Near Wichita, KS
10 years after Judgement Day
Resistance Unit 'T-FORCE'
Lieutenant Alex Church
Plasma bolts snapped over the heads of T-Force's troops. Members of the myriad militia factions that had come together to form T-Force found themselves pinned by an advancing force of the machines that had wiped out much of Humanity:The Terminators. Colloquially referred to as 'Wireheads' by the soldiers that stood at the core of the Resistance, the silvery-grey machines advanced, baleful scarlet eyes glaring at the human infantry standing in opposition to them from the sockets of skull-shaped heads.
Homonculus units, the rank-and-file infantry machines of Legion's combat machines, pushed forward, firing their plasma rifles from the hip as they did so. Their tracking systems locked onto the advancing platoons of Humans, nailing the survivors with blasts that sent them tumbling over, their armor and skin boiled-over by the focused energy blasts. Church dived out of the cover of the Bradley they were utilizing to drag one of the wounded back, all while hearing the rhythmic roar of the 25mm Bushmaster autocannon on the old warhound.
He watched a Terminator get cored by the AP round, chunks of metal and splotches of oil now painting the broken road below a tarry black. A second Bradley rolled up beside them, this one armed with a light plasma cannon they'd managed to retrofit from a Spider. The Crew let loose a full volley, plasma melting through the leading Homonculi like a hot knife through butter.
Sergeant Mason spoke to him, "Hell of a Welcome to Wichita!" as he looked over at the sign on their right. The man had been with Church through every single battle since Haven. He was a vet, much like the rest of the core of their unit. The Sergeant, a dark-skinned African American man by descent, poked out and fired his own captured plasma rifle at the advancing enemy force.
"Reminds me a little of the road to Albuquerque!" Alex replied as slapped in a fresh magazine to his own XM8 rifle, an old US Pre-War prototype that had never really seen mass adoption. The ground below them started to shake, the deep rumble of tracks filling their ears. Looking back, they saw one of their own M1A2 Abrams tanks advance, its 120mm cannon roaring with a bright flash, an Armor-Piercing dart lancing out of the maw of the smoothbore cannon and nailing a Machine tank dead center, damaging its traverse.
The tank replied in kind, its twin plasma cannons rippling and thundering as what looked almost like beams punched forward, superheating the air and melting half a platoon of irregulars from the Movement's ranks before they struck the Abrams' composite armor. The shots melted through the turret cheeks' front plates, but found themselves not penetrating through into the turret itself. The tank aligned, its scopes surprisingly still whole, then fired.
The 120mm APFSDS dart ripped clean through the eye socket of the hulking Terminator Tank, punching out through the other side, a stub of its former self. Mason laughed, then told Church, "Back in Albuquerque, we were the ones ambushing Wirehead convoys! Think that Hunter-Killer spotted us when we were comin' into the neighborhood!?" only to grit his teeth as a volley from a Spider's twin 30mm autocannons struck the Bradley's forward armor, causing their bells to ring.
"Probabl-Shit, contact! SPIDER!" Alex barked.
They watched one of the quadrupedal Terminators punch through the ruins of a ruined suburban house, crawling over the destroyed husk of a long-dead car to the point its feet dug through the roof and it missed three of its shots. An RPG Team's member poked out from his cover, a hole in the ground, and put a HEAT round clean through the center of the machine, disabling one of its legs and causing it to further stagger.
When it regained its positioning, however, it swiveled about and engaged the RPG Gunner, forcing him to duck into cover. A trio of riflemen behind him were ripped to pieces by the autocannon fire, however. The RPG Gunner fired again, the rocket nailing one of the thing's guns and causing the ammunition within the feeding chute to explode, damaging the optics of the machine.
It wasn't long before it was backed up by one of its siblings, though, one with twin 20mm six-barrel miniguns. It revved its weapons and the subsequent volley ripped into the RPG Gunner like a family of sharks tearing into prey. By the time the shots had stopped, there was nothing left of the man. Alex sighed deeply, swore to himself, then radioed, "HITMAN, bring that Bushmaster on those Spiders, now!"
The reply of the Bradley they'd taken cover behind came in the form of the turret's inner hydraulics whirring as it swung about, locked onto the mech and started firing. 25mm AP rounds cored both enemy Spiders, leaving their corpses as husks on the burnt front lawn of the house they'd come through. The reply came fast, however. Out of the mist and smoke, two bolts of Plasma struck the front of the Bradley...
Two more enemy tanks rolled forward from down the street. The Lieutenant stood up and radioed, "All armored vehicles, roll back, now! Keep your armor facing forward! Big Bob, get plasma on those tanks and cover our tanks! Calderon... Lay into the bastards!"
The hair on his neck stood on-end. Thunderclap filled the air and a shockwave rippled through the place as the magnetic rail cannon mounted in the turret of a World War 2 battle tank shot its penetrator round. The shot hit the leading Terminator MBT with an incredible amount of force, shattering the vehicle on impact like a balled fist striking plaster. The Bradleys and surrounding infantry squads, about a dozen of them, slowly rolled back into cover, allowing Church and his men to evaluate the damage suffered by the autocannon Bradley.
Its barrel was melted and the front armor was pretty much cratered. He sighed, hit the side and watched the Commander pop out of the vehicle's turret, coughing. He told him, "Roll back to repair if you can! I think our supply trucks might still have a spare barrel and extra plates somewhere to weld on!" to which the tank Commander nodded. The Abrams's cannon thundered again in the distance, followed by the second roar of the Sherman-mounted Integrator rail cannon.
"Least the Wireheads didn't get to outflank us," Sighed Mason, leaning his back against the concrete wall of the ruined grocery store they'd managed to retreat to. Their forward scouts and infantry were still engaged with Homonculi, but the bastards were easy to keep at bay, at least. Church himself sighed deeply, rubbing his face, then murmured something to himself.
The Lieutenant sighed deeply, then asked, "Any ideas, Mason?" as he looked at his Sergeant. The sniper beside them fired his own laser sniper at advancing Terminator wolfpacks, which was giving them breathing room. A Humvee rolled over toward them and dismounted three more infantrymen, supporting them with its fifty-caliber MG, while a TOW carrier fired its missile at another enemy vehicle in the distance.
"Only thing I can tell ya is we gotta get to that AFB before they do and our only way is through and down this road, or we go on a long haul, come in from the South-East," Mason explained, then sighed deeply, crossing his arms while keeping his eyes peeled for enemy Drones. He told Alex quietly, "Though, knowin' our luck, the bastards would probably make it ahead of us. Legion really ain't lookin' to play ball with us today."
"We'll need reinforcements, but the nearest Resistance post is two days back the way we came," Alex spoke, partially berating himself, "Should've taken the other two Abrams with us," and looking at the damaged Abrams they had being 'repaired' on the field, its cannon roaring again, this time firing what looked like a HEAT projectile at an advancing enemy vehicle.
"No sense beating yourself up over it now, El-Tee," Mason grinned, then patted him on the shoulder and joked, "We got shit to deal with as is. Rather have you at 70%."
"Why not a hundred?" Alex quirked a brow up at that.
"Call it your margin of error, boss," Mason replied, which got a few laughs from the other troops around.
"Ha ha..." Alex rolled his eyes, smiling, "Very funny," only to pause and look up at the sky. A distant drone echoed in their ears, Alex soon noticed, one that wasn't from any of their supporting air assets like helicopters or A10s they'd managed to get when setting up near Death Valley with the Movement. The AFB near whatever Crater City had been in that area was surprisingly open.
"I wonder, though..." Mason took a moment to examine their possible tactical avenues. He looked over to a side road that could potentially fit their tanks and said, "Maybe we could flank around, hit them with the Abrams while Big Bob and his Bradley keep these tin cans pinned here. If the other one manages to return, then... What the hell is that in the sky!?"
Alex looked up, watching as a volley of rockets came down upon an enemy position, detonations sending gusts of wind that shook the ground. High-caliber autocannons from flying gunships filled Spiders and medium-weight Terminator units with AP rounds as four-engine gunships painted olive drab touched down next to them and began disgorging platoons of advanced-looking infantry.
One of the soldiers, a woman, moved forward and asked, "Lieutenant Church!?" her accent heavy. The man nodded, to which she said, "GALAXY ACTUAL, Friendly units discovered! Resistance, TROUBLEMAKER ACTUAL present," before she patted him on the shoulder and said, "I'm Lieutenant Erika Schwarz, UNSC Fifth Mechanized Division... We're friendlies."
"... Wait a minute, UNSC-" Mason started.
"Long story..." The woman replied as she aimed toward one of the Homonculi. She fired a full burst, the AP rounds piercing the endoskeleton of the Machine and staggering it. She fired another burst at its skull, nailing it right in one of the eye sockets and sending it to the flood, processor destroyed. The UNSC Gunships immediately lifted off after disgorging three platoons of Infantry and an armored fighting vehicle with a 120mm cannon in its automated turret.
The 120mm cannon on the tank, which resembled a Scorpion, let loose, kicking up dust and debris and nailing one of the enemy vehicles. Mason, who saw the troops deploy, stopped the woman by grabbing onto her arm and asking her, "Where the hell did you all come form!? We've never seen your group before! I know you're not suppos'ta look a gift horse in the mouth, but-"
"... We arrived overhead a while ago. Listened in," She explained to the two men as she and her squad took cover beside them. She looked at Church and continued, "Radio frequencies, planetary intranet, satellite transmit. We found Code running through it... Hostile AI's code," tilting her head to the Legion troops, "And, through the white noise of that Code? Your transmissions. It took us some hours to pinpoint your location from above, but, when we did, we deployed."
"You read code being transmitted by the Wireheads through the SAT network above?" Mason blanked. Upon getting a nod, he blinked, then told her, "That'd be impossible if you weren't in orbit near them. The few Satellites we have access to can barely get us an in with the bastards as it is. You'd have to be a tech wiz or incredibly advanced to bust through Legion's encryption schemes."
"UNSC decryption and decoding capabilities are a bit beyond your people's," She told them, then asked, "I've been told to ask of your objective while the rest of our forces prepare to deploy with our COs. Assist you in seizing said objective here," before checking her ammo count. Glad she still had plenty of ammo in her magazine, she waved forward their anti-tank teams.
"McConnel AFB. We're hoping to seize whatever equipment and ammunition remains in the area," Church told her, looking out toward the advancing platoons of UNSC troops, armor-piercing rounds zipping out of the barrels of their guns and cutting down the Homonculi. He asked, "What calibers are you all even using? Those rifles look like they're standard 7,62 NATO."
"They are, in a way," The woman replied, then looked over toward the remnants of an ATC Tower in the distance. She told them, "I think we can get you to McConnel. Afterward, we wanna talk to your bosses," then she rallied up her team. She tapped her helmet and said, "Frequency 13,7 on Radio. It's an encrypted line that I doubt these Bots can crack quickly enough. Tell your teams to switch to it."
"Roger..." Church said, feeling the ground rumble again as their MBT and Bradleys, now repaired, rolled forward. The rail cannon Sherman let loose another shot that seemed to do away with a Terminator tank, then he sighed and activated his radio, ordering, "All elements on Resistance net, switch to Freq 13,7 on radio. The com system is encrypted by our newfound allies. Troublemaker ACTUAL, out."
He watched more Gunships stream down, delivering armor and infantry by the bushel to the ground op. The tanks fired their main cannons in anger, spent casings ejecting out of the rear of the Autoloaders as the Infantry swarmed into cover beside and within buildings. Plasma rounds impacted around them, some of their Marines taking hits and nearly falling over. Others yet were fatally shot, even as the Gunships suppressed and destroyed the enemy's own units.
The tanks held position as the Infantry cleared buildings. Church snapped out of his stupor as Mason gave him a tap on the chest, then rallied his men, urging the infantry forward under the cover of the Tanks. They pushed, autocannons and plasma batteries and magnetic railguns roaring beside them, suppressing the Wireheads. Even so, they took losses. A platoon of Mercenaries was gunned down on the spot, a trio of RPG operators dropped dead, ripped in half by Bot Gatling cannons and so much else.
Church and Mason joined Erika inside one of the few concrete buildings in the suburb, watching as the woman poked out and shot at the bots. Around them, plasma fire and automatic weapon rounds hit, kicking up dust and melting concrete and steel. She turned back to face them, in cover as she reloaded her rifle, then said, "I'm surprised these things haven't fired on our orbiting ships yet..."
"Wait a minute, orbiting... You're freaking aliens?" Mason asked as he poked out and fired his own weapon. She shrugged and nodded almost nonchalantly, as if asking 'yeah, so what?' which dumbfounded both Church and his Sergeant. He told her, "We really gotta have a talk soon as we're done securing that base!" before he poked out and fired again, nailing a pair of Homonculi.
He gasped, however, when T800s armed with heavy plasma cannons appeared out of the smog of the firefight, firing their plasma rifles and cannons their way. Bullets sparked off their bodies, denting alloy and endoskeletons. Out of a squad of Marines caught in one of their volleys, maybe half survived without being turned into nothing but skeletal remains and blown-out and melted armor.
She waved to one of the troopers and tapped her com, then looked to Church and Mason and told them, "Tanks have to move up. We'll need their support in taking out whatever enemy units are engaging us. Our gunships are currently keeping the enemy's reinforcements from coming right in, so, if we take out the enemy platoon ahead of us, we get to advance to the Base."
"Roger..." He nodded, then radioed, "All armor, move it up! If you've got a clear road ahead, go! If you've gotta smash through buildings to get to us, do it! I want us rolling onto the Tarmac of McConnel in five!" then he waved forward a radioman and pulled the transmitter off, radioing, "Resistance HQ, this is Troublemaker Actual! We're nearing our Objective! Prepare the HEMTTs!"
The Lieutenant poked around the corner and domed another Machine thanks to the scope of her rifle, then dipped back into cover, feeling the skin on her right cheek sizzle as a bolt of plasma struck just past her, nailing a Founder-borne infantryman right in the chest. Mason swore and grabbed the dead man, dragging him forward and retrieving his weapon, what looked to be an anti-tank guided missile. He told them, "Poor bastard ain't gonna need this Javelin..."
They ducked when 20mm AP rounds started tearing through the concrete, with Mason immediately putting the launcher to use by locking onto the enemy 'Bot that was firing on them. He launched the missile, letting it arc up, then come down onto the head of the beast, the molten metal jet tearing through the top of the machine and frying its central processor.
A Gunship up above shifted its position as Legion Terminator plasma cannons tracked it. Shots splashed across the hull of the transport/combat VTOL and caused the Titanium to heat, but the pilot and co-pilot aboard returned fire with little remorse, the 40mm autocannon in the nose ripping the enemy's Impromptu-Short Range Air Defense to shreds. The tanks and Bradleys began appearing beside them, advancing as their main 120mm Cannons let loose.
"Ma'am!" A member of Erika's platoon appeared, taking a knee beside her. The man told her, "There's an entire Battalion of these Tin Cans advancing on us! We've got Longsowrds on Station if we wanna knock'em out when they come, though!"
"Tell them to flatten those sons of bitches!" She ordered, then looked to Church and told him, "We're pushing forward NOW!" before rallying up her team and every other UNSC Marine in the AO and starting to push through the industrial area and toward the airbase's ruined tarmac. The tanks engaged on the move, their stabilized guns allowing the crew to make accurate shots against enemy light and medium armor on the go, while infantry leapfrogged from damaged vehicle to damaged vehicle and other cover pieces to cover pieces.
Still, some got shot. Two men fell beside Church, Mason and Erika as they advanced. A gunship up above veered up and took off toward the sky as its engines started to smoke, but, in its place, giant, black, Delta-wing aircraft swung in with open bomb bays. Inbuilt targeting pods seemed to lock on the enemy and a cloud of high-yield explosives dropped from their bellies. In the distance, explosions blossomed like a wall of flame, shrapnel landing as far as next to the advancing troops.
"That was beautiful!" Mason laughed as the Bradley beside them lit the area ahead up, killing any surviving Homonculi. Marines joined in, focusing their fire alongside the Resistance's troops on the machines. More Spiders, still ablaze, appeared from the smoke left by the bombs, but they missed armor or weaponry. Some advanced and fired ATGM launchers off of their shoulders toward the designated hostile targets.
Erika spoke over Radio, "WARBIRD, good effect on target. Mother Eagle, this is Charlie Two-Two, requesting MAC Strike on marked beacon..." and she linked the targeting beacon before long-arming it toward a complex of buildings, "Two shots, low yield, quick succession! We still got a surviving enemy light armored platoon moving up to engage us!" before she swore to herself as the Bradley beside them took a direct hit, the armor buckling and ammunition inside immediately detonating.
In reply, the sky above temporarily split, surprising the Resistance. A bright white flash temporarily blinded the group, followed by the rumbling thunder of two impacts striking the ground ahead. The buildings beside the enemy mechs collapsed under the weight of the orbital kinetic strikes and sent out a thin cloud of debris spraying around them. It wasn't long after that the cloud dissipated, however, revealing the husks of enemy machines.
"Cease fire!" Church ordered over radio as some of the vehicles and infantry still fired. He sighed and spoke again, "Cease fire! Targets are dead..." before looking to Erika as she spoke over com with whatever the hell had just put two kiloton-yield rounds into the ground and managed to collapse two buildings. He approached her and asked, "The hell was that...?"
"Orbital Mass Accelerator Cannon shots," The woman replied as she stowed her rifle on her sling. She looked to him and added, "Area should be clear for now. Anything else needs to pass through Wichita and we already have Forward Scouts deployed to keep us on alert... Get your logistics unit to grab whatever they need from the base while we set up a perimeter."
Church watched her step away with her unit, the armor rolling forward to assist in forming the perimeter. He murmured, "Good talk..." before radioing, "This is Troublemaker Actual to Resistance elements. Area secure... We've got free reign for a few more hours, so let's get packing," before he walked into the base itself. About thirty minutes later, elements of T-Force rolled forward with trucks, towing vehicles, HEMTT supply trucks and crews for transports, should they need them.
Entering one of the Hangars, Church was surprised to find several Old US Air Force aircraft still on stand-by, some even being connected to fuel tanks whose pipes had been turned off. He heard footsteps behind him and looked back to see Erika walking in, before starting, "So... UNSC, huh?" which got a nod out of her. She sighed deeply, removing her helmet off of her head to reveal short blonde hair and a pair of blue eyes that had been hidden behind an orange tinted visor. A little surprised, Church asked her, "You gonna tell me what it means?"
"... United Nations Space Command, fresh off the defense of another planet," She replied, looking at him after a moment's pause. Turning fully to face him and noting the widening of his eyes, she told him, "We had a nagging feeling we were nowhere near home when our sensors picked up the higher-than-normal radiation levels on the Surface. We thought we'd gotten to Earth to reinforce it, but..."
"I still can't believe you're all alien or something. You look perfectly human to me..." Church spoke, looking at the blonde as she cradled her rifle almost like it was her own child. Understandably enough, going by the thousand-yard stare. He wondered just how much she'd seen. He hummed and asked, "Defending a planet, you said... What planet? It important?"
"Reach... And yeah, it was plenty important," She replied, before changing the subject, "Find what you need here?"
"A well-stocked armory, full ammunition supplies, properly-stored Meals-Ready-to-Eat and spare parts for the small air fleet we managed to acquire. Our A10 squadron's gonna be happy they get the extra stuff to maintain their birds," The man nodded, having made a mental note that the planet, Reach, was a touchy subject. He'd want to talk more to her later, but they needed to move, "How far out is the nearest Wirehead QRF?"
"Two hours out. We'll be long gone by then..." The woman offered, then looked to him, "We'll need to keep in touch with your troops. T-Force, as you call it, will need to coordinate with us as we're starting to learn more about these machines. If you're willing to help give some tourists the lay of the land, you'll have the full military and material support of the 5th Mech."
"Glad to have you, then. Our leadership should be able to meet with yours for that," He replied, looking at her, too, "Thanks."
"Fellow humans... Would be remiss not to help you all," She nodded, "Let's start packing. Command wants to send me and my squad to check out Cheyenne. They already have squads preparing to check places like Yamantau, so... Why not send the Jarheads out to claustrophobia-ville...?" before she shuddered. The man snorted, then thought back. Cheyenne Mountain. NORAD, he recalled blurrily. NORAD itself.
An underground base of operations like Cheyenne... Potentially useful, Church thought. He'd send a message out to command about it, if it wasn't already hit by the Bots.
Let T-Force visit with these UNSC folk.