Warning: Some of the words in this article may refer to discrimination, a common occurrence in a segregated country. For now, the EU or URE is still an apartheid country.

OR1-EP2: Battle of Rhodesia (8)

The attack happened in an instant without any warning. While the killers of the task force were still immersed in the sense of accomplishment of slaughtering the indigenous tribes, the attack in the dark made them quickly sober up, and those members who were not injured in the first round of attacks sought shelter nearby, or tried to break through and find the location of the enemy. However, unknown enemies surrounded them from all directions, and the dense bullets gradually dispelled the idea of breaking out on the spot.

Michael McNeil and David Roberts were both prostrate and unable to move. They watched nervously for the noise above their heads, and as soon as the gunfire subsided a little, they immediately launched a counterattack. However, the enemy's attack showed no sign of abating, the gunshots kept ringing, perhaps with a cross-fire to ensure that they could always be suppressed. Roberts finally couldn't help it. He thought that if he waited like this, everyone could only wait until death. So, he was about to stand up and move to other areas, but as soon as he raised his head, he was pressed down by McNeil.

"What the hell are you thinking about?" McNeil whispered, "The enemy side can't see our situation, this is our greatest luck... Don't take the initiative to expose yourself."

After he finished speaking, he crawled towards the edge area on both hands and feet, and David Roberts followed suit. The two of them were writhing on the ground, trying to leave the area being targeted by the surrounding attackers. When they were about a dozen meters away from the place, several natives with rifles emerged from the nearby grass. These natives were shooting at the enemies while marching forward the burning tribal ruins under the cover of their companions, shouting strange and unintelligible language, presumably intending to exterminate these invaders who destroyed their homes and killed their compatriots. When the natives tried to bypass a burning house, three members of the task force suddenly appeared in the rear. There was a fierce exchange of fire, and several natives were shot and fell to the ground. After realizing that there were still enemies trapped in the tribe, the natives did not dare to send people to search, but just shot at any place in the tribe where a shadow was shaking from a distance. This is in line with their style, they are not trained modern professional soldiers after all.

"Why did they come back so fast!?" David Roberts was puzzled. "Did they keep following us?"

"No, there are no strong adult males in this tribe. I'm sure the natives should have sent them to attack our teammates." McNeil nervously continued to move towards the safe area, "As for these attackers, I think there are three types of them, possibly. First, they spotted us on the way and followed us; second, they were emergency troops guarding the tribe, but they were a little slower; third…"

McNeil felt that the surroundings were safe, so he stood up cautiously, and pulled up Roberts, who was still lying on the ground in a large shape on the conditioned reflex.

"...Maybe they did it on purpose, just to get us hooked." McNeil didn't care about the dust on his face, he only felt that his mouth was full of dust and his throat was burning with thirst, "It's all my guessing. Yes, the natives don't have so many scheming, maybe everything is an accident."

The two hid behind a big tree, judging the direction of the enemy based on the firelight when the gun fired. According to McNeil's inference, due to the long-term blockade by the Defense Forces and the Guardian Corp, the natives are close to running out of ammunition and food, but now this group of natives can attack so recklessly, which conflicts with his previous speculation. He didn't want to know where the natives got their supplies, or whether there were spies in the army. In short, he had to complete this disgraceful task alive before he could continue to explore this strange world elsewhere. One of the natives leaned halfway out of the bushes and fired intently in the direction of the tribal ruins, unaware of the imminent danger. McNeil took aim at this target and killed him with a neat shot. After a successful hit, he immediately hid behind the tree, and at the same time asked Roberts to pay attention to the movements of the surrounding enemy forces. Roberts replied that the natives are still besieging the original encirclement, and there is no change.

The other team members who were still trapped in the ruins of the tribe were no ordinary people. They used the still burning houses and the corpses of the indigenous people in the tribe to start a counterattack. Someone wrapped the burning debris and corpses on the ground into a ball and kicked it towards the enemy's hiding place. Wherever the fireball went, there was a sea of flames, and the bushes were also set ablaze in a short while, causing the natives to cry. They escaped from the hiding place and was killed one by one by the task force members who had been waiting on the periphery. Others had successfully escaped before and went around the enemy's rear to attack the natives, causing serious casualties to the natives. Soon, the gunfire everywhere gradually subsided, and the battle came to an end. Although McNeil's soldiers were caught off guard by the natives, they still stubbornly fought their way through the encirclement, and finally managed to survive. McNeil gathered the rest of the team and found that there were only 7 people left, and all of them were injured. He couldn't help feeling a little sad.

"We have to be careful, and we can't act so rashly in the future. It seems that I misunderstood the situation this time." McNeil first criticized himself, "The enemies' plan is even more thorough than ours, and they must have calculated what we have prepared for ourselves. In this way, we should not be in a hurry to get in touch with the large troops or supply points in the short term, so as to avoid unforeseen problems." He looked at the still burning debris, turned back and continued: "Leave here first, other things will be discussed later."

McNeil always felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't think of the problem from beginning to end, so he had to order a retreat first, and he himself walked at the front of the team to avoid other accidents. Just a few steps away, they found an aboriginal corpse with a rifle in its hand. McNeil picked up the rifle and observed it carefully, and found that there were many symbols painted on the rifle. Perhaps the indigenous people believed that this method could enhance the lethality of the rifle. Whether it was Old Jake or Colonel Duttmann, they all told McNeil a common sense in Africa: the indigenous people think that firearms are a magic weapon, and their understanding of firearms is like the ancient fantasy of magic.

"Look, they've written so much, but finally can't make this rifle a super weapon." McNeil showed the rifle to David Roberts, "If they don't learn anything more, they'll just keep making jokes in the future."

"There are not a few people who have learned knowledge but also make jokes. Knowledge and reasonable common sense are two different things, Captain." David Roberts said with a smile, "I have seen some very clever and successful people who make mistakes on some almost mentally retarded issues."

"Really? That's stupid, I think their heads just don't function as they should." McNeil threw the dead rifle back to the ground, intending to find another corpse. In the past few days, they have lost their soldiers one after another. Although they have killed the natives whose total number was several times more than their casualties, this victory is worthless to the dead. What makes everyone ironic is that the indigenous people still choose to draw similar symbols on the bullets. They seem to be less concerned about the impact of this practice on the actual lethality of firearms. No wonder Colonel Carl Duttmann always referred to the natives with contempt as primitive people, who may indeed know nothing about modern times.

McNeil looked at the remaining bullet casings on the ground, and he suddenly found some familiar models that matched the bullets he found at the scene of the city's shootout that day. The commander bent down to pick up some of them, looked at them for a long time, and said to Roberts beside him:

"You guys withdraw first, I'll deal with some personal issues."

"Okay, take care of yourself and come out as soon as possible."

McNeil glanced at the bushes in front of him, where other enemies were hidden. It has always been the way of the Britannians that they do not easily expose themselves directly to the front lines of the conflict, only to let those servants and slaves die in their place. McNeil doesn't care about the scapegoats, but he can't stand the real culprit on the loose.

McNeil was a little surprised by the Britannia's willingness to spend a lot of money to mess up the EU's African colonies, and they were able to send agents and soldiers from homeland to assist the natives in their sabotage activities. The Britannian Empire may have no hope of re-emerging and counter-attacking Europe, so long as it makes old rivals in trouble, it will be the greatest success. In daily life, there are not a few people who hold the same view. McNeil has seen many social scums who harm others and do not benefit themselves. Their starting point for doing things is not even to benefit themselves, but only to hinder their opponents.

"The marksmanship is very accurate. It seems that you Britannians are not come here in vain." McNeil continued to move forward vigilantly, "I heard that your Britannian Empire pays attention to chivalry, are you interested in coming out and show me the knight's upright attitude?"

No one responded. McNeil guessed that no matter how resolutely the old-fashioned aristocrats embraced outrageous chivalry, they would not really stand up and put themselves in danger. Perhaps the connotation of chivalry is the bragging of humble experiences into earth-shattering feats, which is what those tavern bards do best.

McNeil seemed to hear some noise, which became smaller and smaller, and finally disappeared. The enemy retreated, and for whatever reason, the soldiers suspected of being from the Britannian Empire did not choose to continue fighting, but left the battlefield with the opportunity to fire and kill the enemy. Even if the citizens of the EU always make fun of the Britannia living in the Middle Ages, they still belong to modern society, not real medieval serfs.

David Roberts let the others go first, and he stayed behind to wait for McNeil. As the vice-captain, he couldn't let the captain be in danger by himself, and he always wanted to make sure that McNeil was safe before coming here. When McNeil emerged from the darkness, Roberts decided to move on. The two were one after the other, always on alert to avoid being attacked by other potential enemies.

"What was our original plan for the next step?"

"Go back to that station."

"Cancel this plan," McNeil said decisively. "The enemy must be planning to ambush. With these fewer and fewer soldiers in our team, all of us will die on the way."

"We've been counted twice by them before; I think it's better for everyone to just resign themselves to fate." Roberts flinched a little, "Otherwise, with wisely thinking that we escaped the enemy's trap, but instead fell into the enemy's arms..."

McNeil covered his face and complained: "You mean that all the losses we have suffered so far are because of my plan?"

"No, I don't think so." Roberts said solemnly, "but, we should not take the initiative to attack frequently now, and it is safer to wait for the enemy's next move. As long as we have fewer flaws than them, we can get our advantage back."

Everyone has their own set of views; each can justify their own. After thinking about it, McNeil still thinks that it is not appropriate to return to the previous underground facilities. Instead, he suggested reconnaissance of the enemy's movements outside, especially to catch the native scouts, so that they would know how their intelligence leaked to the enemy. Roberts did not object this time. After re-planning the route, they decided to conduct activities around one of the supply points, and try to find out the activities of the surrounding indigenous tribes as much as possible.

"We have to think like this - every time they send one more person to hunt us down, there will be one less person to deal with our companions." McNeil explained to the crowd, "Besides, now we are more flexible than before, so I'll can develop some operational plans that are more in line with current conditions."

"We currently have enough supplies for two days or so in the wild, and then we have to find a way to get supplies." Roberts added, "We don't know yet whether the indigenous people have sabotaged supply lines and supply points, but can only hope that the army's plan is foolproof... If they go wrong, everyone will starve to death."

What happened next overturned all the previous statements of the army-McNeil finally confirmed that the natives did not fight in isolation, but chose to form a temporary alliance, and there were frequent intelligence exchanges and personnel exchanges between the various tribes. Considering that the indigenous tribes have been in a state of vendetta for a long time, this change is probably brought about by the Britannia, rather than the spontaneous action of the indigenous people. Both McNeil and Roberts believe that the situation is not optimistic. If the natives choose to fully coalesce, they will face a native army that is enough to compete with the Fifth Infantry Regiment under the command of Karl Duttmann, rather than loose tribes which could be wiped out effortlessly one by one.

"What to do now?" After getting this information, David Roberts felt more and more dangerous about the future.

"We'll find a way to report it to the superior tomorrow. How to deal with it is their problem. We have no way out." McNeil was also helpless.

TBC

Chapter Notes:

Roberts' vice-captain or deputy captain position is a temporary title rather than a military rank, so the rank lieutenant is not used in this article.