Chapter 11: Totalis Bellum.
A/N: ok, so hi people, to make it short, the last chapter was the un-reviewed version, this one is the correct.
thank you all for your patient with me.
Wars can be fought with weapons, but they are won by men.
It is the spirit of the man led
And the spirit of the leader that leads to victory.
-George S. Patton
Somewhere on Palaven
'Breathe in, hold on a few seconds, breathe out.' The words of her instructor echoed in her head as she slowly adjusted the optical sight of her Cheytac Intervention sniper rifle.
"The enemy convoy has appeared," said a voice that filled her helmet. "Distance 4.6 kilometres. They're advancing slowly, preliminary scans show thirty troops and three light vehicles."
She checked her radar again, twelve people in total registered, every one of them a sniper. They were lying on the roof tops of buildings that led into the occupied city with a prudent distance within them. She gently stroked her wolf on the head, who was lying with his front legs crossed and his head resting on them, he seemed to lovingly lean into her hand and she withdrew it in surprise; she knew that the VI was programmed to be as realistic as possible, but she hadn't expected that.
"Enemy forces at 3.7 kilometres, they seem to be increasing their pace." The link went dead and reactivated again, "Shit, a tank. Widow, can you check it, please?"
"Affirmative, we have a tank," she replied and looked again. "Three to be precise."
"Shit," someone said.
"Overlord," said the leader of the group. "We request titan support; we have three tanks and not enough firepower."
"Negative," came the reply. "All titan divisions are currently occupied."
"Fuck," said the leader.
"And what about some thunderbolts?" proposed Widow.
"Good idea, Overlord, what about thunderbolts for air support?"
"Let me check, standby."
Widow checked her radar again. "Boss, we have a problem, the enemy is two hundred meters from the claymores, and contact is in a minute at their current speed."
"Shit. Overlord we need that support."
"Frontier, I have two thunderbolts on the air right now, I'm patching them to you."
The link went dead and reactivated a few seconds later. "Here Fox 0-1, we heard that you need some help."
"No, seriously?" replied the leader sarcastically.
"Calm down, we're fully loaded and should be there in two minutes."
"Understood," said the leader.
"The first claymore line have exploded, I repeat, the first line has exploded, fire at will!"
Widow choose his first target, the enemy was two kilometres. 'Easy' she thought with a grin on her face, she pressed the trigger and the weapon faintly moved, hitting its target directly in the eye. 'This is going to be fun.'
A minute later almost every enemy soldier was dead; the only survivors were under cover, not daring to move. Widow knew they were waiting for reinforcements, the only problem now were the tanks that were quickly approaching their position. They had futilely tried to fire onto them, but at their current speed, it was almost impossible to hit them then they heard powerful engines approaching quickly drowned out by the demonic sounds of two Gau-8s. The tanks were quickly destroyed and the planes double-backed to release cluster bombs, drowning the enemy in fire. Widow looked the destruction with joy, she never tired of explosions. The planes made a barrel roll and returned to where they had come from.
Another City on Palaven
"Hold the position!" someone roared.
"We have enemies on the left flank!" another one shouted above the sound of the metallic roars of titans charging at everything in front of them. Above their heads a turian and a human fighter appeared manoeuvring between the buildings, the human one chasing the turian, sporadically firing, a few seconds later the turian fighter exploded and crashed into a building.
"TANK!"
"Where the hell is that javelin!?"
His answer came when a missile was elevated to be fired, and moments later there was an explosion.
"We're out of missiles!" a soldier shouted.
"Dammit!"
The men took out their frustrations by firing onto a group of turians; taking this city was proving harder than anticipated, as the enemy had heavily reinforced the cities nearby the first conquered one.
"Where the hell are those helicopters!?"
"About five minutes!" someone replied.
"Shit!" he shouted.
The leader popped his head out from behind cover and saw the titans slaughtering the enemy, he returned to cover and saw some tanks approaching behind his platoon.
"Move behind the tanks and use them as cover! We're going to advance old school!" he ordered and everybody quickly obeyed.
Palaven: Lower Atmosphere
The only sound was the powerful engine of the AC-130; the cargo was two Ghost platoons.
"Two minutes, gentlemen," the pilot said over the intercom.
"All right, rookies," said the leader as he stood up. "Today's objective: destroy the base. The prize for completion is standard and consists of extra rations at dinner. We'll be making a HALO jump once we reach the drop point. Any questions?"
No one said a word.
"Ten seconds," the pilot said, the Ghosts stood up and formed on line. They were all staring apprehensively at the closed ramp, the leader moved to the door, looking at it.
"Who we are?" he shouted energetically, needing to pump up his men.
"Ghosts!" everybody replied with the same energy.
"Who can see us?" he asked as the ramp opened, showing the darkened land below.
"No one!"
"Go, go, go!" he shouted as he ran down the ramp, then jumping off at the last inch of metal. Behind him, he heard the joyous shouts of the Ghosts as they followed him into the sky. He grinned as he threw out his arms and legs, trying to do control his descent so he didn't fall too fast; he could begin to see the base outlined on the ground below, and a few minutes later he deployed his parachute, feeling the force of the initial deceleration. When his feet finally touched the ground, he rolled immediately and discarded his parachute once he was sure none of his bones were broken. Six of his men landed some meters at his right, he then grabbed his weapon from his back and trudged through the chest-high grass towards them, when he arrived he saw one of his men talking into a walkie-talkie.
"Alright... eh, the boss has arrived, you want me to do what? Ah, okay, hey boss!" He looked at Jasir. "Takeshi wants to speak with you."
Jasir nodded and accepted the walkie-talkie.
"Yeah?" he asked casually.
"Bad news Jasir," Takeshi says, getting right to the point. "We landed closer than intended, and it appears that they have detected us."
A cold sweat formed on the leader's forehead.
"Are you sure?" he asked, keeping his temper under control.
"I don't think they have activated the alarms to celebrate Chinese New Year."
Jasir couldn't suppress a chuckle. "Fine, we're going to do little of reconnaissance on a cliff that is about three hundred meters from our current position." He blinked and the HUD disappeared.
"Understood."
Daraes Frontline: Turian Side
The battle for the city of Daraes was one of the most brutal and toughest to date. The turian soldiers deployed to this city were the first to actually bring the human advance to a standstill, although at the cost of many tanks and countless soldiers. Now they were responsible for the more difficult task of holding the line until reinforcements arrived.
"What do we do now?" asked the second-in-command entering to their makeshift HQ.
"Wait," answered Cetios calmly as his second-in-command sat in front of him, Cetios was the person with the highest rank still alive, a lieutenant colonel.
"Wait for what?" he asked contemptuously. "Wait for humans to annihilate us? To bomb us to ashes? We need to attack now, before they can mount a proper defense."
"Do you really believe that would work?" asked Cetios, his tone seemed skeptical.
"Yes, if we attack right now, we would catch them unprepared and we could finally drive them away."
"And what do you think is going to happen afterwards?" continued Cetios as he slowly approached the other man. "That they are going to say 'oh, well we tried' and leave us alone? Or that they're going to surrender to us? In case you didn't know, we've never caught a live one. If we corral them, they activate a grenade and if they do not just commit suicide, they die fighting for their cause; so I'm going to ask you again, what do you think is going to happen?"
"I don't know," he answered a little fearfully, his superior now in his faces.
Cetios laughed humorlessly. "But I know." He headed back to his desk. "They are going to leave, I can assure you of that, but they are going to come back, and they're going to come back with everything they've got: mechs, artillery, aerial support, and possibly watercraft." He mulled over his words. "I must admit that bringing watercrafts was very clever, I never expected a FTL species to have that kind of vehicle. Right now, our only option is to hold the line." He turned back to his second. "Now get the hell out of my office, and prepare our men. It is going to be nightfall in a few hours and I suspect that they're going to take advantage of the night to try to advance."
The XO nodded and left the room just as a sniper rifle crack was heard in the distance, the power of the sound sent shivers down his spine.
On the Other Side of Palaven
For the last few hours, Jasir has been observing every centimeter of the foreign base with his binoculars, finding that it was surprisingly similar to the layout of a human base. He made sure to take note of the outside defenses such as the exterior fence and the sniper towers; he also took into account of who was part of the perimeter guard, cementing their faces to memory. He was pretty confident that this base, given its similar design, had an underground facility.
"Boss," said someone who neared him. "Takeshi said that they have about half an hour before their cloaks overload."
"Tell them to withdraw," he said without looking at the man. "I still don't understand why they don't do it before."
"They were waiting for the order," said the man amusedly.
"That explains a great deal," he said in a slight whisper before turning to his men, removing his binoculars. "Alright, here's the plan, when Takeshi's team is ready, we're going to get in by the north-west portion of the perimeter, and they'll be entering through the south." He then put two fingers in his left ear. "Do you hear that?"
"Loud and clear," answered Takeshi and he removed his fingers.
"Any questions?"
"What's the ROE?"
"No fire unless we're detected," said Jasir sternly. "And if that's the case, we pass to the second objective and get the hell out. Understood?" Everybody nodded. "Good, now cloak and get moving."
He activated his cloak and his HUD, the outlines of his comrades shown. He crouched down and as quickly as he could, he started to walk towards the point of entry. 'It's going to be a long day.'
Deep inside Human Territory: POW Prison
Leinx finds it difficult to walk with his hands cuffed and feet shackled, and that wasn't even mentioning the chains that connected the two; it was almost like a leash. As he walked down the dark, damp corridor he checked the cells to the left and the right, he found them rather dismal, only having a bed and toilet. He saw more turians in them, a few leaning on the iron bars across their cells, others were lying on the beds, and two or three were looking through a small barred window. After another minute of walking, the two human guards behind him made him stop and turn to face an empty cell, one of them pointed his weapon directly to his head as the other crouched to unchain him.
"Showers are from 0900 hours to 0930 hours," said the human pointing at him. "Lunch is from 1300 hours to 1500 hours, patio time from 1900 hours to 2000 hours, dinner from 2030 hours to 2200 hours, free time from 2200 hours to 0000 hours, and lights out from 0000 hours to 0800. All the time in between is spent in confinement." The soldier finished unchaining him during the second half of the explanation, but Leinx knew that if he said a word out of turn he would most likely be shot, so he just waited. "Are we clear?" Leinx nodded. "Good, open cell D-16," the soldier shouted, a second later the door opened.
Leinx began to walk in when he received a hard blow to the back of his head, most possibly given with the butt of a rifle, when he turned around he saw no one and the door of the cell was closed. He then heard faint laughter moving away from him, which confirmed his suspicions. When he stood up, he moved to the bed and sat down, finding it more comfortable than he expected, after shifting his position a little he stood back up and approached to the bars, he leaned his arms against the waist-level horizontal bar, he lowered his head a little. He thought about all that had happened between now and before, musing about how it had all transpired when he heard an all too familiar chuckle coming from the cell across from him. He raised his head and saw a pair of turian talons on the bars across from his cell.
"Everybody does the same, it's the only thing we can do right now," he said. "My name's Jax by the way, what's yours?"
"Leinx," said Leinx calmly only for him to release a strangled gasp of horror when he saw Jax's face. Until now Jax's head had been a dark spot, but now that he moved Leinx could see him properly; his two mandibles were missing, and guessing by the irregularities, he deduced they had not been removed with an instrument, and his left eye was missing as well.
"Wha... what the hell happened to you?" he asked in complete horror, Jax just laughed humorlessly.
"Interrogation," he answered.
"Really?"
"Yeah... they really know how to make someone speak; the majority in this prison has been interrogated. What's your rank?"
"What?" he asked, not understanding.
"What's your rank?" Jax repeated, more forcefully.
"Well, I'm a corporal," he said and Jax sighed.
"You're lucky, if you're a lieutenant or higher you're taken to interrogation," explained Jax. "The last guy that came out he had his leg broken in five different points."
A few minutes of silence followed, until Jax raised his head sharply. "Wait a second, how the hell are you alive? They never take someone who isn't a lieutenant or higher."
"I don't know," replied Leinx, slowly shaking his head. "They had us on a line and were executing us, when they were about to shoot me, one of them received a call, they knocked me out and I woke up on a ship an hour ago."
Jax chuckled. "You're a lucky bastard, you know that? Besides, it's going to be dinner in a few minutes, and the food is pretty decent, more edible than I thought for a prison."
Palaven
Jasir found himself a few centimeters in front of the fence, wondering how he was going to get through it.
"Smith," he whispered, looking to his companion, "did you bring the spray?"
A can fell in front of his feet in response. Quickly he picked it up and knelt down, spraying the contents at the bottom of the fence, he then handed the can back to Smith and pulled at the pieces he had just doused; the metal gave away easily and before long there was a hole big enough for a human to crawl through. Signaling his men, he went under the fence first, his unit following suit just moments later. Once they were on the other side, they hurried for the building just up ahead and Jasir hung back as he watched his unit run towards their goal; he pressed a finger on his earpiece.
"Takeshi, what's the situation?"
"We've crossed the fence, we remain undetected."
"Good, stick to the shadows; see you on the security room."
"Understood, Takeshi out," he said and the line went dead.
"Follow me," he said as he un-holstered his Beretta 92; according to the rules of mobility, a Ghost operative was allowed to carry two weapons of his liking with him and Jasir carried a pistol and a sniper rifle, a Remington MSR. After scanning his surroundings, he stopped and checked their location in regards to the landmarks of the base he had memorized earlier.
"Where is our objective?" someone asked, Jasir looked back with a knowing grin on his face.
"Honestly? I have no fucking clue."
"So, how we are going to find out?"
"Asking a local for directions," he said pointing at a turian who stood opposite their position. He signaled to his team to stand where they were, then he grabbed his knife and slowly approached the turian; in one motion he disarmed him, covered his mouth with his hand, and put the serrated part of the knife between two plates on the alien's neck.
"Shh," he whispered softly. "If I withdraw my hand, are you going to scream?" He used his omni-tool to translate his words to Kelish, making sure there would be nothing lost in translation and the turian shook his head vigorously. "Good, remember, a single shout and I cut your head off." He slowly removed his hand. "Where is the security room?"
"I'll die before I tell you anything," the turian replied harshly, Jasir moved the knife a little, drawing blood from his throat.
"Not too loud," he whispered, moving the knife a little more. "I'm going to ask nicely one more time, where's the security room?"
The turian knew he had only two options in this situation, so he went with the lesser of the two evils. "Fine, just let me get my omni-tool—"
Jasir cut him off as he buried his knife in the soft spot between two plates on his neck.
"May the spirits have mercy on your soul," he whispered as the turian started to drown in his own blood. When he was sure the turian was incapacitated, he dragged him around the corner, grabbed the turian's omni-tool, and attached a disposable cloak on his waist, the body disappeared moments later.
He turned on the omni-tool. "Alright, we have a few hours before this base turns to ash, and we still have to find the security room." He searched for a map of the base and cursed silently. "It's underground, of course it is. Takeshi, I have the location of the security room, stand by while I send the information."
"Understood," came the simple answer.
Jasir transmitted the data to the other man and afterwards, proceeded to drop the omni-tool beside its owner's body. He brought up the map on his own omni-tool and sent it to his men, initiating their march on the base.
An hour later
"What the hell happened?" Jasir roared to their hacker, the alarm nearly drowning out his voice.
"I-I don't know," he stammered. "The alarm activated on its own."
"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Jasir shouted. "Okay, okay, fuck this shit." He took out a small container of C-4 and attached it to the nearest wall. He saw his men looking at him with their mouths slightly open. "What the fuck are you waiting for, a fucking invitation? Do the same thing!"
This seemed to snap the men out of their daze and they all hurried to strap on a packet of C-4. Once they had finished, he signaled to his men to activate their cloaks. "Listen up, we are going to have to shoot our way out. Don't stop for anything while we run, if you fall behind, you die. Understood?"
"Yes, sir!" they replied in unison.
"Keep throwing C-4 while we run, I don't mind where they fall, just do it," he instructed and they nodded.
He pulled out his pistol, his men following his lead, and they began running. Their goal was the elevator at the entrance that would take them directly to the surface. Crossing the building proved to be less difficult than they had anticipated, the simply shot anyone stupid enough to cross their path. Once they reached the elevator, they all hurried inside and as it neared the very top, Jasir detonated his C-4 pack, which ignited a chain reaction within the building. As they ran out of the elevator, he heard his earpiece chirp and he pressed on it to see what was going on.
"Takeshi where the hell are you?"
"About to cross the exterior fence, and before you yell at me, I already contacted the Old Lady; she should be arriving in thirty seconds."
"Roger that," replied Jasir before killing the link. Less than a minute later, dozens of turian soldiers came upon their position, included in their ranks was a large tank.
"What do we do now?" someone whispered.
Jasir checked his watch, fifteen seconds left. 'Come on, come on.'
"Here the Old Lady," said the pilot of the AC-130. "I suppo-"
"We don't have time to chat!" Jasir said, holstering his weapon and running again. "I request CAS around my position, right the fuck now!"
At that precise moment, their cloaks deactivated, their one flaw revealed; they cannot work if the wearer is running at top speed.
"Fuck!" Jasir cursed their bad luck as some shots began to fly towards their position. "We need that support. Right. Now." he roared into his omni-tool.
His response was a series of 25 mm bullets, followed by some 40 mm, finally followed by a 20 kg solid slug of a nanotech alloy. This assault caused large explosions as they impacted the surrounding area, the volley was brutal and only ceased when the weapons required a recharge. Jasir and his men continued to run, their backs trained towards the fighting behind them; they didn't even stop after crossing the fence, and behind them, they heard the AC-130 destroy the base.
A Week Later
The situation on Palaven calmed down and the humans now had 15% of the planet under their control. Trenches were built on the fronts, alongside the killings areas where turian platoons were lured to and consequently annihilated. Most of the raids ceased, although bomber raids did continue, and there was the usual artillery sweep of the closest cities in occupied territory. The only battles were skirmishes between opposing reconnaissance platoons. The turians attempted to move forward on the front but all of their attempts proved futile. The war for Palaven seemed to be nothing more than an attrition war. At least for the moment.