Side Story 2: Queens of Battle
The hum of an engine sang in a monotonous whine as helicopter blades cut away at the air of an early morning. The once pitch black night gave way to a dark black and blue as the moon slowly receded. Looking down at her feet a woman saw the ocean waves blur past her as a single red light flashed annoyingly within her peripheral vision.
Skimming across the ocean wave she could smell the salt water, the roar of a helicopter penetrated her ears despite the ear plugs. Off to her side another flight of sea skimming helicopters held formation. Their pilots did their best to hug the ocean tips as best as possible despite the poor weather conditions. Despite the thick fog, the flight of four flew at incredible speeds determined to reach their destination.
A fist gently punched Keiko's shoulder, looking back she saw her friend gesturing toward her headset. Pressing a button on her headset the radio net came to life as a pilot's voice crackled to life.
"One minute." The co pilot said as she looked back at the group of women behind her.
Placing a mouth guard into her mouth she bit into the rubbery material as the sandbars of an atoll came into view. The sandbanks came into view as the greenery of an island transformed from a blur into well defined features. Pitching up sharply the flight came to a hard stop as rope was kicked out of the helicopter.
"Go! Go! Go!" A woman's voice yelled over the net as Keiko grabbed the braided rope and slid down it, her feet landed on the sandy embankment with a thud.
Looking around she spotted the rest of her squad sliding down two sets of ropes like ants on a log. Behind her a couple of small rubber speed boats were beached on the beach. Raising her hand to her head she pulled down her goggles, the dark night lit up a green hue as she ran towards the edge of the forest. Weapons drawn, the women behind her pushed forward.
"Chalk 1, troops deployed. Moving to holding pattern." The flight of helicopters pulled back sharply and left the beach in a hurry.
"Nono, where are the SEALs?" Keiko asked into her mic.
"They're already inland sergeant. We're behind schedule." Her lieutenant's voice came over the mic as she squeezed Keiko's shoulder.
Bounding for the forest line the platoon sized element moved into the thick green forest. Despite apparent quietness in the air, sporadic popping sounds rattled in the distance. The Japanese SEALs had apparently become entangled with their enemy, intermittent fire popped faintly, giving no indication which side had come on top.
Trying to pay attention to both the net and her squad radio communications the lieutenant found herself more than a little distracted. The thick forest and fog reduced her night vision goggles effectiveness. Frantic yelling had been accosting her ears for more than a while at this point as her women glided smoothly through the forest. Eventually her team arrived at their preplaced positions, despite the activity on net she had yet to see any trace of the Japanese SEALs. Spreading out her formation, her platoon took up positions on the forest bed as Keiko's squad also prepared a light machine gun atop a boulder.
"Sergeant, can you see anything from your position?"
"Nothing but green ma'am. We have really poor visibility here, I can barely see anything." Keiko said as she fiddled with her goggles.
"I know, but they can't have it much better."
Grumbling Keiko responded with an affirmation as her lieutenant raised someone on the radio to figure out what exactly was going on. Suddenly a loud shrill terrorized the air in the distance, whining as if it were a firework that had been launched; hitting some unknown target in the far distance. Putting away her thoughts Keiko looked back to her greenly illuminated platoon leader, her head deep in a paper map with a compass. A radio operator behind her pointing and penciling something on the map.
Crumpling the map into her breast pocket she made her way to Keiko. "I'm taking Third squad with me, we're going to reinforce the SEALs. Have your women extend a defensive line, you'll be spread a bit thin but the sooner we can extract those SEALs the faster we can leave."
Nodding back, Keiko listed out orders to her juniors as the paratroopers spread their lines thin while First and Third squad disappeared into the thick green. The shooting and whistling began to become more erratic in the distance, she wondered how the enemy had been able to put up a fight for so long. Against special forces no less. Making her rounds across the defensive line she inspected her troops and their conditions, each of them doing their best to find concealment against some trees or a foliage. With no trenches or foxholes the women were rather exposed to the elements. A few ill situated boulders and logs offered the bulk of their concealment and scant cover.
An explosion rendered off in the distance, this time grabbing the attention of the women who were assigned to the flank. Suddenly the sounds of heavy gunfire erupted in the distance, automatic weapons sang out in an endless cacophony as branches and leaves blew apart in the hazy early morning. The distinct sound of grenade launchers bellowed out with thunderous fashion.
"Troops in contact! Troops in contact-" Keiko's lieutenant yelled over the net as the sounds of explosions and gunfire filled Keiko's earpiece at an alarming rate. The rest of her message a garbled mess.
Anxiousness fell over the women who held the line as a pitched firefight illuminated the distant forest patch. Unable to do anything lest they risk friendly fire. Despite her best efforts, neither Keiko or her radio woman could establish contact with the SEALs who they were sent to relieve. Multiple larger explosions blasted away the earth across the river river ahead of them, the echoes of gunfire snapped away at the greenery of the forest. Droplets of water sprinkled the line whenever an explosive struck the river some distance ahead of them.
"Dump your packs off at the beach, we're spread too thin to take in wounded. Triage the wounded on the shore. You two stay here, the rest of you cut a path back to the beach. Drag the wounded back to the beach." Keiko ordered her medics as she anticipated a sudden influx of casualties. Scurrying back the medics trampled a path in the forest, marking the trees with an infrared marker for quick navigation.
"Hayashi, hold fire until we fire first. I can't get the lieutenant on the net. TOC's trying to pass all radio comms for me. I have no idea what the hell is happening on the other side." Keiko communicated with the Second Squad's squad leader.
"Roger. Keiko, I can see some IR paint-" A shrill that sounded like a whistling firework interrupted Second Squad's squad leader. A slow blur about chest height flew into her lines and detonated, sending shrapnel everywhere. Thankfully none of the women were hit, despite the incoming fire none had returned fire, skillfully maintaining their fire discipline.
"We just took a stray-" A second blur smashed into her line once again. This time more deliberately as the proximity fuse detonated and struck multiple women on the left flank. Ignoring their squad leader's orders, the machine guns of Second Squad lit up the forest. Gunfire returned, bullets snapped all over the rifle section of Second Squad's perimeter.
Turning on their infrared lasers, multiple beams of IR light lit up their night vision goggles as the riflemen attempted to find targets. The two machine guns attempted to suppress the incoming fire to no avail. Keiko's squad had yet to open fire, mainly due to Keiko herself running up and down her line encouraging her troops to hold fire and to pick their targets when they saw them. Suddenly a dizzying array of lines entered the women's night vision goggles as IR beams painted Keiko's squad.
Heavy rifle fire poured down on the line while Keiko and her squad shot back in anger. With both sides flicking on their laser sights the forest became a convoluted laser show of sorts. Racking a 40mm round into her grenade launcher she launched the grenade, arcing it at the source of an IR laser. Suddenly the sound of a heavy machine gun firing found its mark on the line as Keiko scanned the horizon for it. Multiple popping sounds perforated her defensive line as blast frag flew all over. Sprinting down the line she barked commands to keep her teams fire discipline up.
"Look for movement! Look for their lasers!" Sliding next to one of her subordinates she pulled them back from their piece of concealment. Pushing them flat onto the ground as multiple rounds eviscerated the tree the woman had been standing at.
"Stay low! Don't stand. Stay low to the ground!" Aiming her rifle Keiko let off a few rounds as she directed gunfire for the woman around her.
Crawling across the forest bed she pulled on the legs of the women who had pushed too far forward, dragging them back to what little safety there was. Tightening her line she ensured that the Japanese paratroopers had some semblance of fire superiority. In just a few short moments her squad had composed themselves and aggressively returned heavy and accurate fire. Her leadership skills proved to be far more valuable than any weapon she carried.
Running up to a boulder on the far right flank she directed the machine gun. Coordinating it with the other machine gun team farther left. Now in sync, both machine guns took turns firing. Laying down a constant volley of gunfire, the paratroopers managed to dent their enemy's volume of fire.
A loud pop followed by a bang stunned the women on the right flank. The boulder that had a machine gun crew went silent as multiple large rounds smashed into it. Digging and chewing up both the rock and the gun crew sending them flying backwards. Weakly crawling up the boulder the gun team's limbs screamed with pain. The assistant gunner's legs had gone limp halfway through the climb, her nails dug painfully into the rock as she mustered up any remaining strength she had. With hazy vision they recovered their squad weapon and resumed fire.
"Don't let up! Keep firing on them. Mari! Mari move right!" A young woman rolled like a rolling pin in the direction of the boulder. Squeezing off rounds into the forest that appeared as a green mess in her goggles.
Staying in control as best as she could, Keiko moved her soldiers around like chess pieces on a board. Ensuring that the line never had any gaps or was at risk of getting outflanked. Smoke billowed from cans as the paratroopers did their best to limit their attackers visibility and line of sight.
An explosion showered the paratroopers below with rock as the machine gun crew on the boulder took a direct hit. Rounds exploded atop the team raining flechettes, small metal darts, on the women. Multiple rounds pulverized the dazed assistant gunner the moment she raised her head. Her body slipped forward and dropped from the boulder. Disappearing into the thick forest below. Crawling up the shattered boulder a medic grabbed the lone gunner and dragged her by the leg. The incoming fire had made a mess of the surviving woman's face.
Machine gun fire pinned the medic with her patient. A soda sized can fell by the womens' feet, jumping atop the injured woman the medic waited for a bang that never came. Instead the familiar sound of a smoke grenade hissed. Dragging her injured comrade under heavy fire, a round struck the woman. Ignoring the pain she continued to drag her teammate as her knee screamed in agony.
The violent skirmish that ensued seemed to close for comfort. Despite being told what to expect from their enemy, Keiko's enemy's fought completely differently. The laser light show from both sides had meant that everyone knew where everyone else was. With no cover, and only concealment, the forest shattered and vibrated under the intense fire. Though only one side mustered up enough explosive firepower to violate the other. A tree burst open in front of Keiko's only other machine gun crew. The wood and metal shrapnel glanced off their goggles, despite this they kept picking their targets and firing as if nothing had happened.
Blood streamed down from their faces while their barrel glowed in hot anger. A stinging sensation ripped through one of the women as a bullet shattered her shoulder. Grunting in pain, she rolled over to feed in the belt fed machine gun with her only working arm. The taste of metal in her mouth had long become familiar.
"Look for moving lasers! If they're moving, they're in the open!" Kneeling beside a paratrooper, Keiko let off a few rounds.
"Aim a little to the right Rui, you're shooting at their gun." Correcting her fire the soldier took careful aim before putting three rounds quickly down range with lethal accuracy.
Crawling across the forest floor, one of the paratroopers finally found the machine gun from the team that had been blown away. Ignoring the large chunks of missing body from her dead friend she grabbed the machine gun and scurried back across like a squirrel. Finding some adequate concealment on a raised position she squeezed the trigger when the other gun in her squad went quiet for a moment. Taking turns, the two machine guns slug bullets at where they assumed the enemy was. Bullets snapped and twanged all around them as they became the instant favorite target for enemy fire. Their stubborn desire to live frustrated their enemy.
Multiple tube-shaped objects flew right in front of Keiko and detonated into a blinding bright light. At the same time white flares streaked slowly over the paratroopers. Many of the women shut their eyes in pain as their night vision gear only exacerbated the problem. Spraying blindly the Japanese soldiers all squeezed off shot after shot while partially blind. Successfully suppressing their enemy, Keiko bounded up and down the line checking the status of her team. Barking orders and bringing cohesion back.
A cold sensation pierced her leg as her face slammed into the dirt violently. Cursing under her breath she fired off another grenade in the direction of the presumed bullet. Taping off the wound with duct tape she limped across the front to her radio operator. Looking through her damaged goggles she saw that the majority of the tree line was violently blasted apart. As if it had been struck by artillery. She felt like she was shooting a pea shooter compared to her enemy. The medics worked in overtime, doing their best to pack dirt and sand into gaping wounds. Having long run out of bandages and gauze they desperately used anything to stop the bleeding.
The large backpacked radio operator laid face first in the dirt, her helmet had a large gaping hole while her left arm was lost to the night. Trying to pry the radio from the dead woman a burst of rounds struck the dead woman. Somehow defiling the corpse even more.
"Fuck!" Keiko yelled as she threw herself back into cover behind a log.
"Hayashi! Hayashi! What's your status?…Goliath 1-2. Do. You. Read. Hay-"
"Dead, dead. She's dead!"
A heart wrenching scream came over the radio as Keiko spotted an orange glow in the distance. With no proper radio she had no way of communicating with her command. She had been relying on her radio operator to pass messages back and forth. Keiko hadn't realized that the woman had stopped updating her until just recently.
"Sergeant, we're exposed! We're going to be overrun!" A woman yelled over the local net.
"Keiko, our radio operator is dead. The kits busted. They hit us with mortar fire or something. I don't know! We need air support!"
"Who am I talking to? Where's Sana!"
"Keiko, this is Akari. Sana just got hit by something, she's…She's dead."
"My radioman is dead. I can't call for shit!" Keiko yelled back as she put multiple rounds into the back of the radio operator in front of her, destroying the sensitive equipment.
"What about sat comms?"
"Lieutenant had the only one, I have no idea where the hell she went." Keiko said, while shooting her rifle into the forest.
"The boats! One of the boats might have one. From the LZ!" Keiko recalled instantly.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw leaves shuffle and a laser sight draw a bead towards her chest. "Fuck you!" She yelped, instantly pulling the trigger on her grenade launcher. The cylindrical warhead found its mark and ripped apart the source of the laser.
"This sucks." She heard one of her soldiers grumble as they laid accurate fire into the forest. Multiple empty magazines laid beside her. Loading a new magazine, her blown away fingers made the process a painful struggle.
Before Keiko could take stock of the situation, rockets fired from the forest into her defensive line. The bottle shaped warheads detonated with a blinding light and sent shrapnel everywhere. Unlike last time there was more than one volley. With rapid succession the heavy caliber weapon blinded and smashed into her squad's fighting position. Suddenly a concentrated hail of bullets tore into their lines, this time with constantly increasing intensity. It was as if someone was walking towards them.
The sole woman who had reclaimed her dead comrade's machine gun bloodily climbed up the forsaken boulder which had chunks of rocks blown from it. Dropping a smoke grenade right in front of the women below her she opened up with whatever remaining ammo she had.
"All Goliath elements, this is Goliath 1-4 actual. We're being overrun. Push back towards the beachhead. I say again, fall back to the beach." Keiko finally called in, throwing her own smoke in the direction of increasing gunfire.
Following their leader's lead the rest of the women who could limp away threw their smokes and crawled under the oppressive suppressing fire. The women who were too injured elected to stay and mount a stalwart defense for their retreating comrades. Many of them simply incapable of moving at all as bullets and fragmentation cut deeply into their legs. Their final acts of defiance while they slowly bled to death.
Atop the boulder the woman with her machine gun continued to fire controlled bursts as she drew as much attention to her as possible. Her valiant efforts were paid back tenfold, multiple bullets slugged her body viciously. The rounds jolted the woman back with each shot, eventually throwing her off her rock one final time.
Lobbing whatever grenades they had over their heads, the women who stayed back withered under the heavy barrage of practically point blank weapon fire. One injured paratrooper lined up a shot on her opponent, finally seeing her enemy for the first time. A large tube was slung across a woman's back as she held a hefty rifle in her hand. Much bigger than any standard issue Japanese carbine. Squeezing the trigger, a depressing click greeted the bloodied woman.
Awkwardly fishing for her pistol, she observed her enemy unsling the large tube. Another figure quickly came into view and the pair mounted the tube onto a tripod. Seconds later someone yelled and a large bang filled the misty air. Smoke billowed from the end of the tube, lining up a shot the paratrooper fired. Only to miss as the bullet struck the earth near the recoilless rifle. Squeezing off multiple shots she struck one of her enemies, the man fell backwards. Just before she could reload her pistol, a woman ran up to her and kicked her face in. Shouldering her rifle she unloaded her magazine into the woman.
The lines between the defenders and attackers morphed into confusing skirmishes. The close quarters combat took a brutal toll on the largely immobile defenders. Grenades practically exploded on top of the throwers while recoilless rifle rounds burst at alarmingly close distances. The close quarters combat brought out all the ugliness the Japanese women had learned to repress, compared to their enemies who seemed to live by it.
Any hope of humanity left the scarred battlefield as a paratrooper blew herself up along with the man yelling at her in broken Japanese to surrender. As if to one up their enemy a blistering arc of fire cut down large swaths of land. A woman ran up onto one of the paratroopers' positions and pulled her trigger. After a wicked hiss, a stream of napalm engulfed a pair of women. Screams filled the air while they attempted to douse themselves off to no avail. Pulling the tab on the quick release, their plate carriers and vest fell off their bodies. However, the move proved to be futile, fire engulfed the woman again as their killer flashed a sick smile. Arcs of fire lit up across the melted frontline as flamethrowers came back from their previous engagement.
As the pitched battle continued off into the distance, Keiko linked up with the remainder of Second Squad who had taken a harder beating than her own. All the women limped painfully through the thick forest as blood poured out of various wounds. Bandages soaked red, unable to absorb anymore blood. None were able to ignore the sound of screams and gunfire behind them.
Keiko caught pace with Akari whose body sagged forward, as if she were perpetually falling. Her lip bled while her face had pieces of splinters embedded into it. The night fighting equipment was torn to shreds, part of the goggles were no longer even attached to the helmet. Despite the bruised eye she held her rifle up scanning the forest for anything. A large wound stained her pants a dark red, Keiko couldn't even tell if she was limping or dragging the leg.
"What happened to all your nods?" Keiko asked as she looked at the women of Second Squad.
"What do you mean…They blinded us with flashlights and lasers, tried to burn our eyes out. Why the hell are you still wearing yours?"
"They only used flashbangs and flares on us."
"Huh…Rat bastards have different playbooks. They shelled us with something and pushed on top of us at the same time. No idea how the rat bastards didn't die to friendly fire. Locked out our left flank and squeezed us in. Only saw a few laser sights before they blinded me. That shit was clean Keiko…Clean. ISR completely missed the mark. Completely. This ain't the coast guard." Akari bemoaned as the burning in her thigh and torso spread throughout her body.
"They found my radio operator, shot her pretty good. Practically executed her. Yuko-"
"They looked for her. They found ours and sent a high explosive round into her chest." Akari grunted as she spit out a tooth.
"Not service related." Keiko lightened the mood.
The packed dirt that Keiko had stuffed into the gaping wound by her leg dripped with blood and dirt. The duct tape had long fallen off on some forsaken part of the island. A popping sound off in the distance grabbed the two women's attention. The horrible noise came from the beach, running as best as they could the depleted squads came upon a gut wrenching scene. A helicopter burned on the beach while the wounded laid limp less, presumably dead. Multiple parts of their body were struck by heavy fire, as if chunks were scooped out from them; numerous medics laid amongst the disfigured dead. The boats had been pushed into a makeshift barrier.
The surviving few huddled up against the burning wreckage of a downed helicopter, the only form of cover on the exposed beachhead. Toxic fuel burned next to their faces. Opening up on the soldiers attacking their medics and wounded, the combined squads of Akari and Keiko laid down a hail of fire. The horrific scenes set the women off as they became enraged. Keiko coordinated fire with the surviving grenadiers, while Akari threw her own smoke grenade in between her and the downed helicopter. Keiko's 40mm grenades found their mark as they blanketed the area with smoke.
Enemy fire stopped for a moment, not wasting the opportunity Akari bounded for the helicopter along with two others. Instantaneously multiple rounds pummeled into the women. Rounds shattered Akari's side as the incoming rounds sent her violently flying away from her objective. The other women beside her were torn to shreds, machine gun fired endlessly. The torrent of heavy fire had physically torn apart their bodies, all three were killed in an instant.
A stray bullet smashed through Keiko's fingers and hit her plate carrier. "Argh! F- you!" She stumbled on her words, indiscriminately firing into the smoky night.
Hitting the deck the combined squad attempted to shoot back at the source of enemy lasers, but the smoke laid down earlier had made that a challenge. In effect they were shooting blind, lasers floated about in the murky white. Multiple objects burst above them filling the air around them with smoke. A thick white cloud completely blinded the night vision equipped women as they coughed violently. Their eyes teared as they hacked out their lungs. The fact that Keiko hadn't died on the spot with violent convulsions comforted her and the rest of the women. Stuck in a muddy white fog Keiko could hardly see around her as she stumbled about.
The rifle and automatic fire had stopped, yet the bursting of smoke grenades continued endlessly. Laser sights still painted the troops through the fog of war. Ripping off her goggles she encouraged the women under her command to do the same. Limping across the smokey tree line she stumbled and fell multiple times as she made contact with what was left of her two squads. She figured that if she couldn't see the enemy, they couldn't see her. The lack of gunfire was all the proof she needed.
Smoke continued to hail down on her position, as well as the areas around her squad. Some went deeper into the forest, by the positions that they had previously held. Her eyes burned as she adjusted to the dark early morning, having used her normal eyes for the first time in a long time.
"How much smoke do these bastards have?" A soldier next to Keiko choked out in between tears. Her arm bled profusely and bent in an abnormal way.
"Too much." Keiko shrugged as she struggled to keep her burning eyes open.
A grenade rolled from behind the women and dug fragmentation into one of the women's legs. Hissing in pain she swung around and fired off a burst from the offending direction. "Sergeant our fla-" A rifle shot cut down the woman.
Gunfire erupted from both the beach and the inner forest. Accurate fire no less, unlike her team, Keiko's enemy could see clearly through the smoke. Pushing up aggressively the enemy fired practically point blank as they ambushed the depleted paratrooper platoon. Large rounds tore holes across their targets. The crossfire devastated the surrounded soldiers. Despite the one sided ambush the paratroopers lobbed back grenades and their own flashbangs. Second Squad took a page out of their enemy's playbook and raked their flashlight across the direction of the tree line. Other women followed suit, some throwing flares and chemlights to distract enemy night fighting equipment.
Forcing their opponents somewhat closer the paratroopers were able to put up a strong defense as they converged back towards each other. Keiko hit the back of an unknown soldier, before she could say anything the woman behind her was struck and killed on the spot. Struggling to stand up she leaned against a tree and fired wildly into the soupy white, her flashlight struggling to cleave through the dense smoke. A stray bullet burrowed into her collarbone and shattered it with little resistance. Ignoring the acidic like pain she shot her rifle and struck her target with lethal accuracy. Luck had long ago run out, she had been relying on training and skill for the past few hours. In her heart she believed that she could keep fighting forever, but the thing that had bothered her the most was the noticeable lack of air support.
An intense heat warmed her as she whipped her head around. Fire punched a hole deep through the thick foggy smoke and engulfed its targets. Stumbling across the tree line she heard yells of pain as more napalm struck its target. Shrills echoed in the air and bullets drowned the women caught at the center of a cutthroat crossfire. The intense coordination by their enemy snowballed with each passing moment..
Crashing into something her eyes widened as she fell atop a Cascadian soldier. At the worst possible moment all the aches in her body suddenly rendered itself and sent massive shockwaves of pain across her arms and leg. Biting down on her tongue she drew out her pistol as she received multiple blows to her face. Placing the barrel of her pistol against his exposed side she emptied the magazine into him. Flying off her, the man squirmed in pain as he bled out. Running to the man's aid, a woman unaware of Keiko's presence immediately began to pack the man's wounds despite his protests. Bullets snapped all around her, eventually biting hard into her leg. Crawling towards the woman she reached for her last grenade, her finger hovering over the pin. Fate had other plans as a heavy sniper round smashed into her arm, her face fell forward into the sand. A final bullet unceremoniously put an end to her life.
The loud crack that killed her was muffled by the ongoing firefight further behind Keiko's corpse. Her soldiers desperately put up a fight, yet they had unwittingly been encircled and slowly picked off one by one. Sand, dirt, leaves and tree bark accosted the women as machine gun fire from an elevated position sealed their faith. Eventually the guns of the paratroopers had gone silent, yet the island defenders had hardly ceased their assault. Not keen on taking prisoners normally, and especially after recent events, the Cascadian soldiers gave no quarter as they killed the wounded. Flamethrowers put in extra work as they needlessly upped the ante on the day's brutality.
It would be another couple hours before the island had been totally secured from the ground. Any surviving pockets were immediately killed, the Cascadians had already taken their prisoners of interest early in the morning. The few surviving Japanese SEALs and paratroopers were irrelevant and treated as such. A dual bladed helicopter lugged the metal corpse of a flying wing out of the island. A dead woman's body entombed at the center of the mangled metal.
As the fog dissipated along with the combat smoke, a brutal display littered the beach. A few soldiers walked across the beach as they observed their handy work. Their larger caliber rifles had put some serious holes in their enemy. Chunks of body were missing from many of the Japanese women, it was as if something had taken a comically large bite out of them. One woman picked up a paratrooper's arm and observed her work with a wrinkled nose. A large sniper, more akin to an anti-material rifle, slung across her back. Her carefully placed shots devastated anyone unfortunate enough to be caught in her sights. The difference in doctrine between the Cascadians and Earthers bore its fatal fruits.
"Well… Certainly settles that debate." A woman quipped with a faint sadistic smile of satisfaction as she squatted over the corpse of a dead paratrooper.
"What debate?" Her squad leader asked, a woman slightly older than her.
"Caliber vs suppressing fire. Volume of fire doesn't mean shit if you can't hit your target." She said with a grin, holding up a bullet from a Japanese assault rifle compared to her own.
Lightly tapping her teammates helmet the senior leader smirked. "I'd say the ballistic computer helps a bit. That and their sights are…Lacking to put it kindly."
"More like primitive." The younger woman snorted as she threw the round into the ocean. Happily taking in the ocean view compared to the grotesque beach.
"Olivia… For once in your life, try to be normal. And seriously…Go talk to a counselor." The squad leader rolled her eyes.
Some soldiers hid their quick smoke break while others drank. Some hysterically laughed over the gear they salvaged from the dead soldiers. Others dug around for things to take back, patches proved to be the most popular. Watches second. Holding their enemy's rifles and night fighting equipment some gawked at the supposed inferiority. The apparent lack of thermal sights on the Japanese women were all the more amusing to those armed with flamethrowers. Much to their heavy relief.
"Vanessa! Smile!" A woman yelled as she snapped a photo of her friend holding multiple cut out patches in one hand, her heavy sniper rifle in the other. Across the island similar scenes played out as flashes glitzed the littered beach.
Despite the smell of death, none of the living were particularly bothered by it. For the majority this was the normal aftermath, if not slightly underwhelming, all were hardened veterans of an even more brutal conflict by now.
A/N: Been a minute since I last posted. I'm back more regularly now. At least, I think.
As always, comments, questions and concerns are appreciated.