A steady thrumming could be felt through the wall, as the engines of the
transport drove it further into the contested region. Crowded inside were
the five members of Ganna Squad, Lieutenant Jakobson, Sergeant Aisla,
Corporal Fields, Private Kloden and Private Corvin, with three engineers
and a Wolverine scout-walker. They were heading for a village that had just
been overrun by NOD, and the villagers needed retrieval. A light started
blinking on the wall near the door of the transport, signaling the imminent
arrival at the village. Ganna squad got up, preparing their pulse rifles
for the fierce firefight that was obviously going to erupt as soon as the
transport hit the dirt. They could here muffled explosions as their fighter
escorts hit their targets and peeled off to return to base, and clustered
around the door, the engineers loading up the last cases of ammo into the
Wolverine.
"Get in, get behind cover, and kill anything that's NOD. You get me!" Jakobson said over the squad radio. Everyone nodded and tensed, as the flickering light suddenly intensified, heralding the imminent arrival. The crunching noise outside was accompanied by the sudden out-rushing of air as the doors opened, and the rifleman moved out. Flashes of gunfire ricocheted off the hull of the transport and, as they returned fire, they could see the riflemen moving from the other two transports. All three transports lifted off, heading to a temporary base to await the all clear from the village.
In the evening light, the bulky figures of the NOD cyborgs were easy targets, but extremely tough ones, capable of shrugging off wounds which would have killed ordinary troopers. The three Wolverines which had accompanied the fifteen rifleman were in the middle of an intense firefight with several NOD buggies, with bullets thudding into many of the buildings. An explosion saw two of the buggies collide and go flipping into the air, one crushing a hapless cyborg, the other one just crashing into the dirt.
Jakobson crashed into the sidewall of a small house, followed closely by Corvin and Fields, all three briefly resting before swinging back into the fight. They saw two other riflemen get cut down by a cyborg hiding behind a old car wreck, and pinned it down until a disk-grenade came flinging underneath it, sending a minor fireball and bits of metal and flesh into the sky.
A lull in the fighting heralded full dark, and lights suddenly flickered on overhead. "Shit, take out the lights, take them out now!" Jakobson ordered, aiming at one light as he said it. The shooting started anew, with some more GDI troops arriving. The cyborgs were being gradually driven back out of town, and eventually fled into the three subterranean transports which had appeared, the last cyborg being cut down just as he reached the dubious safety of it's entrance. The transports suddenly nose-dived, digging deep into the earth, fleeing the scene. The tired survivors of the first wave and the reinforcements settled down, calling in the transports for evacuation. All the villagers emerged, heading for the clearing under the watchful eye of Privates Corvin and Kloden.
"Ah man, those were some close calls there. Lucky again to get through alive!" Aisla remarked, settling himself beside Jakobson, who was having a flesh wound examined by a medic. "When'd ya get that, sir?"
"Splinter from some shooting. Fields caught some in the cheek, should be okay though" he said, pointing over to where Fields had removed his helmet to have his wounds attended to.
"Ah well, just another day in the life of a GDI rifleman. How long till the transports arrive, sir?" he asked, glancing up into the sky for signs of an ion storm.
"Five minutes. Can you get Kloden and Corvis to climb up on the water tower and keep a lookout? Just in case." Jakobson said, wincing as the medic tended the scratch. Aisla saluted, and jogged off in search of the two privates.
Soon, he heard the soft noise of the transports hover engines as they approached the village. He stood up, looking around. He bit off a sudden curse, instead opening up a radio-channel.
"Everyone, heads up. Those transports are being pursued, their escorts don't seem to be with them. Looks like Harpies. All right, anti-chopper support time, select and open fire as soon as in range" he barked out as all GDI troopers scrambled, loading up their pulse rifles and scanning the skies for the Harpies. Sudden bursts of machine-gun fire above saw the transports arrive and the NOD Harpies swinging down upon them. Answering bursts came from the GDI rifleman on the ground, sending the Harpies into wild gyrations to avoid going down in smoke. They turned their attention to the riflemen on the ground, and suddenly the air was full of tracer bullets. Everyone dove behind cover, emerging now and then to give out a few bursts. The three Wolverines stayed out in the open, but had little luck as they were all disarmed and destroyed before being able to track up and destroy any of the flyers.
All of a sudden, storm clouds appeared, and three intense lines of lightening appeared, blasting the Harpies out of the sky. The air felt charged, and Jakobson moaned aloud as he fully realized what was happening. He ran from cover, waving all GDI forces in.
"Ion Storm! Find shelter, take the villagers, and evacuate the transports. I don't like their chances of getting through unscathed." He shouted, as the radio went down and the noise was incredibly loud. He moved off, his squad-mates falling in behind, gathering up villagers and heading for the dubious safety of the buildings.
Three hours later.
Everyone emerged from the shelters as the last residues of the storm moved off, allowing the transports to safely lift off again. As they all trudged on board, Jakobson muttered to himself "We'd better be relieved this time."
The next episode of Ganna Squad will appear shortly, as Jakobson and his crew, joined by three of the Forgotten, sneak their way past the outer defences of a NOD base to take out the power plants as a prelude to a major assault by GDI forces.
"Get in, get behind cover, and kill anything that's NOD. You get me!" Jakobson said over the squad radio. Everyone nodded and tensed, as the flickering light suddenly intensified, heralding the imminent arrival. The crunching noise outside was accompanied by the sudden out-rushing of air as the doors opened, and the rifleman moved out. Flashes of gunfire ricocheted off the hull of the transport and, as they returned fire, they could see the riflemen moving from the other two transports. All three transports lifted off, heading to a temporary base to await the all clear from the village.
In the evening light, the bulky figures of the NOD cyborgs were easy targets, but extremely tough ones, capable of shrugging off wounds which would have killed ordinary troopers. The three Wolverines which had accompanied the fifteen rifleman were in the middle of an intense firefight with several NOD buggies, with bullets thudding into many of the buildings. An explosion saw two of the buggies collide and go flipping into the air, one crushing a hapless cyborg, the other one just crashing into the dirt.
Jakobson crashed into the sidewall of a small house, followed closely by Corvin and Fields, all three briefly resting before swinging back into the fight. They saw two other riflemen get cut down by a cyborg hiding behind a old car wreck, and pinned it down until a disk-grenade came flinging underneath it, sending a minor fireball and bits of metal and flesh into the sky.
A lull in the fighting heralded full dark, and lights suddenly flickered on overhead. "Shit, take out the lights, take them out now!" Jakobson ordered, aiming at one light as he said it. The shooting started anew, with some more GDI troops arriving. The cyborgs were being gradually driven back out of town, and eventually fled into the three subterranean transports which had appeared, the last cyborg being cut down just as he reached the dubious safety of it's entrance. The transports suddenly nose-dived, digging deep into the earth, fleeing the scene. The tired survivors of the first wave and the reinforcements settled down, calling in the transports for evacuation. All the villagers emerged, heading for the clearing under the watchful eye of Privates Corvin and Kloden.
"Ah man, those were some close calls there. Lucky again to get through alive!" Aisla remarked, settling himself beside Jakobson, who was having a flesh wound examined by a medic. "When'd ya get that, sir?"
"Splinter from some shooting. Fields caught some in the cheek, should be okay though" he said, pointing over to where Fields had removed his helmet to have his wounds attended to.
"Ah well, just another day in the life of a GDI rifleman. How long till the transports arrive, sir?" he asked, glancing up into the sky for signs of an ion storm.
"Five minutes. Can you get Kloden and Corvis to climb up on the water tower and keep a lookout? Just in case." Jakobson said, wincing as the medic tended the scratch. Aisla saluted, and jogged off in search of the two privates.
Soon, he heard the soft noise of the transports hover engines as they approached the village. He stood up, looking around. He bit off a sudden curse, instead opening up a radio-channel.
"Everyone, heads up. Those transports are being pursued, their escorts don't seem to be with them. Looks like Harpies. All right, anti-chopper support time, select and open fire as soon as in range" he barked out as all GDI troopers scrambled, loading up their pulse rifles and scanning the skies for the Harpies. Sudden bursts of machine-gun fire above saw the transports arrive and the NOD Harpies swinging down upon them. Answering bursts came from the GDI rifleman on the ground, sending the Harpies into wild gyrations to avoid going down in smoke. They turned their attention to the riflemen on the ground, and suddenly the air was full of tracer bullets. Everyone dove behind cover, emerging now and then to give out a few bursts. The three Wolverines stayed out in the open, but had little luck as they were all disarmed and destroyed before being able to track up and destroy any of the flyers.
All of a sudden, storm clouds appeared, and three intense lines of lightening appeared, blasting the Harpies out of the sky. The air felt charged, and Jakobson moaned aloud as he fully realized what was happening. He ran from cover, waving all GDI forces in.
"Ion Storm! Find shelter, take the villagers, and evacuate the transports. I don't like their chances of getting through unscathed." He shouted, as the radio went down and the noise was incredibly loud. He moved off, his squad-mates falling in behind, gathering up villagers and heading for the dubious safety of the buildings.
Three hours later.
Everyone emerged from the shelters as the last residues of the storm moved off, allowing the transports to safely lift off again. As they all trudged on board, Jakobson muttered to himself "We'd better be relieved this time."
The next episode of Ganna Squad will appear shortly, as Jakobson and his crew, joined by three of the Forgotten, sneak their way past the outer defences of a NOD base to take out the power plants as a prelude to a major assault by GDI forces.