In another part of the Front, though to nobody's real surprise, the enemy continued probing attacks against their positions. A platoon of the VDV and Ukrainian Mechanized Infantry held down a crossroad toward the Northern Desert. In the back, the two Eastern units' mortar teams laid down a rain of 120mm shells toward the enemy that tried to advance on them from the forests.
Two soldiers, a man and a woman, each carrying their country's specific variant of the Dragunov SVD, fired toward the silhouettes that moved toward them, while their officers talked. AK-12s and modernized 74s barked in unison, emerald tracers lighting the night while rounds rang through from the belts of PKMs.
Beside them, Romanians armed with very similar rifles and very different, NATO-standard medical kits tended to the wounded whose bodies were pierced by 14,5mm sniper rifle rounds from god knew where in the Forest. Their supporting infantry fighting vehicles let loose from their 30mm autocannons, with the BMD-4s firing their 100mm guns.
Explosions rocked the ground and shook and shuddered the terrain, ripping trees from their roots or tearing them to mere shards. Calm as a cucumber throughout all of it after having faced the worst versions of this, namely Covenant plasma bombardment, Iris 'Camgirl' Thompson zeroed in on one of the Allied Snipers.
She kept a steady hand on the grip of her SRS-95, an older model of the Misriah Sniper Rifle System, eyes peering down the digital scope's screen until the dot in the center aligned and she read a scarlet mark. She squeezed the trigger and the head of the Russian sniper blew clean off, courtesy of the 14,5mm round from her rifle, a red mist rising in the sky and his helmet, drilled by a hole right in the forehead, flying high.
She crawled back, watching rippling fire tear through the trees around them, then turning around and crawling to reposition. She couldn't get a bead on the vehicles and even if she did, she wouldn't be able to penetrate the turret. The damn things were hull down somewhere on the flanks of the allies' positions. She'd expended her team's AT trying to take out a runaway tank, what looked like a very modernized T-80 of some kind.
Both missiles had missed and the older system they stole off of a convoy they'd raided days earlier apparently didn't have the Tandem warhead necessary to penetrate the explosive-reactive armor on that thing's sides. It nearly cored one of the Humvees they got for cheap, too, that motherfucker. She repositioned next to a tree at a slightly higher elevation, perching her rifle's bipod on it and aiming for another rifleman, only to yelp as the female Ukrainian with the DMR had just zeroed in on her and caused a bullet to skim over her head.
Before she could return fire, the 30mm cannon of one of the Ukrainian BMP-2s traversed and raised to meet her. She gasped, rolled off to the side and let out a guffaw as the high-caliber explosive rounds splintered the tree over her head. She landed in a hole next to one of her comrades, a former Marine with an MA37 in hand.
As she slid down into the hole and checked her ammo, she said, "Motherfucking Ruskies are persistent," in a mumble. She slammed a fresh mag in, slung the rifle onto her back and grabbed her own MA5k Carbine off her back, trying to poke her head out. A round impacted right in front of her, spraying dirt in her eyes and causing her to swear up a storm.
"Looks like that persistence nearly got your head taken off, boss," The man spoke as he poked out and blind-fired over his cover, bursts of 7,62x51mm rounds raking the air and dirt in front of and around the troops. She let out a sarcastic laugh, poked out and fired a burst, too, kicking up dust and debris the opposite direction.
A magical spell flew past her and struck the cover of the Russians and Ukes, then another blast that shuddered the entire forest hit. She heard a Russian yell something about their Mortars, then sighed and said, "About as good a time as any," before putting her hand up to her radio, clicking it on and barking, "All troops, fall back to the transports! We harassed these pricks enough!" then looking at her buddy and grabbing him by the collar, "C'mon, Tombes, we're getting the fu-"
… The drone, then the scream of a jet engine overhead caused her to duck back down, followed by the thunderclap of a thousand rockets impacting around them causing her to scream and duck, covering her ears and calling out, "MOTHERFUCKERS JUST CALLED A ROOK!" as she looked up, seeing the telling form of the Russian-made Su-25 close air support bird.
She watched it swivel about and said, "oh fuck-" before hiding even deeper in the hole as it aligned its nose and let loose with the 30-mil, explosions washing both her and Tombes in dirt, ripped plants and, thankfully, just mud. Though their ears rang, they felt hands grab at them, both of them ready to fight not to be captured, only to see it was a couple of the mages they'd 'hired' from Rondel.
As they sprinted, the Mage spoke to them in broken English, "I keep safe! I keep safe!" before casting some sort of spell and raising her staff and hand high. A beam of light shot out into the sky, then split into three very distinct ones and wrapped them all in a shield. Iris, though her face was caked in dirt and dust, gave a thumbs up and a pearly-white grin to the girl as they ran toward their vehicles.
A Sapien Sunrise soldier dragged out a pair of MANPADS, handing one to Iris and stating, "That Arpeggio gal really has some fuckin' skills!" as he flipped up the weapon's IR sight. Iris nodded in approval, zeroing in on one Rook while her buddy took the other. She listened to the tone of the weapon ping rapidly, before switching to one long, loud tone. She squeezed the trigger and the IR missile flew. Seconds later, her buddy did the same.
The two Rooks soon turned, flying opposite each-other and dumping a multitude of flares in two pairs of beautiful wings. The missiles tracked, tracked, then nosedived and then flew high, going after the flares and exploding on them. Bullets rang around them next, with Iris swearing, "Hope that scared the fuckers off enough! IN THE TRUCKS!"
She slid in beside the female Mage that had just saved them, a scared brown-haired girl with pale skin, then pat her on the shoulder and said, "Thanks for that back there, Arpeggio," and while the girl trembled, she looked at her driver and other crew and called out, "Say what you will about these Mages, but they're fuckin' coming in clutch more and more!" before she peered back as the truck's engines roared to life. The other men cheered at that, though strained as they knew they weren't out of the line of fire yet.
The stolen Humvee rolled out onto the rough terrain, the gunner on the fifty mounted on top letting loose bursts as the vehicles began to drive off. Half-a-dozen transports ranging from ATVs to Warthogs and Humvees, plus two stolen BMD-1s, rolled out from the line, firing to cover themselves while the Russians and Ukrainians gave chase.
"They tried to flank us back there!" The gunner spoke, "Saw two of their units moving in right beside us!" and she could faintly make out his accent as being from Reach. Iris sighed, leaning back into her chair as they got further and further away from the hostiles, all while she listened for an enemy's jet. The gunner spoke, "What do we do about the enemy's birds?"
"We managed to grab a ZSU off the Ruskies," She spoke as she checked its position on her tactical map, "And we're well within its defensive range. If they try to dive on us, it has enough ammo to cause some serious damage. Lay back and calm the fuck down, boys," before she breathed a deep sigh of relief and took her helmet off. She said, "They're getting good at countering us."
"General should know about that," Spoke the driver, "She's the one pushing us into this shit."
"She's testing them, finding the easiest spots to hit so we can harass them more," Iris voiced as she leaned forward. She looked at Arpeggio and noticed a couple of bullet marks on her armored vest. Patting it down and flicking some of the squashed rounds off the vest, she continued, "Point to that, we're not here to win the War conventionally, kids. Like any guerrilla force, we're here to fuck all sides up enough that they peel away… Without the UNSC getting a foothold on that Other Earth."
"You really think ONI's gonna start trying to work on their Leadership?" The Gunner asked as he knelt in front of her. The vehicles found themselves advancing into the sandy terrain, away from the sight of enemy drones and forces. Iris nodded, to which he spoke, "Halsey's a bleeding heart. She wouldn't pull that kind of shit, even as ONI director."
Iris shook her head, then said, "Kid, you really have a lot to learn. Halsey's got the balls to put that entire world's leadership to the sword if it comes to it, just to make sure Humanity's together under the same flag if and when the need arises again. It's why I respect the old coot," before rolling down the armored window of the Humvee and looking out and toward the rear. A single drone still tracked them, a Wombat.
The ZSU's guns roared farther ahead and emerald tracers lit the sky, striking the wing of the combat drone. They watched the wing rip off as the fuel tank ruptured, then the craft, a propeller-driven vehicle, careened toward the ground and exploded in the far distance. The gunner listened in on the radio and reported, "Orion Drone. Ruski make."
"Ha," Iris snorted, "Course one of those would get shot the fuck out of the sky. Pricks wouldn't be anywhere near as capable of armoring up their UCAVs," and her troops laughed a little, all minus Arpeggio, as she felt the vehicles begin to slow down. A half-hour later, they were within the safety of a town still owned by the Empire in the sprawling sands of the Desert.
Dismounting, Iris was met by the sight of Beastman warriors sitting, arms crossed, by the fire. Their ears perked up and noses wrinkled as they saw them. The village homes themselves were very much resembling of what one would see in old pictures of Middle Eastern houses from the times before the UEG had started trying to upgrade the standard of living of everyone on Earth and the Colonies.
In fact, they resembled middle-eastern houses, with all the 'farming' and the likes one would expect out of this kind of place. The scent of freshly-cooked local pita hit Iris and Arpeggio, too, clearly, to which Iris smirked and said, "C'mon with me, kiddo," before waving her forward. They walked over to the Imperial camp in the town, stopping in front of the house where the Pitas were being cooked.
Iris stood in front of the man of the house as his wife, clearly a beastwoman, cooked the food items. She spoke in the local language, something that Arpeggio had heard her call 'some weird version of Pashtu' with some stops here and there to make sure the words were understood. However, Arpeggio knew that Iris was one of the few people running translator equipment here.
The man, one gentle-looking fellow clad in a long white item of clothing and wearing a head cover of some kind that shielded his elven ears, as well as tan skin, smiled and handed Iris a few of the flatbreads made by his wife. He gave a mock salute which Iris returned, before turning to the girl and handing her one of the food items, too. She said, "Eat up," before taking a bite from her own and walking to the Command Tent.
Entering it, she saw a golden cup slide forward onto the table. An angry-looking prince glared at Claudia, who stared, completely and utterly impassive as she spoke to him, "... You suggest we throw all of our remaining troops and resources upon the enemy? Do you wish for your reign to die before it even begins?"
"We've been in these sandy pits for too long," Zorzal snarled, "Doing what? Poking at them? These Otherworlders and their allies shouldn't just be left to sit idly in the capital, holding my Father captive and plundering it! Be bolder!" and he slammed his hand, standing up from his throne while glaring at Claudia, "Lest they adapt to your tactics and track us down!"
Clauda sighed, set her own chalice of wine down, then looked at the Captain, ignoring the magnanimous headache that was Prince Zorzal as she spoke, "I don't suppose you bring more good news than those flatbreads, do you?" to which the Captain snorted. She set the plate of flatbreads down onto the table and shrugged.
Plucking one bread off the table, Claudia spoke to her, "We will have more Mages from Rondel momentarily… It seems that the studies into the Artifacts of the Gods are helping," then she looked at Arpeggio and stated, "Correct?" then she paused, getting a very quick and terrified nod of approval from the young Mage and a thumbs up from Iris.
The Captain put her hands on her own hips, stating, "The magical shields you guys are managing to reproduce are doing wonders for keeping our people alive against enemy mortars," then she sighed and mumbled, "Not really against Bullets for the time being, but we can't have it all. Arpy here's getting quite good at it, too."
"Indeed," Claudia nodded, "I would expect no less of Arpeggio El Lalena, prime pupil of the Rondel Mages… Damned shame we could not get her sister on our side," then she sighed and sat down, looking at Zorzal as he crossed his arms to his chest. She told him, "If you are going to act like a child, Prince, at least leave the fuss for bed time…"
The man was about to snap back with a response, but elected to contain his fury for later. He scratched at the burns on his side with his good hand, then sighed deeply and sat down, asking her, "I suppose you have more than just harassment campaigns as a plan of action?" and surprising her a little with the restraint he was starting to show, though the throbbing burns were still visible under his clothes.
"Yes," The woman replied, then took a bite from her flatbread and continued, "Scouts of our own reported that the prized HITMAN-3, their mixed convoy, left for the Mountains in search of us and one of the Shrines of the Gods located in that area. Were I to presume, they are aiming for Duncan's underground Shrine, the one guarded by the Dwarves."
"The Dawi?" Zorzal hummed, "I know one of Piña's knights had a home there and her family was well-acquainted with them. They were and are to a degree a fine ally," then he blinked, "What scouts have you deployed after them?" and he watched the General motion to Iris, which surprised him. He looked at the girl, then nodded to her to go on.
"The Dushi Clan came into the sights of a patrol of my men," Iris offered, crossing her arms to her chest, "A group of Dark Elves in the Schwarz Forest. Narrowly missed by that big-ass dragon the UNSC supposedly murked via missile strikes," and she snorted, "We 'talked them' into helping us," with the air quotes necessary.
"Huh," Zorzal scratched his chin with the prosthetic hand, winced, then sighed and said, "Very well… Then we see what they want and beat them to the punch?"
"That would be the plan, yes," Claudia nodded approvingly, "It is a rush, however. It seems as though Emroy might be on their side, secretly," then she hummed and murmured to herself, "A shame, but I trust my Lord's judgement. He knows of advance, after all…" and let out a sigh, "Regardless. Captain Thompson?"
"Yes, general?" She raised a brow.
"Rest. You will move out at nightfall again," She ordered, "Perhaps even link up with the Dark Elves," and she got a snappy salute from the girl. With a nod of confirmation from the General, Iris and Arpeggio were both dismissed and left for their fireteam. The General looked at Zorzal as one of his slaves walked in and started tending to him. She was glad she'd kept Lee out of his hands, honestly… Better for both her and the General's consciousness.
With HITMAN-3
Some time after they'd settled within the confines of their new Base of Operations within the Mountains, the Marines, JSDF and their Auxiliary local troops watched the peaks while foot patrols moved around. A Radio had been set up at the highest point in the Villa:The observatory. It was meant to provide both a good line of sight to the heavens whenever the sky cleared of cloud and, now, a communication line to the others from the peak of this mountain.
Ikari had remained on guard duty while Richard was working the Radio beside her, listening in on the Long Range as transmissions from different squads and units filtered through. He hummed a tune to himself as he wrote down reports, orders and so on. He hummed, perked up, then switched on his Short-Range and spoke, "Henry, Itami, it's Dick. Got something if ya wanna hear."
"Go ahead," Torres replied from below, cradling his M4A1 as he and Itami patrolled the courtyard with their teams. The distant chop-chop-chop of rotorblades echoed across the valley and from the way they came. Not much of a surprise, really, considering other units were slowly making headway through the area the boys and girls had cleared, even with it being a small one.
"Helicopter, callsign 'BULLDOG', en-route to deploy reinforcements from the 10th Mountain and a Civvie contractor here to evaluate how much it'll cost to get power to this OP," Richard spoke as he peered through his own binocs and down the valley. He spotted the helo, a Blackhawk, flying leisurely toward them, under the escort of several UNSC-gear-wearing flying figures. He radioed, "... Add approximately four Dragonborn escorts, callsign 'DOVAHKIIN'... Apparently."
Torres audibly snorted over the com, then replied, "Roger that," with a smirk on his face. Piña walked out with Bozes and Beefeater as the chop of the rotorblades drew closer and saw Itami and Henry watching the aircraft's approach. The aircraft gently turned left, toward the open area in front of the building, then began to descend alongside the armed and armored Dragonborn girls.
The leading member of the Dragonborn squad, all of them clad in lighter UNSC equipment and carrying a DMR, approached and greeted, "Hallo!" jovially. She had orange-ginger hair and deep blue eyes and wore a helmet that matched the features of her face:The horns on the sides of her head and lizard scale cheeks, plus the armor matching the dragon legs and having space for the wings to fold. She spoke, "Dovahkiin Actual, at your service," and she had a weirdly familiar accent, her long hair, braided and flowing in the wind of the chopper's blades.
"Nice to meet you," Torres let out a low laugh while Piña walked up to them.
The Dragonborn officer of the squad bowed her head and spoke, "Your Highness," while the dozen or so troops dismounted from the chopper, the officer in charge showing the Pilot to lift off as soon as everyone was off. He helped the Civilian contractor, a man with a little extra weight around the belly, but built very sturdy, his ginger bear showing some greying.
He walked forward, stating, "Alright, well, this is a first!" as he put on his hardhat and green high-vis vest. He extended his hand to the American and Japanese Lieutenant and said, "I'm Nick and I'm gonna be your electrician for the day! Command figured it'd be nice to bring us old folk over from retirement to at least help with infrastructure, so," he shrugged, "Here I am!"
"I recognize you from somewhere!" Torres spoke as the Helicopter lifted off, hovering some distance away. The man smiled a little dumbly, then nodded. The rotors were still loud as they met in the middle, with the UNSC Dragonborn staring for a minute as the men were moving away from them. Honestly, this was strangely cordial.
"Might be Youtube or the China App!" He replied jokingly, patting the Lieutenant on the shoulder, "C'mon. I gotta see what the hell I need to do while making sure not to freeze my ass off!" before pausing as he saw the Warrior Bunnies, Tyuule included, step out. He pointed at them and said, "By the way, one of'em saved my ass while we were working on the defenses outside Italica! Whiskey Bravos are awesome! Might even get a video when I get back home."
"Cool…?" Tyuule replied, confused as she, Rieta and Delilah stared.
Rieta turned her head toward the commander of the platoon of Dragonborn, then asked, "You girls alright?"
"Indeed," The leader spoke as she took her helmet off. She walked up to Tyuule and snapped a salute, then said, "I'm Sergeant Clarisse Van Der Graaf. Doctor Halsey has requested that we be assigned as the air scout unit to HITMAN-3 in lieu of the heavier Helicopters, Pelicans and other gunships lagging behind due to the weather."
"Ah," Tyuule nodded, then said, "Welcome aboard, Sergeant. You speak English very well."
"Thank you!" She smiled, "I was actually tutored by some Marines while we were getting 'integrated' with the UEG's military arm," then she motioned to the inside and asked, "Should we go in? It's a little cold for us," to which the women all nodded, showing them into the mansion itself. Though Beefeater, Piña and Bozes were all a little confused.
Entering the mansion, they were greeted by the scent of food cooking on the oven, all while the rest of the staff had set themselves up in the house. Shino perked up and looked over from the couch, noticing the Dragonborn and stating, "Huh, holy shit. Hey, Kurata, you ever seen any of them before?" only pausing to see the man was writing a letter.
She leaned forward and grabbed it out of his hand, then started reading before cracking a smile. Kurata protested the taking of the letter, red in the face, but Shino smiled and handed it back to him, whispering, "I'm sure Persia's gonna appreciate the letter," with a grin. The red-faced young man sighed and slumped back into his seat, starting to write again. A few others chuckled, while Mari was cooking them dinner.
Clarisse looked around, a small smile on her face as she spoke, "This is gonna be an interesting stay," before turning to the Princess, snapping a quick salute and speaking to her in their language, "Apologies for the intrusion, Your Highness. I hope you and your knights do not mind a little extra company from HITMAN-3's newest unit."
"Not at all," Piña replied, smiling, "And we can speak in English, Sergeant Van Der Graaf," only to pause as a distant explosion noise echoed, causing everyone to pause. She turned toward the troops, watching Shino stand up, listening in on the radio before moving to the outside, weapon at the ready just in case.
Mari told them, "Don't worry. Our rearguard got in contact with a straggler force of Imperials. Artillery fire took them out just now," before humming and finishing up dinner. The noise had reverberated all across the valley, courtesy of the stone walls around them. Torres mumbled something about Afghanistan again as he walked out, too. Piña was slightly worried, but…
Oh, well. Such was war…