Tracers and laser beams lit up the night sky as the city of Babylon reeled from the relentless fighting that took place along its dusty streets and stone temples. The Blakist attackers had lost most of their armored fighting vehicles and the remaining ones were continually asked to provide help to the beleaguered infantry. The delegates and their archaeologist allies were fighting as if possessed, braving the superior firepower of the enemy but their casualties continued to mount. Many of the defenders were already dead or dying but a few kept on resisting, running into prepared positions inside buildings and continued to fire back even though some were severely wounded. Due to the fact that they had taken large amounts of casualties, the WOB infantry squads regrouped and began a slow push towards the Royal Palace near the northern gates of the city. Adept Jason Cornelius was freed from his damaged battlearmor and joined the other infantry units as they began a brutal, house to house sweep to flush out the defenders. Every time the Blakists would come close to any sewer opening, they instantly chucked in high explosive and white-phosphorous grenades into them; a few screams would occasionally erupt as they caught some defenders still trying to use the underground drainage system.
The first thing Major Dominic Durant realized when he regained consciousness was that he couldn't hear anything. It was like an endless ringing chime was reverberating in his skull. The last thing he remembered was that he was inside a stone building when a helicopter gunship flew in low and fired its weapons. Then the roof collapsed and the next thing he knew, he was lying in a cot in one of the inner hallways of the Royal Palace. A lighted brazier cast amber shadows across the cavernous stone room as he could see the dead and dying being administered to. A few bodies were laid out on the floor, covered in blankets while he could see a young girl sitting cross-legged with her back leaning against a stone column, sobbing uncontrollably.
Karen Udeze stooped over to him and said something but Dominic shook his head and pointed to his ears, still unable to hear anything. He could see that her white crewman's uniform was covered with crimson stains, she along with several of the more timid women of the Smythe-Dayan expedition had volunteered to stay as nurses in the makeshift infirmary. It was apparent that they had their hands full.
Dominic willed himself to stand up as the ringing in his ears began to die down and was replaced by sobs, moans and nearby explosions. It seemed that he had a wound in his left leg and other than the temporary loss of hearing, everything else seemed tolerable. A woman lay in a cot next to him, she looked like she was asleep but her skin was white as snow and there was a horrific wound on her head, a bloody crater that rimmed her temple and lower scalp. Powder burns blackened the area around her fair skin. She looked so peaceful in death. Dominic felt like retching but was able to control himself as all of his senses slowly returned back to him.
Karen Udeze came over once again and offered him a cup of water. Dominic refused as he looked around the room of dead and dying. "How long have I been in here?"
"They brought you in five minutes ago." The former stewardess of the Amerigo answered.
Dominic could only stare back in shock. The whole battle started only less than twenty minutes ago.
Chifune Kishikawa crept along a dusty rooftop of an old stone building as she noticed there was movement in one of the adjacent temples across the street. She was down to her last magazine and she needed to make every shot count. Her face, hands and entire uniform were now covered in dust but it helped in concealing her position.
The Pinto heavy attack helicopters had by now used up their missiles but they were still desperately needed as air-support so they stayed in the fight. Although the pilots were more uncomfortable in flying low in order for them to use their medium laser batteries, they had a duty to protect the ground troops and so they signaled their LOM snipers to provide cover as well.
Jason Cornelius readjusted the straps on his Kevlar vest, just minutes ago he had stripped the armored vest from a fellow soldier that was killed by an apparent sniper. Although the vest was in excellent condition, it wasn't an exact fit and so he kept fidgeting with it. He had just been extricated from his damaged Purifier battlearmor and so had to strip some gear from his dead comrades in order to further equip himself. Cornelius was able to regroup his unit and was now leading a squad of WOB infantrymen as they made their way into the temple of Ishtar. Although several of his team was wounded from their previous encounters, they didn't find any live defenders in the temple.
As he observed his men stepping over a bloodied corpse of a defender near the altar, he noticed a glint of metal from a nearby building as he watched from the cavernous window of the temple. It was then that Cornelius realized what it was. "Sniper!" he shouted at his men as he dove for cover.
Chifune fired at the enemy soldier just as he dove down. Although he didn't seem as heavily armed as his compatriots, she could clearly see that he was a squad leader of some sort as he seemed to be issuing orders. The steel-jacketed slug from her Minolta 9000 sniper rifle entered the man's neck and she saw him clutching his throat as spurts of blood began to spew forth.
"Adept Cornelius is hit!" One of the WOB infantrymen shouted as two of them tried to pull the wounded man away from the window but another soldier was hit in the groin and fell down, moaning.
"Over there! Get in low!" Acolyte Rogelio Chavez shouted at the pilot of the Pinto helicopter that he was riding in. A few moments before, he had noticed something peculiar about the roof of a nearby building but because Super Six-Four was continuously making rapid banks and turns to avoid potential anti-aircraft fire, he couldn't get a closer look. But then he seemed to see some movement on it and he was absolutely convinced that it was that elusive sniper that everyone was concerned about. As he braced himself on the Pinto's side door, he trained his scope to the building. "Keep her steady!" Chavez shouted to the pilot as he needed a clear shot.
Chifune could see that she got at least two of the Blakists. However, because of her fatigue she just then realized that she had stayed too long in her spot and needed to relocate before she could be spotted by the enemy. Quickly collapsing the bipod of her sniper rifle and putting the cap on its scope, Chifune started to crawl towards the stairwell.
"Gotcha." Chavez smiled as he sighted the slow moving target's head in his night-vision scope and started to squeeze the trigger.
"Fire!" Carlos Sanz ordered as the two young men with him fired their shoulder-held LAW rocket launchers at the stationary helicopter flying above them. Just minutes before they had sneaked into a narrow alleyway behind the temple and positioned themselves to the rear of the helicopter just as it began to hover above.
The first rocket missed by a scant half-meter but the second one made a direct hit on the Pinto's rear rotor assembly, tearing into the fragile control circuitry before exploding. The sudden jerk of the helicopter threw Chavez slightly off-target as his 7.62mm steel-jacketed slug grazed Chifune's right arm. The Otomo bodyguard quickly recovered and ran down the stairwell as the helicopter began to careen sideways as the pilot of Super Six-Four lost control.
Just as the pilot of Pinto Super Six-One had maneuvered his helicopter into a steep climb after an attack run against the Royal Palace, another Pinto suddenly loomed right in front of him. Gritting his teeth, he quickly plunged the control stick for a steep dive but was a split-second too late as his main rotors were instantly sheared off when they ripped into the fuselage of the other helicopter. With no lift to keep it airborne, Super Six-One plunged down and smashed into the side of the city walls.
Alarms began to whine all over the cockpit of Pinto Super Six-Four as the helicopter spun out of control. Chavez held onto the straps of his safety harness as his entire world whirled around him. The Pinto pilot was trying his best but without the rear rotor, he had no control as the rapidly spinning helicopter's fuselage sheared off the top of the northern citadel as it kept spinning like a devilish whirlwind in the air. "Super Six-Four going down." The pilot said calmly in his throat mike as its crew held on for dear life. Within a few minutes, the helicopter made a horrendous crunching noise as it crashed nose first onto the dusty street, raising up a cloud of sand.
"We got two Pintos down, I repeat, we got two Pintos down." The pilot flying Ferret Spade-Two announced over his microphone as the smaller helicopter surveyed the carnage below. "Super Six-One and Super Six-Four collided in midair due to anti-aircraft fire."
Adept Amon Goth cursed as he revved up the throttle of his Shootist BattleMech. It was clear that he needed to bring his 'Mechs into the city to support the offensive otherwise it would bog down. "Goth to all units- hold positions. We are on our way." As he started towards the city, he noticed that a third Pinto helicopter lifted off from the rocky outcroppings as they deposited a LOM hunter-killer team and then retrieved Precentor Brandon St. Jamais. It would be light very soon as he could see the edges of the sun in the horizon.
Sanz patted his teammates on the back and then ordered them to reload their LAW launchers as they stayed in the alleyway, hoping to catch more helicopters that passed by. A more experienced team of soldiers would have immediately left the scene lest their position be discovered but due to their inexperience, they were all carried away by the spur of the moment. That was their big mistake as a bulky, shimmering form made its way behind them in the dark.
"What-" Sanz muttered as his victory grin turned to dismay when he saw an armored bulk suddenly reveal itself. The Purifier instantly fired its support laser at the surprised trio, literally disemboweling Sanz's companion as the youth fell to the ground, his guts splattering the alleyway. As the official liaison of the Star League grabbed at the fallen man's LAW rocket, the other student was quickly shot in the head by the Purifier as it advanced forward, hoping to grab Sanz by the neck in its armored fist but he was able to drop to the ground in time.
As the Purifier aimed its weapon at his face, Sanz held the LAW rocket tube vertically till it pointed upwards at the Purifier's torso and fired it point-blank. The LAW rocket exploded prematurely as it partially penetrated the battlesuit's armor at its hip joints and the Purifier fell backwards, thrashing in the street as Sanz crawled away, screaming from the burns on his face. After awhile, the pain subsided but he still could not see so he stumbled around in a daze until he exited out into the alleyway and onto the main street. A Scorpion tank was nearby and immediately challenged him, ordering him to get on his knees and surrender but it seemed that he did not comprehend it as he kept walking aimlessly, like a blind, Oedipal prophet. It was then that the tank commander lost his temper and ordered his crew to fire. When the smoke cleared, only his pieces remained.
As Dominic took stock of the dead and wounded in the Royal Palace's inner hallway, he noticed Chifune walk inside, tying a makeshift bandage on her upper right arm. "How bad?" He asked.
"It's just a scratch. But I have not so good news: I spotted 'Mechs on the western gates, they should be here in a few minutes." Chifune said calmly as she checked her Minolta 9000 sniper rifle.
Dominic bit his lip. Natasha failed; she was probably dead as well.
As the sounds of explosions began to get closer, Professor Adrian Smythe approached the two. His clothes were also stained with blood as he tried to help the wounded. "You must gather up your wounded and get out of here." Smythe said.
"Where to? We got nowhere to go." Dominic said wistfully.
"There is an underground passage beneath the royal bedchambers." Smythe answered.
"What?" Dominic was shocked. Why didn't they tell him this before?
"It leads up to the mountains; there are caves up there that could give you shelter. Take your wounded and go." Smythe said. He had a blank sense of resignation on his face. "I will try to hold them off."
Dominic turned to Karen Udeze, who happened to walk over as the conversation started. "How many wounded are there?" He asked.
"About two dozen that can walk." Udeze said.
"Get them up, we need to get going." Dominic said to her before he turned his attention back to Adrian Smythe and gave him his laser rifle. "Good luck."
Chifune helped Count Seiji Oshiwara up from his cot as she slung the sniper rifle over her shoulder. Dominic also decided to take the restraints off Jessica Bradshaw, who was kept prisoner in the Palace throughout the night. All in all, there were less than twenty of them as they started to limp their way towards the Royal bedchambers and the underground passage below.
Baroness Mishai Singh looked around one last time before joining the group. She had become friends with a number of the archaeologists and it was hard to say goodbye. She wiped a tear from her cheek as she stared at the cot where the body of Dr. Mordecai Dayan lay; he had collapsed and apparently died from a heart attack just as the battle began. With a sigh, the official delegate from the Federated Suns began to make her way below.
Dr. Constance Smythe sat on a stool beside the cot of a wounded Capellan bodyguard. The man had burns all over his body and was still smoldering. She kept holding on to his hand, ignoring the smell of blackened flesh as she tried to sooth his death throes the best she could. When Dominic asked her if she would go, she just sat there, ignoring him. She couldn't leave, she had fallen in love with the city and now that it was being systematically destroyed, she had no reason to live anymore. When the man finally stopped twitching and his moans fell silent, Constance Smythe got up, leaned over and kissed his forehead.
Professor Adrian Smythe could clearly see two BattleMechs making their way up the main thoroughfare of the city as they leveled a number of smaller buildings with their powerful weapons. As he crouched low near the massive windows, he noticed his wife Constance walk over calmly and stood out on the balcony as she stared out into the night. "Constance, get down!" He shouted.
Within a split second, the shockwave of an impacting missile threw him against the stone column of the inner-hallway as he recoiled from the blast. Professor Smythe's ears were ringing as he slowly got up, pieces of stone littering the area around him as the air smelt of smoke and fire. "Constance!" Smythe shouted. He could barely hear himself as the ringing in his head continued to drown out any other noise.
"Constance!" Smythe continued to shout out hoarsely as he crawled along the wreckage of the stone balcony. The ringing in his ears began to die down and was replaced by nearby explosions that just seemed to get closer every second. As he kept crawling, his left hand touched something soft and cold, looking down, he saw her lying on the ground as if she had fallen. As he turned her head, he noticed that her eyes were open and staring out into the dawning sky.
"Oh, Constance." Adrian Smythe whispered as he sat down and cradled his wife's head, rocking back and forth for a few minutes. He soon heard shouts and footsteps from the stone stairways. The enemy was getting close. After closing her eyes and wiping off his tears, he gently set her down and crossed her arms before getting up and walking over to where the laser rifle lay.
As he lay down on his stomach while bracing the rifle at the foot of the stairs, he noticed that the ringing in his ears was now replaced by the sound of his thumping heartbeat as he waited for them to make their way to the upper floors.
