it. What FNC said was true: Sangvis was still shooting, that was true, but now they were actively moving away from the Griffin team. Still, Sangvis never breaks off like that…
64 Shiki only heard a very sharp crack when the mortar round impacted, the instantaneous result of the concussion wave overloading her audio sensors. She was picked up by the explosion and flung backwards in a cloud of dirt, shrapnel, and spent casings until a boulder stopped her flight and she fell to the ground. Oddly enough, 64 felt no pain, just a dullness in her arms and legs. She attempted a soft reboot to attempt to clear the sensation, but it didn't work. Next, she tried to roll over and stand up, but found that she couldn't; one of her legs had been yanked off by the explosion. She knew this because she could rise up on her elbows just enough to see that she had no feet. 64 turned her head and found her rifle, but when she tried to sit up and reach for it she found that she couldn't, since the cord through which most of her functions got commands had been severed when she was flung against the boulder.
All 64 Shiki could do was watch as the Sangvis mortar fire rained down explosion after explosion on Arnica's position. Everyone's voice jockeyed for a spot in her mind, Makarov most of all, commanding that 64 report in. They got us. 64 rolled her head to the side to see FNC running through the Sangvis fire to 64's side, kneeling down.
"What do we do?!"
Such a simple question, but over Zener it felt like so much more. 64 struggled for a response and realized that she must've been even more damaged than she thought. Something's wrong with my Digimind. Not operational. "Fall back… re-establish communications with Makarov and report the situation," 64 thought. FNC furrowed her brow.
"You mean–"
"I'm not… fit to command. You're in charge. You don't have a command module, but… you just need to stop Sangvis from getting through. And salvage my recorder..."
"Yes, but–"
"My Digimind was damaged in the explosion. It'll shut down, and soon. Besides, I'm not in a state ready for combat anymore."
FNC looked lost, which 64 didn't blame her for. You can't afford to be, though. This defensive couldn't fail. 64 felt her mind deteriorating even more, and in her final moments of thought, she wished that no one thought ill of her for this failure.