Gunfire raked another fighting position that HITMAN-3 had settled into. While Nanami and Kaylee recorded the firefight, the Lieutenants coordinated their fireteams, which they'd arrayed in three defensive lines around the central FOB. Closer than ever was the city itself. Its walls rose tall in the horizon, the peak where the Imperial Palace and Senate were clearly visible to allied guns.
The vehicles set up on top of the hill were firing their fifty-caliber MGs down at a charging legion of Imperial Auxiliaries. Various non-human troops belonging to the Empire, armed with stolen heavy weaponry, fired wildly at the troops set up on the hill. Orcs led by Beastmen, much to Tyuule's fury. The Queen fired her weapon in bursts, focusing down the Beastman officers.
The hill they were on had a strategic reason for being defended:The small village behind it, a transit point and one of the three Main Supply Routes that helped complete the encirclement of the Capital. With Imperial Armies pinned within the city alongside a contingent of elite Sapien Sunrise forces, the UNSC and UN had their jobs cut out for them.
Richard was on radio, commanding artillery from the Russian support brigade at their rear, the same ones with the Akatsiyas. He could hear the distant thump of each gun firing, for six total thumps at one time. The man continued, "Readjusted fire at grid five-two-five mark two-one-seven, adjust azimuth by 3 degrees and fire again, DANGER CLOSE…" only to look at Kaylee as she filmed him and furrow his brows.
"No, no, by all means, keep going…" The woman smiled.
He sighed, looked to Ikari, who was acting as spotter, then yelled something at her. She raised her index off the binocular to show him to wait as the shells whistled, arcing in. They struck and shattered the forward 'regiment' of enemy units, the disorganized rabble of monsters being whipped to battle by the furry fuckers in charge.
Ikari gave a thumbs up, to which the man reported, "Spasibo, Volga Actual! Direct hit on target, repeat fire mission!" and he clapped his hands together with a grin. He ran over to Ikari and grabbed his rifle, before telling her, "Aim for any of their leaders that survive! Tyuule seems quite insistent that we fuck up the Wolves!"
"Already on it…" Ikari replied, steady of mind and calm of soul as more artillery struck ahead of the forward positions. The middle layer of defenses was machine guns and automatic weapons fire all the way, gunning down hundreds, then thousands of the enemy's advancing Auxiliaries. The girl sniped at the Beastmen in armor, but murmured, "Christ, they're sending them out to die…"
"Yeah," Richard nodded. He radioed to the second line, "Henry! How're you holding up!?"
"We got enough ammo, I hope!" The man replied rather cautiously. Dick could see him from there with his rifle drawn and both taking and giving back accurate fire through the ACOG. Beside him, Taylor and his GPMG lit up the area, with a few other US troops and even Ruskies and Germans opening up with their own.
A German on a Wiesel fired his MG3 from a hull-down position, raking the area ahead with green tracers and 7,62 bullets at approximately 1200 rounds per minute. He was firing in much shorter, more controlled bursts than the others due to the overheating barrel issue and so on. Overhead, a UNSC drone dropped a pair of missiles onto the target area ahead, too, even as artillery still rained.
The Beastfolk and their subjugated friends kept advancing, however, disregarding casualties and firing magical spells, guns and bows and arrows. Some even picked up still-functioning weapons from the eviscerated corpses of their comrades as they surged forward, careless of the casualties. Itami scoffed as he aimed and fired his weapon, Shino beside him.
Kurokawa held her rifle close, firing only to suppress the enemy from time to time, but keeping her medical bag close. Kurata and the others, however, fired away. Kurata shivered a little at the sight of the advancing enemy force as he fired his rifle, then looked to Itami and said, "This is crazy! Seriously, I didn't think they'd be this desp-"
… A thundering gunshot echoed from the Imperial walls…
The Japanese Lieutenant and the rest of his fireteam looked toward Kurata, eyes wide. Blood painted the dirt below. Kurata, however, was not the one who got hit, with the group staring at Sergeant Akira Tomita's open gut wound. A 14,5mm Sniper rifle round had drilled a hole clean through the man's body armor, narrowly missing major vitals… Itami grit his teeth, slapped himself to snap himself out of his stupor, then barked, "KUROKAWA, KURATA, GET HIM INTO COVER! EVERYONE ELSE, FOCUS FIRE ON THE WALL! FOLLOW THE TRAIL!"
The entire platoon replied affirmatively, with Kuribayashi stepping up to take the man's place, shouldering her rifle and aiming at the small silhouette-like specks on walls before firing bursts. She took cover when a second shot snapped by her ear, then mumbled, "Fuck, fuck, fuck! Tomita got hit by a UNSC sniper… Fucking miracle his spine didn't get blown out of his back…!"
"Yeah! Must've just narrowly missed it!" Itami spoke as he fired. He'd seen the UNSC's sniper rifles in action multiple times by now, though he was usually behind the shooter. He heard their own reply, the snap of the SRS-99 from their side ringing loud and clear, even through the fusillade of gunfire from the rest of the unit.
Kurokawa had called up a MEDEVAC for Sergeant Tomita and a UNSC Pelican had immediately answered the distress call. A heavy gunship variant arrived, its maw-mounted autocannon and missile pods ripping into the enemy. They touched down, disgorged another platoon of UNSC Marines, then picked up Tomita and a few other less seriously injured soldiers from Torres's squad.
To put it simply, the fight was uphill every way the closer they got to the city walls. They needed to tear said walls down to deal with the enemy's Snipers and the UNSC could and would do that… However, there were pressing matters to attend to right now. Radio warnings played over the com from a unit farther up to the North of the city…
… Said unit was a Russian reservist force. Though they weren't that much different to standard units, the Rosgvardia was still meant mostly for the defense of the Country, not offensive operations outside it. Until recently, they weren't properly trained on how to deal with actual well-armed members of an opposing military.
The Sapien Sunrise was anything but a standard military, equipment-wise, but their training alone was good enough to be causing the unit trouble. Especially since their armored support was reduced to one single vehicle and nothing else, with Sergeant Sokolov lifting up his radio and speaking in Russian, "This is Grach-3, requesting air support on my position, Danger Close!" just as one of his men got sniped.
He swore to himself, dropped the spent magazine of his AK-12, then poked out and aimed through the holographic sight at the charging battalion of Imperial Legionnaires. He told his team, "We hold the line no matter what! Nothing must break the Cordon!" and watched the forty remaining men set up to the best of their ability within this village's buildings.
Their sole supporting armor, a BMD-4, swiveled its turret around, aiming the coaxial 30mm cannon and letting loose in bursts that rocked the air-transportable box of aluminum back and forth. Enemy small-arms fire bounced off the angled front plate as the light tank fired its actual main gun, the 100mm, spat out a High-Explosive shell.
The vehicle rolled back into cover to the swearing of its commander as an older Jackhammer rocket, unguided, struck the wall behind where it had been. The vehicle rolled forward again, angled and snapped another burst of 30mm rounds right at the advancing Imperial swords. The rounds ripped shields and men in half.
Sokolov sighed, aimed toward the Jackhammer operator and sniped his head, thankful that their command had given them proper optics during that last wave of the RATNIK plan. He ducked into cover again, activating his radio and speaking clearly in English, "This is Grach-3-Actual to any allied unit in the vicinity, requesting Close Air Support at Grid Hundred Forty-For by hundred ninety-one, one unit, Pskovian Rosgvardia under heavy attack! Enemy is attempting to breach the cordon!"
The reply was swift. A friendly pilot called out over the com, "Grach-3, this is Wardaddy-1, flight of two A10 Warthogs on approach due north-north-west from your current position. Mark targets with red smoke and keep your heads down," to which the Russian laughed. Part of him never thought he'd be getting his ass saved by an American jet pair, but here they were.
The man saw the approaching strike craft dumping twin angel-like arches of flares, narrowly avoiding enemy fire. Their 30mm cannons flashed and the area ahead exploded in gore and viscera, then Hydra Pods hissed while the audible, reverberating roar of the guns echoed around them. The entire enemy front-line was shattered as the two aircraft peeled away left and right.
"Son of a bitch," The Sergeant of the team paused, then looked over the edge of his cover. The Lieutenant was about to call out to him, but his head exploded, turning to fine mist as a roaring shot rang out through the smoke and ash. Atop one of the walls' battlements, a squad of enemy snipers stood.
Sokolov sighed deeply, then barked, "Heads down!" while his platoon's DMR snapped off shots back at the enemy sniper. Another round rang out and nailed their sniper in the throat, taking his head clean off and causing him to drop to the floor. He swore to himself and looked up at where the shots were coming from. The dissipating trail of smoke from the high-velocity round was easy to follow…
He saw a silhouette, but it was far enough away to look like a simple dot on his holo. He scoffed, fired a burst and saw the three rounds strike the stone face of the wall. He scoffed, aimed and fired again, then ducked the moment he saw the muzzle flash. The round zipped over his head so fast, he could swear he felt his helmet get split in two.
This was proving to be a tenuous fucking issue, the man thought. He radioed, "Vasily, get a fucking HE round on that piece of shit on the battlement, blyat! Or suppress it with the 30mm!" before motioning to the Medic to wait for a minute. The rest of his squad, angry at the sight of two of their own having been killed, wanted blood.
"I hear you, Sergei!" The commander of the light tank replied. The vehicle rolled forward, out from the cover of the damaged house it used as its shield, then lased the target ahead as a sniper rifle round struck its armor and bounced off. When the gun was set and the lasing was complete, the tank rocked back as its main gun fired.
The HE shell visibly arced down unto the tower. Sokolov saw the figure immediately move out of the way of the explosive. It hit, cratering the wall in front of the wall and destroying the battlements. 30mm cannon tracers raked the pillar of smoke that now rose from it, blasting through stone and whatever living flesh still was there.
Stables, Capital of Falmart
The Emperor's most elite troops marched alongside the Beastman auxiliaries of General Claudia. Beside them, the Sapien Sunrise soldiers left to help expedite the evacuation helped load gear into the backs of their transports. Claudia herself, escorted by a pair of her warriors clad in heavy armor, spoke to Princess Piña, "We are evacuating everyone we can, Princess," in a tone more resembling of a dismissive parent than an officer speaking to one of the Royal Family.
"I understand that! But we cannot just abandon our capital!" Piña protested loudly, her mind wandering in a thousand directions. She'd seen what they were all capable of, the magic of their machines and the strength of their weapons and people. She knew they would be doomed regardless, so she barked, "We can negotiate with them, I know it! They will listen!"
"Negotiating with the men who are about to overwhelm our capital?" The General spoke with a degree of sarcasm behind her voice, then switched to a tone that somehow perfectly managed to blend insult with respect, "I thought you an honor-bound knight, Your Highness, not a measly politician," though she hated having this argument. Piña was like her own daughter.
Had these foreigners brainwashed her? No, she was strong-willed. She knew the cause and was merely searching for excuses for her. That was what was happening, Claudia thought as she set her saddle onto her horse. She looked over at Lieutenant Lee, before motioning for her to be prepared as well. The girl had been given her old uniform back so she wouldn't be cold where they were going…
"And I thought you smarter than this!" Piña countered loudly in front of the woman's troops, causing the Beastwoman's temper to flare for a moment. She breathed, gritting her sharp teeth, then sighed and turned to listen to the Princess continue berating her. Piña herself spoke, "What will you do, General? Fight in the shade!? Die at the base of the mountains, or burn in the sun of the northern desert?!"
"We will fight them as we have since theirs walked through the Holy Gate of Alnus," Claudia spoke, pattign her blade and the trinket around her neck. She then told the girl, "We will strike at them where they are weakest and face them head-on when our honor demands," only to switch to a slight teasing tone, "Are you scared that the very men and women you walked with will be less forgiving than us? You are lucky that I convinced your brothers and father not to throw you and your entire Knight Order in the dungeons for sneaking away to join these people…"
The Princess, fiery as her mother, grit her teeth, then barked back, "I told you that in confidence! That is why I'm angry! You said you wished to learn more of them and I told you what you wanted! Their technological might, their unity, their strength of arms! One of their armies has almost as many soldiers as we do citizens in the Empire… And the others? The ones from space that belong to the same ilk as those you managed to convince to aid us…? Many times the SDF and US Military's strength!"
"Then we shall die before we're dishonored," The General replied, stowing her gear properly onto her horse. She sighed deeply, sounding almost like she was pleading with the young woman, Surrender if you will… But know your people will never forgive you…" well aware that not all these men and women would be as pious as she saw them. They were all only human after all.
"I… Where's Zorzal? And father?" The redheaded princess demanded, angry.
"The Crown Prince has left with some of his slaves already, before they could complete their encirclement," She replied , causing the Princess to blank. She then stated, "His Highness, Emperor Molt is still in the throne room, seemingly willing to either fight to the death… Or listen to you. I will leave with my Legions and win this war, whether it will be in one, ten or a hundred years."
"And leave the Empire in the hands of Zorzal if you do…" Piña whispered, staring at the General. The guards around her murmured to each-other about this arrangement. Zorzal, while he was the Crown Prince, was not very famously liked by the many people around. Even Diabo was more popular with the locals…
"Oh, worry not… I have plans," Claudia replied in a murmur.
"Hey, general!" Barked the familiar voice of the Sapien Sunrise officer, Thompson, as she hefted her sniper. Her face was singed, eyebrows partially burnt. She spoke, "Sorry to cut your and her Highness's meeting short, but let's get a move-on, already. The bastards just about finished the encirclement and our window's closing fast."
"Soon, captain Thompson. Is she ready?" The General asked as she climbed onto her horse, the Princess simply staring before walking away from them. Iris sighed, waved it off, then waved the rest of her men to one of the Humvees they'd stolen off of a convoy they'd ambushed, not to mention the LAV nearby.
"She's raring to go out and fight that Reservist unit I removed a few members from, yeah," She then replied to the General, shifting her sniper onto her back and drawing an MA40 she'd managed to get off one of the UNSC troops that were in the same convoy as that previous humvee. She racked the bolt on the gun, looked it over, then nodded approvingly.
"Good. Let her loose… We leave as soon as the path is clear," The General ordered.
"They're deploying Spartans to reinforce it. Gotta hurry," Iris mumbled, then gave the order through the radio.
"Noted… Let's go. Farewell, Princess. Should we meet again…? May our fight be swift and painless," Claudia spoke toward the Princess just before she entered the palace, the drone of aircraft engines roaring overhead. The Princess's shoulders sagged as she nodded, before the convoy began, the horse-riding woman leading the way.
Above them, a figure flashed, the distant, maniacal laughter filling their ears even through the drone of the UN's and UNSC's aircraft. A blue-clad figure, her skin of scales, her hair pure white, horns poking through it. Her yellow eyes locked onto the first target and dived down, her scythe moving like a flash.
The designated marksman of the Rosgvardia Fireteam was split in half from head to toe. Out of the stunned survivors, two more fell to swings from the scythe before the Sergeant finally managed to scramble to his feet, lift his rifle and open fire on the bastard. The BMD's autocannon fired into the dust kicked up by the monster's landing.
The woman advanced in a flash, fangs bared as she charged the Sergeant. Her scythe was cocked back and prepared to be swung toward the man… But as another flash appeared ahead of him, this one dark-green, he gasped as he felt the weight of the impact and a gust of wind almost knocking his helmet off his head.
The figure that stopped the attack twisted the Scythe, but the woman managed to kick away from him and snarl. She spoke, "Milady hoped to see Rory herself here, fighting! Who are you, Machine!?" while brandishing the heavy, blood-stained weapon, droplets of blood dripping. The man didn't answer, Sokolov soon noting it was one of the famed Spartans.
He swallowed empty, about to thank the man, but he paused as he moved like a flash of lightning, cocking his fist back and sending the punch. The Apostle, whoever she was, barely dodged out of the way of a hit that nearly broke the sound barrier. She staggered, spun about and barked, "DIE!" as she sent a swing from her scythe down upon the man.
He turned, lifted his arm and deflected the strike with the vambrace. His other hand swiftly capitalized on the woman's confusion and a punch to the gut connected, sending her skipping across the landscape. The Spartan heard revving engines and galloping horses and looked over at the sight of the disorganized convoy of horses and stolen vehicles heading North.
He pulled up his com and spoke, "Command, Blue Actual, requesting strike due North-West of friendly position-" then paused as static hit his helmet. He sighed, noting the jammer on the back of one of the trucks, then turned to try and attack it. It looked like the General and her Posse might make it, so he needed to stop it, or get the rest of BLUE on it.
"Not so fast, demon!" Roared the Dragonborn Apostle as she charged the Spartan, slamming into him. He barely budged from his place, but the woman jumped back and swung her scythe as she used her wings to float. He deftly dodged left, moved yet again like a lightning strike and hit the woman's jaw with an open palm strike.
She staggered, growled, then swung again. Sergei shouldered his rifle and fired a burst, nailing her in the side and causing her to stumble, the blade of her scythe burying itself into the ground. The Spartan surged forward, delivering three swift punches and a roundhouse to the woman, each hit knocking her back until the Roundhouse pretty much sent her into the floor without her weapon.
She scoffed, staggered to her feet and dodged any further attempts from the man to strike her, moving fast behind him and grabbing her scythe out of the ground. She swung high, aiming for the Sergeant's head as the rest of his surviving team members moved into position. The BMD moved to try and intercept the convoy, volleys from its 30mm cannon raking the closest enemy units.
Two Jackhammer missiles, however, struck the tank's front. The thin armor cracked and crumpled, the ammo inside flash-detonating and effectively atomizing the crew as the tank burst into flame. Even with losses and a destroyed Humvee being left behind, the Convoy kept moving. Drones overhead had probably spotted it, though…
It had enough SHORAD and MRAD, whether improvised or actual, to make it through. The Spartan needed to get there, wipe the Convoy out before it fled. He saw the rest of Blue Team on his HUD, probably already on it, but he was being kept in place by the Apostle. Giselle, Apostle of Hardy, the Goddess of the Underworld.
Giselle herself didn't seem to care about the fact she was holding him back, nor the fact the human was on even footing with her. Or, well, not exactly. While Chief couldn't regenerate like an Apostle could, he could much more easily deliver damage. So, he decided to go all in, drawing his rifle and firing at the woman.
She lifted her scythe, utilizing its blade to deflect some of the rounds. Others pierced skin and armor and caused her to stagger as Apostle blood ran red below, mixing with those of her Rosgvardia victims. Chief charged forward next, dodged past a sweeping strike from the scythe, feinted to the left, then immediately grabbed the Apostle by the throat, pinning her to the floor and snapping her wings.
Giselle screamed, a mix of pain, anger and elation surprisingly. She grinned, kicking the Spartan back and barely getting him off, before she swung with her Scythe again, forcing him back to allow her body to heal. And it did, the bullet holes quickly vanishing and sending the dented rounds out of her wounds. Her wings slowly shifted back into place with a bone-chilling crackle and she said, "Not bad… Not bad at all… Next time, though, Demon," before she used her Wings to launch herself into the heavens.
The Spartan heard his com explode with static, then crackle to life. He called out, "Blues, be advised, hostile Apostle is on the move toward you…" before stowing his rifle onto his back. He looked to the right as he heard a battalion of UNSC and US Troops roll in, noting HITMAN-3 in the lead. He saluted the three Lieutenants, then stated, "One of their leaders made it out of here."
"Our drones are tracking them as we speak," Torres replied, watching the cloud of dust in the distance, then he sighed, "Guess it's an Insurgency again… Fucking hell," before stowing his rifle onto his back. He looked at the others as his radio caught chatter, then told them, "Looks like we'll be tightening the noose more. Going right into the capital…"
"They just gave up their biggest base of power," Itami stated, looking at the walls, "It's only a matter of time…"
Richard nodded, "Let's not get too cocky, buddy," before he turned on his radio and spoke, "This is HITMAN-3 to allied air units. Hostile force is retreating due North, North-East at heading three-four-three. Recommend air harassment campaign before they reach whatever base of ops these Innie fucks set up. HITMAN-3 out."
He sighed, looking at the capital itself, too…
They were going into a second phase of this damn War…