Ok so I said it would be a week and it is another three days. I'm in to this story way too much to sit back and let it slow down. I may slow down later, but I've found some spare time after practices when all of us just crash, writing relaxes my mind. Well hope you enjoy.
Disclaimer: I still don't own Code Lyoko, Spain or France
"Guys, I have a question I need to ask you." Jeremy said when the truck was about twenty minutes away from the base.
"What is it?" Odd asked excited for something to cut into the boredom of the trip back.
"Uhh…I think I'm going to ask Aelita to marry me the next time I see her."
"Dude that's awesome!" Odd practically yelled hopping up and down with excitement.
"So you're going to marry a computer program?" Artur asked.
Jeremy sighed, "Artur, she's real, just like you and me, she is human."
"But she was a computer program?"
"I…I think she was a human and trapped there, but I have no way of knowing for sure." Jeremy said starting to look a little sad.
"Well whether she's fully human or not, she's the girl for you. You should do it!" Ulrich said.
With the mood lightened the truck drove on and eventually reached the base. The truck hadn't even stopped before Tinzo was next to the truck giving orders.
"I need Jeremy to come with me, the rest of you have been designated Omega Squad. Load your gear from your barracks on this truck, you are going to the front."
Jeremy jumped out and ran after Tinzo. He gave one last look over his shoulder and waved a quick goodbye to the others.
"We have ten minutes to be on the road again, go go go!" The truck driver said jumping out of the truck and grabbing a can of gasoline to refuel the truck.
Omega squad dove over the sides of the truck and rushed the barrack. In ten minutes they had loaded all of their ammo, guns, explosives, and rations and were back on the road.
"So where is the front?" Odd asked the others who were now packed in tightly among the gear.
"No idea, it could be five hours or five days, no clue."
"I know!" Ulrich said and everyone turned their attention from Chance to Ulrich.
"We're going to the French/Spanish border. AMEA has taken over Spain and is trying to cross into France. We are being sent as the first wave to stop the approaching forces."
The others sat in stunned silence. Each man wondering if he would ever see home again.
"How do you know?" Odd asked.
"Jeremy told me in a text message."
"But I thought…" Odd was cut off by his friend.
"They were supposed to take our phones, but Jeremy hid ours and he gave me mine when we went home to Kadic. He said he thinks that he might be able to give us intel that we may not have otherwise."
"Well let's hope so." The truck drove on, each passing minute bringing the eight men closer to peril.
"I think I'm in love."
The girls all turned and looked at Millie.
"You just met him Millie, are you sure?" Yumi asked.
"Yeah, I'm sure, Chance is so nice." Millie sighed.
"Well you chose well." Kasey said with a smile.
Millie blushed, and they all walked over to the factory for more training.
After a stop that night the truck arrived at its destination the next morning and the weary soldiers grabbed their gear and headed to find the command post. Another soldier pointed them toward a tent in the middle of what seemed like endless foxholes.
Ulrich went inside and found the commander. "Sir, Omega Squad reporting in." Ulrich said coming to attention.
The commander returned Ulrich's salute. "Good to see you, my name is Colonel Hempert. I need you to set up a mile to the west, it's our weakest point and your machine gun is sorely needed to hold the line."
"Sir?"
"Yes son?"
"What are we likely to face?"
"As far as we can tell, they have tanks and jeeps, but no air support. Artillery rains down on us on occasion, so dig your foxholes deep."
"Yes sir." With that Ulrich stepped out and briefed the squad. They headed out and soon arrived at their designated spot.
"Looks lonely." Odd commented.
"Yeah, no one around, forces must be spread pretty thin." Chance commented.
"So how we doing this?" Ivan asked no one in particular.
"The commander said he needed the machine gun the most, so I say we set up to protect it, since it will be the biggest target."
"Great, that's good news." Artur muttered.
"I say we dig in and set up in those bushes over there, give us good cover." Vladimir said pointing to a group of bushes on a small rise.
"Jesse and I can set up in these trees a little farther behind us. The clearing they have to cross to get to us should give us some good shots." Chance said.
Ulrich frowned, "I like the idea for the machine gun, but they said artillery comes in pretty often, I don't want you in the trees when we come under attack."
Odd was looking around when he noticed an outcropping of rocks on a hill about thirty yards behind them. "How about there." He asked pointing to the rocks.
"That should work well, not perfect, but not bad." Jesse said and he and Chance went to set up camp in the rocks.
Vladimir and Artur sat up the machine gun and started digging their foxhole.
"I guess the rest of us should set up to either side of Vlad and Art to give covering fire. What do you say, two each side?"
The others nodded and Nicolas and Ivan headed off to the right, while Odd and Ulrich dug in to the left. Now all was left was to wait.
"Sir how bad is the fighting in…this section here." Jeremy asked pointing to the area that Ulrich and the others were in.
"That's the worst, seems like the whole AMEA army is trying to break through there." The tech commander informed the young soldier.
"Oh" Jeremy sighed and he offered up a short prayer for the safety of his friends.
The waiting didn't last long. A loud whistling sound could be heard coming their way.
"What the hell is that?" Odd asked.
He was answered by a large explosion fifty yards to the left.
"Their shelling us, everyone get down!" Ulrich yelled as he dove into his foxhole.
"I have a shot!" Chance yelled across the radio.
"What?"
"Ulrich I have a shot on a guy peeking his head out, looks like a spotter calling in the artillery."
"Well take him out before he takes us out!"
Chance regulated his breathing like he had done in training so many times. 'Nice and easy now' Chance adjusted for the crosswind and squeezed the trigger. He blinked at the sound of the blast, but opened his eyes in time to see the bullet hit the spotter in the head. A large red puff was clearly seen as the man fell to the ground dead.
"Nice shot!" Odd cheered.
Chance climbed back down off the rocks and the artillery soon subsided.
"I have a target," Jesse said.
"Doesn't look military though?"
Ulrich pulled out his binoculars and looked. A young girl and two boys a little older were sent out to get the body.
"Don't fire!"
"I copy. They look like civilians don't they."
"Look Spanish." Ivan commented.
"Their using the Spanish to retrieve their dead to prevent losing anymore men, damn that's just wrong." Nicolas commented.
A large puff of smoke appeared in the view of Ivan's binoculars.
"Everyone Down!"
Another large explosion landed near the rock outcropping the two snipers were in. The barrage lasted for ten minutes. To Omega squad it was the longest ten minutes they had ever lived. Every second was spent cringing waiting for the next round to land on them and blow them apart.
Once the barrage ended, Ulrich got on the squad's radio. "Everyone alright?"
Seven affirmatives came back. "I'm good too." Ulrich sighed. He crawled out of his hole and looked around. He couldn't see a thing. Smoke and debris filled the air. Slowly the wind began to carry it away. When the smoke cleared enough, the sight took Ulrich's breath away.
"Everyone dig in there coming!" He said diving into his foxhole and sighting his rifle in on the first of thousands of soldiers rushing across the clearing towards them.
"Oh Shit!" Odd said and that was the last any of them heard as all sound was drowned out by shots from both sides. The squad returned fire, but the enemy kept coming.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, I took my time, and it feels a lot less rushed to me. Please review and let me know what you think. I want to say thanks again to all my faithful reviewers. And to those who don't review every time, I still would like to hear from you. Thanks again, hope you liked it.