October 16th, 1973

Entry #84

Lately the base has been bustling, people running around, loading vehicles and what have you. I suppose that that means we'll be moving out soon, gonna give those Grancolombians hell!

It sure is strange though, the Colonel said that we'd receive reinforcements before we'd attack. However knowing him, we probably have this in the bag, the Colonel isn't one to act irrationally.

Speaking of the Colonel, he and some of the senior officers have been in the war room for a good time now, hope everything is alright. So far all I know is that we are gonna attack the Grancolombian base outside of the East Panama region.

Well, it looks like everything is set for the attack, soon I'll probably get loaded into a truck and sent to the front. With this attack we will be in the heartland of Grancolombia!

Diary entry from a North American soldier, found in the jungles of Grancolombia in 1997.

~

“It appears that there are UEF ships to the Southeast,” an officer informed General Aders, "from the visuals we can say there are at least two carriers and three of those railgun battleships, the remaining ships are a mixture of light cruisers and destroyers."

Aders was beyond irritated by the UEF, they just couldn't let us catch out breath, he thought.

The ship once again shook and rocked after being struck by another projectile. So far nothing had penetrated or destroyed any part of armor, however the DCO have been reporting cracks in several areas.

"Sir, radar is picking up several aircraft," a technician reported.

"Yeah, I see 'em," the Aders said, looking out of the window at the approaching hostile fleet.

What am I gonna do with these bastards, Aders thought.

"The Commodore had issued a withdraw," an RM told Aders, "he wishes to fallback and regroup behind that archipelago we encountered previously."

A retreat order now?! Aders thought angrily, the main advantage those damned railgun battleships have is the range of their cannons, if we retreat we're gonna be vulnerable!

"Tell the Commodore I've recieved the order," Aders directed the RM, "but believin' the order will increase the loss of lives, I will ignore them."

"General, you could be discharged if whatever you're planning doesn't work," the RM informed him.

"Discharged?" Aders laughed, "discharged from what? The North American Army is no more."

"The Commodore outranks you, sir, you could be indicted for treason."

"The Commodore is only a Commodore because the previous one was killed."

"But-"

"Send the response, soldier."

The RM sighed.

"…roger."

*BOOM*

The ship rocked once again after getting hit by another volley from the UEF ships.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Sir, we have a hull breach on sector E23," a DCO reported, "no water is flooding in, but hull integrity decreased, more breaches expected."

"Sir, the hostile aircraft are within range, what are your orders," asked technician.

This is gonna be a long day...

~

After leaving the Forge, 603 and Clyde have made it to a very lively intersection. Squads of soldiers were running topside to man anti air cannons or repel any boarding squads.

Clyde tapped 603 on the back.

"You follow them," Clyde pointed to the rushing soldiers, "I've got something I need to do."

Clyde ran off before 603 could protest.

That bastard.

603 began following the group of men down the hallway. Occasionally the ship would rock after being struck by more shells from the hostile fleet, causing the soldiers to stumble.

Now that the battle was in full swing, the ship began fighting back, firing their own cannons and rockets back at the enemy fleet and the enemy aircraft. 603 had looked out of the occasional porthole and saw what appeared to be dogfights above the ocean.

Looks like there are aircraft carriers in our fleet, thought 603, wonder if the UEF has better aircraft than-.

A UEF aircraft had crashed into the weakened hull of the ship, smashing through it. About a third of the soldiers 603 was following got caught up in the crash. As the smoke was clearing up, 603 saw that the wreckage had cut him off from the rest of the soldiers, he'd have to find a way around.

As he was turning, a noise stopped him. It was groans of pain which fell upon his ears.

There were soldiers that survived the aircraft crashing into them!

603 began moving to help them, he tried to lift the aircraft off of them but it was wedged into the ship.

I can't pull them out, thought 603, it may do more harm than good.

Unexpectedly, a hiss came from the aircraft, a door had opened on the side. Out of the ship came several men clad in shiny, reflective armor.

Federation troops, 603 internally shouted, was that thing a troop transporter?

Without speaking the Federation soldiers began firing at 603, rounds striking his armor. 603 stumbled a bit from the force of the rounds, but he steadied himself and tried to find any cover. He quickly glanced around and found a recess in the wall. He began running to the recess and caught several more shots to his armor. 603 slammed into the recess before any more shots could connect.

603 looked down at the front plate of his armor and could see several dents and that large pieces of the armor was missing.

This armor won't take anymore punishment, I should avoid getting hit from now on.

On the other side of the wreckage were more shouts and gunshots. The occasional "fall back," ringing out over the gunshots and shouts of pain.

The Federation soldiers facing 603 began moving towards the recess that 603 was at. 603 tried to get a look at the soldiers and maybe try to return fire, but the soldiers were prepared and fired everytime his head peaked out. All 603 could see was the 5 armored men and their weapons pointed in his direction.

"You two keep him pinned," one soldier shouted, "you two advance."

"Roger," the soldiers said in unison.

The soldiers were making their way to the recess and whatever 603 wanted to do, he had to do it fast. 603 peaked around the corner one last time to confirm the soldiers locations. Immediately he was shot at, a bullet scraping the top of his helmet, but 603 has made out where the soldiers were positioned.

The first of the two soldiers ordered to advance were upon him. 603 leaped from cover and positioned himself in front of the soldier, blocking the line of sight of the armored soldier's allies. 603 began shooting the soldier center mass, most bullets bounced and ricocheted off harmlessly, but some had connected, making the man fall.

During this the 4 other soldiers had moved around their ally and began to open fire upon 603.

603 responded by grabbing the recovering Federation soldier and used him to shield himself from the onslaught of bullets. Similarly to before the bullets had bounced and ricocheted, but the ones that had connected pierced the armor.

After a moment's time, the firing had stopped and the Federation soldier was dead, his blood flowing into one of the many drains which lined the ships walkways.

For a second everyone stood silent, the only noises being the occasional groan of the ship as it took another round. In a flash 603 broke that silence.

He dove onto the ground to retrieve the fallen soldier's weapon and began firing on his still living compatriots, the soldiers reacting in kind. 603 managed to fall one and wound two others before being forced back into the recess.

603 continued to pop out and fire at the group of men, but quickly got suppressed.

One of the soldiers was faster than 603 thought and rounded the corner leading into recess. Before he could fire, 603 was on him. He grabbed the soldier's arm and swung him into the wall, along with a loud crash, a large dent appeared in the wall.

The remaining two soldiers did not falter and continued their advance. Noticing this, 603 took the soldier's weapon and readied himself.