by Aidan Colyer
“There is something else Sarge,” Roland started, “I gave the commander form our previous mission a call. He is on his way to the fort to assault it. He said he would give me an update any time now. We can use that attack as a distraction.”
“Good work you two,” Murden said and turned back to the shutters she had been looking through.
Watts and Roland left with Clark closing the door behind them with a softened click. They made their way back to the position they had been in. Looking for a better position they checked further along the rooftops before moving up so they could watch the sally port properly. They were only just set up when Roland’s comm buzzed.
“This is the commander. Ochre CM do you read? Over.”
“This is Ochre CM we read you loud and clear. Over.”
“We are making our final approach. We will deploy and attack from north of the main gate one hour after nightfall. Over.”
“That is perfect commander. CM over and out.”
Roland changed the channel to the personal one again.
“The commander is going to hit the main gate an hour after nightfall.”
“Let the sergeant know and then we can wait for them to come up without having to take our eyes off of the target area,” Watts replied.
Roland told the sergeant while Watts shifted to get a better angle. Once Roland signed off the squad channel he set up too. While Watts checked the gate area Roland kept an eye on the battlements. If the enemy didn’t move the guards off to help against the assault, he would have to give them a nudge or kill them.
The wait was uncomfortable. They had had to stay completely still the whole time as the trucks had become more frequent and the guards were constantly checking the area they were in with binoculars. As night fell, the temperature dropped. Roland didn’t feel it but his suit let him know in his HUD. A few minutes before the assault Roland heard the rest of the team approach. They had tried to be quiet but there was only so much they could do when they were all in unfamiliar suits, stealth suits or not.
Murden crawled up next to him.
“Do we have a way down for when the assault starts?”
“Yes. If you carry on to the next roof, there is a ladder that leads down into the alleyway that runs alongside the building. It is directly opposite a bunch of kiosks you can use for cover. Watts and I will cover you until you are at the door.”
“Good shooting,” she said and then crawled back. Roland heard them leave and hoped that he only picked up the sounds because he knew they were there. At least the night covered them from a vision perspective. Roland switched his scope to night vision and aimed at the guard that had been walking up and down the battlements. He waited.
A series of explosions ripped through the buildings on the far side of the entranceway. Roland tensed as the impact’s shock wave rolled over them while trying to ignore the bright fuzz on the edge of his scope. The guard on top of the wall turned to watch what the destruction but didn’t move to assist. Another barrage of shots came in that took off the top of the battlements sending debris up into the air. The guard ducked down behind the battlements and Roland lost his shot. He waited. They needed to get moving as soon as they could but this guard had to be neutralised if they stood any chance of going undetected. The trucks on the road had stopped and Roland struggled not to check the gateway further down trusting it would be closed. The guard popped up again. Roland listened for the sound of small arms fire. The faint sound of gunfire was there. That was the signal they were waiting for. He took the shot taking the guard's head off. Higher tier rounds against non-armoured foes were really brutal he noted. He checked the battlements to make sure there were no more guards. Satisfied the ramparts remained empty he took the opportunity to look down the road. There was no movement at the supply gate. He keyed his comm.
“CM to Ochre, go, go, go.”
Roland went back to his rifle and watched as the rest of the team ran across the road into the group of kiosks. They made their way to the door quicker than Roland had expected. As soon as they were there, he turned to tap Watts on the shoulder. She was already up and moving though. He followed, and they made their way down into the alley to follow the rest of the squad. They ran across the road and set themselves up behind a kiosk with a tin roof. Roland aimed out across the entrance and saw the tanks of the armoured unit pounding the old sandstone walls tearing chunks from them but not knocking them down. The buildings opposite lit up with muzzle flashes as the supporting infantry laid down a withering hail of bullets. Heavy fire was arcing down tearing into the stucco on the outside of the buildings revealing the brickwork underneath. A pall of dust began to settle over the troops as they advanced. Then rockets streamed down into their ranks. They hit the tanks in quick succession. Most shrugged off the hits but one started to burn its fire whiting out Roland’s scope. He turned back to Watts.
“This is our best chance,” he said slinging his rifle and drawing his pistol.
She signalled to the rest of the squad and Lawry smashed through the door. It swung violently inwards on rusting hinges. The steel plating of the door and the rusting hinges echoed in the open area around them but was covered by the sounds of the attack. At least Roland hoped that it was. As the others filed in he ran to the doorway with Watts close on his heels. The entered the door and Watts pushed it closed trying to latch it but failing. She grabbed a fallen piece of masonry and wedged it on the inside to hold it in place. She turned and gave the thumbs up. They pressed into a narrow corridor with a vaulted ceiling. The lighting had been removed in the tunnel so Roland opened the menus for his suit's mask. He changed them so that his night vision was turned up to its maximum setting. He nodded to the others, and they moved along the low-vaulted passageway at a jog. As the corridor narrowed his fellow squad mates obscured Roland’s vision. As they neared the end, Roland’s HUD compensated for the lights from outside. He turned off his night vision completely. This was going to get annoying if he constantly had to switch between the two settings. They ran from the passage one by one in front of him until he was stood at the edge. He looked and saw they had run to a wall with a colonnade and ceiling topping it. Checking they hadn’t been spotted he ran the short distance to the other side and knelt behind the wall. He looked over the top. From their vantage point the inside of the battlements was in full view. There were a lot of enemies crowded up there. He watched as a group took a direct hit from a high explosive shell blasting them back off of the top. They flew through the air and landed with sickening thuds on the flagstones of the large open courtyard.
“Mellors you and Watts head up top and see what you can do. The rest of you with me,” Murden whispered across their squad’s comm channel. No-one sent an acknowledgement as they all moved down the colonnade keeping as quiet as possible. Watts patted Roland on the arm and pointed to an archway that led to some steps. They broke off and went through it. The stairs were worn down and their smooth surfaces pooled in the centre. Roland slowed as he climbed around the curve. He didn’t want to slip and hadn’t tested the grip in the suit. They didn’t take too long to reach the top though. The top of the stair came out in a small room filled with crates of various sizes and descriptions. Roland looked them over and realised that they weren’t all enemy crates. He checked them closer and saw that several came from their stockpile. He pointed it out to Watts, but she just shrugged. Something didn’t add up here but he couldn’t quite tell what. A closed door filled the gap between crates on the far wall. A quick scan showed no lock as they approached. Watts carefully raised the latch and peaked through the small slit as it opened up onto the battlements. She opened it further and exited in a crouch holstering her pistol. Roland followed her cue and unslung his rifle. A low sandstone wall extended out from the edge of the small room along the inner edge of the battlements. They took cover behind it and surveyed the scene. The enemy had lost surprisingly few troops. They were moving back from a breach that was forming as the tanks concentrated their
fire on the walls. Roland moved down and surveyed the courtyard. He picked out the three bodies that had fallen earlier and carried on to the far side, which was thankfully empty. He stopped. Whipping his scope back to look at the dead bodies lying in the courtyard and focusing on them. A cold shiver ran down his spine. Equipment from both sides and the dead not fading out.
He turned to Watts, but she was already looking at him.
“They are all rebels aren’t they?” she said as the colour drained from her face.
“I think they may well be,” Roland replied cocking his rifle.
Chapter 25.
She looked back out over the scene once more and then ducked down. Roland ducked down with her.
“Plan?” she said making sure that her rifle was set right.
“Well, we were supposed to avoid contact with the enemy but shooting rebels is fine. That means we can shoot whoever we can see,” Roland replied.
She turned to him the colour returning to her face. She smiled and then slid along the wall raising her rifle. Roland knelt and turned resting his rifle on top of the wall. They fired as soon as they had clear shots. Four of the rebels pitched sideways in their first fusillade. Roland realigned to find heavy gunners. He found two teams and made short work of them sending a couple of their number over the front parapet. Watts was shooting any of them that even started to turn in their direction. When they had finished their magazines, they both ducked down as quickly as possible.
“We need to move,” Watts said.
Roland nodded and turned to check along the battlements. There was a small wall on the other side of the room they had come out of too. He waved Watts on to follow him as he reloaded and they ran along the wall until they reached a tower at the far end. Roland glanced over the wall catching several of the rebels firing at the wall they had vacated moments earlier. He slung his rifle and unholstered his pistol. He looked at the door to the tower and braced himself before he kicked it in diving inside and raising his pistol. His entry startled a pair of rebels. He shot the first in the chest three times as he carried on moving. Watts shot the other as she entered the staccato sound of her automatic pistol reverberating around the small circular room. Roland switched on his laser sight and moved to the far side of the tower room. He checked through the small window set into the door and saw five rebels running along the battlements outside. He moved aside and nodded to the window so that Watts could take a look too. She peaked through the glass pulling back and nodding to him. Roland counted to three under his breath as Watts watched his lips move. As he got to three, they kicked the door outwards and started firing. The rebels hadn’t expected them and didn’t have a chance to raise their weapons as they were shot to pieces. They ducked back inside and reloaded as the last one fell lifeless to the worn flagstones of the battlements.
“This is far easier with the tier four ammunition,” Watts said moving towards the stairwell that curled down against the wall of the outer edge of the tower.
“It’s a shame about the lack of points though,” Roland replied. He checked out of the door again but didn’t see any more rebels.
“Are we going out or down?” Watts asked edging closer to the top of the stairs.
A fusillade of shots tore at the outside of the door that still swung on its hinges from their recent attack. It was ripped apart as the bullets punched through the steel plate sending fragments of metal through the room.
“The stairs,” Roland said ducking and moving over to stand with Watts.
She moved forward to stand above the open stairwell. She gave him a look and then ran down the stairs. Roland headed down straight afterwards. As they entered the room bullets smashed into the wall around them and glanced off of their suits. Roland took a hit to the hip and span. He lifted his pistol and shot the rebel as he fell. Watts had made it to the bottom unscathed and sprayed bullets across the room. The other two rebels in the room jerked wildly spraying blood across the floor as they were peppered with shots.
Roland rolled as he hit the stairs coming to a halt on the bottom step. He righted himself and tested his leg checking his hip. His holster was ruined, and it hurt to stand. He checked his health and then realised a third bar had appeared.
[Suit integrity reduced by 10%.]
Roland dismissed the notification. That wasn’t good, but it was better than the shot going through and shattering his hip. He limped over to Watts.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, sort of. Turns out you can lose suit integrity. You can also still get bruises through the suit.”
Roland knelt down and picked up one of the rebels rifles. He pulled out the magazine and checked the ammunition. It was only tier one. If tier one hurt that much in these suits then he didn’t want to be on the receiving end of anything higher. Still, it was odd considering how well equipped the rebels in the desert had been. He dropped the magazine to the floor and pulled a holster off of one of the rebels. He tore off the remains of his own one and replaced it. His pistol didn’t fit perfectly but it would have to do.
Watts was already checking the doors out of the room. Roland headed over to the stairwell and looked down it. Watts opened one of the doors and Roland turned seeing the empty corridor. It was dimly lit the shadows from the lights playing off of the vaulted roof.
“This way?” Watts asked.
Roland nodded and then pulled out a grenade. He pulled the pin and then dropped the grenade down the stairs before hobbling over to Watts as fast as he could. They let the door swing shut behind them as they heard the crump of the grenade exploding. If there weren’t any rebels in that room he hoped that others nearby would assume they had gone that way. They played their laser sights off of the far end of the corridor where it turned sharply to the right. Watts reached the corner first and looked around the bend quickly before pulling back. There was no gunfire.
“It’s clear,” She said before turning the corner and making her way forward. The short passage ended at another door. This one looked far older and Roland suspected it was supposed to be part of the original fabric of the building. They tested the handles, and they were oiled to perfection. They lifted the latches and slowly cracked the door open. The latches may have been oiled, but the hinges hadn’t been. There was a loud creak as they pushed. It echoed down the corridor but fell flat in the room. They entered crouching low and looking around. There were no rebels in the room but there were a lot of seats and a few beds. This must have been the barracks Roland thought. He counted the beds quickly seeing at least twenty. Watts crossed to the other side and looked through the small window in the door.
“There is another room through here. The room is bigger. I can’t see any rebels though.”
“There are twenty beds in here. If that room is bigger than that makes fifty. Fifty beds means fifty rebels.” Roland said as he walked the room checking in lockers and on the tables. There was nothing of interest. A few spare uniforms and the remains of a meal. Why would they need to eat? Roland thought as he joined Watts.
“Where to now?” he asked looking through into the next room.
“Well, we need to find the rest of the squad and join up with them. We could head back up and start firing on the rear of the rebels outside but I don’t think we need to with the assault still happening.”
Roland cocked his head and listened. The faint sound of explosions and gunfire drifted through the thick walls muffled as the sounds were. He keyed his comms.
“CM to Ochre come in. over.”
“Ochre this is CM. This better be good. Over” Murden replied. Gunfire echoed in the background mirroring the sounds where Roland and Watts had stopped.
“All the enemies here are rebels. We are inside in their barracks. Where are you? Over.”
“Pinned down in a basement level. Can you get to us? Over.”
“We will try. CM over and out.”
Watts had listened in to the conversation and was already making her way back to the tower. Roland hurried
to catch her up feeling a twinge in his hip. It wasn’t as bad now but the stiffness still hurt as he moved. He hoped there wasn’t going to be any long distance runs any time soon.
As they approached the door to the tower, the sound of rebels on the other side greeted them as they reached the door. They slowed down and Watts pulled a grenade out. Roland slid past her up to the door and crouched down. She pulled the pin and nodded. Roland pulled the door open, and she rolled the grenade into the room. Roland shut the door behind it and curled up.
The blast tore through the room and it smashed the top part of the door in raining shards of glass and splinters over them.
They stood and moved into the room shooting all the rebels that still moved. The fact they didn’t fade made this far more difficult Roland thought as he nudged one of them over. These ones were wearing partial suits. Their chests were painted with the blue eye and a single red line through it. He shared a look with Watts and they started to move quicker. They ran into the lower room hoping not to find any rebels. They did, but the rebels weren’t ready for them as they had just entered too. Roland and Watts were quicker off the mark and felled them both with shots to their chests. They moved toward the door that was still swinging behind the rebel bodies. Roland checked down the corridor on the other side finding it empty. He shook his head and Watts approached the third flight of stairs. She waited for Roland to join her before throwing a grenade down them. They heard a few surprised shouts and then the grenade went off. They ran down after it spraying the room that was now filled with dust and smoke. Roland didn’t know what they had hit as the dust clouded the sensors of the suits vision. A bullet whipped out of the grey smog and struck his left arm. He tried to roll his arm, but the shot had hit the inner arm. He yelped as it tore through his suit and lodged in his bicep. Both his health and suit integrity dropped. He didn’t have time to check how much as he dropped to one knee and reloaded his pistol. As he finished up a rebel emerged from the smoke in front of him. Roland started to fire as he raised his pistol. He hit them in the foot and then the chest with his final bullet going through the back of their neck as they hunched over.
