Cometh the Men
I thought I should actually put up a new chapter for this story it's been in the working for a while but it's finally done so here you go, as always I don't own the Jak series Naughty Dog had that honour. Feel free to review and say what you like and what you think you can be improved.
"Guard! Stand at the ready!" An Officer bellowed from his tower, causing Ortz to shoot up in fright.
"Morning sleepy head," Tork said to him sarcastically while chucking him his body armour and helmet, "you should go over to the armoury and get your pistol before this place comes to life."
"Yeah I will," Ortz said as he began to put on his armour and walk over to the armoury.
"He can you try and get some grenades, you never know when those things will come in useful," Hutch asked him.
"Yeah I'll grab some," Ortz shouted in reply. As Ortz strolled over to the armoury he saw Erol getting on his zoomer, he then suddenly felt a tap on his shoulder, he turned to see Dugan staring him in the face.
"He's obviously here to fight with us," He told Ortz while waiting in line for the armoury.
"Yeah I know but atleast now he's not in our way," Ortz said jokingly.
"Next!" A shout came from the armoury.
Ortz walked in scanned his dog tags and the soldier standing behind the bench gave him a standard issue pistol with three magazines, "Hey buddy could I get a couple of plasma grenades with that?" Ortz asked. The soldier looked at him disapprovingly but still he reached under the table and pulled out a box of grenades which Ortz took back to his crew.
"Holy shit they gave you the box?" Hutch said in shock.
"Yeah but that's only six grenades," Tork told him.
"But still we could light up a lot of Underground with those."
"Let's hope we don't have too," Tork told him sternly.
"I agree, the less shots we fire today, the faster we can get out of there," Ortz voiced himself.
"Can't a guy just be happy to play with his toys?" Hutch asked.
"Yeah you can be but don't forget you're the driver, I command this Hellcat," Tork told him putting him in his place.
"Guardsmen, five minutes till Zero Hour, get your gear ready!" The Officer from the tower shouted down to the men.
"Get your shit in gear boys!" Tork ordered as the men took up their positions on the Hellcats, Tork sat in the passenger seat while Ortz climbed up on the gun.
"Hey Ortz you forgot these!" Hutch told him while he threw two five hundred round ammo boxes up onto the roof of the Hellcat.
"A thousand rounds? This thing will go through that in thirty seconds if I have to open the taps," Ortz said in disbelief.
"Yeah well just make every round count if you have too," Tork told him as Hutch climbed into the driver seat.
"Fucking ridiculous," Ortz said to himself while he loaded the gun.
"What's the go word Sarge?" Hutch asked.
"Oh don't worry you'll know," Tork said almost laughing.
"Crew's up!" The Officer ordered.
"Wait for it," Tork told Hutch.
"Barrage of smoke on its way, TOT twelve seconds," The Officer shouted to the crews, the sound was barely audible over the sound of the ten Hellcats that made up their Company.
"Three-Two-One," Tork said aloud as the rounds came through the air and just as he reached one the smoke filled the air around the slums obscuring all vision. "Thermals on!" Tork ordered to the crew. Everyone pulled out their thermal goggles and used them to see through the smoke into the slums.
"Go go go!" The Officer ordered as the column roared into life, they filed out of the gate with Ortz' Hellcat at the forefront of the column.
Ortz scanned the roofs infront and all around the Hellcat every inch their flew forward was an inch further into unknown territory, Ortz saw the last of the column roll out of the gates of the base. "Last vehicle's clear!" Dugan said over the radio.
"Last vehicle's out and I already feel unnerved," Hutch said from his seat.
"I know what you mean Corporal, this is some intense shit!" Tork told him. Ortz still scanned the roofs for any sign of enemy or suspicious movement.
The radio suddenly began to crackle as Erol's voice came over the channel, "Remember gentlemen shoot on sight, we are here to send a message to the Underground, don't take prisoners."
"You heard the Commander, Private, those are your ROE, Shoot to kill and shoot accurately," Tork told him from the front seat.
"I don't like the sound of that Sarge!" Ortz told him.
"Yeah me neither, there are a lot of curious kids in the slums but our orders are clear," Tork replied in dismay.
"I'm not firing unless I'm getting shot at," Ortz told Tork bluntly.
"You have your orders soldier," Tork told him.
"Fuck orders these are people not meat," Ortz told him sternly.
"Alright simmer down private," Tork said as he scanned the roof tops, "Shoot if we take incoming I don't want dead innocents as much as you but we need to keep the Underground at bay."
"Yeah but killing civies will make way more problems than it solves," Hutch said while trying to keep the convoy on track through the overcrowded slums, the buildings were barely separated enough to fit the lumbering hellcat through the streets, the heat off its engine sent plumes of dust high into the sky there was no doubt that they were being observed, as the smoke from the barrage cleared, there was more sign of life on the streets below the hellcats, people moved around scuttling to stay out of the crimson guards' line of sight.
Ortz was left in his own world while the hellcat passed through the slums the streets wound on forever and the target was still a fair distance away, with every clang off of the steel roofs caused the sights on his gun to fixate. With all the activity the guard had been up to they were bound to attract attention. Eventually the convoy passed by the floating village, in more peaceful times it had been a hub for trade and commerce within the walls of haven, under Mar great things had been accomplished but now those days were over the only people left in the floating village were under strict supervision from the guard, tortured souls were all that remain, they were kept under a strict routine anyone who did not comply was swiftly and efficiently dealt with.
As the village disappeared from sight the growing concerns of observation ran through Ortz's mind like a fire, he kept hearing calls over radios but not crimson radios.
"They know we're here," Tork told us.
"No shit you seeing this dust cloud that we are riding up," Hutch said as the convoy entered what was absolutely unchartered territory for the guard no guardsman had ever come this close to the Undergrounds base camp.
"Stay frosty on that gun Ortz," Tork told him as he kept scanning.
"Yeah and keep you head on a swivel," Hutch added sarcastically.
"You just focus on driving and let me get our ass's outa the shit if it hits the fan," Ortz replied sarcastically.
"Shut it you two, this is no time for sarcasm, we're in bandit country now," Tork shouted sternly.
"Yes, Sarge," Ortz said as he returned his focus to scanning for targets.
As they began the final approach to the Underground headquarters Ortz kept his guard up and his sights bounced around the roof tops but with every spin of his vision his pulse jumped up, he kept feeling like someone had the hellcat well within their sights. The tension was not isolated to him but it was also with Tork and Hutch, everyone sat in silence as they rolled deeper into enemy territory the tension kept growing and growing.
The rolled through the final few streets towards the headquarters Ortz felt the tension grow to an unimaginable level, every turn felt like his last until he felt the air move past his head with a flash of light from a window.
"Contact!" Ortz shouted over the radio, as he started hammering the area with the hellcats main guns.
"Where from?" Tork asked.
"Ten o'clock twenty metres looked like a rifle round from that building," Ortz replied as he continued to fire five round bursts into the houses.
"That's not all I got fire incoming on our five!" Dungun yelled over the radio.
"Got fire from six through to eight aswell," Another gunner said over the radios.
"These fuckers are coming outa the wood work now!" Ortz shouted to Tork as he continued pounding anywhere that fired.
Below the hellcats the streets and alley's came to life sprouting men with guns ranging from ancient bullet firing rifles to military grade plasma rifles used by the guards themselves, everyone with a gun had come out to play with the guard, no one was spared from the tyranny of the guard and so no one was spared from the rebel's yell.
Every gun opened up on the convoy battering the hellcats with rounds decimating their pristine looks, every round seemed like it was finding it mark and the gun on top of the hellcat kept over heating as a round pierced its coolant pump so it was high and dry when it was really needed.
"Fuck we are really in the shit now," Hutch said as he tried to drive and fire his pistol from the driver's seat of the hellcat.
"Just keep firing Ortz and Hutch keep sus moving if we stop then we're dead!" Tork commanded as he fired his rifle into the crowded streets trying to pick out all hostile targets.
"the fucking gun keeps overheating I'm doing all I can," Ortz said as he fired off another burst as the gun overheated again, he scanned for his next targets but as he fixated on everyone on the roof top he spotted an anomaly, "Shit AA!" Ortz shouted as the rocket ripped through the right engine of the hellcat smashing it into the side of a building.
Ortz was thrown from the hellcat into the street below, the hellcat landed about ten metres from him, he could just see Hutch struggling from the driver's seat of the hellcat but then a few rounds from the Rebels put an end to his struggle, as he slumped down Ortz clambered to his feet and sprinted towards the hellcat, he could hear the engines of the other hellcats roar as they turned to leave the kill zone but as they did more rockets pounded into them knocking more out of the sky. But Ortz kept going towards his fallen comrades he climbed up to the driver's seat and saw Hutch's lifeless corpse, he then had to climb over it to get to Tork who was unconscious Ortz shook him awake and asked him for his rifle, Tork barely responded, so Ortz gathered up Tork's rifle and began shooting at anyone who came in close to the hellcat with a lethal volley of fire but the enemy fire kept drawing in on him and eventually a round hit him in the stomach below his armour and knocking him unconscious.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter it was pretty fun writing it, I don't know when I'll be putting up more as this is sort of the low priority story on my list but I will keep at it, please review and give feedback its much appreciated.