The heavy-duty recon battalion rolled forward, weapons at the ready. Infantry dismounted from the LAVs and BTRs pushed together through the forest, while the tanks, trucks and IFVs rolled through. A leading tank with a bulldozer tore down trees to open up a path for HITMAN, SOKOL and their buddies in the LAVs, Callsign CLEAVER. The sound of gunfire grew louder from ahead of them. The Russians themselves seemed tense, holding close their Kalashes as they pushed through the trees.
Meanwhile, Trombley had woken up and was already prepping to waste someone. He spoke, "Barely got to shoot this shit back at home. Maybe I'll finally get my chance to waste a motherfucker or two..." to which Ray and Brad both laughed, shaking their heads. Some of the Russians marching in the middle of the convoy looked to Trombley with a hint of worry, while Garza simply showed them to settle down. 'It's just Trombley' he'd have told them if they spoke English.
One of their own gunners, a woman, grinned much like Trombley as she racked the bolt of her PKM. Garza was about to make a comment about that, before the first shot rang out overhead. Once the vehicles breached the treeline with the platoons of infantry behind them, they caught sight of a village with a massive mill in the center, heavily damaged by the fighting and missing several chunks.
Brad radioed, "All Hitman Victors, stop!" then turned to Ray and said, "Stop, stop, stop!" which caused the man to suddenly brake. The Sergeant got out of the Humvee, utilizing the NV scope on his rifle to scout out the targets ahead. The distant gunfire suddenly made sense as he spotted a group of civilians armed with rusty old rifles fighting it out with platoons of the same enemy units they saw before. He showed Ray to hand him the radio, which his RTO did, to which the Sergeant called out, "All convoy Victors on this net, be advised:Unknown Civilian Militia troop is taking fire nearby a gate on..." He pulled out his compass, "The southern side of town..."
Multiple dismounts appeared next to Brad, with Lt. Fick among them. He took a knee and pulled out a pair of binos, before humming and telling Brad, "We got PID on the hostiles. Knight troopers and..." they paused as a cannon thundered. Fick looked with disbelief at what he was seeing, before murmuring, "Is that a French tank...? Looks like something from World War 1..."
The tank that rolled forward was a lightly-armored, fairly long battle vehicle armed with what seemed to be two low-velocity 75mm guns, one mounted in a rotating single-man turret, while the other lay beside the Driver's viewport. It also had a ram at the front, probably to smash through defenses. Brad looked, stunned, too, before shaking his head and radioing, "This is HITMAN 2-1 to all HITMAN Victors. Someone get us an AT4 up front. Actually, get the tanks..."
"We got the permission to go in..." Fick said as he shouldered his own rifle, "We can take the Humvees and an Abrams in while the LAVs and the rest of the tanks form a perimeter, help with EVAC..."
"Sounds good," Brad replied, thumbing the safety of his M4 to off. He stood to his feet and nodded to Fick, who also stood up and marched out toward his Humvee. Brad entered the vehicle and said, "We're gonna be rolling as an assault force, helping the people down there..." before looking to Ray as he was about to comment on it, "Listen, they didn't shoot at us while the bastards wearing tin cans did. I'm not letting them kill a bunch of civvies."
"... Fair enough," Ray shrugged, then turned the wheel of the Humvee as the radio crackled to life. He handed Brad the radio, then said, "Alright, Hitmen, brace for the funvee to start rolling..." to which Trombley let out a short laugh and prepped his LMG. Garza gave a thumbs up and swung the turret of the Humvee about, readying himself to fire the main gun.
"... Roger, Hitman 2-1 will be leading the formation. Requesting aid from Wardog 1-4 and CLEAVER 2-2 to clear the target..." Brad spoke over radio. As the reply came, the turbine engine of the Abrams roared and two BTRs filled with troops also joined in. The dozen Humvees of HITMAN rolled over the berm and down the hill at maximum speed, stunning several civilians that were in the evacuation line as they rolled forward.
In fact, most of the civilians stared with eyes wider than saucers at the advancing brigade of allied vehicles. The BTRs rolled in beside the Humvees, while the tank pushed to the top of the hill and aimed its main gun. The tank commander radioed, "This is Wardog, rolling to engage enemy tank... Sabot, up," and the tank's main gun roared like a starving lion on the hunt.
The high-velocity, fin-stabilized submunition first pierced the wind while the two pieces of its 'container' separated from its body. It flew through the air, over the top of the gate, and hit the enemy light tank straight down the center. The submunition pierced, punching through thin armor plating and exiting out of the rear of the vehicle before slamming into the paved road.
The enemy tank was dead for all intents and purposes. It was a metallic husk without power, its rear engine and radiator blown out by the over-penetrating round. The tank commander gave the order to move and the tank rolled forward off the hill, the coaxial machine-gun letting loose. Red tracers took the attention of the young woman commanding the defending troops, before her eyes shot wide open.
The slew of allied vehicles descended upon the target area, with the Russian paratroopers jumping off their vehicles first to meet the enemy company of infantry. 5,45 bullets zipped through the air as the two Lieutenants commanding the platoons advanced forward, joining the defenders. A rifle grenade thunked out of the barrel of the launcher mounted to one rifle.
Two Humvees followed them in through the gate, rolling in to cover the retreating Civvies. A Mark-19 auto-grenade launcher let loose toward where he saw an advancing enemy platoon, the 40mm rounds blasting apart the enemy as they detonated. Meanwhile, Marines dismounted from the vehicles, with a reporter civilian jumping out as well. Brad ran to the rear of the Humvee, poked up and fired from behind the engine block, while Ray and Trombley set up positions next to the girl and her comrades, one of which was wounded.
Ray paused upon seeing the group of survivors and smirked at the women, one of whom was a curly-haired blonde, before calling out to Brad, "Ey! Brad! Hot ladies at our six o'clock!" with a grin. Brad snapped back at him inaudibly, then ducked as bullets sparked off the front of the Humvee. The Sergeant snapped something back at him again as Trombley set up his machine gun from a prone position and let loose.
Louder still was the fifty-cal machine gun mounted on the other Humvee and the Kord 14,7mm MGs on the two BTRs. The two women and their compatriots seemed a tad too dumbfound to even register the statement of Josh Ray Person, with the leading one simply asking, "Who are you people...?" as she held close her rifle, brown hair flowing in the wind.
"Us?" Ray smirked as he poked up, aimed and put two rounds into a bastard's chest, dropping him. He ducked back down and replied, "We're the cavalry, pretty girl..." and he winked, causing the blonde behind the lead to blush. The two watched Garza fire the Mark-19 again. More 40mm frags spun through the air, detonating upon impacting the walls of houses and the ground, or even the enemy themselves, turning a pair into chunky red paste.
The Marines and VDV advanced together, the drivers of the Humvees mounting back up into the vehicles to slowly drive them forward under infantry support. Outside, LAV 25mm Bushmasters spat out hell, the radio chatter travelling between the various Allied troops filtering into the ears of Captain Alicia Melchiott, of the Town Watch. She and her teammates watched with muted awe while their newfound escort slowly pushed the Imperial forces back.
"Wow..." Alicia murmured as she stood to her feet, holding her rifle close. A pair of Russian female soldiers pushed through in front of her, with one bearing a red cross on her shoulder. Her teammate motioned to her to jump over and start checking the people, getting a nod of approval. A tank cannon echoed from the rear and, in the distance, an Imperial tank burst ablaze.
"They're incredible," Murmured Susie, the young friend of Captain Melchiott and a fellow Bruhl town watchwoman. Seemingly, a pair of the reinforcing units' leaders also approached from another of their vehicles. Both wore the same outfits and seemed to carry the same equipment, though with wildly different modifications. The leading man, a fairly handsome one, nodded to the girls.
"These're the locals, sir. We didn't get names while the Company was fighting out here," The leading man said, "We're still waiting for Godfather to catch up to us, too."
"They'll be a while, I guess..." His assistant replied. He turned to the woman and her compatriots and said, "Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Sergeant Brad Colbert, Marine Corps, and this is my CO."
"Lieutenant Nathan Fick," He replied, "What are your names?"
"Sir..." Alicia blanked for a moment, then shook her head and saluted, "Town Watch captain Alicia Melchiott. This is my friend and second-in-command, Susie." and to that, the shy blonde with curled hair and a pink bow waved. The two men looked them over, noting the Town Watch uniforms:Bright cyan with red accents and shoulder covers, plus helmets for some of the men that more-so resembled firefighters' ones.
And the rifles they carried... Fick hummed and said, "What town are we in exactly, captain Melchiott?"
"Bruhl..." She paused, "Uh... You guys don't look Imperial... or Federation, for that matter."
"If by 'Imperial' you mean the bastards we just started killing? Then, I guess we aren't," Fick stated, then explained, "We're going to need a brief on where exactly we are and we'll need to be able to talk to your other officers. Someone from up top, if possible. Leadership," And he shifted his rifle forward as he heard a callout. The two men tensed as they heard someone call out another enemy tank coming in.
"We'll tell you everything you need..." Alicia replied, before lifting her rifle, "After we-..."
She paused as she saw the Tank turn the corner. It was blue, much larger than the wreck laying in the middle of the road. She yelled, "Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" Toward a man with a tube launcher in his hands, "That's a Gallian tank! It's one of ours!" before she jumped over the cover and ran toward it. The Lieutenant and Sergeant exchanged looks, before following her toward it.
First to appear out of the massive vehicle's front hatch was a young woman with dark-blue hair and a strange shoal draped over her shoulders. She gasped, wide-eyed, as she saw the US and Russian military assets ahead. The rumble of gunfire grew all the more distant, muffled by the roar of both the tank's and the various IFVs and trucks' engines as they all rallied around the gate.
"Gallian, huh...?" Whispered Brad while tensely fiddling with the safety on his M4. The second figure to appear out of the top of the tank was a boy with platinum-blonde hair who wore a brown jacket. His eyes were wide, too, much like those of the girl in the tank's driver seat. The trio of men looked at one-another as the artillery in the distance seemed to die down, before Brad waved at the young man.
"Welkin!" Alicia smiled, bug-eyed, "You have a tank!?"
"Heh..." The boy rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "Yeah. I'll explain later. What about you, Alicia? You and Susie seem to have found some friends..."
"More like they found us..." Susie murmured, awkward, as she walked up with them. Fick hummed, then waved to the man on the tank and shifted his rifle onto his back, to seem as non-threatening as possible. He walked up beside Alicia, with Brad standing in the rear as Ray and Garza dismounted. The Russians were also aiding some of the Civvies still moving through, surprisingly.
"Good afternoon," Fick greeted Welkin and his 'friend'? Sister? He didn't know, "I'm Lieutenant Nathan Fick, US Marine Corps. We came under attack from the same enemy your country is fighting. Our commanders have asked us to get an audience with the local leadership now that they've learned we're not the only ones fighting in this undeclared war with what's tantamount to a hostile Empire."
Oh, well, that uh... Welkin didn't know how to take that. He saluted and said, "A pleasure, Lieutenant. We were actually just preparing to help escort the townspeople of Bruhl to our capital as refugees. If you don't mind helping us do that, it should be a good way to get your leadership an audience with ours..." to which Fick looked back just as Godfather's vehicles rolled in.
The American Lieutenant showed Welkin to wait a second. He walked toward Godfather, causing the rest of the group to turn toward the Marine lieutenant-colonel 'Godfather' Ferrando, a Marine with a strong jaw and a stronger commitment to his job. The Lieutenant saluted and got a salute back from the man as LAVs started rolling into the town and the two started talking. The Lieutenant pointed to Welkin and the others, while Brad was tapping on his rifle with his fingers away from the trigger. He looked to the girl in the tank's driver seat, smiled and gave a wave.
She blushed a little and waved back, smiling, too, before dropping back into the tank. Ray marched up to Brad and said, Guess we're gonna be rollin' as Civilian escort for the day, right?" and got a nod from Brad. He turned to Welkin and the blue-haired girl as she reappeared from the hatch and said, "Nice tank!" with a smirk. The two replied with half-mouthed affirmations of thanks.
Fick now walked back with Godfather, causing all of the Marines in the area to straighten up their postures, saluting as the Colonel passed by them. He gave a calm nod of the head to each Marine, before stopping in front of Welkin and greeting him, "Good afternoon, mister Welkin. I'm Lieutenant-Colonel Ferrando, USMC First Recon," his voice rough, quiet, "We would appreciate a tour guide for the meeting, of course. And we are willing to provide security for your convoy of civilians. Any wounded that need medical care will be taken care of by our Corpsmen."
"That's much appreciated, sir," Welkin replied, clearly wary as not to offend the man, "I'm Welkin Gunther, by the way. This is my sister, Isara."
"Hello. A pleasure to meet you, Colonel," Isara greeted with a kind wave. Ferrando replied with a calm smile and another short nod, before motioning to the rest of the Convoy to form up around the civilians. Before long, he had returned to his own vehicle and radioed in their findings. By the time the sun began to set over Bruhl, the United States Marine Corps and the Russian VDV loaded the injured and various walking civilians onto their transports, with some riding atop the BTRs of the VDV.
Alicia watched from atop the hill with muted awe, the leaves of the tree beside her rustling in the wind. She held her rifle by the strap, watching as even more allied reinforcements of the Marines' seemed to appear, these ones trucks with supplies meant to aid the refugees of Bruhl that were set to be displaced deeper into the country. She hummed and sighed.
"Hey, Alicia..." Welkin's voice came from her left. She turned toward him and smiled.
"Hey, Welkin," She greeted, "... Odd day, huh..."
"Yeah," He nodded, crossing his arms to his chest and watching the unfolding proceeding ahead, "How many of the town guard are left?"
"Me, Susie and a few others. Barely enough for a whole squad," She replied with a deep sigh, "We were lucky these folks appeared. They saved a lot of lives, though... I can't for the life of me understand where they came from with all this gear... You don't think they're Vinlandians, right? They haven't even gotten involved in the war on the Federation's side, yet."
Welkin gave a negative answer, before his gaze shifted over to Isara, who was at the edge of the hill and nerding out over one of the US's battle tanks, an 'Abrams'. He spoke, "Whatever they are, they spared us a lot of trouble. Their stuff's pretty advanced. Last I hear they knocked out a whole company of enemy vehicles heading toward us just North of Bruhl..."
"They could win the war for us," Alicia murmured, "... And that might mean we get to come home sooner."
"Let's hope our leadership sees it that way," Welkin smiled, "I wanna come back to help rebuild Bruhl ASAP..." and he paused again as he watched Isara climb onto the tank and let out a laugh. He rolled his eyes and said, "Gimme a sec. I'll go get Isara," while wearing the biggest smile on his face. Alicia chuckled, facepalmed and shook her head, before turning back as other footsteps came to her.
A Russian soldier, as she'd called herself, approached. She slung her rifle onto her back and said in her heavy accent, "This place looked beautiful before this mess started, wasn't it...?"
"Yeah," Alicia replied, hands behind her back, "Thanks for saving us, by the way."
The Russian shrugged, "We were just doing the job we were sent out here to do. Your enemy declared war on us as well, by firing at our allies' men..." before she paused, smirked and snorted, covering her mouth, "Ah, blyad, never thought I'd be calling Americans 'allies', considering the bad blood between our people..." and looked to Alicia, who was confused. She waved it off and said, "You'll get context, soon, I hope... By the way, my name is Sergeant Maria Ivanova, Russian VDV."
"Alicia Melchiott... Captain of the Town Watch and, honestly? I don't know what rank I'll get in the Militia," She extended her hand. Maria shook it, still holding the smile. She was a beauty with short, raven-black hair and a rare trait of lilac eyes. There was a small mole on her cheek and Alicia soon noticed some kind of tattoo on her neck, though it was concealed by the woman's scarf.
"A pleasure, captain. And... Militia?" She raised a brow.
The young lady nodded, "Yeah. Beside the regular Army, Gallia relies heavily on locals picking up weapons to defend home. Our defense industries can pump out the guns we need fairly quickly, if needed, so... Yeah..." words which caused Maria to smile. She nodded approvingly, before looking down to see Welkin holding a pouty Isara under his arm, the girl's arms crossed. He chuckled awkwardly, then greeted Maria and Alicia with a wave, making both women giggle.
Russia's soldier hummed, arms crossed, then offered, "We should join the Convoy. I'm sure Godfather and Sokol will want us departing soon for your capital and we will need you to lead the way, mister Gunther."
"Right," Welkin nodded, "Guess we'll introduce ourselves later down the line, too, right?"
"Sure," She offered a curt smile that garnered a light blush out of the man and a seemingly awkward reaction out of Alicia that she couldn't quite make out. With a light giggle, the Sergeant descended toward the convoy, where she met Sergeant Colbert. She spoke to him in a most friendly tone, "Turns out the locals have a Militia to supplement their army. Think Armed Neutrality."
"So, Switzerland?" He quipped, the woman letting out a short laugh. He smirked and said, "Surprised to see you here, honestly. We were pen pals a while back, weren't we?"
"Da. Good to see you in real life for once, Brad," She snorted, then looked over to see Ray bobbing his head to a tune. She chuckled and added, "I see Corporal Person's like you described him..." turned to see Garza on the Mark 19 and Trombley entering the vic with his LMG, "And those must be the others of Hitman 2-1... Well, best to get moving, eh, Brad?"
"Yeah. We'll probably talk when we're at their capital. General Schwarzkopf and General Mattis should be trailing along with their company by the time we're supposed to reach the halfway point, too, so..." The man replied, then paused to watch the 'Edelweiss', Welkin and Isara's weird tank, rolling onto the field and driving up to the front of the civilian and military-laden convoy. Above them, another Reaper drone and, beside it, an indeterminate Russian UAV, flew over. The Reaper had Hellfires on its wings, too, so air cover was somewhat present.
The two sergeants bumped fists, then both went to their respective vehicles. Ray grinned and turned down the volume on their radio, which was playing 'Everybody Wants to Rule The World' as Brad entered the transport. He looked to Brad and told him, "Now that is a country who knows how the pussy industry works. And they managed to combine it with the military!"
Brad snorted and shook his head as he sat down, "She's an old pen pal of mine, Ray. Get us rolling and be quiet for the night. I wanna take a nap..." unclipping his helmet and setting it aside. Ray gave a nod of approval and started rolling as the Convoy's engines revved, entering the formation with the rest of Hitman and their comrades in arms. As night set, the tune of the song filled the air among the ranks as everyone tuned into Hitman's radio.
Even the Gallians did, with Susie, who was sat atop the truck, bobbing her head with a smile. She looked back at the troops and the people on board their transports, some of the Russians smoking cigs while the troops riding atop LAVs were exchanging jokes. Some times, the two sides would look at one-another, exchange a few words in English, then turn back to their own.
Then again, and again, and again, until both sides let out laughter in unison, with one of the Russian troopers tossing one of the Marines a bottle of some clear liquid. The Marine barely caught it and Susie heard the Russian call out, "President Pomorenka restricted our access, haha! But we got our ways! Enjoy!" in what she was assuming was a probably historical event of thawing relations. The American soldier lifted the bottle in a cheer, then popped the cap off and took a swig, before a violent coughing fit came, much to the laughter of his buddies and the Russians.
Susie smiled and giggled, listening to the tune and tapping her foot. She mumbled the lyrics to herself, 'All for freedom and for pleasure, nothing ever lasts forever... Everybody wants to rule the world...' And pondered just how fitting the lyrics were to their current situation. Truly, everybody did want to rule the world and with the ongoing conflict...?
Perhaps destroy it...