Starting the offensive and heading to Metz was a tedious task but Smallear is counting on us to take it. Two more diversionary offensives were started just six days later and progress began to pick up. Speckletail has been promoted and is sitting with the elders from what I heard from Patton. There was a Thompson up for grabs if anyone wanted one but that was up for debate. For now the objective was Metz and only Metz.
"We heard Sasha was in Metz so that is where we're sending you all." Smallear told Fireheart as Bluestar hadn't returned as of yet.
"Any other news? We've just about cut off the city from any supplies and reinforcements." Fireheart asked. He seemed curious about what else was happening if they were going to move further to Metz.
"Not quite, they still have one station left that needs to be taken so Shadowclan's hurriedly evacuating the city and getting as much supplies out of there as they could. Any supplies they can't carry out are being destroyed." Smallear responded as there was still a vein that Fireheart needed to take before the rest of the cats had been trapped.
"Okay we'll do it to cut that vein off. Any other news?" Fireheart asked if there was anything else that was going on that needed his attention.
"Yeah. Riverclan has gotten captured on an unsuccessful infiltration mission and it's up to you to free them. According to our intelligence and surveillance conducted by Tallstar, they should be in the area before the rail station so they will provide some assistance when you liberate them from Metz." Smallear explained to Fireheart where the trapped Riverclan cats were located and freeing them would help out the objective. Fireheart shrugged, did Riverclan get themselves captured again?
"I'll do my best sir." Fireheart responded. Smallear nodded as Fireheart got up and walked away, a fresh assault on Metz would mean cutting off their supply leading to a quick conclusion to the battle and the capture of the city.
November 21st, 1944, Metz, France: 14:40
The walls to outlying Metz had been torn down as a Dozer Sherman had made its appearance. Cloudtail was commanding the tank with Brindleface, Ashpaw and Fernpaw riding on the engine. The others followed behind as Fireheart was directing this order of battle.
"Okay Riverclan needs our help, we need to free them first. We have to take out the last ammunition train that is preparing to leave Metz. Let's go." Fireheart shouted to the rest of the group, they filed in while Cloudtail was guiding the tank Cloudtail grabbed the .30 caliber machine gun and began firing it at the Shadowclan cats while keeping himself exposed to draw fire on him and instead of Fireheart.
"Loader, turn the turret eighteen degrees to the right." Cloudtail ordered. The gunner nodded as it rotated the turret. Cloudtail began peppering the house where the Shadowclan cats were inside. "Fire!" The tank fired and took out a chunk of the house. The Shadowclan cats were left exposed as Cloudtail and Brindleface fired upon them.
"Yeah that's right, suck it Shadowclan!" Brindleface called out. Fireheart and the others sprinted around the house where Cloudtail was fighting Shadowclan head-on. Fireheart, Mousefur and Thornpaw had made it to the back of the building while Sandstorm was carrying the dynamite that was needed.
"Cloudtail's got the streets contested. We must free the prisoners." Sandstorm mewed to Fireheart. She placed down the brick of dynamite for them. "Explosives are ready."
"Thanks." Fireheart responded. Fireheart handed the brick of explosives to Thornpaw who placed it onto the wall. The four cats made their way back once Thornpaw had set the timer up. The wall then exploded as that was the signal to storm inside. Fireheart went in first looking for any sign of Shadowclan survivors. Cloudtail must've did some impressive work. Fireheart noticed the door was unlocked and peeked inside to see Riverclan stuck inside.
"Fireheart, thank goodness you're here." Leopardstar greeted him. Fireheart went up to her while Mousefur and Sandstorm entered. Thornpaw was keeping guard incase Shadowclan made preparations for a counter attack.
"Captured again?" Fireheart asked. The three Thunderclan cats worked frantically to free the Riverclan cats from their chains. Leopardstar was the first to be freed. "Grab a weapon and stay low, we're clearing the streets." Fireheart instructed the Riverclan cats. Leopardstar nodded as she left the room. Fireheart went over to Mistyfoot and freed her next.
"Okay we're going to form a second line of defense in case Shadowclan decides to attack which seems unlikely but we'll assist you anyway we can." Mistyfoot told Fireheart that she was willing to help him in any way she could.
"I'd appreciate it." Fireheart responded. He then turned to Sandstorm and Mousefur who were busy trying to free the rest of the Riverclan cats. "I'm going to go on ahead, you free the rest of Riverclan." Fireheart instructed Sandstorm that he was going to support his nephew for the mission ahead.
"Okay stay safe." Sandstorm mewed to Fireheart. Fireheart nodded as he began to sprint ahead to catch up with Cloudtail.
Bang! The Sherman's gun fired, blowing a hole into the communications building. Cloudtail was still keeping Shadowclan under pressure while they were moving forward.
"We have 25 radios that need to be destroyed to prevent reinforcements from moving into this sector, get a move on." Cloudtail instructed. Brindleface, Ashpaw and Fernpaw got off the tank and moved on ahead, through the hole in the wall where Cloudtail had blasted on through. Fireheart caught up to Cloudtail who was still peppering the Shadowclan cats with the machine gun. "I can't talk to you right now Fireheart, help Brindleface take out the radios." Cloudtail mewed to Fireheart to go in there and destroy the radios. Fireheart nodded and he sprinted into the hole when the Sherman's gun opened fire again, tearing a fortified position.
Fireheart entered the room while Fernpaw dug her combat knife into the radio set putting it out of action. Ashpaw was shooting up the radios wherever he could find them while Brindleface was keeping a lookout. Fireheart got to a corner and began firing at the small radio, the radio fizzled out and ceased to work. A shadowclan cat hurried in with two others to figure out what was happening, he went around the corner as Fireheart bashed it in the head with the carbine he had. After knocking it down, Fireheart fired several shots into the cat to finish it off. More gunshots were heard as Fireheart peaked his head around the corner. Brindleface had finished off the remaining cats.
"Nice work there." Fireheart mewed.
"Thanks." Brindleface told him. Brindleface pulled out a sticky grenade and threw it onto two radio sets. The grenade exploded, destroying the radios. Frostfur slid in as she took a tally count of how many radio sets were destroyed.
"That's all 25 of them. Come on, we still have the train station we need to capture." Frostfur told the others. She then ran out, wanting to be the first one there. Fireheart and Brindleface followed. Sandstorm, Mousefur and Thornpaw showed up but they had arrived too late, the radios were already destroyed and Fireheart and his friends had moved on.
"Well they've just done our job for us." Sandstorm mewed to herself when she realized that Fireheart and his group were moving deeper into Metz to their final objective.
"What are we waiting for? Let's go." Mousefur told Sandstorm to quit standing around and now was the chance to press the attack. Sandstorm nodded before she began to race on ahead with Mousefur and Thornpaw.
Cloudtail was peppering the Shadowclan cats with the tank's machine gun while they were blowing the path clear for the others to funnel on through. Brindleface, Fernpaw and Ashpaw were guarding the tank to watch the flanks for any signs of Shadowclan cats coming attack. Fireheart and the others weren't that far behind while they helped the tank close in on the group.
"There's another artillery piece, fire!" Cloudtail shouted, the Dozer Sherman blew up the artillery piece with an HE shot, the tank then moved on while Fireheart and the others followed behind. Cloudtail was still firing the machine gun he had to tear Shadowclan cats down.
"Keep it up!" Fireheart called out with encouragement. Cloudtail nodded. The tank rolled forward along the set path while Fireheart and the others leaped through the train cars in an effort to keep up with the tank, the train was just pulling out when Cloudtail sensed the opportunity.
"The train's beginning to leave, let's try to destroy it. Driver, speed us up." Cloudtail told the Sherman tank driver to pick up speed so they could destroy this Shadowclan munitions train. The driver agreed as the Sherman picked up speed. The dozer blade on the front was going to be a weapon if they were going to stop the metal beast. The tank sped up as it leaped from the platform like a bird flying through the air. The dozer blaze smashed into the train, causing it to derail, the train cars went all over the place while the tank was left unharmed, the turret rotated to the rear where Cloudtail wanted to finish this train off. "Fire!" The HE round went into the train, blowing it up with ease. Cloudtail was satisfied while the other Thunderclan cats arrived at a group of Shadowclan cats with their paws up.
"Nobody moves! On the ground now!" Fireheart shouted. The Shadowclan cats, feeling defeated, surrendered to Thunderclan. Now they were going to be taken for questioning.
Fireheart questioned the leaders with Ashpaw doing the translating. What they found was shocking.
"So Sasha left Metz on the train before this one?" Fireheart asked. The Shadowclan cat answered. Ashpaw turned to Fireheart.
"He said yes. She must've known we were coming according to Blackfoot." Ashpaw told Fireheart what the Shadowclan cat had said. Smallear then entered the room with Cloudtail
"I've seen you've done your job and that was to take the train station with a tank and all objectives have been completed." Smallear mewed as he was satisfied with what happened.
"We've also taken 104 prisoners." Cloudtail added to the report. Smallear nodded with approval. He then turned to Fireheart where they were getting information from the prisoners.
"Any information from the prisoners?" Smallear asked Fireheart.
"Yeah, they said Sasha had escaped Metz before we were able to take the train station, she managed to slip under our noses again." Fireheart told Smallear what he learned from the interrogation.
"That son of a She-cat has us on the run after her. She's one little slippery serpent. Don't know where she will be." Smallear told Fireheart about it. The Shadowclan prisoner muttered something as Ashpaw turned to them.
"It gets worse, they lost contact with her as she left her tags here." Ashpaw mewed. He handed Smallear the collar that Sasha was coded by. "She must've slipped them off." Smallear was now worried about this. "She can be anywhere at this point." Smallear clutched the collar.
"Why did Blackfoot and Sasha come to Metz in the first place?" Smallear asked as that question was lingering over his head. The Shadowclan cat mewed as Ashpaw began speaking.
"Well the prisoner said that Blackfoot had family in Metz and he wanted to get them out before they became trapped." Ashpaw mewed the answer to Smallear. Smallear nodded as he wanted to have a word with Fireheart.
"I would like to speak with the sergeant." Smallear told them. Smallear got up and began to walk away, Fireheart followed him into another room.
"What is it Smallear?" Fireheart asked when they reached the room.
"I've gotten some words from Bramblekit as he wanted to talk to me and I wanted to tell you about this but Bramblekit wants to be trained under you. I think it's about time he starts seeing the frontlines for the first time." Smallear told Fireheart that he should get ready to train another rookie.
"Me? Train Bramblekit? Bluestar would think only a mad cat would do that." Fireheart mewed to Smallear that he wasn't too sure about this, or would it work.
"I'm sure about it. I've heard him say he's looking up to you and wishes to train under your guidance. When Bluestar comes back, bring this news to her." Smallear instructed Fireheart to train Bramblekit and give him some frontline action. He also heard that Bluestar might be coming back.
"Bluestar's coming back? When?" Fireheart asked.
"Bluestar will be returning after Metz has been taken completely. However, this means we will be moving your platoon again. You've proved yourself with this month's worth of fighting so I'm sending you back to Germany but the elders will have to closely supervise you to make sure the operation is running smoothly. So no more fights." Smallear explained to Fireheart that this month's actions had guaranteed them the return to Germany. Fireheart nodded as he knew this news was great.
"I'll tell the others about this." Fireheart told Smallear. Smallear nodded and saluted to Fireheart.
"May Starclan's wisdom guide you." Smallear mewed. Fireheart nodded as he left the room. Things were slowly coming back together.
Metz fell on the 24th of November and so did Strasbourg. We were finally heading back to Germany and being with Bluestar again. However, Bluestar wasn't going to be the same compared to when she started out to be when we landed on the beaches of Normandy.
Thunderclan's spirit was going to be lost in the forest of black pines.
We have been on the road again and we have been transferred to the Hürtgen forest. It has only been days since we last left France but even we were exhausted. Bramblekit and Tawnykit getting promoted into our ranks will boost our strength somewhat but I don't know if the mental state of the platoon was going to hold up. Smallear thinks we're on the verge of the biggest operation, getting supplies through the forest of black pines.
Fireheart was in his cot bored as ever. Graystripe was sitting on a crate, cleaning his grease gun while they were discussing what Smallear had said while they were in Metz
"I heard Smallear was telling you when you should train Bramblekit. Tawnykit would also make an excellent addition but we don't know who will train her?" Graystripe began. Fireheart was rocking his pencil from side to side.
"Who do you think should train her?" Fireheart asked as if he needed any ideas.
"What about Sandstorm, she hasn't trained a rookie as of yet." Graystripe asked. Fireheart froze, even though the prospect of Sandstorm training a rookie on the field might sound promising but he feared this will have repercussions.
"I wouldn't allow her, Tigerstar might maul her if she is alone with Tawnykit." Fireheart mewed. Sandstorm was listening to this as she recoiled into a defensive stance.
"I can handle my own, thank you very much." Sandstorm replied. She got up and walked away feeling left out. Fireheart looked at Sandstorm as he felt bad for her.
"Wait Sandstorm, I can explain, I'll give you one of Willowpelt's recruits." It was too late, Sandstorm had already walked away.
"Also Darkstripe has been acting odd, almost if he pledges to his Fuhrer." Graystripe told Fireheart what was strange about what was strange about Darkstripe.
"Yeah what else is new, Darkstripe's Fuhrer is probably Tigerstar." Fireheart bluntly told Graystripe he simply didn't care about this. Fireheart decided to take a look around but he didn't spot anything that would interest him or anyone. He lifted his head back up to Graystripe. "Have you seen Cloudtail?" Fireheart asked as he seemed worried out his nephew's whereabouts.
"Oh, he said he was going to help Brightpaw out shooting with the one good eye she has. Princess is also visiting and she was shocked when she found out Cloudtail's girl has only one eye." Graystripe told Fireheart about where his nephew and sister were. Fireheart got up with Graystripe following him. "I guess that got you on your paws." Graystripe giggled with excitement.
Cloudtail was teaching Lostface to fire with her left paw instead of her right as her right eye had sadly been lost. Cloudtail was also holding Lostface's carbine to make sure she was shooting straight.
"Okay, maintain your stance and fire when ready." Cloudtail told Lostface that she could fire the rifle when ready. Lostface fired the rifle as the bullet knocked over another can. "Hooray Brightpaw you've done it." Cloudtail hugged Lostface as if he was training her like he would train an apprentice.
"It's going to take a bit of getting used to as I'm not that dominant with my left paw like your right paw." Lostface mewed to Cloudtail. She then hugged Cloudtail as the former had been completely surprised by this. Princess looked on as Fireheart and Graystripe arrived at the makeshift range.
"Oh, you're fine, any of you hurt?" Fireheart asked. Princess turned over to see her brother.
"We're fine." Princess responded. Fireheart looked around as he wanted to see why it was just Princess and only her.
"Where's Smudge?" Fireheart asked.
"Smudge is with another platoon a few miles behind us. He wanted to get pictures." Princess responded. Fireheart nodded. "Yeah, tell that to Fernpaw who is trying to fix her camera, her's broke a day ago." Fireheart mewed to Princess.
"If Fernpaw can't fix it, I can tell Smudge to get her a new one so she can continue taking pictures." Princess offered to get Fernpaw a new camera if hers wasn't working.
"That was nice of you Princess." Fireheart mewed to her while they sat down. Cloudtail turned with Brightpaw as he had an announcement to make.
"Well I've been thinking about this for a while being here while we rest up and…" Cloudtail began to speak as he was feeling uneasy about it. What was it that he had to say? Fireheart looked at his nephew trying to read his expression. Cloudtail gulped with anxiety but Fireheart was being patient to see what he had to say. "I want to marry Brightpaw by the time this war is over." Cloudtail blurted it out.
"Hey, looks like my son's got a girl he likes." Princess smiled as she found out about this. She turned to Fireheart. "Anyone you want to marry?"
"Princess, I don't know how to really say this, I'm only six years older than Cloudtail. I'm the youngest in the family and you're the oldest. Cloudtail's found someone he likes and is moving on with life faster than I could account for." Fireheart told Princess as he was feeling uneasy about this. Princess' ears drooped as she began to think: Who was it that Fireheart liked a lot?
"What about Sandstorm, does she like you?" Princess asked Fireheart if Sandstorm liked him.
"Yeah she does. She wanted to have a rookie to train but I didn't want her to, she got mad and walked out. I didn't want her to have an apprentice to train as I'm worried about what would happen if she was alone and Tigerstar found her." Fireheart told Princess about his relationship with Sandstorm. Princess began to think before she began to speak.
"I'm glad you're looking out for her, you're both roughly around the same age. I would like to see you two get together much like my son is with Brightpaw." Princess told Fireheart that he should give Sandstorm a chance. Fireheart began to think as he spoke again.
"Okay, you have my word." Fireheart told Princess. A honking sound was heard as Goldenflower pulled into the makeshift camp that Thunderclan had set up in the Hürtgen forest.
"Thunderclan's leader has returned to the platoon and we would wish her a warm welcome." Goldenflower began. Fireheart and Princess got up to investigate what was going on.
"She has, how is she feeling?" Fireheart asked as he approached Goldenflower. Goldenflower looked at Fireheart while Bramblekit and Tawnykit looked on with excitement.
"That is something I don't want to talk to you about. You need to ask her about that yourself." Goldenflower told Fireheart that he needed to speak to her himself. Firehear nodded.
"I'll see what I can get out of her." Firehear mewed. He then left Goldenflower to speak to the leader about it. Fireheart made his way to the rear of the truck column to see the slouched down leader standing there with her Thompson slung downward, eyes heavy and paws shaking a bit.
The leader that was in poor shape was Bluestar.
[A/N]: I'm leaving this on a cliffhanger as this would have consequences moving on in the next chapter going forward. This chapter was a lot less combat and more about the plot and filler. Smallear is setting the scene up for the next couple of chapters to come.
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