Juno waited until she heard Harlowe’s and Grensly’s rifle bursts before she hopped up and rolled over the edge of the depression. Upon seeing the Sergeant leave cover, the duo continued suppressing the enemy without rest, their rifles growling in their arms. Juno slid down to flat ground, rocks and pebbles falling around her, skittering in different directions. When her feet were on a sure surface, she started running as fast as she could towards the area of cover she’d spotted before.
Harlow’s magazine ran dry, then Grensly’s, both of them shooting down below cover before the enemy’s return fire. They hurried to reload knowing Juno’s cover was now gone. She was exposed.
The enemy opened up in return, a merciless mess of bullets hailing Harlow’s and Grensly’s position. It took only a moment for the shooters to notice Juno escaping beneath them. Before long, chains of shots were sent towards her, too. The area around Juno exploded into ash.
Her shields were struck four, five, six times… The stress from the impacts started to burn up the batteries. Juno could feel the suit heating up. Rocks split and jumped just ahead of her as missed bullets snapped into the ground.
Then, after another deflected shot, a notification beeped in her helmet. Her shields were fully exhausted. Now, it was up to her suit to block the bullets if she were hit. One well placed penetrating round, though, and it would be over. Cover was only just ahead. She could outstretch her hand and touch it.
Jumping vigorously, Juno lept clear over a fallen column, sliding on her back over rubble before slamming into the ground, safely in cover. She’d made it.
Juno then made her way up the crater.
Harlowe and Grensly kept up their fire, shooting a burst and then ducking as the enemy took their chance to do the same. Juno slipped up behind them.
“Hold your fire,” She called out. Harlow and Grensly ducked into cover at her command. The two then abandoned their positions and slid down into the bottom of the crater to meet her.
“How many did you count?” Juno asked the both of them while she reset her weapon.
“There are seven, altogether, give or take one or two.” Harlowe answered. Grensly nodded, affirming the same count. He kept checking the top of the crater as if enemies were suddenly going to come charging down from it. Juno tugged on his mask, bringing his focus back to her.
“Seven’s good. They don’t know how many we have so they’ll hold position. We don’t have long before they start covering those flanks so we gotta hit em hard and hit em fast.” She locked and loaded her weapon to full ammo.
“Alright, reload those weapons. Prep yourselves on the left side. When you hear me draw their fire again, cut straight towards the building. There will be a clear path for you.” Suddenly, she grabbed Grensly’s shoulder and pulled him close to enunciate her next point. “Don’t stop until you get there.” Grensly nodded.
She continued, “You’ll arrive right on their flank. Hit them hard, and don’t let up. I’m advancing from the other side so check your fire. When I get there, we’ll catch them in a crossfire. It’ll be like shooting fish in a barrel. The only way out will be to jump from the windows.”
“Fucking beautiful,” Harlowe said, admiring both the tactical maneuvre and his sergeant’s genius.
“Let’s get to it,” she said, dashing off to her position.
“Come on, private. You can still learn a thing or two, today,” Harlowe told Grensly as they moved to their spot.
Juno slid into position on the right side, where a hole in the ground was protected by a standing slab. She set herself against the slab, back towards the enemy. This way, she could poke her head out to the side to scout the building without exposing herself too much.
The voices were back since the shooting had died down. They were shouting at one another. Then, there was the stray call of a rifle as it popped a few rounds in the direction of the crater. She double checked her rifle.
Carefully, she peered around the slab, nose out, exposing as little of herself as slowly as she could. Seeing the building showed nothing had changed. The enemy held position like she’d said, but they were shy to expose themselves.
Juno reached for a tool on her back.
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The C-130 Incendiary Rifle is a compact grenade launcher, capable of sending a variety of rounds to rain hell down on the enemy. From laser guided, low propulsion grenades, to highly volatile air pulse flame shells, the C-130 is suited to deal with any number of situations, from close quarters urban combat, to wide open battlefields. It is highly adaptable, able to be customized on the fly, lightweight, and durable. A common weapon for riflemen, each fire team in a squad has at least one, making it one of the most common weapons in the modern marine’s arsenal.
Because of its usefulness and wide availability, it’s been nicknamed a “marine’s best friend”.
The C-130 extended in her hands. She only had a single round for the weapon. It was a heavy impact grenade. Packed full of highly explosive materials, the shot would provide a strong enough blast to hopefully shock her opponents into submission. If they were shell shocked hard enough, Harlow and Grensly would have ample time to infiltrate their position.
The grenade was in a safe pouch on her belt. She fished it out. It was thick and hefty, as big as her palm with a band of yellow and black warning tape on the end. “This side towards enemy,” it read.
Another stroke of luck was that it was an impact grenade, meaning Juno just had to aim, and pull the trigger. The grenade was made to explode as soon as it hit something hard enough. She just had to aim well enough at one of the windows. The tool would do the rest.
The grenade fit snugly into the tube with a satisfying clunk noise. Juno popped the mechanism closed, and pulled a latch to set the round. It was ready to fire.
She leaned out from her position. The enemy had a moment to shout a few words before she pulled the trigger. The C-130 jolted in her hands, making a GTHUMP sound as the grenade left the barrel. She was in cover again before the grenade popped into one of the windows.
The explosion rocked the second floor. Smoke, ash and little bits of building smothered the air. Some of the enemy screamed. Was it in fear? Or were they hit? Juno couldn’t tell.
She pulled her rifle to her chest, and then exposed herself again, letting off a series of shots at each window successively. The enemy was in disarray. They shouted, cursed, and flung commands. Their fire was eventually redirected at her, wild bullets tearing up the slab and the area around it. Their shots were confused, though. The shell had its intended effect.
To draw more of their fire, Juno periodically popped out from cover to deliver a couple short bursts in a rapid manner. The aggression was working. She was drawing their attention. Eventually, though, the enemy regrouped and their hail of fire became more concentrated, forcing her to hide.
She could do no more. Her position was shot to pieces. It was up to Grensly and Harlowe now.
Grensly followed close behind Harlowe, blood pumping, boots bounding off the dead ground. When they made it inside, fear gripped Grensly intensely. He knew what to do. He was a soldier. He may have been greener than his squadmates, but he was still a soldier. He had experienced war before.
It was just that he’d never been part of the losing side. He’d never assaulted positions where they were outnumbered. Who would do that? It was crazy.
None of that was going through his head at the moment, though. Remember your training. Remember your training.
Harlowe was out before him, making it into the lobby. A fire behind the building casted lance corporal in a strange hellish light. He looked like a shadowy demon, a figure with a singular cause: to kill without mercy.
Harlow waited for him to arrive before he did anything. Grensly slid to his side, searching the inside of the building with his eyes. There they were, second floor like she said. A couple on the third…
Neither Grensly nor Harlow hesitated. They unleashed their mags. Enemy shields were ripped to shreds before they could even react. One, two, three dead. Surprised, the enemy turned, bewildered, and tried to return fire on them. Grensly and Harlowe, mags empty, rushed to cover.
Only moments later, Juno, sprinting like a mad woman, turned the corner on the opposite flank, into line of sight of Harlowe and Grensly. It only took a second for her to analyze the remaining enemies. She crouched, to get better aim, and unleashed hell. One more. Two more. A body fell from the third floor, thumping hard against the ruined concrete. Harlow and Grensly returned to the fight with renewed mags.
It was too much for the enemy. They were shredded. The crossfire, the reverse ambush, the small squad stood no chance.
Only one soldier made it out. They abandoned their dying brothers and sisters, hopping from one of the windows to the ground, collapsing terribly as they landed. The retreating soldier didn’t hesitate, however, pushing themselves up and sprinting away from the building, southward. The soldier even left their rifle behind.
Juno rushed up the stairs to the second floor, where she would have a better shot. From her position in a window, Juno drew a bead on the running soldier. They were unarmed… but Juno riddled them with hailfire. The moon’s surface turned to smoke, and the soldier fell to the ground.
Juno didn’t take any chances. She dumped her mag into the dead soldier. Dust sprouted up around the body, concealing it in a mist of ash. She couldn’t let the soldier go, not with her team in the direction they were escaping.
Grensly was astounded. Seven, no eight dead… and not one single casualty on their side. How had they done it?
“Ground floor is clear, maam.” Harlowe broke Grensly’s concentration. The private’s gaze drifted upwards to his sergeant. She stood in the window, looking down on something, thinking.
Grensly was in absolute awe. She was amazing. A sudden feeling of invincibility swelled within him. Maybe they’d make it out of this afterall. How could they not with some like Sergeant Juno on their side? After a moment of reflection, Juno turned to Harlowe, to Grensly and nodded at them.
“Good work.”