Ambush
"The only courage that matters is the kind that gets you from one moment to the next."
- Mignon McLaughlin
It tasted bitter and strong, but it was quite possibly the closest "normal" drink to me so far in my time up here in the surface.
"You don't like coffee?" said Gerro, who sat across the table from me in the Janitor's lounge.
"I would have added some cream to this." I replied.
"Cream?" He asked.
"Um.. you know.. Milk?"
" Milk! Yeah, we used to add that stuff too."
"Where do you get milk from? Wouldn't that stuff expired like 200 years ago?" Gerro gave me a look that clearly reads 'You're a moron'
"We had bovine here you know."
I was lost at that... Bovine? I tilt my head confusingly.
"You get your milk from... Bovine?" I asked.
"Well.. Where do you get your milk from?"
I raised my finger and opened my mouth to retort, but I couldn't find any words to say. Where DID our milk came from? I never understood how we get any drinks, such as coffee, milk, juice and soda.. I guess after water gets filtered it can go through some kind of flavor system? I dunno, but I'm quite certain it goes through some kind of machine.
It's 3am. Day six after leaving my Vault. Most of the Lingerers have returned to the base in the tunnel. With them, they brought Knights of the Order who were scattered and trapped all across Paxton, adding to our man power.
Now with a larger group, carrying out this mission doesn't seem so futile. Despite this, Gerro has kept a high guard to his base, and posted a lookout outside to let us know if the Fangs are massing for a raid. Apparently the Fangs knew where we are and are getting ready to launch a large raid.
Just as the last group of Knights and Lingerers returned, Gerro quickly went over the plan: Rally on the row of houses next to the main street with anti-tank weapons and grenades. Wait for the column of tanks to arrive and destroy the tank in the front to stop them in their tracks. Do the same for the tank behind the column, and afterwards try to destroy or incapacitate the rest of the column.
All of this while taking fire from well over a hundred Fang Mercenaries.
Gerro insisted that the Order's charge into the city will force the Fangs to retreat, and that we will have mortar support. Nage was also at the debrief, he has completely recovered from his coma and fatigue, and is ready for action. So he says.
Nage's recognizable smile is seen again through charismatic interactions with the Lingerers and Knights.
It was nice.
Everything was nice.
Lingerers who before, would call the Knights cowards, selfish, and power hungry expansionists. Now talk and laugh with them. I guess they discovered that there was a face behind that metal helmet, just as I did. Same for the Knights, who would assume these people were total savages just because they live in a more civilized world.
It was a breakfast feast... a very early breakfast. Bovine stew was served, along with a few very old cans of baked beans, in truth, they were not that bad. The Knights shared their "MREs" with the Lingerers, they were bags that had food made by the Federation. Fresh fruit called "apples", beef jerky, and oatmeal with raisins. Combined, the meals were delicious, my PipBoy showed a very minimal amount of radiation in this feast.
My heart was shocked when it came to me that, many of these men and women are really eating their final meal. It won't matter if we have support, from the charging Knights or mortar support, the amount of casualties we will have will be high. Yet, many of them know that. They just want to spend their last hour in laughter and talk.
The lingerers especially, all of them experienced horrible pain seeing their homes burned down and fellow kin being killed off by the Fangs. They all once rivaled each other, now they fight, together sharing the same pain. I have seen many faces my time here, but this is the first time where I've seen a large group of people that have, hope. Compared to the people of Tersha, these people are united, they trust each other, and rely on each other. In a situation like this they HAVE to.
Nage passed me a bowl of bovine stew, It had an earthy scent that smelled spectacular. It made my mouth water. I grabbed a spoon and began tasting it. It's broth was made up of a milky liquid with vegetables I have never seen before. Along with the bits of smoked bovine, the stew was delicious. The bovine steak I had tasted charred and burned, this tasted warm and milky. I now had a favorite meal in the wasteland.
...
It must have been around 4:30 am when the radio sounded off, the lookout had spotted several Fangs mobilizing near the entrance of the subway, though it may be a scouting party, a larger group may be imminent.
"Alright people! Let's move! Come on!" Yelled out Gerro.
Everyone puts down their bowls, mugs and spoons and went for their helmets, grenades and rifles. In the event that a Fang raid party would mobilize, we were to move deeper into the janitorial section and head to the surface through a ladder to a manhole.
One by one, we all rushed to the surface and began to head for our rally point.
It was now the break of dawn, by now Gerro must have gotten the signal from Tarrish and Ernam that they are now starting their assault.
We all gathered in a line of buildings that stood next to the main road, kneeling next to windows with anti tank weapons. Nage told me that these weapons were called "RPGs", used mainly for armor like tanks, but sometimes on people if necessary. The distance between the houses and the street are dangerously close, the surviving tanks can easily turn their main guns and shoot at us, or the swarm of fangs can raid the buildings.
"When shit hits the bag" run out or climb the building, says Gerro. some of the buildings have ladders that go to the roofs, from there we'll have to jump across each building to escape if needed be.
A loud concentrated amount of gunfire and artillery echoed from the edge of town, the assault has begun. And now we must wait for the Fangs to call in the tanks for reinforcements.
Moments after we heard the gunfire, more and more Fang mercs mobilized to the fight, several ran right by us in the street below. We could have easily shot them down, but we dare not reveal ourselves until those tanks arrive. I was standing right next to a window on the top floor of an old shop, across from me is Nage and a Knight. The Knight was armed with one of those RPGs, Nage with his trusty sniper, and I with my shotgun. It'll be the Knight's job to focus on the tanks, while Nage and I will take care of any Mercs that run to enter this building.
Nage says that he will he aiming for the machine gunners on the tanks with his sniper, if things become close and personal, he will pull out dual pistols. This style of warfare was unlike anything I have ever seen, Nage just told me to make sure no one runs into our building.
The battle where the assault is, grew louder and seems to be drawing closer to us, The order must be winning if they're pushing back the fangs. Soon, we hear the sound of tank engines coming closer, with the footsteps of many Fangs.
We ready ourselves, the Knight with the RPG told us to step back. Gerro's group would be the first ones to open fire on the tanks. We waited for the entire column to be on the main street, suddenly the first shots were fired with the RPG.
A very loud explosion was heard, the side of the tank had been turned into shreds and it's tracks were destroyed. The Fangs yelled out to each other and started to open fire on us. The Knight next to us pulled up his RPG and pulled the trigger, It let out a very loud sound as the rocket flew out and hit the side of one of the tanks near the back end.
The tank behind the column had tried to move but was already damaged it could not move. Nage aimed his rifle out the window and fired a bullet into one of the machine gunners that was aiming at us. With my shotgun I aimed out the window and fired at a Fang running into our building, the lead projectiles destroyed his upper body and face. He hit the ground before reaching the door to our building.
Several more RPGs fired at the surviving tanks, but one of the tanks managed to move their main cannon and opened fired at a building next to us.
"God damnit where's our Mortar support?!" yelled out Nage,
Another tank moved it's man cannon to another building and created a massive hole. A swarm of Mercs soon entered the building, killing everyone inside.
There were still tanks that were operational, by now they have aimed their cannons at us and are opening fire. After firing a shot from his sniper, Nage noticed one of the tanks aiming at us.
"DOWN! EVERYONE DOWN!" He screamed.
We all ducked as the massive tank shell destroyed our window, but luckily did not explode.
"Jesus.. mother-of-a-fuck. It's a dud!" Nage yelled out. I was just as surprised as he is that we're still alive!
"You! Get that son of a bitch right now!" Nage ordered the Knight, who had just finished reloading his RPG.
The Knight aimed his weapon, but a barrage of machine gun fire forced us to take cover,it was too late for the Knight. He had taken much of the barrage and dropped dead to the floor not being able to fire the RPG.
A Fang started to run up the stairs behind us, I quickly turned around and fired my shotgun at his chest, he didn't drop to the ground without letting off a few stray bullets with his rifle. "Ken! Grab that RPG!"
I didn't think, I quickly shouldered my shotgun and quickly ran across the room, grabbing the RPG as I ran past. It was heavy, and still loaded. "That tank is reloading, when I say the word, pop out and shoot at the main gun!" said Nage. After saying that, he quickly ran to the center of the room where the hole is. He waved his arm to grab the attention of the machine gunner and the main gun, he then runs to the left side of the room.
This made both guns follow him, not paying attention to me. "Now!" he yelled.
I aimed the RPG at the main gun, and pulled the trigger. The weapon flew out of my hands, but it shot the rocket into the tank. The tank's main gun had been disabled, along with the machine gunner killed. "I don't know how long we can keep this up, Nage." I said.
"We need to get out of this building, meet up with Gerro and Makos... reload your shotgun Ken."
I did as he said, he shouldered his sniper and reloaded his dual pistols. We dashed downstairs to see another Fang waiting for us. He fired a shot at Nage, but missed. In turn, Nage lifted both his pistols and fired on the Fang. We keep moving to the side of the house on the ground floor, where another large hole was created by the tanks. We used the hole to exit the building and to run to the next house.
The next house was also under heavy fire, but there were more people here and were holding off the Fang mercenaries. The tanks near this building are disabled or destroyed while the untouched tanks in the back of the column do not have us in their line of sight, since we're on the corner of the street.
I took a look at Makos, shooting his Pulse Rifle out the window. I noticed something he carried in his hand while holding his gun, It was the same shiny objects I seen him carry yesterday. They look like necklaces, but upon closer inspection, showed that there were words engraved into them.
"Gerro, we're getting hammered here! Where's the damn Artillery support?!" Nage yelled. I was about 5 feet from him and I can barely hear what he's saying, there was so much gunfire.
Makos turned his head to Gerro.
"Shit... was really hoping not to use this." Said Gerro. From his satchel, he pulled out a pistol looking gun that appeared in bright orange. But the next item he pulled out really caught my eye, It was a Flare Round with the large black text that read "BLACK SMOKE"
"That's Broken Arrow!" Said Makos, who stopped shooting from the window, a Lingerer took his place to keep the fire.
"Yeah.. your Knight friends explained to me what it was. This right here...is our Artillery support." Said Gerro.
"We never had a way to properly give the Order enemy coordinates to shell them, with this they'll only shoot around the smoke. This could endanger everyone, Gerro!" Nage argued.
"If you haven't been listening, they're using their artillery for their charge less than a few miles from us! They wouldn't have given us support anyway, but when they see the Black smoke, they'll know it's top priority..."
A short silence came between all of us, despite the massive amount of shooting going on all around us.
The Lingerer shooting from the window finally broke the silence "Sir! The Fangs are taking cover behind the tanks and the houses! We're pushing 'em back!"
"What?! Why would they pull back? They clearly outnumber us!" said Gerro.
"That doesn't make any sense! Unlike us, the Fangs have mobile radio equipment, which means they could have called in reinforcements to completely overrun us!" said Nage.
"Why else would they pull back!?" I asked.
"They wouldn't! Not unless... They don't to be hit by their...own artillery.." Makos said, accidently answering my question.
"SHIT." Yelled Gerro, he quickly got up and looked out the window, the Fangs are definitely pulling back to the point where there is less shooting now.
"SHIT SHIT SHIT!"
I never felt so much fear and adrenaline in my life, the combination never felt too good for me, but I was indeed confused on whether Gerro was yelling in panic or in anger. Maybe both...
"SHIT-SHIT-SHIT-SHIT-SHIT-SHIT!" Gerro yelled. "OK! OK! I'm about to do something crazy."
Gerro removed his vest and dropped his weapon, he holds the flare gun tightly in his hand. "They slow me down" he says before jumping out a gaping hole next to the window.
"Is he INSANE?!" Yelled out Makos.
"God damnit. COVERING FIRE!" Ordered Nage, and almost simultaneously, everyone in the building began to open fire, as did the buildings next to us.
Gerro sprinted up the street to a broken down car. With our covering fire, we forced the Fangs to take cover, giving Gerro the opportunity to run further up the street to one of the tanks. From there, he finally fired the black smoke flare, signaling Broken Arrow.
"Ok! Everyone, we need to get out of this street! Onto the next one!" Yelled Nage. Makos ordered a Knight to pass the order down to the buildings who haven't heard the order, quickly, we packed up and ran across to the next street. Gerro is still in the same street where all the shelling will occur from both sides, before he could run back to us a Fang came from behind and attempted to shoot him.
Gerro caught the merc's gun and pulled out his knife, stabbing the merc in the abdomen.
"Nage! Gerro's in trouble!" I yelled.
Nage quickly turned around and went back to the window where he aimed his sniper, "Go up there and help him! I got you both covered!"
I did as he told me to do, I loaded my shotgun and sprinted across the street, there was still minimal fire coming from the Fang's side of the street.
While I was running to Gerro a sniper round went off, but it was not Nage's rifle. An enemy bullet struck the ground a few feet from me, I quickly dived to a nearby car. Soon after, I start hearing Nage's sniper fire. I peeked from the side of the car to see that two more Fangs came to attack Gerro.
Gerro quickly tackled one of the mercs to the ground and began to wrestle for his sidearm. The merc's counterpart aims his rifle, he opened fire but not before Gerro managed to turn the merc he was wrestling with, causing the shooter to kill his own ally. Pulling out the side arm from the now dead merc, Gerro fired the pistol at the shooter's head.
Nage was busy trying to find the Fang sniper, but after he fired a bullet into the building, I had to trust that he didn't miss.
I got up from the car to help Gerro, he pushed the corpse from him and got up to run. Suddenly, another fang came from behind the tank and fired blindly to us. Though at first, it seemed he missed every shot, I saw Gerro fall to the ground as two bullets pierced through his chest.
"Gerro!" I yelled.
The merc came out from behind the tank to pursue us, but not before Nage's sniper fired a bullet into his neck. I ran up to Gerro and picked him up, he was still breathing. Suddenly, we found ourselves on the ground again. Heavy mortar shells fell from the sky hitting both sides of the street.
Now I get it, Gerro fired the flare from across the street to get the Order's mortars hit around that area, rather than hitting us. But of course, there was still the Fang's mortars to worry about. I forced myself back up and placed Gerro's arm around my neck, he was only half conscious, but seems to know when to run.
Mortar shells started hitting the building where Nage was in, luckily he ran out of the building when the mortars started falling. More Lingerers and Knights were still running out of the buildings by the time we got to the corner of the street.
The Order's mortar shells were mainly hitting the building where the mercs were taking shelter, but there was an occasional stray mortar that proved to be dangerous when one of them struck near a group of Knights,
As we reached the corner of the street, Makos was there. "Ah damn!" He grunted, He helped me lift Gerro to a safer location. We placed him along an alleyway where most of our force was taking cover, a good distance away from the mortar strikes. "Where's he hit?!" Makos asked.
"Twice in the chest!"
"We need to stop the bleed- There.. isn't any blood.."
"That's.. cause I don't bleed.. Dumbass.." said a groaning Gerro.
Gerro slowly came back to full consciousness, I was astonished to see that he can sit up on his own.
"Ho- How are you doing that? There's two bullet wounds in your chest." said Makos, who is just as astonished as I am.
"Ghouls don't bleed, dumbass.. Fuck, it still hurts though.." Strikingly, Gerro picks himself up and starts to walk around..
The mortar shells dropped all over the area, killing men from both sides. We still had people trapped in the buildings that were doomed when the fang's shells dropped, by the end of all of this casualties will be very high. We were scattered throughout the area, however most of us were waiting in one of the wide allyways away from the main street. The tanks by now, are likely destroyed or disabled. Whatever happens now, we completed our mission and had given the Order a chance.
"What now Gerro?" asked Makos.
"We wait." He replied.
The shelling of the main street continued, after a few minutes, it looked like the Fangs were retreated after taking heavy casualties from the order's mortars, the Lingerers and Knights that were still trapped in those buildings by the main street are all likely dead. While the Fangs retreated, mortars from both sides stopped shelling. Finally, we hear familiar pulse rifle sounds getting closer and closer to us, the Order's brigade of Knights have finally reached us.
"Alright, everyone up! We're moving up with the charge!" Ordered Gerro. We joined up with the brigade farther up back to the main street where the Fangs have retreated from. As we ran past the building where the Fangs took cover, I noticed the Knights handcuffing the Fangs that remained, and kneeling them in rows. The charge leads us to a large apartment complex near the edge of town. It was from the roof of this building, where Fang mortars fired from.
I got surprised to see Captain Tarrish and Sergeant Maj. Ernam still draw breath as they both walked up to us.
"Well.. fuck my god damn sanity, you two still draw breath on this earth." Said Ernam, he turned to Makos and poked his chest with his gloved finger.
"YOU ESPECIALLY! Thought we lost the fireteam's only medic." he continued.
"S-Sorry, Sir! We got c-cut off an-" Makos stuttered, being cut off Tarrish.
"Save your breath corporal, you're pardoned."
"C-Corporal? Sir, I'm just a private."
"Heh, not anymore. Corporal." said Tarrish, who patted Mako's shoulder.
Makos' face lightens up, he smiled and shook both the hands of the Captain and Sergeant Major."Thank you, sirs. It's an honor." His smile faded quickly however, he lifted his hand and showed several of those necklaces that were removed from dead knights scattered throughout the battle.
"There's still ones I haven't found yet, bet there are some from the row of destroyed buildings..." Tarrish took the necklaces, they didn't look fashionable. they were small metal plates with text engraved on them.
"This charge was a victory, but the amount of loss we had was so much, it's terrible." said Ernam, Tarrish took them in his hand. "They won't be forgotten Makos, I can promise you that."
With that, Tarrish walked over to Gerro, Nage and I. He first addresses to Nage and I: "Well then, It's good to see you guys in one piece, must've been hell, being trapped in this town with the fangs all about."
"We would have never have made it if it weren't for Gerro and his people." replied, Nage.
"Ah right." said Tarrish, turning to Gerro.
"You must be Gerro, pleasure to finally meet you." Tarrish raised his hand in a gesture.
"Heh, I never thought I'd shake hands with this kind of asshole." Said Gerro jokingly to Nage and I, he accepted the gesture and shook Tarrish's hand.
"Much obliged." he said. They both smiled.
"I understand that... the Federation's involvement in this town's in annexation is inevitable, I'm deeply sorry for that."
"Yeah well. I figured being run by assholes is better than being killed by assholes."
"The Knights you saved were so grateful for your help that they even fought alongside you. I too am grateful, I'll do everything in my power to make sure the annexation will be under your terms, and in your favor."
"Took you long enough to get here, but you know what, smoothskin? You got guts, I've taken you for someone who just orders his grunts, real leaders fight with those who are loyal to."
"Just like how my men were loyal to you after you treated them, you have my thanks for that, Gerro."
"Yeah, yeah. Don't get sappy with me, you shiny cunt. I probably wouldn't have done it, if it weren't for some convincing."
"And who exactly managed to convince you?" Gerro pointed his thumb at me, he chuckled.
"That fucker right there." Tarrish himself also chucked, he walked over to me with a smirk on his face.
"Well, aren't you full of surprises, Vault Dweller? Not only a survivor after being cut off from a fire team, but participated in an outnumbered ambush and convincer of the man who started said ambush. You and Nage seemed to only want to pass through Paxton and wanted nothing to do with anything here. Yet here you are."
Once again, I flustered. I stuttered an answer. "I s-saw what was going on around here, all the violence, the suffering people had. How could anyone with a clean conscious. possibly just walk pass this?"
"You'll be surprised." said Tarrish, he walked back to the side of Ernam and saluted Makos, then walking off to join up with the rest of the brigade.
Nage walked up to Makos and planted his arm over his shoulder congratulating him for his promotion.
...
We all caught up with the rest of the brigade, all Lingerers and Knights alike, although the losses made the Lingerers' numbers even less than before. The Fangs were surrounded at the apartment complex they were garrisoned at. They posted themselves at windows, but fire no shot, "It's cause they ran out of ammo!" a Knight said. There was shooting earlier was we caught up with the brigade, but it slowed down and stopped as soon as we arrived.
We see Tarrish grab a radio microphone and stands on top of a functional vehicle the Order used. He speaks into the mic, allowing speakers that were built in the vehicle to amplify his voice.
"Fangs! Look around you! You are Outmanned! You are unarmored! You are surrounded! Low on ammo! Just how long do you think you'll last?! Lay down your arms and face trial under Federation law! Better to pay your debt with years instead of blood!"
It took a while, but after a few minutes one of the fangs stood by the doorway of the building and yelled "We're coming out! Don't shoot!"
One by one, the Fang mercenaries walk in a single line out of the building with their hands raised to the air. By the looks of things, the conflict in Paxton, is finally over. Several Knights walked up to the Fangs to arrest them, and several more entered the building to make sure there weren't any stragglers.
I'd say a little less than a hundred Fangs surrendered, perhaps the rest of them retreated, leaving their comrades here. Trucks came down the street, different from the military styled vehicles, it's long bed opened up, allowing the handcuffed prisoners to enter with Knights guarding them.
For a moment my heart skipped a beat when I saw something too horrifyingly familiar. A red armband with 2 black diagonal bars... He.. was one of the men who invaded the Vault.
I quickly turned to Tarrish, "Tarrish! That man right there, with the red armband! He can't be taken away yet, I need him here!"
Tarrish looked at the man with the armband, and quickly ordered a Knight to separate him from the rest of the Fangs, Nage walked up to me.
"What's going on, Ken?" He asked.
"That man has vital information he needs to give me." I said.
"You want him for interrogation?" asked Tarrish.
"Y-Yes! I need to know some Vital information."
"I...Can't do that for you, Mierson." said Tarrish.
"W-What? Why not?"
"It's against protocol, he isn't condoned for interrogation until he is in the jurisdiction of justice. And interrogations are not made by bystanders..."
"You need to make an exception, Tarrish." Said Nage.
"I'm sorry... I can't."
"Ken sparked the edge you needed to finally make this victory, you owe him for that." Nage continued, but Captain Tarrish stood silent.
"..."
"He... Invaded my vault, a lot of people were killed in the firefight we had. Good people." I said, I didn't want to let many people know about what happened in the vault, but whoever that man is, I need him for information that could save my vault.
"So you're seeking revenge? "
"No. They took something important to us, that will be a matter of the Vault's survival. He knows what's going on, and I aim to find out."
"So that's why you're out here. You want to save your home."
"More than anything."
Another short pause ensued.
"We never saw him, he either escaped or died during shelling..." said Tarrish. He gave me a little more than I bargained for.
"W-Won't he go with you guys? To stand trial?"
"People like him, don't deserve trial." said Tarrish. He gave a hand signal to the Knight. The Knight brought him over to Nage who grabbed him by his arm and neck.
Before Tarrish was out of range for hearing, he turned around and called me. "Mierson." I turned around.
"What you said about clean consciences. I'm afriad that'll change for you, sooner or later." I was confused at what he meant by that.
"Preserve whatevers left of that in your Vault. Because none of it exists out here." He turned around and continued to walk away.
I took a deep breath, I nodded to Nage to follow me into a nearby empty house.
"Come on, asshole. Let's talk."