“Mark two left.” Longfang’s voice crackled across my voice channel, followed by two angry sanguine icons glowing to life on my heads up display.

I panned the command screen, centering it on the two red icons now revealed to be small gray human outlines. The picture was unfortunately grainy, and with the distance, dust and smoke it was hard to make out their equipment. The only things he knew for certain was that they were hostile and hurriedly working on deploying a large weapon system.

Too far for the coaxial weapon system, and I had zero desire to see what it was they were deploying.

“Loader - HE.” I barked. (Once meaning High Explosive, in this case colloquially referring to IAPM or Improved Anti-Personnel Munitions and a serious mouthful either way.)

I saw the gunner’s pip align to the two targets as the turret finished rotating. A series of clunks and buzzes sounded as the loader swapped the loaded ammo feverishly and the main cannon superelevated to match the gunner’s lased target.

“HE Up!” from the loader, TiradorCertero.

“Acquired!” a split second later from the gunner, Aldwulf.

“Send it.” I said while holding down the fire authorization switch.

Aldwulf stroked the gunner’s cadillac, I heard the loud concussive blast and felt the pressure ripple uncomfortably through my insides. The tank rocked back violently. I observed as the two figures vanished in a cloud of debris and expanding gasses, the red icons fading out. Already the gunner’s pip was seeking slowly back and forth, looking for additional threats. To the side indicator lights flashed telling me which vision modes he was stepping through.

Tir stood aside, arms clutching what by all appearances was a yellow striped 150lb bullet. As the spent casing shot back out of the breach to clatter on the floor, followed by a whiff of remaining bore fumes, he stepped in to slam another HE round home. He snatched his arm back as the mechanism pulled the casing in the last few inches and the massive breach slammed shut.

“HE Up!”

A red light turned green on my screen, indicating the loading was complete.

“Splash two.” Longfang smugly remarked.

A voice in the back of my mind nagged at me, something was off.

I panned the camera back across my troops, watching the tracked armoured personnel carriers approach the two buildings… For just a second a smudge near one of the structures - a display error? Unlikely.

Zooming in, I saw it again.

“Break break break!” I shouted over the comm link “Eichner, Scouts East 20m Structure 2.”

“Copy Scout Squad East. Engaging.” Eichner’s deep voice tersely responded.

I watched the rightmost APC swerve to correct its course before sliding to a halt and disgorging a twelve man squad. The roof mounted heavy machine gun swiveled and began suppressing the cloaked scouts as the infantry advanced to finish the job.

A scant few minutes later Eichner’s squad was stacking up on the entrance to Structure 2 as the APC covered the roof line.

I tabbed through the command console’s menu and opened the audio/video feed from Eichner’s helmet.

***

Eichner’s squad stacked, six men to each side of the double doors.

First man up in each stack was wearing JOTUN assault armour, a heavier variant with limited mobility but enhanced armour.

The 11, designated slot for the engineer, moved up and emplaced two breaching charges on the doors. He then shuffled to the back of the stack and waited for the squad leader’s go.

It was a short wait.

“Breach.” Came over the comms, the squad leader’s hand chopped down, and the engineer squeezed the command module, triggering the charges and blowing the doors in.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

The two heavies immediately swung in, their heavy weapons barked as they put down the few defenders dumb enough to set up within the concussion range of the blast charges.

As the heavies moved deeper, the rest of the squad poured through scorched and smoke filled opening, spreading out and advancing down the walls.

Their job was to secure what the heavies took and sweep the side rooms.

The corridor they entered was rather short, thirty feet or so, before becoming a wide staircase leading up to the next floor. Two men from each stack approached the doors on either side of the corridor. The rest of the squad advanced behind the heavies towards the staircase and, as they well knew, the command room at the opposite end of the second floor.

Eichner watched one of the two man teams stack up next to a door, the outline of which glowed softly vermilion in his HUD. One of the entry team cracked the door as the other tossed in a stun grenade, he closed the door and both rolled flat against the wall to either side. A muffled bang, still unpleasantly loud, and blinding light leaked through the gaps, not unlike an ancient flatbed scanner. The two men rolled back to face, one again swung the door open while the other, ready with a shotgun, made immediate entry. They crossed one behind the other as they entered the room, he couldn’t see what happened but did hear a short and furious exchange of muffled reports. Deep and measured from the shotgun, fast and brief from the rifles, and then silence as the two men reemerged and rejoined the back of the formation as rear guard. The door’s outline shifted to a rather comforting azure.

A similar scene was taking place upstairs as they advanced down a longer corridor which terminated in a set of heavy metal doors.

The enemy unit knew the fight was over, most of their resolve had died with the bulk of the force outside. These few were remaining out of spite or laziness (free respawn at town? Faster than walking!), which explained the relatively lackluster defense they had encountered so far.

The engineer again moved forward, this time he not only set the breaching charges but also erected a waist high shield. The shield was about 3 feet across and made of sliding metal plates which telescoped into position, this provided the squad with some central cover and a backstop in case the control room was hotly contested.

His squad broke to either side of the corridor and started stacking up to make entry.

*!WHAM!*

The display suddenly filled with static.

When Eichner’s feed cleared a fraction of a second later, I saw an arm shoving Eichner roughly to the side of the corridor.

The corridor was filled with smoke and the actinic glare of hypervelocity rounds as they mulched the lead elements.

One of the JOTUN stepped in front of the squad leader, blocking his view and shielding him via the simple expedient of interposing himself.

Its arm whined and spewed fire from a Heavy Magnetic Rotary Gun, pouring out almost thirty 15mm hypervelocity slugs a second from six barrels. From his other arm the Magnetic Autocannon thumped out a heavy rhythm, followed by a deep explosive counterpoint.

The Autocannon didn’t shoot especially quickly, but what it lost in rate it gained in versatility. A mixture of Hollow Charge, High Explosive Shrapnel and Armour Piercing made up a delightful medley for occasions such as this.

The JOTUN driver took a step forward slowly, wading through the small arms fire he was specifically designed to deal with. The rounds impacting sounded like heavy hail against his suit as they gouged, ricocheted and careered off of his armour.

The enemy pushed out, the men in front leading with Heavy Ballistic Shields.

An anti-tank rocket streaked a trail of smoke from the control room.

With a *CRUMP* the JOTUN staggered back, his left arm rent from his body by the shaped charge. He fell to a knee, his autocannon ceaselessly firing despite the pain feedback and debuffs.

Amidst a shower of ricocheted rounds an enemy must have found RNGeesus.

One round by fluke managed to ricochet into a weak spot and enter the JOTUN’s shell; it proceeded to bounce to and fro inside of the armour as it spent its energy. The hydrostatic shock emulsified the driver’s organs as the projectile explosively powdered any bones it met.

It was a fast death if extremely unpleasant.

I would have to get his name, he seems like a solid troop.

Eichner had apparently paid scant attention to the tragic fate of the JOTUN pilot, as while I had been watching the events unfold, he had rallied and coordinated the squad.

Our own anti-materiel weapons, and the surviving JOTUN driver, had made quick work of the shield troops and proceeded to pulp the remaining defenders.

All over but the shouting, and capture timer.

***

I swiveled my seat to the right and pulled up the tactical map on the command screen mounted to the side of the turret. A map appeared set to wireframe by default, softly glowing blue lines showing friendly forces with icons above, gray outlines of buildings and illustrating the contour of terrain, and thankfully no red lines in sight.

We were fighting over a power center in a mildly disputed region of the front line. Large boxy gray concrete buildings surrounded by parking lots, chain link fences and low security gates. Not so much a place that power is generated as routed and managed. All the cabling was theoretically underground, or at least it would have been were this not a game.

This particular facility was the main feature of our most recent contract. Reconnoiter, engage hostiles, secure facility. This had been a relatively easy fight, but we had been over prepared.

“Looks good guys, been a good run. After the cap let’s RTB (return to base) and log out.” I said absentmindedly while fiddling with the map settings.

Factional NPCs would spawn to hold the facility, and besides, our contract didn’t specify hold, just take.

A chorus of agreements sounded over comms, we had completely stomped the enemy faction in this region with minimal losses. Couldn’t ask for more from a guild run.

It would be a relatively slow and uneventful drive back to the depot at the HIVE, time for music.