Yesterday...
January 20th, 2028/Utzaila 14th, 790
Senivce Fortress, Zartosth City, Alnuska Province, Falmart
2200 hours
13th Platoon was once again tasked by the ITFA commanders to raid other military camps to weaken Augustus Empire's military presence in this province. Their last mission is when they raid Tramil Camp in Kaujai city which is located near the border of the Campotania region, the province on the northern of Alnuska.
As Sutton does not want to attract any attention to the enemy and the civilians, he asked Bazhenov and Wiggins to land their helicopters ten kilometres (6.21 miles) from the city and wait for his command. The platoon also got the additional support of two M142 HIMARS GMLRS with M31A2 rockets, two 9A52-2 BM-30 Smerch-M with 9M542 PGM missiles, two 2S7 Pion, and two M109 howitzers from the artillery brigade of Russian Ground Forces and United States Army; just in case the enemy got a backup reinforcement.
Before entering the camp, Sutton once again ordered Arakaki to take a position on the hill. But this time, he is accompanied by Lieutenant Soma who will provide some information about the surroundings to make his work less difficult.
For the 13th Platoon, today is their lucky day as the camp in this city is near the hill just like Tramil Camp one. So the assistance of a sharpshooter would be easier.
"From the intel that I got after we captured some of the Imperial soldiers, the Senivce Fortress holds as one of the strongholds for the Augustus Empire Army after the Skaondoir Fortress and the Kamieup Fortress in this province. Since capturing a fortress ain't easy, the high command said that this mission has to have at least 3-4 platoons." after Sutton said that, the 13th Platoon personnel look at the additional vehicles that contains the newly-formed 9th Platoon and 6th Platoon, "Say hello to your our new friends."
The 9th Platoon consists of the 1st Special Forces Group of Green Berets, Spetsnaz of Russian Airborne Forces, 72nd Brigade for Special Operations of Serbian Armed Forces, Night Tiger (夜老虎/Yè lǎohǔ) of PLA Special Operation Forces, Para SF of Indian Army, Tontaipur (Combat Reconnaissance Platoon) of Indonesian Army, Frogman Forces Command (Komando Pasukan Katak), and Special Forces Group of Japan Ground Self-Defense Force; while the 6th Platoon consists of Delta Force, 75th Ranger Regiment, JW Komandosów, 13th Parachute Dragoon Regiment of French Army, 707th Special Mission Group of ROK Army, 1st Rhodesian Special Air Service Regiment of Rhodesian Army, and Special Reconnaissance Regiment of British Army.
"Well, I don't have much time to tell all the personnel names. But the only thing that you need to know is that this company will be led by me and the other two commanders, they are Colonel Valery Prigozhin and Colonel Calvin Murphy." Sutton introduces the new two commanders to his personnel.
Then, Sutton continues to speak again.
"Listen everyone. We are the first units that were tasked to capture a fortress. So I should warn you all like always not to underestimate the enemy, and remember, capturing a fortress would cripple the Imperial Army presence. I don't know how many enemies out there but at least we could show these fuckers that we are being serious."
After saying that, Sutton pulls out a map that shows the whole Alnuska Province, he acquires that after the raid on Tramil camp, and he put the map on the door of the JLTV.
"Alright, the plan is simple. My platoon will move around and enter from the north side of the fortress. Then, I want the UAV unit to provide information about the amount of the enemy by launching your drone from this direction." Sutton said as he pointed to the ground below, "After the UAV detects the location and movement of the enemy, the snipers will kill the guards on the crenellations of the fortress, and we will start to move. "
"Then after Colonel Sutton confirm that he and his team have arrived on the west side of the fortress. We need to move quickly as we don't know if our comms will be interrupted if he enters the fortress. We will move to the north and the east side of the fortress. " Prigozhin explains his plan which has been accepted both by Sutton and Murphy, "Alright, me alongside Major Lei Long, Major Mirko Todorović, Captain Yulia Sianipar, and Sergeant Major Evan Rachmed will cover the east side while Major Eric Bassett, Captain Oka Shinji, and Major Raju Satwalekar cover the front side, or we could say...the north side."
"And for Lieutenant Colonel Murphy's units. You all will go to the south and north side too." Sutton continued, "Murphy?"
"Yes. Major Steven Gilchrist alongside Captain Charles Lafontaine and Captain Shin Dong-wook will accompany me to the north side. Then Captain Grzegorz Sroczyński, Captain Cody Barrett, and Master Sergeant Keith Foley will provide support from the south side." Murphy explained further about the plan.
"Any questions?" Sutton asked.
After he said that, a French soldier raise his hands, "Sir?"
"Yes?" Sutton responds.
"Do we need to call the artillery to breach the fortress wall? Or, do we have any methods to enter the place?"
"Good question." Sutton replied to the French soldier, "Since our platoon's successful mission in Tramil Camp. We have been using this grappling hook so we can climb on the wall." he said as he held the grapnel gun called GPHK-55, "But remember, we can only do this after the snipers eliminating the tangos on the crenellations. Now, any more questions?"
The 13th Platoon personnel alongside the 9th Platoon and 6th Platoon personnel did not say a word.
"Alright then. Let's roll out people." Sutton said, "We need to finish this so that the regular boys can do their operation to take over the city easily."
As the 13th Platoon, 9th Platoon, and 6th Platoon begin to move forward towards the fortress. The UAV units; led by Herkenhoff and consisting of seven people (Havildar (Sergeant) Suresh Praveen, Sergeant Michael Beasley, Naik (Corporal) Ishan Singh, Corporal Ricky Mujahid, Corporal Timmy Acosta, Lance Corporal Bruno Niedermayer[1, and Private Paul Beisheim), are deploying their newly upgraded Black Hornet-M Drone which could fly until two thousand meters and have a resolution of twice the quality of the Hasselblad H6D-400C camera.
When the four drones reached the area of Senivce Fortress; the drone captured several photos and all of those contains essential information for the ITSFG.
The first pictures contain the appearance of the wyvern cages. Herkenhoff could see that there were nine wyvern cages in the east side of the fortress. He assumes that there are nine or eighteen wyvern rider personnel inside this fortress. This would be the first objective for ITSFG to eliminate the wyvern before they got deployed.
The second objective comes when these pictures are sent to Sutton; the pictures contain the appearance of human soldiers and hybrid races such as Centaurs, Minotaurs, Wood Elves, Moon Elves, and animal humanoids (Volraldens, Kobolds, and Leonoids). According to the information he acquired from Lieutenant General Washington after he interrogate some of the Imperial soldiers, these hybrid races are the personnel of Knight of Inpavidus, one of the elite units of the Augustus Empire Army which consist of mixed human and hybrid races.
If the ITSFG could eliminate or capture these knights, it would demoralize every Imperial soldiers who were stationed in the fortress, and it would be easy for regular forces to enter the city.
The third objective and probably the last one is that some of the photos show a few Imperial soldiers raping some female teenager, Herkenhoff once again assumes that this could be a slave or prostitute from the nearby town, but he couldn't identify if this slave is from this world or our world, either way, they need to save her and the remaining slaves (if there is).
The column of ZBL-08[2] (one of it is a ZBD-08 Command Vehicle and the other two is a ZBD-08 Armored Reconnaissance Vehicle) that carries the 9th Platoon personnel has arrived at the east side. As the command vehicle stopped, all of the 9th Platoon personnel quickly exiting from the IFV and begin their operation.
Before they use the grappling hook, Prigozhin connects his device to Sergeant Arakaki and Lieutenant Timur Glazkov's earpieces so he could give a command to eliminate the Imperial soldiers from the vantage point of the castle curtain (which connected tower-to-tower).
"I need sniper support. Five tangos above us." Prigozhin communicated with both Arakaki and Saitov.
"Got it." Arakaki replied.
Then, Arakaki pulls the trigger of his new McMillan Tac-338, and just from a distance of two kilometres away, he manages to kill two Imperial soldiers. To finish the job quickly, Glazkov's DXL-5 Lobaev sniper rifle killed the other three Imperial soldiers.
"All clear." Saitov reporting to Prigozhin.
"This is Gusar One, we are proceeding to the next move, copy." Prigozhin tells Sutton.
"~~This is Golf One, we also have arrived at the west side of the fortress. Be careful, over.~~" Sutton replied.
Prigozhin briefly looks at the wall which probably has a height of around ten to twelve meters. Then, he shoots the GPHK-55 into the sky and makes the hook from the weapon stuck on the top of the fortress wall. He pulls the rope off the hook repeatedly just to make sure that it stuck perfectly.
"Major Lei, Sergeant Rachmed, use the grappling hook." Prigozhin ordered them so all the 9th Platoon personnel could enter the fortress quickly.
Lei and Rachmed use the grappling hook at the same time, then, they do exactly the same thing as Prigozhin did before: Pull the rope to see if the hook has been really hooked.
"Colonel. The hook has landed perfectly." Lei reported to Prigozhin in a heavy Mandarin accent.
"Good. Now, comrades. Follow me." Prigozhin waves his hand backwards. Then, he climbed up the wall and was followed by his men, "Be careful, dragons have good sense. So watch your step and keep calm if they start growling." he said while aiming his AK-15 equipped with 1P87 Holographic sight, "Keep your heads down, everyone. Don't let the other guards see us." he added as he knows that there still many guards that are still alive.
9th Platoon was lucky because the wyverns are still sleeping, they know that the wyverns are sleeping because they could hear the loud snoring of that creature's sound, and of course, with the help of thermal detection from the Black Hornet drone that showed what movement do the wyverns make.
As some of the 9th Platoon personnel reached the top of the 'curtain' of the fortress, Prigozhin ordered Lei to split up with Major Bassett, Captain Shinji, and Captain Satwalekar so that they can finish cleaning up this area quickly and save time efficiently.
Prigozhin ordered some of his personnel to follow him which are Major Todorović itself; then followed by Lieutenant Colonel (Подполко́вник/Podpolkо́vnik) Aleksandr Senaviev, Sergeant (Водник/Vodnik) Nemanja Eraković, Sergeant (Сержа́нт/Serzhant) Viktor Zinkovsky, and Lance Corporal (Разводник/Razvodnik) Matija Petković; while Major Lei followed by Sergeant Major Rachmed alongside First Sergeant (Sersan satu) Tiara Samosir, Sergeant (中士/Zhong shi) Gao Xizhe, Corporal (下士/Xia shi) Tao Binbin, Corporal (Kopral Satu) Dhaffin Fuadzi Prawira, and Private First Class (Prajurit satu). Alesha Pramuditha.
As Tiara approach one of the guard knights, she quickly subdues it while dragging the knight into the room where there is a stair that is connected to the lower floor.
When Tiara drops her body near the stairs, she curiously removes the helmet of the knight as she wants to know the face behind the mask. Turns out, the knight is actually a female. The female knight has short white hair with long strands to the left side.
"A female huh...I almost thought you are a male knight..." Tiara removes her helmet and mask, "Looks like you and I are not different at all..."
When the helmet and the mask from Tiara's face are removed, she also has short black hair that only reached her ears, thus why everyone, including his superior, Evan, thinks she is a boy rather than a girl.
"Tiara, kalau maneh mau pacarin tuh cewek, mending pas misi ini selesai, oke? (Tiara, if you want to date her, do it after this mission is finished, okay?)" Rachmed told Tiara to focus as he didn't want his men to get distracted.
"Oke, kakak. (Fine, bro)." Tiara replied with a sarcastic tone, then repositioned her Pindad SS2.
Rachmed fully knows the personality of his subordinates. His unit is actually composed of his old friends from primary school, junior high, high school, and even college. Thus why he knows how to control them during duty.
While viewing the surrounding view of this fortress with his binocular. Rachmed sees the column of Chinese ZTZ-99A2 and ZSL-92B, Korean K1A2 tank and Kia Armoured FTV; Japanese Type 16 manoeuvre combat vehicle, Mitsubishi Type 89 IFV, and Komatsu LAV; British Land Rover Wolf, French VBMR Griffon and Renault VBCI[3, Russian Z-STS, T-80BVM, and Ural-4320; Indonesian Pindad Anoa, Polish KTO Rosomak and LPU Wirus 4, Serbian BOV M16 Miloš and BVP M-80, and American International MaxxPro and Oshkosh L-ATV heading to the city while accompanied by two Agusta A129D Mangusta attack helicopter that owned by the Italians and three UH-60 gunship transport that owned by the Americans.
According to the information that Rachmed heard; the regular forces that were deployed to the city near the fortress are the:
- 2nd Infantry Division of the United States Army
- 1st Guards Tank Army of the Russian Ground Forces
- 12th Brigade of Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force
- 4th Infantry Brigade and Headquarters North East of British Army
- 72nd Group Army of People's Liberation Army Ground Force
- 9th Infantry Division of the Republic of Korea Army
- 6th Light Armored Brigade of the French Army
- 5th Army Aviation Regiment "Rigel" of the Italian Army
- 18th "Żelazna" Mechanised Division of Polish Land Forces
- 1st Brigade of Serbian Army
- and 15th Infantry Brigade of the Indonesian Army.
Rachmed was glad that both the Italian Army and the United States Army were using black camouflage for the helicopters so that the enemies wouldn't know who was attacking them.
But then, the column stopped and the helicopters are begin to land in a safe place. They are waiting for the special forces to finish eliminating the backup troops from the fortress.
"This is Gusar One to Golf One, we have neutralized the guards on the east side of the fortress. We will proceed to the south side, copy."
"~~Copy, Gusar One, we have neutralized the north side too. We will move onto the west side.~~" Sutton replied to Prigozhin, while behind him, the 13th Platoon are tying the knights after making them unconscious. The 13th Platoon are very lucky as they fight against the guards without any disturbance such as wyverns or the sense from elves or other animal humanoids that have a good hearing sense.
"Alright, let's roll out, comrades." Prigozhin said as he led his personnel to the north side of the fortress. But he also ordered some of his men to stay to keep an eye on the captured knights so they won't go away.
As Prigozhin looks below him, he sees some of the guards still sitting and chatting near the wyvern cage.
Don't want to take the risk of waking up the wyvern, Prigozhin ordered his men again to use the tranquillizer gun on the Imperial soldiers, they were lucky that the Imperial soldiers were wearing Romanesque uniforms which makes it easier for the tranquillizer to hit their bodies.
Sergeant Zinkovsky and Corporal Valentin Eybozhenko insert a dart gun filled and smeared with benzodiazepines fluid. Then, they shot those Imperial soldiers with the tranquillizer rifle. As a result, four Imperial guards guarding the wyvern cages fell asleep and started snoring loudly while lying on the ground, even some of them holding their spears like it's a bolster.
"Сладкие сны. (Sladkiye sny/Sweet dreams)" Corporal Eybozhenko said after he sees the sleeping Imperial soldiers.
After clearing the wyvern stall area, Prigozhin's team alongside Lei's unit and Sroczyński's unit are regrouped and now standing in front of a door, which led to the south side of the fortress.
Rachmed carefully opens the door while holding his rifle with only one hand. After seeing that there is no enemy presence. He tells Prigozhin that it is clear for the 9th Platoon to move.
Through the hallway of the fortress, the 9th Platoon personnel keep their composure to steady their weapon in case they meet the enemy in an unexpected way.
"Check your corners. Make sure there's no one in there." Prigozhin said as he begin to lean to the left side while Rachmed to the right side.
When looking at the right side, Rachmed noticed that there is a stair that led to the bottom section of the fortress, he assumed that this could be the way to the dungeon.
"Colonel, I think..."
"A way to the dungeon?" Prigozhin answered before even Rachmed finished his words.
"Yeah, should we move this way first, Colonel?" Rachmed asked as right now it would be the best time to rescue the prisoners quietly.
Prigozhin sighed, from what Rachmed sees, he knows that the Colonel wants to end this operation quickly. But he feels that what Rachmed said is also correct. Since no one knows their presence, it would be good for them to extract the prisoners to safety right now.
At this point, just like before, Prigozhin ordered Major Lei and Major Todorović to stay on the position, while he and Rachmed will go to the dungeon to rescue the prisoners, "Major Lei, Major Todorović. Bring your units to go to that door." Prigozhin said as he pointed to the exit way of this hall, "Captain Sianipar, you stay here with your unit." then, he looks at Rachmed, "Follow me."
Rachmed follows Prigozhin from behind without any hesitation or complaining.
As they go deeper, they vaguely hear the sound of a man laughing and a woman crying. He knows what this means.
Before they reach the dungeon, Prigozhin takes out a Zarya-3 stun grenade from his pocket, pulls the pin, and then throws it to the room where the targets are located.
When the stun grenade falls to the floor, one of the Imperial soldiers stops raping one of the slaves and looks at the object.
"What is tha-"
Before even finishing his words, the stun grenade exploded and blinded eight Imperial soldiers who were guarding the prisoners.
Since Prigozhin is more concerned about the prisoner's condition rather than these Imperial soldiers. He alongside Rachmed immediately killed the eight Imperial soldiers with their rifles rather than taking them as prisoners.
One of the naked female elves begins to move away from the dead Imperial soldiers who just forced her to have sex with him, as the blood begins to flow towards her legs, she immediately moves her legs so that the blood will not reach her skin and starts to tremble.
"Check the bodies, there might be a key to unlock some of the locked cells." Prigozhin orders his personnel.
"I found it." Tiara replied, she then quickly open the other two remaining prison cells and start rescuing the slave inside alongside Rachmed.
"Hey, are you okay? Can you talk at least?" Rachmed said worriedly to the female human slave.
Tiara touch the neck of the female slave to check her pulse, and then she could feel the pulse beat with her fingers.
"She still alive, Sergeant." Tiara looks back at Rachmed.
"Alhamdulillah, bring her to the Komodo with Corporal Dhaffin and Private Alesha."
"Baik, Sersan (Affirmative, Sergeant)." Tiara replied as now she carried the female slave upstairs with Corporal Dhaffin and Private Alesha.
As some of the Indonesian and Russian troops were helping the slaves to get out of this place. Rachmed is scanning the surrounding on what kind of races and genders the prisoners that this fortress. It turns out, there are six humans and three elves. For the humans, there are four females and two males, while the elves are all females.
While inside the cell, Rachmed was horrified when looking at the 'counting days' sign on the wall that was drawn by the prisoners. Thinking if those slaves are actually one of the missing people during the Battle of Ginza, he feels terrible for not saving those people, not to mention it has been six months since their deployment in this world and they could only save these people now.
Then, Rachmed also notice that in one of the dead bodies of the Imperial soldiers, he could see an Omega wristwatch that was attached to its arms, which must be a war trophy for them from the captured prisoners from Earth. He walks to that certain Imperial soldier's dead body and takes the wristwatch, "Mind if I borrow this?" then he put the watch inside his pocket. After that, he pulls out his suppressed Pindad G2 and begins to shoot the head of the dead body of that certain Imperial soldier thrice.
"Hmph, you're still not changed huh?" Prigozhin said after he saw what Rachmed does.
"Oh come on, Colonel, they remind me of my foes during high school times." Rachmed replied.
Hearing that, Prigozhin could only shake his head and then remind Rachmed that they need to focus on the mission.
As they ascended from the dungeon, Prigozhin ordered the remaining 9th Platoon personnel to follow him, while the others carried the slaves to where the 9th Platoon vehicles are located.
Before entering the north intersection of the fortress; Prigozhin made a fist sign with his left hand which mean "stop" to his subordinates. He does that because he just hears a slow but loud whimper.
Then, from the distance, both Prigozhin and Sroczyński heard something, something that they and their fellow Russians and Polish couldn't forget that night.
"Пожалуйста...Хватит...(Pozhaluysta...Khvatit/Please...no more...)." said one of the female slaves to the Imperial soldiers who raped her. Without thinking twice, the 9th Platoon personnel who could hear that know that it must be a Russian citizen who become one of the victims during the Battle of Ginza.
"Zabierz ode mnie ręce, ty kurwo! (Get your hands off me, you whore!)." said another female slave in the Polish language.
At this point, both Prigozhin and Sroczyński don't know if he should stick to the plan or let his rage come out as he couldn't just sit down and let their fellow countrymen abused like that.
"Comrade Colonel, what should we do?" Zinkovsky said in a mix of confused and angry tones. Prigozhin knew that the Russian personnel in the 9th Platoon would react like that.
"We can't just let this happen. We need to teach them a lesson." Corporal Bogusław Adamkiewicz said to Sroczyński.
But in order to maintain professionalism and keep stealthy, Prigozhin and Sroczyński gives an idea to their personnel, only to his fellow Russian and Polish personnel.
"Please include me and my personnel in this ambush." Todorović said as he wants his Serbian unit to help because he and his personnel empathized with both his fellow Slav brothers.
"Well then; Senaviev, Zinkovsky, you two go with me. (Sergeant Nika) Kudrina, lead Major Todorović and the others to the upper floor. Мы устроим засаду этим ублюдкам (My ustroim zasadu etim ublyudkam/We'll ambush those bastards)." Prigozhin ordered Kudrina to lead both the Russian and Serbian troops upstairs, "Sroczyński, you and your unit will go with me." he said while leading the Polish troops.
After hearing the orders from her superior, Kudrina led the other Russian and Serbian personnel to the top floor. When they reach the top floor, the Russian personnel begins to take cover from the brick wall and wait for Prigozhin's order.
"This is just between us and them, you do not need to interfere." Prigozhin said to Rachmed, Bassett, Sianipar, Foley, and Lei.
For Rachmed and the others, this is the first time they saw Prigozhin in such a wave of anger. They could see that his eyes is full of hatred right after they heard that the slave is speaking in Russian.
In fact; not only they can feel the Russian rage, but they could also feel that both Serbian and Polish troops were angry after what they just heard.
Prigozhin alongside Sroczyński move to the east side of the South Intersection and starts taking a position.
"Herkenhoff, I need a report on how many enemies are in the South Intersection," Prigozhin asked.
"~~Copy that, Colonel. There are around one hundred and fifty enemy soldiers on the South Intersection.~~" Herkenhoff said while he operates the UAV.
"Are there any of those strange creatures in this area?" Prigozhin asked again.
"~~Negative, Colonel.~~" Herkenhoff replied.
Prigozhin feels relieved, and then, he begins to give a command.
"On my signal, comrades. Один (Odin/One)..."
The Russian troops begin to pull their AK-74M and AK-12's charging handle.
"Два (Dva/Two)..."
The Imperial soldiers still laugh out loud while they were raping those female slaves or watching their fellow soldiers raping them. The Polish and Serbian troops start aiming their FB Beryl and Zastava M21 at the Imperial soldier.
"Три (Tri/Three)."
Right after Prigozhin said 'three'; all the Russian, Serbian, and Polish personnel opened fire at their targets, and just in ten seconds, all of the Imperial soldiers in that area are wiped out. They didn't give any chance to the Imperial soldiers to scream for help or make a sound.
"All clear, Colonel." Kudrina reported the situation to Prigozhin.
"Good. Now, Zinkovsky, Sroczyński, secures her and the others. Oh; Sergeant Rachmed, could you ask your colleagues to regroup in here?" Prigozhin asked after he commands Kudrina to take the Russian prisoner and bring them to their BTR.
"Of course, Colonel." Rachmed replied, then he push the button on his earpiece and said, "Kepada semua personil Tontaipur yang ada di sini. Segera kembali ke tempat dimana kita berhasil menemukan para tahanan, Kolonel Prigozhin mau kita semua berkumpul kembali untuk merencanakan taktik baru. (To all Tontaipur personnel in here. Return to the place where we find those prisoners, Colonel Prigozhin wants us to regroup to planning a new tactic)."
"~~Diterima, Sersan.~~ (Affirmative, Sergeant)." Tiara replied.
Zinkovsky approaches the female Russian slave and touches her shoulder, "Ты слышишь меня? (Ty slyshish' menya?/Can you hear me?)."
"Ты... ты русский солдат? (Ty... ty russkiy soldat?/Are you...are you a Russian soldier?)."
Zinkovsky gently replied, "Да. Мы здесь, чтобы спасти вас и остальных.. (Da. My zdes', chtoby spasti vas i ostal'nykh./Yes, we are here to save you and the others)."
"О, Боже... спасибо... (O, Bozhe... spasibo.../Oh, god...thank you...)." the female slave said while crying as she hugs Zinkovsky.
Zinkovsky pat her shoulder to calm her down and make her sure that everything is alright, then he escort her to the location where the armoured vehicles of the 9th Platoon should be.
"Daj spokój, tu nie jest bezpiecznie. (Come on, it's not safe here)." Adamkiewicz said.
"Dziękuję...(Thank you)." said another female slave.
"Should we proceed with our next move, Colonel?" Lei asked Prigozhin.
"Of course. Follow me." Prigozhin replied, then he presses his earpiece, "For all Russian personnel on above, stay in there and follow our path."
"~~Roger that, Comrade Colonel.~~" Kudrina replied.
After Prigozhin receives the reply from Kudrina, Rachmed asks him, "Colonel. Do you have any idea why the number of enemies inside this fortress is...fewer? I thought they would have...100-900 soldiers in here."
Because Prigozhin's emotion is gotten a little better after rescuing the prisoner, he answers Rachmed's question without an angry tone, but still cold since he still can't stop thinking about how many of his people were used as a slave in this world.
"We have only seen the surface, Rachmed. They could be hiding in these rooms or underground. Attacking a fortress like this is not easy, especially since we don't have any accurate intelligence about this place." Prigozhin replied.
"Why didn't the high command send some...well...CIA or SVR or DGSE agents to infiltrate the place before we do this operation?" Rachmed asked again. He feels that this feels strange as sometimes the high command would cooperate with the intelligence agencies' heads.
"Probably because this is just a 'small fish' for them. Because from what I heard, instead of sending them here, they were sent to the capital of the Empire itself and some of the capital cities of other regions." Prigozhin said as he explained the reason why the intelligence agencies didn't do any infiltration in both Zartosth City and Senivce Fortress.
"Any reason why they miss this one?" Rachmed asked once again.
"I don't know. The only logical reason I could give to you is that maybe they think that the military could handle this easily without them." Prigozhin said.
"Fucking agencies...I kinda hate them, but in the end, we still need 'em." Rachmed cursed a little.
"Let's forget about that. Besides, we are special forces units, we are meant to be nearly equal with them." Prigozhin said, "This is Gusar One to Golf One. We have extracted the prisoners to the meeting point. How's your status?" he is now asking about the status of Sutton and his unit.
- West Side of the Senivce Fortress. -
2230 hours
"Urgh...grggh..." that Imperial soldier starts gurgling foaming blood from his mouth after Kutyakova stabs the soldier right into his throat and cartilage with his NRS-2 knife.
"Отдых в аду(Otdykh v adu/Rest in hell)." Kutyakova said while cleaning her knife with the cloth from the Imperial soldier she just killed.
"This way." Sutton said while adjusting his M4A1 SOPMOD Block II and approaching a huge wooden door in front of him. Knowing that not all enemies are taking a rest, which means some of the main doors are not locked, he opens it slowly and sees a path heading downstairs, to the west 'ground floor' intersection.
"~~This is Gusar One to Golf One. We have extracted the prisoners to the meeting point. How's your status?~~" Prigozhin asked Sutton's status.
"We are still on the west side of the fortress. So far, we haven't encountered the Inpavidus knights...how about you? Have you encountered them?"
"~~Nah, just a bunch of regular Imperial soldiers...~~" Prigozhin replied, "~~We are not lucky.~~"
"You say that like it's just another boring operation in Rhodesia." Sutton said while leaning on the wall.
"~~Well, sorry to make you upset, Colonel Sutton. But if we could encounter these guys right now, it probably will our mission here more easy and fast. You know how worried I was to face again those creatures. They have the sense that is outside our capability.~~" Prigozhin said, now using rank and last name instead of the callsign. He knows how deadly and annoying the elves' and demi-humans hearing ability or orc and centaur monster strength.
"That's why we need to be careful. Now hold on, Gusar One, I got tangos on my sight. We'll meet in the centre of the fortress, over." Sutton said, ending his conversation with Prigozhin, "Herkenhoff, this is Colonel Sutton, give me the situation report on the west side. We got hostiles in front of us and I want to know how many are them."
"~~Roger that, Colonel. The UAV caught thirty-six hostiles in front of your unit. There are...fourteen humans, five elves, four centaurs, four minotaurs, four tieflings, two Wolf-like demi-humans, two kobolds, and one siren.~~" Herkenhoff reported the situation and the details of the enemies. He has learned the fantasy races classification from his fellow colleagues from the regular forces, Staff Sergent Viermetz and Private First Class Kirstein.
"Almost equal to us...got that, Herkenhoff." Sutton said, "Starker, Nanahara, you two bring your squad upstairs. Once you get to the top, wait for my signal. Oh, and...watch your ammo."
"Affirmative, Colonel." Starker replied. Then, he led his German unit alongside Nanahara who are with his Japanese unit to the upstairs in silence but fast.
- West Intersection, Senivce Fortress -
2239 hours
Tyndhaios Lunalis hissed with a face that showed a bored expression in front of his subordinates.
Tyndhaios and his Inpavidus unit rested for two weeks after they participated in Fourth Imperial Repression Act against their vassals after some of the Empire-puppet countries; which are the Kingdom of Toumaren, Kingdom of Krupan, Kingdom of Suibbeneian, and Kingdom of Oruovia are declaring independence after saying that the Empire are useless for not overcoming the enemies from the other side and using their soldiers as a meat shield for Empire. Their unit was recently fighting against the Toumaren soldiers and managed to put the youngest son of King Hadunaric, Ditios Kossas, as he is more loyal to the Empire, and kill the eldest son of the king, Arikhios Kossas, who prefer to be independent of the Empire.
"Do you want a drink, Praetor?" said one of the male minotaurs to Tyndhaios, offering him a tankard of mead.
"Of course." Tyndhaios said, grabbing the tankard, "Thank you, Mukzius."
While drinking, Mukzius ask a question to his superior.
"Praetor, is there any chance that our unit will face the enemies from the other side of the gate?" Mukzius said.
"Of course. More precisely, we will have a chance to kill them, Mukzius." Tyndhaios said confidently.
"But, Praetor. Is it true though that the other-worlders are so powerful? I heard from the regular soldiers of the Empire said that three Legions were annihilated just in one day by them during a battle in Alnus Hill." Mukzius asked with a doubtful tone.
"Well, I think that's bullshit. Remember, it has been six months since our army retreated from the land that was on the other side of the gate, and the enemy has resided in Alnus Hill since then. There's a possibility that they spreading their propaganda to the locals." Tyndhaios explained his opinion.
Tyndhaios takes a sip of his mead again and then continues to talk.
"But we can't underestimate them. If they could bleed us, then they are dangerous foes that we faced just like those damn Warrior Bunnies, but that doesn't mean it is impossible to fight them. We need new tactics and plans. So far, the Empire fight against them in an open field...I think that we should fight those Other Worlders in the city or fortress like this place, they could be doesn't have any experience in...'closed-field' battles." Tyndhaios said, then he sip the whole mead and starts to talk again, "That's what I thought."
After Tyndhaios said that, every of his Inpavidus unit personnel were start listening to him.
"I agree with your words, Praetor and uh...can I ask you a question again?" Mukzius asked.
"Sure thing." Tyndhaios said.
"Sorry for saying this, Praetor, but if we lose a fight against them and then they somehow spare us, should we kill them as a chance?" Mukzius said as he want to know about his superior opinion.
"No, I will not allow it, if we put them in a good fight and we still lose, we shouldn't do that. It's the same as tarnishing our honour." Tyndhaios replied, "Look, I have seen what some of the other Inpavidus units do. They pillaged villages in the name of payment for their duty or killed innocent civilians who didn't do anything wrong, whether it was human or non-human. Now let me tell you, is that what Inpavidus stands for?"
"No, Praetor." Mukzius replied.
"Exactly. To me, achieving honour is not by always winning the battle, but by how we could learn from our mistakes." Tyndhaios said again.
After Tyndhaios talks, he sees one of his elf soldiers looking in an unknown direction.
"Natliatlin, what are you looking at?" Tyndhaios asked his female elf soldier.
"I sense something, Praetor. Someone that is not from Imperial Army unit or Adventurers..." Natliatlin said, then she pulled the string of her bow and aimed it at the door where Sutton and his unit is hiding, "I know you're in there! Show yourself!"
A few minutes ago...
Right after Sutton hears Tyndhaios's speech, he knows that this man could be useful as one of the "volunteers" or "indigenous unit" for the ITFA, even though he doesn't know personally about him as he only listened to his recent speech and not dig up more of his personal life.
"Starker, Nanahara, I will go face that Preator with myself, I ordered you to lower your weapons until I gave the order to shoot," Sutton said as he wants to face-to-face with the enemy unit leader.
"But, Colonel, you will get killed by them just in a second if you show yourself to them!" Starker replied as he worries about his superior.
"Trust me, it'll be okay."
Then, the 13th Platoon personnel could hear that someone from the Inpavidus Knight Unit that was in front of them are telling Sutton to get out from his hiding place.
"Wait until I give an order to you all," Sutton said as he now walks slowly to the intersection.
Back to present...
All Inpavidus Tyndhaios unit personnel begin to unleash their weapons and aim them in the direction where Natliatlin aim her bow.
Tyndhaios know what this means. Because during the time when Natliatlin is serving in his unit if she senses the enemy's presence, the enemy is right in the place where she pointing it.
"Hold your fire!" Tyndhaios said to his subordinates as he unleashed his sword.
From inside a small hallway, Tyndhaios could see a man in a very unknown attire raising his two hands while walking towards his Inpavidus unit alone.
"You don't look like one of ours or even elite units from Arpilae or Durosbiaca...who are you?" Tyndhaios asked.
"Who am I? I am just a soldier from the other side of the gate..." Sutton said calmly.
"What!?" some of the personnel of Tyndhaios Inpavidus unit are shocked.
"It's the enemy from other-world! We must kill him right now, Praetor!" Mukzius said while raising his huge axe.
Tyndhaios gives Mukzius and his subordinates a "stop" hand sign, and then he approaches Sutton.
"Interesting, a soldier from the other world voluntarily comes in here and surrenders to us..." Tyndhaois said while looking at Sutton.
"Yeah, sucks huh? Being the person from the enemy side who was one of its soldiers that kill almost a thousand Imperial soldiers and now somehow the person is surrendering to you?" Sutton replied, "But hey, at least by capturing me, you would get promoted and then receive money and women from your superior, right?" he continued as he try to be calm and do not want to reveal his colleagues quickly.
"Well, to be honest, I would bring you to the Head of Inpavidus Knight right now. But, after my years of experience in war, never I have seen an elite soldier would come to our place just to surrender...which means..." Tyndhaois then unleash his sword and pointed it to Sutton's neck, "You are in here not to surrender, right?"
"How could you know that I am an elite soldier instead of a regular one?" Sutton asked as he is really confused about how Tyndhaios can see the difference.
"Because a regular soldier would not come in here easily." Tyndhaois answered, "Now, answer my question. Are you in here to surrender or not?"
"Fine, you have revealed my tactic..." Sutton replied, "Boys, take down their weapons and don't kill them."
Soon after Sutton said that; the German and Japanese units of the 13th Platoon quickly open fire and successfully disarm the enemies. The 5.45x39mm and 5.56x45mm even make Mukzius' axe break into two pieces.
"One step more and my boys will kill you and your men." Sutton threatened Tyndhaios and his subordinates, "If you dare to take a step again, remember that you just see that our weapons can make your weapons break into two pieces, imagine what might happen to your body." he added again, "Ah, ah, ah. I can see you trying to use your magic." he aims his M45A1 CQBP at Natliatlin.
Then, after ten seconds of silence, which resulted in Tyndhaios subordinates were still standing and couldn't do anything.
"Before you want to ask me what am I doing in here or what do I want...I will answer that question to remove your curiosity." Sutton then take a short deep breath and said, "Let's say that I am touched by your speech before."
"What?" Tyndhaios was shocked, he couldn't believe that Sutton heard his speech without his knowledge, "You have been listening to my speech since earlier?"
"Yeah. You talk about honour and how you refuse to pillage a village like the other Inpavidus unit...now that's the enemy I respected. Hmm...how about this?"
After Sutton said that, he throws out his M45A1 and then took out the M4A1 magazine in front of Tyndhaios and his personnel. Then, he puts his bowie knife as a bayonet.
"Let's settle this with a challenge. If I win, then you need to tell the leader of this fortress to surrender this place to us. But if I lose, we will be the ones who surrender from this place." Sutton said while holding his rifle with a bayonet to make it look like a sword.
"So you want to do a duel sword against me? Well then, I always want to know the strength of Other-Worlder soldier..." Tyndhaios said as he started to take a position.
"Let us help you, Prae-"
"Leave us be, brother. This is a match between me and him." Tyndhaios said as he doesn't need any help in this fight.
"Lower your weapons, soldiers. You all don't need to be involved. You all just have to watch." Sutton said as he ordered his men to not interfere his fight.
Then, Tyndhaios and Sutton are walking in a circle for like three times. After they back into the same positon, both of them were charging at each other.
CLANG!
Trivial Fact:
1. The German KSK operator who participate in the "Raid on Tramil Camp"
2. ZBL-08 (commonly known as Type 08) is a family of eight-wheeled amphibious, modular armoured vehicles developed by Norinco for infantry fire support, battlefield logistics and quick reaction operations. It is a recent People's Republic of China-produced Infantry fighting vehicle for the People's Liberation Army Ground Force and People's Liberation Army Marine Corps. (source: military-today)
3. VBCI = Véhicule Blindé de Combat d'Infanterie (English: Armoured Infantry Fighting Vehicle)
A/N:
Finally, Chapter 10 is done! Sorry for making you waiting for two months!
So what do you think? Reviews are greatly appreciated! Also, since English is not my native language, please let me know if there is an error in my story! And also, if there is inaccuracy info about a military weapon & tactics, please correct me!
Thanks for reading my story, I hope you all like it and that this can turn out to be a good fic for you all.