Shaoji Countryside, Shanxi, July 15, 2192, 08:00 Local Time.
The 13th Marine Armored Division moved swiftly through the large, open farmlands which make up a majority of the Shaoji Countryside. The tanks plowed through wheat fields and tall grass, leaving trails of flattened plants in their wake. Accompanying them is the 26th Mechanized Infantry Division. APCs and IFVs move in the middle of their formation, while most of the tank make up the front. SPGs and SPAAs move in the rear of the formation with several IFVs and tanks escorting them, as to avoid a direct confrontation. At the spearhead of the entire formation is Williams' Spectre Company and General Volter's own personal tank platoon, the Wild Cats.
Passing through the countryside, the Marines and the Infantry division they had with them happened upon a deserted city. It was your average colony city, with a bunch of houses and buildings at the edges of it, with more important buildings in the center. From what he could see of it, the occupants had attempted to fight off the Batarian invaders, unsuccessfully at that. Getting closer to the village, the frequency of wrecked vehicles – both Human and Batarian- began to increase. Craters and scorch marks had begun to become more apparent as the remains of the battle were passed by the Alliance forces.
"Jesus Christ," Vickers said over the radio. "These lads threw a real good fight, ain't it cap'n?"
"Real shit here boss." Rodrigues said over the radio too.
"Cut the chatter, everybody stay focused!" Gunther ordered.
A squadron of Python fighters did a flyby over them. The fighters circled around while feeding information to the 13th and 26th Divisions.
"This is Hurricane 5-1 to Wild Cat 1-1 actual. We see lots of heat signatures down there. Gotta be more than a thousand or so scattered around. Humanoid shapes, unconfirmed whether Human or alien." One of the fighter pilots said.
"Copy that Hurricane 5-1, continue to provide recon and CAS when necessary. Spectre company will move in to secure the city's entrance, command of Comet company's fire support will be transferred to you, Williams." The General said.
With that, Spectre company, with Williams in the lead, surged forward towards the city, guns locked and loaded.
It didn't take long from that until gunfire started coming from city's ruins. Batarian machineguns and cannons fired away at the tanks. Small mass effect pellets ricocheted from the tank's thick hull and the cannons kicked up dust and dirt with every shot they fired. The dust being kicked up alerted the fighters to its location, and with one fell swoop, the fighters came in and blasted them apart with rockets.
By now, the tank crews are ready to return the favor. Machineguns and 135mm cannons fired back at the enemy positions, suppressing and tearing away at the enemy.
Williams used his periscope and sighted the enemies. He used the radio and called Comet company.
"This is Spectre 1-1 to Comet actual, I am designating a target for an artillery barrage, fire when ready."
"Roger that Spectre 1-1, Crackers will fire in 30 seconds." Comet's company commander said.
True to the company commander's word, Williams could hear the shrill shrieking sound of the Cracker rockets. While it's iconic sound was an unintended side effect of its powerful rocket motors, manufacturers decided not to fix the 'issue' after hearing that the sound was a useful tool in psychological warfare. The shrieking sound could only be heard for the first 6 seconds of its flight, after which it was almost completely silent, save for a barely noticeable whistling noise. This would mean that unless one could spot the rocket and calculate its trajectory quickly, it is extremely difficult to tell where it would land.
The Batarians learned this the hard way when they first landed on Shanxi.
Machinegun fire from the city quickly lessened in its intensity as many of the veteran soldiers in the alien's ranks quickly dispersed. The inexperienced ones weren't as lucky, as by the time they had caught on to what happened, the rockets had already struck its targets and exploding in a brilliant red explosion with a loud crack accenting each flash.
Half a dozen houses were flattened by the first barrage, but the second one quickly followed through and blasted the rubble apart further. Williams and company arrived at the newly demolished houses to meet barely any resistance. What few Batarians survived quickly retreated further into the city, or was cut down by machinegun fire.
Other elements of 498th Armored Brigade -which Spectre Company is attached to- and APCs from the 332nd Mechanized Brigade -under the 26th Division- arrived beside Spectre company's position and deployed their troops. Almost a thousand well-armed Alliance soldiers exited the armored vehicles and secured the perimeter. Once fully deployed, the soldiers moved forward and began to push into the city.
Gunfire erupted all around as both the Mechanized Infantry and the Marine Tanks attacked swiftly against the enemy forces.
Among other things, Williams noted on how quickly the enemies seemed to rout, though he wasn't complaining a single bit. His Mattis tank fired a high explosive shot from its cannon at a wall that was being used as cover by a squad of Batarians. The wall was pulverized, along with the aliens covering behind it as they turned into unrecognizable orange smears on the ground. The infantry pushed onward with armored support, this time facing the challenge of a Batarian bunker sitting in one of the main streets.
Williams once again took his radio and called in support.
"Hurricane 5-1, there's a bunker blocking the road, we need it taken care of."
"Copy that Spectre 1-1, Bunker-buster payload on the way."
The bunker opened fire and suppressed the infantry that was moving forward. AT rockets and cannons fired away from it too, keeping the tanks Williams brought with him at bay. An infantry squad took cover inside one of the ruined buildings to try and find a more suitable fighting position. They fired their own rockets and machine guns but to no avail. The bunker retaliated and fired its cannons at the building, sending it down on the soldiers inside of it.
Before it could do any more damage, the fighters arrived and launched its payload.
One of the fighters did a fly by, flying over the target at high speed. The second one followed suit with a slower speed. A bright yellow glare launched itself from the second fighter and left a trail of white smoke in its wake as it rocketed towards the Batarian bunker. The missile punched straight through the bunker then detonating what Williams thought was the bunker's ammo dump, which blew the entire thing apart, leaving only rubble -unrecognizable from the others around it.
"Spectre 1-1, Bunker-buster run is complete, nothing there but rubble now." The pilot said.
"Good shooting Hurricane 5-1, cold one's on me." Williams told the pilot.
"Good to hear, Hurricane 5-1 out."
The tanks and infantry pushed out of their cover, and further into the city. The fighting had died down a little, giving the Alliance forces much needed breathing room. It also gave Williams some time to observe his surroundings further.
Sounds of gunfire could be heard in the distance, this wasn't very odd. What was odd was the fact that a lot of that gunfire seemed to come from the other side of city.
"Whitman, Jackson, you hearing that too?" Williams asked his crew.
It took a minute or so for them to put two and two together.
"Fighting's coming from the other side of city… Did the General send another company to flank?" Jackson asked as she peeked outside from her hatch.
"None that I know of." Williams answered.
"You think it's some local resistance boss?" Whitman asked.
"Could be, lemme phone it in." Williams answered again as he took the radio. "Hurricane 5-1, you mind checking out the other side of the city for me? IR, and EM scans would be much appreciated."
"Affirmative, taking a peek at the other side." The fighter lead said.
The two fighters climbed further from the ground so that they could catch a better view of the city. As they scanned, they noticed that fighting was indeed happening on the other side of the city. They flew closer to the unidentified combatants. They noticed a dozen or so Humans -most wearing civilian outfits- were fighting against the Batarians. The pilots phoned in the information.
"This is Hurricane 5-1 to all personnel in the area. Locals are spotted on the western section of the city. Looks like they're pitching a fight against four-eyes."
The General, who was listening to the radio chatter then called up.
"Confirmed Hurricane, provide CAS for them until otherwise needed," Volter said.
The fighters did a turn around towards the resistance fighters and flew in low to really notice the state of the conflict. Recognizing that the locals were being pinned down, the fighters did a strafing run on the Batarian positions.
The resistance fighters realized that they now had the advantage and pushed against the enemy, guns blazing as they went.
Batarian forces were repeatedly pushed from their two fronts and now found themselves on a fighting retreat to the Command Bunker in the middle of the city.
The advancing Humans are relentless in their assault. They refused to give the enemy any mercy, though the Batarians spared no quarter either.
It came to a point which all remaining Batarian forces were dug in around and inside of the Command Bunker.
Vickers and her flamer tank suppressed the Batarians entrenched outside the bunker's primary entrance, which gave Williams ample time to call in air support.
"Hurricane 5-1, enemy last stand is in a heavy bunker in the center of the city, a little bunker-busting might be needed."
"Roger that Spectre 1-1. We're on the way."
Williams and the attacking Alliance forces had to take cover again due to the overwhelming firepower being wielded by the Batarians. He could hear the machine guns' roaring and the cannons' thumping even from inside his tank. For a moment, all those sounds were drowned out by the sonic booms of the Pythons flying in to launch the missile.
The Python fighters lined up to fire a bunker-buster missile, with the first targeting for the second one. They were about to deploy the payload when the designating fighter's warning system went off.
"Radar lock, disengage now 5-2!" the leading fighter exclaimed.
A hidden Batarian squad on a roof shot their AA missiles from a portable launcher
Both pilots yanked their controller hard and pulled away as well as firing off flares. The aliens fired a dozen missiles at the fighters.
5-2 managed to evade the missiles targetting him, but 5-1 wasn't so lucky. Two missiles slammed into the fighter's body and wing, sending the fighter into a spin.
The fighter began its fiery descent towards earth and doom with no sign of the pilot ejecting.
"5-1, you've got to punch out... Jerry!" 5-2 shouted into the radio as his longtime friend and wingman spiraled into the what was certain death.
Williams had a clear view of the entire event and saw everything unfold.
"Dammit! I don't see a 'chute. Does anybody see him?" He said.
5-1's other wing snapped, which accelerated his descent, turning the spinning deathtrap into a metal casket. The wrecked plane finally crashed into the city somewhere in the east.
The radio crackled as a Marine called in.
"This is Dagger 2-1, we have visual on the crash site, doesn't look like he made it out."
Williams let out a string of curses under his breath.
"Fucking hell! We still need that air-strike. Do we have any other air assets in the area?" He shouted into the radio.
"Nein Captain, calling in other elements of Hurricane squadron are tied up on other parts of the city, it seems we're on our own for this one." The General announced in the frequency.
It was at that point in which Hurricane 5-2 spoke again.
"I can hit the target, as long as someone's targeting for me."
Williams looked to his crew for confirmation and was answered with silent nods.
"We can do it." He then answered in the radio.
"Copy that Spectre 1-1, get an IR beam on those bastards, and I'll give 'em hell." 5-2 said somberly.
Williams tank pushed forward out of cover, with Jackson peaking out of the hatch with a laser designator. Once again, 5-2 flew towards the target with a sonic boom and synced its targeting system to Jackson's laser designator. A second before he was in effective range his radar-lock warning began beeping, telling him that the Batarians that had shot down 5-1 -his closest friend- are now locking onto him. He contemplated pulling the stick and getting himself out of it. He had a few seconds left before they had a full lock. He could survive, maybe survive the war, come back home and...
No.
Turning around now would turn his brother-in-arms' sacrifice into nothing. He couldn't do that. Never.
Taking a deep breath, 5-2 focused on his target. Jerry had died for this, he would not let his death be in vain. A good 4 seconds had passed before he was in range. Now that he was, he launched the missile, then tried to evade the missiles which had already locked onto him.
He fired off another set of flares and jinked his plane to the right, narrowly avoiding three missiles. He turned sharply to the left, this time avoiding another 4 missiles.
'4 more!' He thought to himself.
He committed himself into a barrel roll as he fired off another set of flares. 2 more of the missiles missed him by mere inches and zoomed past his cockpit. He himself could feel the canopy rattle from the gust of wind that the missile left behind. He now turned in a 90-degree turn by a building, causing a missile to slam into it instead of him. By now there was only one more missile left in his tail. All he had to do was punch the flare button again, and he would be home free. At least he would be, had it not been the fact that his flares had jammed.
"I thought they fixed that fucking glitch!" He shouted at no one in particular.
5-2 tried another barrel roll to avoid the missile, but this time it had caught up with him, and exploded behind his engine, severely damaging his tail, disabling his engine, as well as sending shrapnel which scratched and scarred the plane in all directions. He tried struggling to keep his jet level but realized that the explosion had done more damage than he had thought. He was now flying dead stick!
"Fuck fuck fuck!" he repeatedly cursed at himself as he helplessly watched his plane crash into a building, go straight through, then run into another one.
-000-
Qing Conservation Park, 12 Miles from Chiang Kai City, Shanxi, 6 Hours later.
"We've got word from the Shaoji Cell, the Alliance has secured that region! If they're going to keep up that pace, they'll be here by the end of the month."
This surprised him. The Alliance was making progress far faster than he had anticipated. He would have to move faster if he was going take full advantage of the invasion.
"We need to move faster then. Tell your boys to move up the timetable. We need to start Operation Shackle Snapper sooner than expected." The man told the informant.
"Easier said than done, the Marshall is already wary of giving us so much leeway. It'll be a challenge to convince him to start deploying the Ra'aksorgat with the bare minimum amount of oversight."
"Then we need to start stretching him thin. I'll cook up a plan to get rid of some the more senior officers." The man said again to his informant.
"No! there are still some that can be swayed." The Informant objected. "Give me some time, and I will convince them to help us."
"You have a week to do so." The man said coldly. "I need a week at most to plan the assassinations."
The Informant was about to object again, but the man cuts him off before he could.
"Remember that time is of the essence. Convince as much as you can, then send me a list of the ones that agreed. Anyone else who isn't on that list will be exterminated."
The Informant was undoubtedly angered at this, but once again the Man spoke.
"Look, I know most of these guys are your friends. But we can't take any risks. This is our freedom that we're talking about! Any wrong step and almost a year of delicate planning will have gone to waste." The man reasoned.
"I know... But it doesn't make it any easier." The Informant relented.
The alien took a deep breath, then began to head towards the basement's exit.
He climbed out of the basement, and into a bombed out building. He exited out of it and into the courtyard where his men were stationed.
A Batarian -his second-in-command- walked up to him with a bottle of traditional Batarian alcohol, which the Informant gladly took and drank.
"What did our mutual acquaintances say, Cathka?" the second-in-command asked.
"We're moving up the timetable. We're starting Shackle Snapper by the end of two weeks." Cathka answered. "Call up those whom you trust and tell them of our plan, Dov'tok. A new future for the Batarian people starts by the end of this month, and we will be its pioneers!" Cathka, returning the bottle to him and entering his APC. He then left, heading towards Occupation HQ.
"Well, father's already disappointed in me. Might as well as go all in." the younger Dov'tok said as he emptied his bottle into himself.
-000-
A/N:
And this basically sets up my justification for turning the next arc(?) into a much easier fight for the Alliance and the Hierarchy. Introducing: The Batarian Resistance! Basically, you have a bunch of dudes who've been stepped on their entire lives, and then told to work for the dudes who've been stepping on them their entire lives, to try and step on another bunch of dudes who might get stepped on their entire lives, and some mutual feelings are going to develop, no? If anything, I guess this is the equivalent of the Germans Blitzing France, but France is in a civil war, so the Germans help the side they like then install them in control of France when they're done.
Basically, my go-to HOI 4 strategy as Germany.
As always, thanks for reading. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Review or PM me your thoughts on things, I'll try to reply to them.
Again thanks for reading, and enjoy the rest of your day.