by Aidan Colyer
Watts was somewhere to his left but he couldn’t quite make her out. He reached up and hit the infrared setting on his helmet. The room flickered and then was clear in the infrared glow. Watts was grappling with one rebel while two others were slowly advancing. Roland raised his pistol and shot both through the face before turning back to the one holding Watts. He moved forward and drew his bayonet. He grabbed the rebel by the throat and hauled them backwards putting his knife under their chin.
“Where is your commander?” he hissed into their ear.
“I’ll never tell you fascist scum.” the rebel shouted and kicked out. The blow missed Watts and hit the wall sending Roland and them to the floor. Roland’s pistol spun from his hand but he managed to keep hold of the bayonet. He stabbed down where the rebel had fallen but they rolled out of the way. He went to stand and saw they had drawn a pistol. Roland braced for the shot but Watts shot first. The rebel collapsed as her bullets tore up their left side. She walked to Roland and helped pull him upright. He grabbed his pistol and turned back to her.
“Let’s keep moving. You have your infrared on yeah?”
She nodded and reloaded her pistol. They turned and made their way across the room towards the far doors. They heard intense gunfire close by. Roland assumed it was their team so started to head towards it. He burst through the first door and seeing no rebels smashed through the second as he searched for the sound. As he came through the second door, he ran into at least a platoon of rebels. He froze.
Chapter 26.
The rebels turned to look at him. Roland was propelled into motion by Watts yanking him back through the door as bullets tore it apart. He sprawled to the floor and carried on rolling backwards.
“Great stealth technique there,” Watts said and shook her head. She pulled the pin on two smoke grenades and sent them both into the room.
“Let’s change up for the stun bullets. This far into the place the rebel leader will probably be hiding in there too.” She was already reloading both her rifle and pistol. Roland scrambled up and did the same. He holstered his pistol and swung his rifle round.
“The room is big. We could use our rifles.”
“Up to you,” Watts replied. Roland found a crate in the room and dragged it across. He kicked it out till it slid to a point in line with the doors. Ducking down he snuck in behind it and raised his rifle. The smoke was still covering them with bullets hitting the doors, doorframe, and ceiling. Few were coming low enough to come near him though. He changed the scope settings and then aimed at the rebels firing their way. He shot the first one, and they went down jerking like they had just bitten a power line. Impressed by the stun ammunition he switched up and fired at the second one.
“Any effect?” Watts asked over the comm.
“Yeah, they work great but knocking them down isn’t going to be useful in about thirty seconds; it will only delay them.” He ducked back behind the box.
“I’m going back to lethal,” Roland said swapping out again and then swinging back to his position. He aimed into the room and targeted the rebel’s chests. He checked the insignia before he fired each time. The first two he hit had a single red line. The second two had a double red line.
Watts had moved around behind him and had set herself up too.
“Can you see the target?” she asked over the comm.
“Not yet,” Roland replied felling another one of the rebels with a single red stripe.
“Say when you do. I have non-lethal still.”
“Will do,” Roland replied.
The smoke from the grenades was dissipating as he fired. The rebels fired back far more accurately as their hazy cover wafted away bit by bit on the slight breeze. He felt a bullet graze his helmet and saw the integrity bar flash again. He turned and shot the offender through the face.
“Watts get hold of the sarge and the rest of them. They need to push into that room if we have any hope of getting out of here alive.”
“I already have, they won’t use grenades as they are convinced he is in there.”
Roland swore but carried on firing. The smoke had finally dissipated, and the rebels were now in good positions. Roland found himself ducking more than firing back after not too long.
“We need another plan,” he said to Watts as he reloaded again.
“Pistols?” She said.
“Smoke grenades first,” Roland replied.
“Agreed.”
Roland rested his rifle on the now deformed crate. He pulled two smoke grenades out and then slung his rifle. As he patted down his kit for anything useful, he realised he needed to draw his pistol. The bad fitting of the holster tugged at the foresight as he pulled it out and laid it down next to him.
Roland took a deep breath readying himself for the assault before pulling the pins from the grenades and rolling them across the floor into the room. As soon as he heard the larger hiss as they went off fully he jumped up and charged in. He fired at each rebel as they came into view. They fell writhing in pain as blue lightening crackled across their armour. Crap Roland thought. He hadn’t swapped to lethal ammunition in his pistol. There was nothing for it now though. Watts was next to him knocking the rebels down as they moved forward. Two shots hit Roland as he moved around a crate. He grunted as he was dropped to the floor. Rolling sideways he pulled himself up to lean on the crate. He looked down seeing blood oozing from the wound. With a grimace he looked up again, checking the status bars in his HUD he noticed they had reduced again. He dropped the non-lethal magazine out and put in a lethal one. This was starting to hurt too much for a simple extraction. The smoke grenades were obviously not working as well as he had hoped. He was down to 45% health now and his suit's integrity wasn’t much better. He pulled out a bandage and worked it into the suit so he could plug his wounds.
More shots flew through the door and struck the crate. He couldn’t stay there for much longer. Shots started to fly in from the left. Roland glanced in that direction and caught sight of the rest of the squad through the smoke. They were firing in short bursts as they advanced into the room. Roland listened for the fire to slow against him. He gripped his pistol and then took his chance. As a series of rounds tore into the crate, he stood and moved forward around the side. He fired into the smoke at the rebels picking his targets carefully. A few judicious shots later and three more of the rebels lay on the ground bleeding out. They were retreating now under the combined assault from the whole squad. Roland slowed his firing down and searched for the mission target. He spotted him near the back of the main group. Roland renewed his efforts targeting the rebels that had formed a wall around the target.
“Watts follow my fire.”
“I see it,” she replied firing into the group. She knocked two of the rebels down and before hitting the target. He convulsed as the stun round hit his chest and arced electricity across the symbol that marked him out.
“Watts to Ochre. The target is down. Move in.”
The rest of the squad rose up and moved with Roland as soon as Watts called the shot. They pushed forwards dropping more of the rebels as they advanced on the prone form of the target. The target started to rise and Watts dropped them again. Before the stun effect wore off this time, Lawry pounced on them. He flipped the target over and tied the hands using the zip ties added to their starter equipment by the intel unit. He then grabbed the target’s shoulders and started to drag them back from the firefight. Roland took the time he had in the lull to return to the other room and retrieve his rifle. He reloaded it and his pistol with fresh magazines. Having his weapons prepped was a must as they were going to have to fight their way through the battle outside to leave. Roland listened and heard a series of shells land. It was definitely still in full swing. He returned to the squad who were now moving towards the doorway they had entered. Roland ran past them into the corridor and checked it was clear. He moved up to the next junction and waited for Watts. All the while aiming up the corridor to make sure he would get the dro
p on any rebels trying to get around behind them.
It didn’t take long for Watts and the rest of the squad to catch him up. Watts gave him a look and then ran past to the next junction. As soon as she was kneeling at the corner, Roland followed. He tapped her on the back and she moved forwards up the stairs that were in front of them. As she reached the halfway point shots started to hit the walls behind her. She ducked down and lay on the stairs.
“A little help here Mellors,” she said crawling forwards to point her rifle over the top step. Roland ran up and lay down next to her as she took her first shot. He hastily checked the room ahead of them through his scope. There was at least a squad of the enemy hunkered down behind a series of upturned desks directly in front of the stairs. Roland aimed and shot hitting one of the squad in the head. Watts had switched to bursts her shots tearing through the top of the desks sending splintered wood flying into the air. Roland switched his fire selector and started to do the same. By the time the rest of the squad had bunched up at the bottom of the stairs they were up and moving. Entering the room they checked the corners and behind the other desks. There was a door on the far side of the room. Roland moved towards it before stopping. He knelt and opened the door a crack. The sound of combat swept in. No shots greeted him though, so he pushed it open further swinging his rifle around to look through the doorway. Watts stayed right beside him and stood aiming over the top of his head. They waited for a few seconds listening to the battle rage. Then they moved. They were in the colonnade where the squad had originally split. Shots smashed through the open side and the wall to their right dissolved under heavy fire. The inner core of the wall spilled out in several places from stray rockets and shells covering the floor in uneven rubble. They picked their way through the rubble ducking as they ran between the pillars that held the ceiling up. Shots were being fired but not at them directly. That didn’t stop stray bullets from harrying them as they made it to the end of the colonnade. They crouched behind the low wall and picked their targets.
Tanks from the armoured unit crushed the rubble into dust as they advanced through the fresh breach. There were now far more than three bodies lying on the floor of the courtyard. The rebels had brought up an anti-tank gun and were using it to keep the breach clear. The armoured troop was sending their infantry forward to deal with them. Tanks struggled under intense fire from a makeshift barricade that gave cover to the rebel‘s rocket armed troops. Pieces of timber and a mantlet around the gun shielded the rebels from the high explosive rounds the tanks used. Roland sighted on the enemy defending the barricade and shot. He kept his rifle on burst fire taking several of the rebels out as he focused on the ones controlling the anti-aircraft gun. Watts joined him and they managed to give the armoured troops enough space to move forward through the breach and into the courtyard. They were still taking heavy casualties as they ran for the small amount of cover not destroyed by the assault. Roland could see the rest of his squad moving up to his left. They fired off a few shots at the troops behind the barricade as they advanced to try to keep the enemies heads down. Lawry pushed the rebel leader along in front of him as they ran. They only took a few seconds to reach Watts and Roland. As soon as they did, they stood and moved across the gap to the narrow passage that would take them to the sally port. Roland didn’t want to leave the armoured troops to their fate, but he didn’t have much choice. Watts knelt beside him as they waited for the others to make it across. They sent cover fire towards the rebels behind the barricade trying to get them to keep their heads down. As soon as the rest of the squad was in the tunnel, Watts moved forward and joined them. Roland fired a couple of parting shots and followed. They were moving fast down the tunnel. Their shoulders bouncing off of the walls sending the plaster surface into the air as dust as the armoured plates scratched at it.
Within seconds, they were out of the sally port door and into the street. The place was surprisingly quiet compared to the raging combat they had left behind. If they didn’t move quickly, then they wouldn’t have the quiet for long. They crossed the street into the alley and headed back to the room they had occupied before the attack.
Roland’s heart was pounding as he waited at the bottom of the ladder for the others to ascend. It was taking far too long. If they didn’t get out soon, they would end up being ambushed and in the confines of this alley as well. They wouldn’t last long suits or no suits if that happened. Finally, it was Roland’s turn to scale the ladder. When he reached the top, Watts helped him over the small wall.
“We need to stay here and cover their move. We can take out anyone that tries to follow us while they set up the extraction point.”
Roland nodded and headed to the low wall they had used for cover before. He lay down and rested his rifle on the edge of the wall checking the battlements for any guards. There weren’t any this time, but that didn’t mean there wouldn’t ever be any especially when the rebels found out that their leader had been captured.
Chapter 27.
They waited for the next half an hour as the sounds of the battle in the fort waxed and waned. The armoured unit was inside the fort fully now. Their infantry must have taken out the anti-tank gun as the tanks now rolled over the rubble in the breach. They fired at point blank range within the structure sending dust up from all of the walls.
Roland and Watts hadn’t noticed any of the rebels on the battlements near their position. Roland had also checked down the road towards the supply gates. The guards that had been manning the walls above the gates were gone now and the gates swung wide open. He assumed that they had retreated using the trucks to hasten their getaway. They must have done that as the squad fought inside. Finally, his comm buzzed.
“Ochre to CM. We have co-ordinates. Make your way down. Over and out.”
Roland raised himself into a crouch and made his way across the rooftop with Watts in tow. The wounds in his chest started stinging when he moved from where he laid on them earlier. The pressure had stopped the bleeding though which was at least something Roland thought. He approached the ladder that would take them down into the alleyway where the rest of the squad were now congregating. The climb pulled at his wounds but he made it down. When they joined the squad, Murden came over to him.
“We have orders to take the rebel back to where we started from there I don’t know what will happen though.”
Roland nodded and took the point. As they moved away from the fort the sounds of battle lessened. The alleyways they made their way down were as quiet as when they first advanced. It didn’t seem right to Roland. They hadn’t seen a single enemy soldier at all at any point. The ones they thought were the enemy turned out to be the rebels in disguise.
Roland pushed the thoughts out of his mind. He wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth. The way back took them two hours. As they walked across the carpark area towards the hole into the basement, Roland spotted movement. He crouched and held up a fist to stop the squad. Watts moved out to his side as he raised his rifle and flicked the night vision on. He looked into the pitch black darkness and saw shapes moving in the breach. They were indistinct though. He needed to move closer to see who was there. It couldn’t be the rebels, could it? He moved to one of the concrete barriers that they crossed when they first arrived. He settled behind it and fiddled with the optics on his scope. The image became clearer the more he fiddled. No matter what he did, it didn‘t get crisper though. Frowning at what he should be able to do that at this range he opened his private channel to Watts.
“I can’t make out who it is in there. Have you had any luck?”
“No, they are fuzzy. I’m assuming stealth tech. it could be rebels. Their stealth tech in the desert was this good.”
“We need to get closer. Cover me. Out.”
Roland moved to the edge of the concrete barrier stopping briefly before carrying on out into the carpark keeping his rifle aimed into the hole and staying in a crouch. No matter where he moved the figures were still indistinct. H
e stopped behind a set of bollards and called Murden.
“Do you have a signal to let them know we are here sarge?”
“No, they said they would appear when we made it here.”
“Where are they then? There are figures in the basement but they are indistinct. They are giving off similar signatures to the rebels.”
“Move forward and be careful. Use non-lethal ammo if you go in.”
Roland closed the channel and changed out his magazines. He looked over to Watts who was doing the same. Presumably, she had been listening in on the conversation. Roland switched his scope to infrared in the hopes that would give him more information. It gave him some but not much, they were still too fuzzy. He swapped to his pistol and changed the visor settings to show infrared. He motioned for Watts to follow him in. She acknowledged and swapped out for her pistol. As Roland left cover so did she moving up to the edge of the opening. They looked at each other and then swung into the opening keeping their pistols raised high. The figures all turned at once and raised their weapons. They didn’t fire, so neither did Roland nor Watts. The figures went from indistinct to solid in the blink of an eye. The one at the front lowered their weapon and took their helmet off. It was the major. Roland and Watts lowered their pistols and so did the others.
“You have the package?” the major said walking forwards.
“Yes we do,” Roland said.
“Get your squad down here,” the major said. His command terse.
“Ochre this is CM. Everything is fine move the target to the basement. Over and out.”
Roland holstered his pistol after signing off. He removed his helmet and blinked as his eyes adjusted to the gloom. He couldn’t see much but there were small red lights that glowed on the trooper’s uniforms casting an eerie glow around the room. The rest of the squad scrambled down the slope to stand in the basement. Webb handed Roland his rifle, and he slung it over his shoulder turning to look for the target. Murden brought them forward and pushed them towards the major. Two of his men moved in to catch them and took the captive by the arms dragging them to the far side of the room.
