It was hard to hear it over the sounds of gunfire and explosions, but the rhythmic thumping of a Helicopter's rotors slowing was evident behind them. A pair of AH-1Zs had just touched down at Marine Corps Base Hawaii for resupply, their Rocket Pods and Missile Racks empty. It was the third day the base had been under siege by what could only be described as otherworldly enemies. They had advanced weapon, ridiculously tough armor, and employed tactics that baffled the commanding officers of the human resistance on the island.
Sergeant Jim Tant ducked down as a whistling rocket spiraled overhead, slamming down into the dirt around the small airfield behind his squad. Mostly home to VTOLs and Helicopters, MCBH's air-base could barely be called such, with the majority of aircraft operations being the domain of the Aircraft Carriers that operated in the Pacific. They'd fortified the perimeter with whatever they had on hand when word came that Pearl Harbor was under attack, under the assumption that MCBH would be a target at some point as well. Those preparations had paid off when the first enemies had appeared that evening.
Now, two days later, Tant estimated that they might be able to hold out through the night, maybe into the next morning, before the wall was breached. As he ducked down to exchange magazines in his rifle, he spared but a moment to watch servicemen scramble to mount new munitions on the Vipers. There was a shout, and suddenly he found himself on his back, the wall he had been standing next to shattered by some kind of high yield explosive. One of the alien infantry-analogues stepped through the gap before the smoke had cleared, arm mounted rifle pointed at his head.
His ears were ringing, but the very distinctive sound of an M197 Rotary Cannon spinning up forced its way through the tinnitus anyways, and before the alien could do more than pivot around to face the strange noise, it's torso simply...disappeared in a hail of 20mm HE. The bursts of cannon-fire continued for another thirty seconds, sustained as the second Viper joined its twin in suppressing any approach to the breached wall. Another infantry squad carrying sandbags surged up around the breach, and the Rotary Cannons trailed into silence, streaming smoke as the servicemen working to reload the helicopters surged back into action. Another Marine pulled Tant back onto his feet and gave him a once over and a thumbs up. No time for rest, now.
Written 10/01/21