Chapter 10: Air Support

6 September 1097

Picale's Mansion

Eliza "Ash" Cohen

Dozens of dead Sarkaz and Columbian lie around us on the ground. A Broken weapon of sorts at the entrance of the breach in the wall. Captured mercenaries lined up against the wall awaiting their fate after they were overwhelmed and surrendered. And Miarow's corpse turned into Originium Dust inside the house.

Safe to say…of the 185 days stuck on this planet, these last few were the most hectic. First non-infected and mercenaries started attacking the infected quarters. Then came the Originium mutants, who looked a lot like bears and helped the mercenaries. Rhodes Island Operators came to assist us. A dragon-looking girl named Liskarm. A Fox girl named Franka and a…giant walking lizard named Rangers.

And an unknown voice named 'Overlord' who helped us regrouped and commanded us. After the shaky first contact with Lady Picale, Overlord instructed us to work with her for the time being. And so we and a couple of Picale's guards stormed her deceased father's mansion to reclaim it.

The operation went easier because 'Overlord' provided us with extra information that could only be obtained via aerial reconnaissance. The operation was a success. We took back the mansion. Killed most of the mercenaries and took the rest as captives…yet Miarow still died by blowing himself and the Sonic Emitter machine up.

Another good and kind-hearted person was dead…and he was only a child with dreams of becoming a doctor and traveling the world.

The infected villagers who took refuge in the mansion are already planning a funeral for him…apparently, funerals are a luxury that most rich people on Terra can't even afford…

Blitz and Frost are patrolling the outer walls of the mansion with some of Picale's guards to look out for more Originium Monsters. Lady Picale and Rangers are keeping the villagers in check to make sure none of them panic and cause chaos.

So that just leaves me, Tachanka, Franka, and Liskarm in the courtyard surrounded by dead. We are planning to go to the cave where Drudge is producing these monstrosities and put a stop to it and him. But we are all out of ammo and Overlord said that reinforcements are on the way.

I raise my arm to check the digital watch on my wrist. 10 more minutes before our unknown reinforcements arrive.

I wonder what kind of reinforcements we will receive and who exactly are Overlord and his people. Are they another Terran race who just happened to intercept our distress signal or are they another human group from Earth who are stuck on this post-apocalyptic planet?

Guess we will have our answer in ten minutes.

"Cohen…we have a problem and it is serious…" Blitz radioed in. Goddammit Blitz! Stop playing cryptic and just tell me what the problem is.

"Blitz, what's the problem?" I radio back in mild annoyance.

"Uhhh…you all should come to the wall and check it out…I think we are going to make our last stand here." That…that doesn't sound good at all.

"You three we are needed at the walls now!" I tell Franka, Liskarm and Tachanka. The three of us quickly jog to the wall to see what has Blitz so spooked.

Upon arriving on the top of the wall I see Blitz, Frost, and the other guards staring into the distance at a massive dust cloud? What the hell could be causing that….squinting my eyes I see a long black line at the front of the dust cloud.

That must be whats causing the dust cloud…wait don't tell me it is more of those mutants.

"Blitz…is that what I think it is?" I ask the German operator standing next to me.

"Yep…it is Cohen. I don't even know how many that is. Must be hundreds." Blitz responds with a tiny bit of concern and fear in his voice.

"No, there are thousands of the fuckers." I hear Tachanka say next to me in his Russian accent. He is looking at them through his binoculars. "Cohen, we need to retreat. We won't be able to survive that."

"Retreat where? Into the desert where they have a better and easier chance of killing us. And what about the villagers? We can't just abandon them." I respond.

"Good, because I wasn't planning on retreating…so this is what the Nazis felt when thousands of soviet conscripts rushed their positions." Tachanka mutters the last bit to himself.

"Liskarm, can you go get Rangers and Picale? We are going to need all the fighters we can get." Liskarm nods and runs down the stairs to retrieve the duo. Her dragon…wyvern tail swinging slightly. I can't imagine living with an extra limb like that.

"Ara, Miss Ash if I am being honest here, I don't think we are going to survive this battle. And if we all go down…then the villagers will be easy pickings for these mutated beasts." Franka says to me while resting her head on her gloved arm.

"I know…we can only count on Overlord to pull through and save our asses. And if not…we better take as many of these bastards down with us." I respond to Franka.

"Yeah and how do you know that this 'Overlord' will pull through? Sure he coordinated us and helped us attack and retake the mansion…but I don't believe 'Overlord' will have the firepower to stop this horde." She…she has a point. Does Overlord even know about this horde that is going to overrun our positions in a couple of minutes?

I better inform him.

"Overlord, this is Ash. We have a massive horde of Originium Mutants inbound to our position. We are all out of ammo and we will not be able to survive this attack. How long until reinforcements arrive." I inform Overlord through the radio.

"Affirmative Ash. We see the horde through our recon satellites. Reinforcements are seven minutes away. Are you certain that you can't stand out for seven more minutes?" Overlord quickly responds.

Recon Satellites?! They have Recon Satellites covering the AO.

"Did I just hear that they have satellites in space?" Frost asks bewildered

"Yeah, I also heard that…" Blitz says.

"Wait you guys…what are satellites?" Seems like Franka doesn't know what satellites are… which means that Terrans do not know what satellites are…which indicates that Overlord and his people are most likely from Earth as well.

I respond to Overlord. "Negative Overlord, we will be immediately overrun in a matter of seconds. If it were a hundred of the mutants we would maybe be able to hold out. But against thousands, there's nothing we can do. I repeat, is there any support you can provide us?" Come on…we need support.

"Affirmative Ash. I am directing two gunships to your AO to provide Close Air Support. Mark your position with any colored smoke. They will arrive in 4 minutes."

"Copy that Overlord." Gunships…CAS…is this really happening? I never thought I would hear those two words again…We are getting close air support. We might be able to hold out against the horde if those two gunships arrive.

Judging by how close that dust storm is, the gunships will arrive the moment the mutants hit the walls. Yeah, our chances of survival just skyrocketed by 1000 percent.

"Hahaha, close air support. I never knew I would be this happy to hear those words again. Cohen we are going to win this fight." Tachanka laughs out loudly in his Russian accent. Seems like he is optimistic again…and so am I.

"Hah, yeah it is quite unreal." I respond to Tachanka.

"Oh Air support! That is quite rare. Blacksteel rarely lets us call in air support because it is extremely expensive and it always came out of our paychecks." Franka responds.

"Wait you had to pay for your air support? That's crazy and stupid." Blitz says while looking quite shocked at the fact.

I had to agree with Blitz. It is stupid for you to pay for your own air support. I can't imagine all the American and NATO troops in Afghanistan paying to get out of a shitty situation. And since they are soldiers…they wouldn't even be able to afford air support.

Coming up the stairs is Liskarm with Rangers and Lady Picale behind her. Good looks like all the combat-capable personnel are here on the walls.

"What seems to be the situation?" Rangers ask while looking at the dust cloud before turning his head towards the rest of us.

"There are thousands of these Originium mutants inbound. And our mercenary friends here are out of ammo and we won't be able to hold out against that massive horde. We will be overrun in seconds. But…that Overlord fella Ash has been talking to is sending us air support." Franka responds and explains the situation perfectly.

"Air support? I hope we don't have to pay for it." Liskarm responds while focusing on the dust cloud again.

"Interesting, so we only have to survive until air support arrives. Miss Ash, do you know how long until air support arrives?" Rangers ask while still being calm despite the situation we are in.

"Four minutes…but I believe three by now." I look at the dust cloud which is right on top of us. "And it looks like we have to fight now for our lives now."

"Seems like it. Franka, Liskarm, I want the two of you at that machine that is blocking the gap in the wall. Do not let any of these beasts in!" Rangers order the two of them and they immediately jump off the meters-high wall and land safely on the ground before rushing to the gap in the wall we made earlier.

These Terrans are built differently. That fall would have broken a normal human's legs. Especially one carrying combat gear.

Picale also starts issuing orders for her guards. "I want all of you to spread out on the wall! Do not let these creatures climb over the wall and do not let them get to the civilians!"

Her guards instantly complied with her orders and started moving up and down the length of the wall. With the swordsmen and crossbowmen standing ready for the attack that would happen at any moment.

"Casters! I want you all to engage the enemy from range. Guards, I want you to cut down all of these creatures that will attempt to climb the walls. Snipers, shoot as many of them as possible. Do not let them pass! We shall hold our ground here in the name of Lord Ameer!" Picale shouts orders in an attempt to inspire her guards…it works of course with her guards cheering back while preparing to brace for the horde that is going to hit us in a couple of minutes.

The entirety of Team Rainbow…or the part of it that is now in Terra are standing in the courtyard. Rangers also standing here with us.

"So what are we going to do to help in the fight guys?" Blitz asks while holding his shield that was modified by Liskarm.

"There is nothing we can do. We do not have any ammo. And we only have to wait a couple of more minutes for our unknown air support to arrive." Frost responds to Blitz before sitting down on the ground and crossing her legs.

"Well, I am not going to sit around here and do nothing. I am going to fight." Tachanka says while holding a massive sword in his arms…where did he get the sword? Why is he covered in knight armor?

Before I could question him about his new attire, Tachanka moved away from the group to participate in the fighting that had already started on the walls. The casters shoot fireballs out of their…staffs. The snipers fire their crossbows without end and the regular guards cut down any mutants that get close to climbing over the walls.

Gunshots echo from the gap in the wall where the weird-looking vehicle is destroyed in. Franka and Liskarm are doing a great job at holding these things back. And I believe Franka said she specializes in defence…Liskarm too.

The way Liskarm easily beats the mutants to a pulp with her shield while simultaneously firing her pistol is a testament to how much stronger Terrans are to us humans.

Franka cutting them down with a simple flick of her sword is making me a little bit envious. It would take me more than five hits with a sword to kill one of those things. Yet she makes it seem so easy…

And Rangers is standing here next to me, Blitz and Frost while dancing with a beautifully designed scabbard. He most likely picked it up from somewhere inside the mansion.

But why is he standing here with the three of us? Wouldn't he be of much more help than us?

"Excuse me Rangers. But what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be helping defend the walls or support Liskarm and Franka?" I ask which causes him to stop his dance with the scabbard.

"Ahh Miss Ash. The guards and Mister Tachanka will be able to hold the walls for the time being. And as for Liskarm and Franka, they will most certainly be able to hold their own." Rangers replies while running his scaley finger across the blade.

Okay…the wise old lizard seems pretty confident. "Then what about you? And why are you using a sword now and not your bow and arrows anymore?"

"These creatures can tunnel through the ground. It is my duty right now to protect the wounded villagers and infected that are held up in the mansion and the shelter. So I am going to hunt down the mutants that tunnel through into the courtyard."

Rangers give the scabbard a swing before resting it at his side. "And I used up all my arrows in the engagements earlier. So now I am using a blade again…although I got a little rusty in my old age."

"Okay…we might be able to help you hold off any mutants that tunnel through." I respond while picking up a scabbard off the ground that belonged to one of the dead mercenaries we killed earlier.

"Hey, Ash…the air support should have arrived two minutes ago." Frost says while looking at her watch.

What? I look around the sky and so far, it is a clear sunny day without any clouds. The only sound that is here is that of the fighting that is going on at the wall.

Where. The. Fuck. Are. They?

"Hold on I'll quickly check in and see what's going on." I respond to Ash before speaking into my earpiece again.

"Overlord this is Ash, where the hell is our air support? They should have arrived minutes ago! We aren't going to last much longer." Really…what excuse do they have? Or where they bullshitting us this entire time!

Overlord responds in his calm voice "Operator be advised, all our aircraft were hit with an unknown EMP blast. They entered a holding pattern to run a quick diagnostics check and check for damage."

What the hell? An EMP blast hit their aircraft? How the hell is that even possible?

"They will arrive in approximately five to seven minutes."

"Copy that Overlord. Any word on the main reinforcement group?" Come on, don't tell me they have also been hit by the unknown EMP blast.

"The main group has also been hit by the EMP blast. Since they are a much larger formation it will take longer for them to do the checks and continue moving again. Eta on their arrival is ten to fifteen minutes. Just hold out for at least seven minutes. Overlord out."

And with that Overlord ended the call. Blitz, Frost, and Rangers are looking at me… I should tell them the shit news.

"Fuck, can't anything go as plan?" I silently say to myself. Rangers most likely heard it because the species on Terra are physically superior to us in every way.

"Air support has been delayed by seven minutes and the main reinforcement group fifteen minutes."

"Schweisse, what caused them to be delayed?" Blitz asks with a rare frown on his face.

"They have been hit by an unknown EMP blast. The aircraft entered a holding pattern to run a diagnostics check. We just need to hold out for at least seven minutes." I say while wiping the sweat off my face. Am I sweating because of nervousness or is this place just too damn hot…Israel is colder than this.

"Hmmm…that is an extraordinary coincidence for the air units to be hit by an EMP blast the moment they come to reinforce us. Maybe there is an unknown group involved or maybe a Catastrophe is forming. Both possibilities are worrying." Rangers says.

He has a point. The chances of this happening are slim to none. Something isn't right here.

The ground underneath our feet suddenly started rumbling. Behind Blitz on the ground, a mound started to form and from the mound, a mutant emerged. "Blitz behind you!" I shout trying to draw his attention to the immediate danger behind him.

"Shit, I got it." Blitz instantly slammed his shield into the neck of the mutant decapitating it. Blitz's shield and arms started vibrating slightly before he dropped his shield next to the dead mutant.

"Fuck! That felt like I slammed my shield into concrete. The vibrations are killing me…" Blitz shakes his arms slightly to get rid of the uncomfortable vibrations that are running through him.

All around us, more and more mutants started tunneling into the courtyard. Rangers immediately responded by slicing two mutants in half. Blitz picked his shield up before smashing it into a mutant's deformed face…Seems like brute strength is the way to go.

Frost picked up what looked like a machete and also started attacking the emerging mutants. I guess I better join in too…but first I need to recall our walking tank.

"Tachanka, we need you down here to support us," I call Tachanka over.

While the others are fighting the emerging creatures, I look at the scabbard in my hand…this is going to be the first time I fight with a sword. Better get this over with and pop this cherry.

Behind Frost, another mutant jumped out of the ground. I quickly intercepted it by cutting one of its legs off causing it to fall on the ground. With the thing's head in a vulnerable position, I thrust the scabbard into its eye socket killing it instantly.

Tachanka arrived just in time to cut a mutant in half with the giant axe he picked up earlier. "You called for help." He says while killing another mutant by bringing his axe down onto the thing's head just as it emerges.

Oh…Sledge would have loved this sick twisted version of Wack-a-mole.

"Yeah, I did Lord. We need to kill these fuckers and wait for support to arrive."

"Roger that." He swings his axe killing another one, but it barely leaves a dent in the enemy's numbers. They keep on coming out of the ground.

I swing my scabbard again hitting a mutant in the head. Unfortunately, I swung wrong because the blade bounced off of the thing's head. After it fully emerged it charged straight at me and for the first time since being on Terra….I felt hopeless, outmatched, and defeated.

But before it could hit me, Rangers intercepted the mutant by cutting its head off. "Now's not the time to lose focus Miss Ash. We are being pushed back."

He points his scaly finger towards the wall before dashing off to attack more mutants.

Directing my attention to the wall I see that all the casters are either exhausted or dead. The snipers are out of ammo for their crossbows and are retreating. The regular guards and Lady Picale are performing a slow organised retreat toward our position.

I quickly turn my attention towards the gap where Franka and Liskarm are fighting. They are being pushed back towards the courtyard. Yet they are holding the mutants back while retreating.

This is not good. We have lost the walls and the gap in the wall. They are going to start flooding in at any moment now and there's nothing we can do about it now. Unless…

"Rangers! Go and get Franka and Liskarm and bring them here. We need to regroup here in the courtyard we can't be divided now. They will pick us off one by one." Rangers nodded his head before rushing towards the duo with his scabbard in hand.

"Picale get your guards over here now! Form a square formation around the courtyard. We are going to draw the mutant's attention away from the civilians." Picale seemed to hesitate for a moment before she nodded and started ordering her guards to form up at the centre of the courtyard.

Okay that just leaves the mercenaries. We are going to need every single gun, err sword in this fight if we are to survive.

"Blitz, go and cut free those mercenaries we captured. We are going to need their help."

"On it Cohen!" Blitz quickly rushed to the Columbian and Sarkaz mercenaries and cut them free. Surprisingly they immediately picked up their old weapons and joined us in the courtyard as the square formation was being formed.

"We ain't dying today here…so we'll help for now." The giant Sarkaz mercenary says while reinforcing a gap in the edge of the formation. Good. Most of the mutant's attention is on us now Hopefully they don't go into the shelter and rooms where the Civies are.

The mutants keep on flooding through the gap in the wall and over the wall. It almost looks like a scene straight out of that '90s film…what was its name again?

"Man, this feels like a scene straight out of Starship Troopers" Blitz exclaims while bashing his shield against a mutant while standing between Liskarm and Franka.

Yeah, that movie…All we need now is for the spaceships to come and save us and then it will be like Starship Troopers.

The formation is holding out well so far. All of their attention is focused on us and thankfully not the Villagers. But I can clearly see everyone is starting to become exhausted from the constant fighting. This just turned into a war of attrition and one that we will not win unless those gunships arrive.

Crap…we need to mark our positions for the gunships!

"Tachanka! Throw green smoke on the buildings so the CAS doesn't target them! I'll throw one here on our position."

"Copy." Tachanka removes two green smoke grenades from hit combat webbing and pulls the wring before throwing them on both sides of the mansion.

Okay, that is one down. Now I just need to throw a green smoke grenade in the middle of our last stand formation.

I reach for the part of my webbing where my smoke grenades usually are and feel…nothing. Oh fuck.

"Shit I lost my smoke grenade. Does anyone here have a green smoke grenade!" I shout into the formation of guards.

Come on. We are in the kill zone…if we don't mark our position, we will be bombed to the stone age. Someone here must have an extra green smoke grenade!

"Here catch!" Liskarm reached into her webbing and threw me her smoke grenade. Thank fuck Liskarm…ill buy you a beer after all this shit is over.

I pull the pin on the smoke grenade and let it drop onto the ground in the middle of the formation. Green smoke quickly fills my vision. Hopefully, the gunships know that they aren't supposed to attack green smoke positions.

Dammit, there is no end to them! We won't be able to last much longer…the same goes for the smoke grenades.

"Ahhhhh!" a Bloodcurdling scream echoes through the formation. The source of the scream is one of Picale's guards who was grabbed by a mutant and dragged into the horde where he is most like torn to shreds.

A brutal but hopefully quick death.

"Fuck…I hope that won't happen to us." Frost says through the heavy fighting.

Well sorry to be the bringer of bad news Frost. If we don't get the air support now, being torn to shreds by mutants is gonna be our fate.

Suddenly my earpiece buzzes to indicate someone is about to speak to me. It better not be Overlord telling us that our air support has been delayed again…

"Operator Ash. This is Vulture Gunship 245 codename 'Pride' along with Gunship 246 codename 'Envy'. We are entering your AO eta one minute to provide some good old air support and save your sweet asses. How copy."

The joy and relief that rushed through my body at that moment was…indescribable. Judging by the looks of happiness on the rest of Team Rainbow's faces who also listened in, they feel the same way.

"Copy that Pride. We marked friendly positions with green smoke. I repeat we marked friendly positions with green smoke. Do not engage the positions with green smoke."

Pride simply responded in the smooth and cocky voice that most pilots have…seems like even on different planets stereotypes are always going to be the same.

"Operator do you all have ear protection equipped?" Pride asked out of the blue…. of course! The blast from the possible explosions from the gunships will shatter our eardrums.

"Wait one Pride." I quickly looked around at the ears of the forces currently fighting the never-ending horde of mutants. Blitz and Frost are the only ones wearing ear protection.

Shit and what about the Terrans! Most of them here have two sets of ears. The only ones who don't are the Sarkaz, Liskarm, and Rangers. Oh no.

"Pride, only two Operators have ear protection over." Oh great, there is going to be a lot of exploded eardrums today.

"Copy that. Standard procedures. Cover your ears with your hands and open your mouth wide. And unless you want to eat some shrapnel…get down on your stomachs now all of you."

Oh…how did I forget about this? It is one of the first things we learned in the IDF when facing explosives and IEDs. Judging by the sound of jet engines that are becoming louder by the second, 'Pride' and 'Envy' are going to bring the hammer down any moment now…no time to waste.

"Everyone cover your ears with your hands and open your mouth and drop to the ground now!" I shouted as loud as possible so that everyone could hear me. The first ones to comply were the rest of Team Rainbow.

Followed quickly by the Rhodes Island operators and the Columbian and Sarkaz mercenaries. Lady Picale and her guards were the last to drop to the ground, probably because they weren't used to this type of situation.

In less than 5 seconds everyone was on their stomachs in the courtyard. With their mouths wide open and hands around their ears…or one set of ears, we all awaited the pending bombardment.

Unfortunately, the mutants didn't share our sentiments and took advantage of our newfound vulnerable position to attack in even greater numbers.

Looking at them approach us while lying on my stomach I notice something glint between them all. For a split second time seemed to slow down and my vision was focused on the shining object slowly falling into the ground between the horde.

The unknown object became clearer a second later…it was a dark greyish missile. With yellow-colored fins. That was all I saw before the explosion came.

My eyes instinctively closed. The pressure of my hands on my ears hardened. Dust filled my vision and heat radiated throughout the air. The muffled sound of shrapnel zipping through the air was the only sound I could hear.

The ground started shaking and along with it, my boy started shaking due to the shockwave from the explosion.

Before I could recover another explosion went off, probably another AGM hitting the horde. And then another went off, and then another and another one after that.

For the next minute, missiles slammed into the ground. Killing possibly hundreds of the creatures at a time.

After a minute I slowly looked up into the sky with my ears ringing and my teeth hurting. Above me, through the dust, I can see two massive dark olive-green silhouettes hovering above us. Pushing the dust away that has filled the air due to the missile bombardment.

While regaining my hearing that I momentarily lost I can hear the rapid heavy thumping of Gatling guns firing. The source of the Gatling guns is from the two gunships hovering above our positions.

Focusing my eyes on them I can see four massive cannons on both sides of both gunships spit out lead. Their target is the horde that is at the walls. Even against the overwhelming firepower, the horde refuses to retreat…

Hundreds of auto-cannon shell casings start dropping onto the ground around us. Judging by their size…they are 20mm... That's a lot of firepower.

The question is will these two gunships be enough? There are thousands of these mutants rushing our position. And I don't believe they will have enough ammo to deal with them.

"Is everyone alright!?" I scream through the sound of autocannons going off nonstop.

"Yeah, I'm good here. Though there is a shit ton of dust." Blitz responded while coughing heavily.

Everyone else started to slowly recover and get up after experiencing the intense shockwaves from the missiles. After a couple of minutes, the dust fully settled on the ground revealing the full picture of the huge bulky gunships that are hovering above our positions.

"When they said gunships I thought they meant something like the Ac-130s…not literal spaceships hovering above our heads!" Frost shouted through the gunfire.

I can't help but agree with her. This is just something else…

"I am just glad they didn't hit us in the initial bombardment." Tachanka mutters while Rangers voices out his agreement.

"Agreed. Although I have to say, in my long life that I have lived…I have never seen firepower come out of an aircraft of this calibre. Does Black Steel also have gunships like this Liskarm?"

Liskarm while looking at the gunships with an intense gaze answers Rangers. "No…ours aren't this overwhelming…and I have never seen a design like this."

So they are unknown even to them…great.

"Picale! Can you and your guards go and see if any of the villagers have been wounded?" I shout at her.

She nods and takes a couple of her guards. "I'm on it, Miss Ash." She and the guards run through the falling bronze shell casings that are raining from the gunships.

Looking around to get a clearer picture of the situation I can't help but grimace. Hundreds of corpses that were torn to shreds by shrapnel litter the courtyard and what's left of the wall.

There are a couple of dozen medium-sized craters where the missiles hit and now just bronze shell casings are starting to litter the courtyard. Practically no one was wounded by the barrage…or no one has noticed any wounds from the shrapnel.

I calmly walk around and start instructing everyone. "Everyone check the person next to you for any wounds on their bodies. Check hands, feet, legs and arms. Check their entire body."

The Sarkaz and Columbian mercenaries start searching each other for wounds. The Rhodes Island Operators do the same as well as the couple of Picale's guards that stayed with us.

Tachanka and Blitz are searching for each other so that just leaves me and Frost to search for wounds. And she is already standing in front of me with her face covered in dust…hell everyone here's bodies are covered in dust.

"Let me quickly check you Cohen." Frost says as she starts the inspection by my legs. While she does that my attention is turned back to the gunships. The one on the left flank started banking left to engage more mutants.

The one on the right started banking right to do the same. I scanned the body of the VTOL gunship to search for any inscriptions. And Low and behold I spotted something underneath the side of the yellow-tinted cockpit…"Pride".

So that is Pride and the other gunship must be Envy then. Near the rear of the gunship, I see a logo that seems very similar to the United States Marine Corps Logo. The only difference is that this one looks more modern and sleek and underneath it is the inscription UNSC…

Is it the United Nations Security Council? No, it can't be. The UNSC doesn't have a military and no nation on Earth has such advanced futuristic-looking gunships.

So who on Earth could this unknown UNSC be?

"Agh!" I let out a cry of pain as Tina touched my lower hip. Oh shit, seems like I was injured in the end. "How bad is it Tina?" I ask her with a slight grimace on my face.

"It's not so bad you will live…but I don't think you should move for a while until you get proper medical assistance. You have a large piece of shrapnel in your hip." Tina says before continuing the rest of the inspection.

"Come on, just sit down here." Tina put me down against a half-destroyed pillar before injecting me with some morphine and bandaging the wound that still has shrapnel in it.

A Couple of other wounded guards and mercenaries are also put against the destroyed pillar where Franka and Liskarm are giving them basic first aid. Rangers is still standing in the courtyard staring at the gunships.

"Ugh dammit." I hear Tachanka say next to me while Blitz also put him against the pillar…wow even Lord is wounded.

I scan his body and see that his leg is covered in blood and his flesh is almost torn to shreds. "Alexsandr are you alright? Seems like your leg is a bit fucked huh?"

"Yeah, I guess so. The shrapnel got me pretty good. I didn't even notice until Blitz pointed it out." He says while leaning against the pillar. Blitz is busy giving Frost a medical inspection. "So where were you hit Cohen?"

I point to the side of my hip in response. "My hip and it burns like a motherfucker…these UNSC folks better bring some good medics and doctor."

"Ahh, so they are called the UNSC. And by the way those gunships look…they aren't our UNSC." Tachanka says while removing his helmet…something that he rarely does, granted I can only see his eyes now since he is wearing a balaclava.

"Yeah…but I believe they won't kill us or anything…they went through all this hassle to send in two gunships to support us."

"That is true…but only time will tell I guess." Tachanka says before closing his eyes, probably to use these couple of minutes to get some shut-eye."

I can also do with some sleep…today has got to be the worst day in my life so far.

"Operator Ash, this is Pride do you read me over." Pride contacted me over the earpiece causing me to spring up in slight surprise.

"This is Ash, I hear you Pride…thanks for the save. We owe you guys big time."

"Haha, don't thank us yet. We are not even close to getting out of this shitstorm. There are thousands of these fuckers in the remains of the town and the surrounding wasteland. But are you all doing alright down there? I can't help but see some of you against the pillar."

I let out a small sigh. "Yeah, we're doing alright. Your massive missile bombardment wounded some of us including me. But truth be told, if you didn't come we would be dead by now."

"Sorry about that Ash, but the good news is that UNSC Gomorrah and the rest of the company are almost there. Just hold on tight for a couple of minutes."

UNSC Gomorrah? Is that a ship's name…they are probably bringing a giant ass space ship this way. Hah, and they are bringing an entire fucking company to reinforce us…I don't have the energy to process this shit right now.

"Shit, Gomorrah might have to leave the troop formation and hurry her ass over here fast."

That doesn't sound good.

"Why's that Pride?"

"Me and Envy are running extremely low on ammo. And the moment we stop shooting, the massive horde will rush your position again. Gomorrah just sped up her arrival time from 10 minutes to 2 minutes."

"Pride…we aren't in any fighting condition to last two minutes over."

"Don't worry about it. We'll keep you company for these two minutes. Just gotta buy us a drink after all of this shit. Pride out."

"Will do Pride."

And with that, I leaned back and decided to join Tachanka in a quick two-minute nap until the spaceship arrived.

Author notes.

Yoh sorry it took so long getting this chapter out. I had an extremely busy week. And I had to watch that 4 hour video of Originium Dust to know what the hell was going on…I am also currently watching the one about Lucent Arrow…which is even longer….

But thanks to Yo'Student'Here on for the help in Sargon Lore and stuff.

And thanks to LimbusFan on Ao3 for also helping me with the lore and other stuff.

Until next time.