Night came fast in Mogadishu. The dim sun sank into the labyrintine buildings and night rushed forth from the earth. The soldiers of Alpha squad began showing signs of life as night descended on the city.
"Alright, scan the streets," Ivan whispered to Heliang.
The soldier took out his DysTek Pulse Meter and scanned the streets below. It came back empty.
"Clear," Heliang turned to his squadmates.
"Let's move," Ivan motioned toward the door and led his squad downstairs.
The five soldiers spread themselves out under the cover of night, their black uniforms blending into their surroundings. Selecting a nearby building, Ivan placed an objective marker there. Four acknowledgement lights flashed in his HUD as his squad began moving.
"Hold up," Zhang Yi's voice drifted through the street. "They might have a decoy to jam the pulse meter."
"What?" Heliang whispered, "I thought those things could only jam UAVs"
"If you modify it," Zhang Yi replied, "You can also jam pulse meters."
"Shit, what do we do?" Viktor asked.
"Leave it to me," Zhang Yi replied as he took out a grenade.
"Whoa whoa whoa," Ivan motioned, "we're not tossing that!"
"Didn't plan on tossing it," Zhang Yi said as he unscrewed the top of the grenade and emptied out the powder.
"Are you gonna throw that at me?" Heliang asked.
"Do I look like Kush to you?" Zhang Yi replied tersely as he shook out the last bit of powder. "Viktor, I need your IDS."
"What for?" Viktor asked as he took out his Infantry Detection System, a small, handheld computer that worked like a UAV but at a reduced range.
"Just give me the damned thing," Zhang Yi turned around.
"Alright," Viktor shrugged as he handed over the IDS.
Zhang Yi took out the radar system and inserted it into the device, which hummed on and lit up the surrounding area.
"Put the damned thing down!" Ivan hissed as he went prone to avoid possible detection.
"Hold on," Zhang Yi replied as he turned the IDS upside down. Taking out his combat knife, he began hollowing out the grenade.
"What are you doing?" Viktor asked.
"Making a half cone," Zhang Yi explained as he jammed the IDS into the grenade shell. "It'll boost the range as well as the signal strength from the IDS. If there's any decoys up there, we'll spot some kind of movement."
"You sure it'll work?" Tanya slid over.
"If it doesn't," Zhang Yi replied as he pushed the IDS deeper into the grenade, "I'll open-mouth kiss Heliang."
"Your words," Tanya whispered.
"Trust me," Zhang Yi smiled behind his sniper mask as he tossed the grenade into the nearby building.
"Alright, it's starting to scan," Viktor whispered.
"Nothing," Ivan noted, "looks clear."
"Wait," Tanya whispered, "I saw a red dot."
"You sure?" Viktor asked, "I didn't see anything."
"Heliang, scan," Zhang Yi ordered. "With the IDS helping, the Pulse Meter ought to be able to overcome the jamming."
"On it," Heliang replied as he raised the pulse meter.
Just then, a boom rang out and Heliang's hand, along with the pulse meter, exploded in a shower of blood and metal.
Zhang Yi reacted the fasted, pushing him to the ground and covering his mouth to prevent the nearby hostile troops from hearing the scream.
"Shit," Ivan whispered, "they're in the building."
"Dammit, come here and help me patch him up," Tanya hissed at Ivan as she threw down her medical hub and took out a syringe of anesthetic.
"What do I do?" Ivan asked.
"Grab his wrist, put it above his heart," Tanya ordered as she injected the anesthetic into Heliang's arm.
"I'll act as lookout," Viktor volunteered as he picked up Heliang's Shuko.
"We need to get him inside the building," Zhang Yi said, "We're easy picking for the sniper."
"We can't move him yet," Tanya said, "his hand needs to be stablized."
"It's either his hand, or his life," Zhang Yi asserted, "We're moving him."
"Hold on," Tanya hissed. Picking out a steel band from the hub, she bent it to make a temporary cast. Then she took out a roll of bandages and wrapped it around Heliang's hand. Molding the cast around the bandage, she then applied an antibiotic paste around it to keep out infection.
"Can we move now?" Ivan asked.
"Yeah, let's go," Tanya nodded as she and Zhang Yi picked Heliang up.
As they retreated into the building, murderous gunfire broke out from the building opposite them, tearing into windows. Viktor sprayed the Shuko back with limited effect. The gunfire ceased for a brief five seconds before resuming with vengeance. That window of five seconds was enough for the five soldiers to get themselves inside the building.
Once inside, Tanya took the temporary cast off and applied a unit of hemostatic gel on the bullet wound. After examining the extent of the injury, she began resetting the bones.
"Hold still," she warned, "if you move the wrong way you'll lose this hand."
"How about another round of anesthetics?" Heliang suggested.
"We need to conserve those," Tanya replied, "Just tough it out."
"Easy for you to say," Heliang looked down at his shattered hand.
"Hey!" Tanya exclaimed, "Eyes on me. Keep your eyes on me. Stop looking at it."
"Um guys," Zhang Yi turned around from the window. "The enemy Titan is coming closer, I think we're about to be in range of their undercarriage guns."
"Not a problem," Viktor dropped the Shuko and shouldered his Sudnik.
"Put that thing away!" Ivan hissed, "if you shoot it, they'll have a fix on our position."
"Sir," Viktor said as he selected his Sudnik to Guided Fire mode. "I think they know we're here, that's why I'm going to knock out those guns."
The Titan lumbered toward the building, its green shield was inconsistant with the EU's blue shield. That only meant one thing: this Titan belonged to the African Union Enforcer Corp. This Titan wasn't a standard assault Titan, it was configured differently. While it still had the four undercarriage cannons and two anti air cannons, this one also had two EMP cannons to neutralize both ground and air attacks.
Colonel Asim al-Rahhbi stared at his weapons console. Ground teams have just confirmed that there are Pan Asian forces in the building opposite them. His job was to make sure that building disappears. He was Sudanese, born during the Religious Wars and hardened by the brutalities he saw. When the Cold War started and the armies of Pan Asia began their march toward his home, his government had called on him to fight. He remembered the first time he sat at the controls of a Titan. He remembered the first time he pressed a simple button and watched as the ground beneath him turned into dust as if the fist of Allah itself had been brought down upon it. And now as he stared at the building coming into the sight of his cannons, he began praying that Allah would forgive the souls of the infidel trapped within the target building.
"Sir, we don't have time," Viktor urged.
"Dammit we're not firing," Ivan pressed his face against Viktor's. "We can't risk being detected."
Just then, Ivan felt something nudge against his helmet. Turning around, he looked into the barrel of a gun.
"Viktor," Zhang Yi said calmly as he kept the gun trained on Ivan's head, "fire at the Titan."
"Zhang Yi, what the hell are you doing?" Ivan asked, trembling.
"Keeping you from killing all of us," Zhang Yi replied. "Unlike last time, this gun is loaded. I checked."
"This is treason!" Ivan barked.
"Is it?" Zhang Yi asked. "Is protecting the lives of soldiers so that they can fight for their homelands considered treason? Viktor, engage the Titan!"
"Yessir," Viktor turned around and aimed the Sudnik at the Titan. The missile ejected from the launcher, guided by the computer on the launcher.
al-Rahhbi's finger hovered over the fire button. The building was coming closer and closer. Suddenly, a brilliant flash flared up from that building and his screen went black.
"Direct hit!" Viktor exulted, "it'll be a while before the engineers on that Titan could fix the cannon, and the other cannons can't reach us at the moment."
"Good shot," Heliang smiled despite his wound.
"Alright Ivan," Zhang Yi lowered the pistol, "where do we go now?"
"You tell me," Ivan replied coldly.
"Are you relinquishing your command?" Zhang Yi asked.
"With squadmates like you?" Ivan jabbed his finger in Zhang Yi's chest, "Do I have a choice?"
"Fine," Zhang Yi replied. "Heliang, can you still shoot?"
"I think so," Heliang replied as he raised his left hand.
"Good," Zhang Yi nodded. "Take Viktor's Malkov and he'll take your Shuko. We're going out the back door. Let's move."
The squad grunted their acknowledgement and proceeded downstairs. Five minutes later, they were positioned at the foot of the building, ready for further orders.
"Alright, the IDS is still transmitting, we're going there," Zhang Yi whispered, "Still got any stun grenades?"
"Two more," Viktor checked his inventory, "Should be enough."
"Right," Zhang Yi muttered, "on my mark."
Nearby, a dog wandered onto the ice cold street, barking as gunfires rang out in the distant parts of the city. The wind blew dusts in graceful swirls. The massive Titan in the air was turning, trying to get the entire squad back in its gunsights. The cold wintry air wrapped itself around the buildings, the trees, and the streets as a cloud parted and revealed the moon shining on the ancient city.
"Go, go, go!" Zhang Yi hissed as the Titan turned just enough to block the moon's bright light. Alpha squad dashed through the street to the opposite building. Unlike the last time, no gunfire greeted them. Instead, they were met with silence.
"Alright," Zhang Yi said as he leaned against the wall, "let's go in, slowly. Follow my lead."
Switching on his night vision, Zhang Yi slowly crept toward the door and opened it. The hinges were old and they creaked as the door opened. The soldiers of Alpha squad dropped to their knees as the sound permeated through the streets. The dog stopped barking and turned its head toward the sound of the noise.
"Smoke screen!" Zhang Yi turned toward Ivan, who tossed the smoke grenade into the door.
The cloud of smoke was just enough to cause the African soldiers within the building to make one fatal mistake: yell.
"Alright, they're in there," Zhang Yi confirmed as he pulled the pin on his grenade and held it. Two seconds later, he tossed it inside and smiled with satisfaction when he heard the screams of those who were unfortunate enough to be caught in the blast.
"Storm it!" Zhang Yi announced as he waved the squad in.
Ivan was the first one to charge in, his Voss barking as it spat out the bullets at the dioriented Africna soldiers. There was a hole in the ceiling and a gun barrel poked through it.
The Shuko in Viktor's hand roared, knocking the soldier upstairs backwards.
Tanya's Krylov fired in bursts, bringing down a burly European captain directing the tiny fireteam.
In three minutes, the building had been cleared.
"Alright, we're still fairly far from the silo," Zhang Yi said, "but the firefights are getting closer. It means we're approaching the main battlegroup."
"How's that Titan?" Ivan asked.
"Shouldn't be a problem," Zhang Yi replied as he brought up his map. "Alright, there's some good cover all the way to the silo, let's take the next three streets."
"Where's the main battle group?" Heliang asked.
"About two klicks from the silo when we landed," Zhang Yi replied. "From what I'm guessing, the silo's probably already under our control, but there should be some forces there as guard."
"Alright," Ivan declared, "let's move then."
The five soldiers got up and shouldered their weapons. Creeping through the streets, they weaved through the myriad of buildings, bringing them closer and closer to the silo. Taking position at the building roughly half a klick away from the silo, Zhang Yi raised his hands and kept the team at a standstill.
"Enemy sniper, dead ahead," he whispered, "Spread out and stay low."
Peering through the scope of his Park 52, Zhang Yi turned on the infra-red function. Immediately the world became bathed in a false color spectrum, and the target became a mass of red among a dark blue background.
"Viktor," Zhang Yi whispered as he kept his eye trained on his scope, "toss a stun grenade."
"Why?" Viktor asked, not willing to part with his last grenade.
"It'll make a sound while I shoot," Zhang Yi replied.
"Wouldn't that draw the attention of whatever else is here?" Ivan asked.
"Maybe, but we're close enough to the building to make a run for it," Zhang Yi adjusted his scope.
"Sounds like a bad idea," Viktor breathed.
"Fine then," Zhang Yi grumbled, "we'll wait for an explosion."
Just then, a rumbling sound permeated through the streets.
"What's that?" Heliang asked.
"Oh shit," Zhang Yi turned, "get inside the building!"
"What is it?!" Ivan asked.
"Tanks, four of them!" Zhang Yi replied.
"Four?" Ivan asked.
"Four," Zhang Yi confrimed, "you can usually tell by the irregularity of the sound their treads make. Get inside the building, I'll handle the sniper."
The four squadmates hurried toward the building to take shelter. Zhang Yi remained behind, his body swallowed by the night. The enemy sniper was still looking around, not paying attention to his surroundings. Zhang Yi placed the crosshair between two particularly bright red dots: the eyes. The rumbling of the tanks grew louder, but the soldier didn't seem to hear them, his eye was focused on his target. The rumbling grew loud enough so that the target turned to see the commotion. That gave Zhang Yi his chance.
A shot rang out, unheard because of the rumbling.
A body fell, unnoticed in the night.
A shadow moved through the streets into the building, unnoticed by the patroling tanks.
"Alright, those tanks are gone," Zhang Yi's voice drifted through the shadows.
"Jesus!" Heliang jumped, "don't do that!"
"If you paid more attention, you would've noticed me," Zhang Yi chuckled as he led the squad outside. The stillness of the streets greeted them while the four Tiger tanks plowed away from them.
The silo was unguarded, upon inspection by Viktor, it was declared that the silo was under PAC control. Satisfied with the findings, Ivan turned on his radio
"Alpha to main battlegroup," Ivan said, "We are at presumably silo four near the center of the city. We have lost contact with the main battlegroup and are requesting a rendevouz point."
"Copy that alpha," a voice crackled over the radio, "this is main battlegroup, we'll be rendevouzing at the main statue. Be advised, we have reports of African Union Enforcer Corp fireteams hidden within buildings. Recommend holding silo and awaiting transport."
"Understood," Ivan replied, "We have no sentry gun, and our supplier is injured, we may not be able to hold our ground here. How fast can you get us our transport?"
"We can spare one Yastreb, assuming anti-air abilities have been completely neutralized," the voice said, "ETA four to six minutes."
"Roger that, will wait for transport, alpha out."
"Well," Zhang Yi said, "looks like we're in for one wild night."
"No kidding," Heliang grumbled as he watched a missile fly out from the silo and arc gracefully toward the distant enemy Titan.