Title: Code of the Griffin
Author: Knife Hand
Feedback: Constructive feedback appreciated, flames unappreciated
Spoilers: Nothing Specific, general for first few books.
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I do not own Hermione, or Luna, or Ginny, or Cho, or... I would buy them all but I am broke.
Summary: From a war ravaged future, someone is sent back in time to change the course of the war.
A series of grenade explosions went off on the other side of the gateway opening and First Squad moved through the gap, weapons blazing. Hermione was in the lead, heading strait in, while Harry covered to the right, both of their P90's firing in rapid, short burst, counterpointed by the heavier thumping of George's combat Shotgun as he covered the left. Ron and Fred followed them in, picking off any targets that escaped the fire of the others, Fred having swapped his heavy SAW for the greater accuracy of his pistol.
The seven defending Mystery troops were all quickly killed, either from the shrapnel damage of the grenade salvo or from the deadly accurate fire.
"Fred, George, take the towers, they'll provide good fields of fire." Hermione ordered. "Harry, Ron, dig in at the edge of the gate. Looks like these bastards don't have grenades, but we still need to hold here until the sweep teams have cleared the tent city. This is the only way in or out, so any Death Eaters or these bastards will try to break out here. Don't forget to check inward as well in case of enemy reinforcements."
The Western Apparition and Portkey site itself was quite large and under normal circumstances would have impossible to defend with just five people. The organisers had been extremely security conscious, though their intent was to contain rabid fans and stop gate crashers. An entire security perimeter had been set up around this entry point, complete with ditches, a twelve foot high fence and six guard towers, one at each corner and two flanking the gateway into the tent city. There were also a number of containment wards that prevented spells passing over or contacting the walls. It was the kind of fortification most ancient muggle militaries would have trembled at the though of trying to attack. But when dealing with crowds where almost every single individual is capable of destroying an ordinary wall with the flick of a wrist, these measures were considered nominal crowed control.
The practical upshot, as far as the Order was concerned, was that five magicals, well armed with modern Muggle firearms in addition to their wands, would be able to make any attacker pay dearly for any attempt to storm their position.
Luna and Michelle had set up their overwatch position on the fourth tier of the stadium. Luna was covering the southern team commanded by Cedric while Michelle was covering the two northern teams.
"Bones, sweep around to your left. Miller, the Mystery team is two rows east of your position; Bones' team is north of your position." Michelle said into the radio, scanning the North West sector with her Spotter's scope.
Luna swept the South West sector through her rifle's powerful scope. She saw four distinct flashes of movement. One was Sergeant Diggory, Corporal Hussey and Private Carter. The second was a group of ten Death Eaters. The third was twelve Mystery Troops. The fourth, barely visible even to Luna's trained eye and powerful scope, was Private Li, one of the Spotters in Luna's Scout/Sniper section and she was probably the best stealth operator in the Order. Private Kathryn Li had already taken out four of the Death Eaters and two Mystery troopers without either side noticing.
"Cedric, Luna. Over." Luna said into her radio, operating on a different frequency to Michelle and the Northern team.
"Cedric receiving. Over."
"Cedric, you have a Dozen Mystery Troopers to your North East and a half-score Death Eaters to your West." Luna said. "Scratch that. Eleven Mystery Troopers. Li just knifed another one."
Both Luna and Michelle were so focused on their tasks they failed to notice that their feet were touching and absently playing footsies with each other.
Cedric held up his hand to call a stop and knelt down into cover behind a tent.
"Li, hold position." Cedric ordered over the radio. "Hussey, Carter. You two head West and do hit and run on the Death Eaters. On my order use single shots and draw them North East. I'll hook up with Li and we'll use wands to draw the Mystery Troopers South West. Luna, keep us coordinated so that we can get them to engage each other. Then we'll ambush the survivors."
Cedric got confirmations from Li and Luna over the radio and nods from Hussey and Carter. Hussey and Carter moved off to the west, both slipping quietly into the shadows with their assault rifles raised. Cedric slung his M16 over his shoulder and drew his wand.
He sneaked through the abandoned streets of the tent city, carefully approaching the last reported position of the Mystery Troopers. At the clearing of a throat he spun, his wand raised.
"Another two feet and you would get your head blown off." Li whispered.
Kathryn Li was little and lithe, barley five foot tall, and her fine Asian features forming an exotic, ageless beauty and her long, strait hair kept back in a braid. The long form of her Sniper rifle was cross slung across her back, made look even bigger by her small frame and the strap crossed between her breasts, drawing attention to her small but well formed assets. Her wand was held firmly in her left hand.
In some ways Li reminded Cedric of Cho Chang from school. In their own way each was beautiful. They were both quiet and reserved under normal circumstances, although Li had a kind of controlled intensity that Cho lacked. Both were also very confident in physical situations, Cho on the Quiddich Pitch and Li on the battlefield.
"I am in position." Cedric said over the radio.
"All ready here, Sergeant." Hussey replied.
"Go. Go. Go." Cedric ordered.
Cedric and Li started shooting spells from the shadows at the Mystery Troopers while to the South West Hussey and Carter began firing into the Death Eaters.
The servant came in and bowed before the Master.
"Report." The Master said.
"Initially things went well, they achieved the objective. Then Her forces came into play. Team One is currently engaged with Her forces. Team Two is dealing with a remaining group of Death Eaters. Team Three is not responding and are considered down. What are your orders?" the servant asked.
"Activate Teams Four and Five. Have them take and hold Team Three's objective. Which team has it?" The Master asked.
"Team One, Master."
"Detail a member of Team One to break off and offload it to a member of Team Six. Team Six is not to activate. All else fails they can smuggle it out."
"Yes Master."
"Reloading." George called out, reaching around to pull out the last drum mag for his combat shotgun. "Last one."
After reloading George popped back up from behind the tower's parapet and levelled his shotgun at a closing group of Mystery troopers, the heavy round shredding two of them. He saw a number of the enemy falling back.
"Hold fire." Hermione called from her position down by the gate. "Ammo count."
"Last Mag." George called out.
"Half a belt." Fred said from the other tower.
"I'm Dry. Two clips left on my pistol." Ron added.
"Two clips." Harry said.
"Last clip for me." Hermione declared. "Ron. Make them count."
Hermione tossed two of her pistol clips to Ron. The clear space in front of the gates was littered with dead Mystery Troopers, twenty in all, from the three assaults they had launched so far. Everyone was getting ready for the next assault. Harry was binding a bullet hole on his thigh. Fred was checking his SAW for blockages. Then they settled down to wait.
They did not have to wait long. The troopers emerged from cover in a hail of bullets and spells. Fifteen of them charging across the kill zone, but the Order did not open fire until they were half way across the gap. Four were instantly cut down by the concentrated fire but unlike previous assaults they did not break. Several of the attackers dropped down into cover behind some of the bodies of their fallen comrades. But four of them kept coming. One was taken down eight feet away by a pistol round to the head from Ron. Harry and Hermione dropped their P90's and drew their swords.
George was not able to watch Harry and Hermione engage them as he had to duck into cover from the incoming fire. A few seconds later he popped back up to see the attacking Mystery Troopers under fire. Not from Fred. They were being flanked by the other members of the Order. One, who thought himself safely behind cover when his head disintegrated from Luna's sniper round.
From the South came Cedric's team, who came in with plenty of cover. Unfortunately for Sergeant Miller and Susan Bone's teams coming from the north had far less cover for them and the Troopers had a good defensive position behind a potion of wall that did not provide much cover to the gates but plenty from the new attack vector.
The Northern team attacked but did not have a good angle on the troopers. Kerry and McDonald made a break for another set of cover but they both got hit and fell. Neville and Marie St Clair tried moving flanking around through the tents. During one of the gaps Marie got hit in the shoulder but made it to the next cover.
"You ok?" Neville asked.
"Wi. It's a through and through." Marie replied. "Head on. I'll hold here."
Neville nodded and headed around the next corner and saw he was close enough to get a grenade in. Unfortunately one of the Mystery troopers had spotted his movement. He got the grenade away but his left arm, the only part of him exposed, was blown off.
Hermione pulled the sword out of the chest of the Mystery Trooper and looked around. The other two who had made it to the gate were dead, as were all the other attacking Mystery Troopers.
"Report." Hermione ordered.
The teams began reporting with injuries and casualties.
There were three dead. Privates Kerry, McDonald and Corporal Hussey. There were a lot of injuries, except for Luna and Michelle everyone had at some injury, but the worst was Neville's severed left arm and Skinner who had lost the lower part of her right leg. The process of cleanup was underway, the snipers having joined them after the battle, when they hear a rapid series of pops, the unmistakable sound of Apperation within the enclosure. All of the Order members, except those tending to Neville and Skinner, turned to face the gates levelling assault rifles or Pistols, if they had ammunition, or Wands for those whose guns were dry.
"Stand down." Hermione ordered when almost a dozen Aurors, including Amelia Bones, Susan's Aunt, emerged through the gates.
"What in Merlin's name are you doing?" one of the Aurors asked.
Amelia Bones, one of the most senior Aurors shot the jumped up little man a glare, her curiosity piqued by the presence of her Niece.
"We were doing your job. And unless you want to be shot, or go to prison, you are to formally apologise and address me as Lady Granger, or Grand Marshall." Hermione snapped at the offending Auror.
"Lady Granger. Amelia Bones, Senior Auror, Team Leader of Response Team Six. A Formal apology will be issued in writing and a formal caution will be issued to Provisional Junior Auror Fudge." The second in command of the Auror Department said. "May I request a debriefing from one of your… team, and offer any assistance?"
"You got medics?" Hermione asked.
"Nicolson. Front and Centre." Amelia shouted.
"Susan, go debrief you Aunt. Ron, don't even think of sniggering. Harry, take Nicolson to see to our wounded. Sergeant Diggory, Sergeant Miller, coordinate with the Aurors to secure the area and start processing the civilian evacuation." Hermione ordered.
"Well." The Master asked.
"Master. We lost all of Teams One through Five, but a member of Team Six managed to smuggle it out." The Servant said.
"Good. We will need to organise a memorial service for our honoured fallen." The Master replied.
"Yes, Master."
TBC...