Warning: Some of the terms in this article may involve racial discrimination. This is a real simulation that appears in an apartheid society.

OR1-EP2: Battle of Rhodesia (3)

Soon after the commissioner from the higher-level department left, the scouts accidentally found an outpost set up by the indigenous people while patrolling nearby. This abnormal activity aroused the vigilance of Colonel Duttmann. Indigenous people seldom leave tribal settlements or move alone or establish frontline strongholds on territories that do not belong to them. This is one of the main reasons why the EU's African Guardian Corps call them rabble and stragglers. Today, the situation seems to have changed. In order to avoid dangerous situations, the colonel ordered the outpost to be removed immediately, and his new one was set up on the original site at the same time. His idea is very simple, that is, pressing step by step, compressing the space of activities of the indigenous people step by step. After the scope of activities of the indigenous people is completely restricted, no excellent tactics can save the defeat, let alone these indigenous people are just primitive people who can use guns.

At about one o'clock in the middle of the night, the sleepy McNeil was dragged from the tent by Adalbert to attend an impromptu meeting organized by the colonel. In addition to the colonel himself and the operation staff officer(S-4) Gene Smilas, the participants also included task force supervisor Adalbert Herzog, captain Michael McNeil, and deputy captain David Roberts. Although everyone was very dissatisfied with the colonel's intention to mobilize the crowd in the middle of the night, they knew that Colonel Duttmann would not do nothing, and there must be an emergency to explain to them.

"Two hours ago, our scouts discovered an aboriginal guard post on the periphery of the nearby woodland. We have reason to believe that this group of living primitives are trying to monitor our actions." The colonel pointed to a location on the map not far from the station. "...I don't care what they are here for. Now your task is to wipe out all these people without leaving a living."

Everyone looked at each other, wondering what the colonel was making. With dark circles under his eyes, Smilas said vaguely: "Sir, we don't need to expose our traces here prematurely. We should let the native pay attention to the large units nearby. Since we don't know If they find us, we might as well use our plan and continue to act according to the original plan while making a disguise..."

The lights in the tent were a bit dim, so that the expressions on everyone's faces were not very real to the others. They speculated each other about the thoughts of their comrades and colleagues. McNeil supported Smilas's opinion. Although the bearded major was greedy, he never slackened in his job, and always tried his best to make suggestions. On this issue, he is the most trustworthy. However, Adalbert seems to have a different view, and his persecution delusion is still seriously interfering with his judgment of the situation.

"If there are indeed Britannians commanding the indigenous people, this is the prelude to their counter-offensive." Major Herzog expressed his views, "The fundamental reason why the army cannot go to war is that it is widely questioned by public opinion, as long as we get the evidence that claimed foreign forces support the violent actions of the indigenous people, all problems will be solved. No matter what the plan is, this outpost must be cleared immediately."

The matter was settled, McNeil had to immediately organize the manpower to carry out the raid. He believed in the skill of these ghostly players, and only found less than ten people to set off with him. As long as the goal can be achieved, the less manpower the better, so as not to be exposed. After the personnel were assembled, McNeil ordered to bypass the camp from the trail and approach the target from the other side. In view of the fact that the defense forces will send people to occupy the area after the cleanup operation is over, McNeil believes that they should fake the illusion that the attack was directly initiated by the nearby garrison.

Not only is the climate in Africa unsuitable for survival, but the wild beasts are also far from being able to resist. The EU can get a large number of non-combat attrition reports every year, and these soldiers often become waste products that have lost their recycling value before they have time to use their little purpose. Adalbert has warned everyone in advance that if someone gets into trouble or even loses his life because they don't listen to advice, there is no need for others to save him or her. In the wild in Africa, ensuring that you can survive is the best contribution.

"After the battle is over, let's not leave in a hurry, wait where we are." McNeil stomped on the dirt with one foot and one foot shallow. "We will go back until the nearby garrison comes to take over."

"The enemy won't take the opportunity to launch a counterattack, right?" Someone asked hesitantly. They were very worried that the indigenous people ambushed reinforcements nearby. If the scout's intelligence is completely credible, there are no other natives nearby, but the natives will definitely keep in touch with this sentry. When they detect that the sentry has been attacked or destroyed, they may take action to try to regain the stronghold. In accordance with the principle of confidentiality (in case the actions of the army trigger reporting of negligence in the media), the defense forces can only counterattack when the indigenous people initiate an offensive. Then, McNeil has also made plans to create opportunities for the colonel, and no one will let the credit run away.

Although it was late at night, the weather was still very hot. Before entering the winter in the southern hemisphere, they don't expect to have a comfortable day. This reminds McNeil of the old power armor used by GDI in the early years, in which many soldiers collapsed and their combat effectiveness was greatly reduced. He himself fortunately was dehydrated or unconscious several times because of this. After going through those trials, everything right in front of him can only be regarded as commonplace for him, maybe only Tiberias reappears to make him a little serious.

"Be confident, we are not cowards who dare not fight even the natives." David Roberts sneered a few times. "Since the regular army will only hide in bases and bunkers and watch the natives kill people and set fires everywhere, this is a matter for the people, and they need us to solve it. Captain McNeil, if the conditions are mature enough, we might as well make a big move so that the outside world will know the true faces of these people."

"No. We are now the dull knives in their hands. The only reason why they haven't been thrown away is that they can still be used for logging."

It takes about an hour to walk through the woods to the other end, and McNeil plans to attack the natives from the back. He asked one team member to stay outside ready to contact the superiors or reinforcements, and he took the three team members lightly into the woods. Everything here is silent, the only sound of human activity comes from their footsteps, except for the echoes from nature. This silence may not last forever. Humans will eventually conquer every corner of the earth, and no place can survive. They just hope to continue to survive, unscrupulous in order to survive, this is the cruel truth in the history of evolution.

"Sir, why don't you wear night vision goggles?"

"No need, I can see it." McNeil blocked his teammate's question back. "By the way, where are you from?"

"Orange, I robbed a bank before, and later became a bodyguard for the bank." The teammate behind said embarrassedly, "As long as there are other businesses, I won't come to do this."

"The bonus of the mission is enough for all of you to start a new life and completely abandon the past."

Everyone talked casually to pass the time, until McNeil vaguely noticed the dark shadow on the edge of the woods and motioned them to stop before they finally became nervous. Observing through night vision goggles, they easily saw two natives patrolling not far away. The two indigenous people were carrying rifles and looked very unprofessional. They only wore simple clothing around their waists, with their upper body naked, and they were no different from those of the indigenous people who were for people to visit.

A few minutes later, David Roberts crept back from the left.

"There are more than a dozen indigenous people on the sentry post, and only light weapons are visible."

"That's good, I'm also worried that they have rocket launchers and artillery." McNeil let out a long sigh of relief, "Right, what else is worth noting intel?"

"I saw a person who was obviously not an indigenous person was talking to them, but that person left after less than half a minute." Roberts described, "The person's face was also very dark... I mean, at first glance, he is indigenous one, but the facial skeleton is not like the indigenous people. It should be the dark skin color that has been exposed to long-term activities in the tropics."

"You can actually see the color of the other person's skin. I suspect that your night vision device is broken...Okay, remember the direction and report immediately after the battle is over." McNeil finished the sentence. Approach the natives patrolling nearby. He was careful not to make any loud noises. As long as the noise of the wild woods in the middle of summer was not overshadowed, no one would be able to spot him. Soon, McNeil approached the first native. The companion of this patrol may have returned to the outpost, which happened to give McNeil a chance to do it. McNeil pulled out the dagger, strangled the native's neck from the back, and cut his throat neatly. What surprised him was that he didn't feel any guilt in his heart—maybe he didn't have such feelings for a long time.

Michael McNeil laid the body flat on the ground, covered it with dead branches and rotten leaves, and hid behind a tree, waiting for the next target. After a while, he heard a shout, it was another native calling his companion. The cry is getting closer and closer, with some urgency. He will not find his companion, because a similar fate awaits ahead. McNeil turned away from behind the tree without hesitation, stabbed his back on the neck of the visitor, hit his opponent with a hook with his right foot, and then took a few more attacks before gave up. After confirming that both patrol personnel were dead, he greeted his nearby teammates to follow in his footsteps and prepared to launch a general attack.

"Unexpectedly, they are really vulnerable." Roberts was very optimistic. "It just so happened that we prepared flash bombs, and they will all become blind immediately."

"No, we can't take the initiative to attract more people's attention." McNeil thought about it and thought it was better to win. He decided to divide the team into two parts, flanking the left and right, and attacking it. After confirming that he had aimed at an indigenous head, McNeil pulled the trigger and fired the first shot in the battle. The native's head immediately exploded like a watermelon, but Roberts beside McNeil spat on the ground dissatisfiedly and cursed:

"It's missed again, this gun may be broken."

"You can't do it yourself." McNeil fired a few more shots, hitting another native who was trying to escape from the simple bunker, "Go ahead, keep calm."

The two opened fire alternately, until they stopped at the edge of the woods, and continued to attack under the cover of the woods. Before the enemy completely lost the ability to resist, they had no reason to take the initiative to leave the woods and go out to be beaten. Roberts plays the role of fire cover, he can occasionally hit the target, but the probability is much lower. Once the enemy is too heavy to raise his head by the intensive bullets, McNeil can look for his target without any distractions and kill it smoothly. After changing into a new magazine, McNeil, who was about to continue firing, suddenly noticed something abnormal.

"How did the gunshots on the other side become smaller?" McNeil was puzzled. "I didn't let them take charge of the offense. They wouldn't even not be able to cover fire properly, right?"

"I don't know, maybe they are waiting for us to take the initiative."

Fortunately, the opponent suffered heavy casualties and was unable to continue resisting. McNeil decided to end the battle. He and Roberts walked out of the woods one after another and rushed towards the enemy sentry. Unexpectedly, the two of them hadn't ran ten steps before they saw an indigenous man suddenly drilled out of the bunker and opened fire on McNeil. Several bullets hit the grass, only a few centimeters away from him. Roberts quickly raised his rifle and fired five consecutive shots at the enemy. The native was shot dead on the spot and fell on the bunker. The two rushed into this sentry post and found no communication equipment or valuable items except for a dozen indigenous corpses with varying degrees of damage. If the mysterious person Roberts discovered was Britannian messenger or adviser, these wise men would certainly not carelessly leave important items to the reckless natives.

McNeil and Roberts returned to the woods and found that the two team members were dragging another person to rest under the tree. Roberts was about to blame his teammates for their negligence, but when he saw the bullet hole in the forehead of the man lying on the ground, he couldn't ask anymore.

McNeil still held the gun and asked his teammates:

"How did he die?"

"Stray bullets! ... even drinking water can let someone choke to death."

"It's not that you two were hit. Why did you cease the fire?" The anger in Roberts's heart surged again. "If there are more enemies today, without your side's cover, we will all be killed—"

"Okay, not blame them." McNeil patted the other person on the back. "If you die by my side, I will be scared."

Everyone didn't know how to deal with the body. Some people thought that it should be buried on the spot. Roberts suggested waiting for a reply from the superior. They came here to make money. In case of death, the army must at least let their relatives and friends know what happened.

"You said, do they give pensions to the dead?"

"Brother, remember, this incident has never existed. In other words, if we die, we won't get a half euro of the money." McNeil sighed, "The field staff of the Guardian Corp can't get it fully either, no more for us."

TBC

Chapter Notes:

Guess who is the mysterious person who appears next to the indigenous people?