With a short burst that consumes somewhere around half of his magazine, Parker cuts down four Sardegnians who are in various states of disarray when the half-tracks tear down the wall. All around him in the back of the armored vehicle, the remainder of his squad also popping heads left and right. "Smoke and disembark!" Parker ordered, taking the opportunity when nearby threats were eliminated to deploy the two platoons.

As Sergeant Rum starts directing their squad in his stead, Parker goes to the front of the troop compartment, patting a Corporal who is manning the pintle-mounted MG-34 on his shoulder. "That thing still loaded?"

"Got a fresh belt in place, sir!"

Parker nods, pointing his finger at the windows of the 3-storey manor. "I want you to suppress the manor, take out whoever pokes their heads out!"

Instead of replying, the Corporal points the muzzle of his machine gun upward, squeezing the trigger, the Corporal unleashes controlled bursts at the manor, halting any attempt at getting a high-ground advantage over the Spanish force.

With the smoke screen deployed and the manor suppressed, the First and Fourth squads disembarked without a casualty. Parker, being the last to step off the half-track, quickly makes his way to Sergeant Rum standing a few steps away. Soon, Parker reaches a low-hanging inner wall that serves to divide a patch of well-kept garden from the paved walkways. Crouching down, Parker asks. "Where's the rest?"

"I sent half to clear a way to the manor building. They were told not to get inside unless backup arrives."

"Good call, there's not much cover here." Parker nodded. "With this much of a ruckus, the tanks should be coming here soon. We need to distract them."

"Smoke is about to clear, get ready." Rum propped his SMG onto their cover and so were Parker. All around them, dozens of Spanish men and women do the same. When the smoke curtain dissipated, the Spanish and a lone American lay their eyes on nervous Sardegnians.

With a solid cover to place his BAR on, Parker is the first to pull the trigger, with others following suit. A torrent of bullets ranging from many different calibers digs into the Sardegnians' line. Not expecting a sudden internal attack like this, these Papal soldiers are still in the open or staying behind soft covers. Suffice to say, not many escape the assault unscathed. It's a target-rich environment and Parker soon finds himself reaching out for another magazine. "Reloading!"

"Gotcha back, LT!" Rum said while Parker hid himself, the Sergeant managed to take out a Sardegnian holding a bolt-action rifle in Parker's stead.

Private Julia, who's picked her hiding place to be behind a contemporary art statue, shouts at them. "Yo, guys! Movement at the front gate!"

"Ours?" Parker asked back, having just fed a new mag in for his BAR.

"Not ours! It's the tank!" Julia screamed the words before tucking herself behind solid cover, a few rounds from the machine-gun-equipped L5 tank then pelted the statue, making her grimacing. "Fucking Hell! Who the fuck is manning the Grenade Buster?!" Julia complained.

Parker looks to his left, finding the Fourth's squad leader. "Fourth Squad, you're up!" He jerked his thumb at the approaching tank that kept spewing its MG, forcing the gunners of their half-tracks to take cover.

With a flurry of covert actions, the AT crew belonging to the Fourth Squad deploy their Grenade Buster behind the half-tracks, lining up a shot, the crew launches a HEAT grenade that slams right into the L5's driver hatch. If you saw this in slow motion, you would see the superheated stream of metal vaporizing the driver's upper half before dispersing everywhere inside the tank's cramped compartment. A fire is set in the crew compartment, forcing the surviving tank commander to dismount with his whole body on fire. It would seem the HEAT grenade bursts open the fuel tank.

Ignoring the Sardegnian commander who is desperately trying to put out the fire, the Spanish resume their attack on both the front gate and the manor. That said, the Spanish have lost their element of surprise and the Sardegnians are no slouch either, especially when the ones assigned to this coastal town have already seen battles before. Soon enough, the first casualty appears among the Spanish soldiers, one of the half-tracks' machine gunners is shot in the shoulder blade, his gun shield having failed after successive hits. Momentarily, the Spanish lose a chunk of their firepower as the gunner is being taken care of by their medics. The Sardegnians use this chance to get in close, close enough to chuck a couple of grenades at their line.

Parker, seeing a grenade landing near their location, braves the danger and runs out to kick away the live grenade. Unfortunately for him, Parker's momentum has him right inside the blast radius of the second grenade. Rum would have gotten to him if not for him being suppressed by the Sardegnians. Parker is pushed down onto the floor and behind the treads' of a half-track though, Julia has speed-running her way to his location and tackled him. The Private saves Parker just in time before the grenade explodes, showering the area in fragments. Luckily for everyone involved, the half-tracks bear the brunt of the blast without much issue.

"Thanks...!" Parker coughs, feeling his ribs ache after Julia body-checked him. "But you may want to warn me next time."

Julia chuckles before helping Parker back to his feet behind the armored vehicle. "Next time, how about you stop being a hero then."

"No promise." Parker laughed dryly, checking the condition of his BAR. Thankfully, the gun survives being slammed on the ground.

Suddenly, the main gate explodes, and pieces of metal from the AT gun are thrown into the sky by the force of the explosion. Parker smirks, hearing the faint sounds of tank treads in the distance. "Now that's definitely ours. Cavalry is here boys and girls! Now keep your heads in the game! I don't want any more casualties despite our firepower advantage!" Parker hyped everyone around him.

Very soon, the manor's courtyard is stormed by two Panzer IIIs and the final half-track belonging to his platoon. It doesn't take long for the outer area of the manor to be cleared of every single Sardegnian resistance. And with that, so does the artillery pit that garnered the manor its firebase designation falls silent. With a swift check, Parker identifies the artillery in question as Obice da 75/14 modello 34 howitzers, and eight pieces are sitting in the vineyard of the manor. Parker immediately sets the vehicles and the Fifth Squad to guard the captured artillery pit. They may have uses for them yet.

With that out of the way, they now have to tackle the internals of the manor building. CQC is never trained properly from where Parker comes from, so he is grateful that Sergeant Rum is here to lead the breach. The man shared his experience working alongside Shadow Company in urban combat before, so Parker isn't shying away from letting him take the lead. Better let the person who knows their stuff do their business than him flailing around.

"Alright, First Squad will take the front door. The Fourth will take the back entrance. This is a 3-storey building with a basement so First Squad will be clearing the upper floors one by one. Fourth Squad, you will be responsible for clearing the basement area and securing the hostages." Sergeant Rum nodded at Parker in respect, a gesture Parker returned, before continuing. "Time is of the essence so we will be going in hard and fast. The building is big so expect Sardegnians hidden in each and every single room. Uphold the presumption that they may threaten the hostages. Most important of all, stay liquid people, we don't want any hold in this situation. Stopping equal death! We breach in five, move out!" Sergeant Rum finished the impromptu briefing, allowing the two squads to fan out to their respective entryways, checking their gears in the process.

Eyeing that his squad members are stacking behind each other on two sides of the door, Parker follows suit without a question, standing behind Rum. Without looking back, Parker can hear the ones behind him patting the ones in front of them on their shoulders, an action that Parker soon received. Having an inkling as to what the action means, Parker pats Rum's shoulder, prompting the man to give a thumbs up at the team leader opposite of him. The team leader nods before gesturing behind him, letting a soldier carrying an M1897 Trench Gun step up. The shotgun-wielding soldier aims the muzzle at the handles of the double door while the team leader himself brings out a No .69 hand grenade. Rum then looks at his field watch before showing up five fingers, counting down. When the timer reaches zero, the shotgunner fires a blast, blowing the door wide open. After that, the team leader throws his No .69 grenade through, as it's an impact grenade, the Erusean explosive device detonates as soon as it hits the ground. From the pained scream Parker could hear, it was an effective move and cleared out the ambush waiting for them behind the doorway.

With the explosion as a cue, the First Squad storms inside, with the team leader that popped the nade taking point, followed soon after by Rum and the rest. Parker doesn't have the chance to take in the splendor of the manor, albeit torn by the flame of war when he is soon forced to raise his BAR and cut down a Sardegnian that tries to flank their squad. What follows soon after is a mechanically chaotic firefight on the ground floor, one that Parker can barely keep up with due to his lack of experience in CQC. As Rum is the leader in this encounter, Parker can't badger the Sergeant without interrupting the chain of command. Thankfully for him, Private Julia has appeared to save his hides more often than not when he failed to check his corner.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Parker must admit that if it wasn't for the Spanish woman guiding him, he would have died ten times already. "Fucking Hell, riding that half-track wasn't as scary as this!" Parker managed to squeeze in a complaint while suppressing a few Sardegnians hiding inside an indoor bar. When he's empty, the lull in his suppressive fire allows an enemy to pop his head up with an SMG, only to drop dead when Julia takes a precise shot at his head. The woman has been waiting for a chance and her skill with the Kar98k is a godsend. "Welcome to the first Platoon!"Julia laughed while racking her bolt.

Ignoring the scream of the scared Sardegnians on the other end, Parker jests. "Reminds me to never piss you off when you're wielding a rifle."

The man then leads the charge inside the bar, spraying at the bar counter that he knows the enemies are hiding behind. .30-06 Springfield makes short work of soft cover and flesh alike. Suddenly, a group of Sardegnians slam through another entryway, having run away from Fourth Squad's location. Parker and Julia immediately divert their firepower at the intruding group, forcing them behind cover while cutting down three. Knowing that he doesn't have time to reload, Parker pulls out his sidearm, a trusty M1911, while seeking cover behind a marble pillar, an action that is mimicked by Julia. Thanks to their hardcovers, the pair escape injury from enemy return fire.

Seeing that they're outgunned, Parker reaches for a Mk 2 grenade on his belt. He let his BAR sling by his side before pulling out the pin on the grenade, cooking it for two seconds then chucking it in the enemy's direction. "Frag out!"

Parker can hear their screaming in Sardegnian before the frag explodes, showering the area in fragments. Utilizing the chance bought by the nade, Parker rushes out, his M1911 raises, then fires a shot at a soldier who's still clutching his rifle. He then fired another two rounds at an enemy that rushed to try and tackle him. The Lieutenant then discharges his last four bullets when another survivor tries to pick up an SMG. All of them have been kill shots and by the look of it, Parker has taken out any resistance they have left in them.

*SMACK*

Suddenly, he heard a hefty sound coming behind him. Turning around, Parker sees Julia removing the buttstock of her rifle from a poor Sardegnian who is missing most of his teeth and is unconscious. Seeing the raised eyebrow directed at her, Julia shrugs. "What? The guy is reaching for his service pistol."

Parker and Julia share a smile before moving to secure the weapons lying about on the floor. From the look of it, the fighting on the ground floor has ceased. Rum soon leads a detachment that joins them at the bar.

"The ground floor is clear of hostility," Rum said while eyeing the shattered bottles at the bar with a mournful look. "We will be heading upstairs now. You two are good?"

Parker nods, slotting another magazine into his rifle and then reloading his sidearm. Julia discards her empty bolt-action and brings out her C96 pistol instead. Nodding at them, Rum gestures to follow him to the stairs. The two follow and the entirety of the First Squad slowly follows the steps upward, their weapons trained above them in case of any surprise.

Halfway up the second floor, Parker notices that a door that is leading to a room is ever so slightly ajar. Now he is not adept in a situation like this but to secure that room and the hallway outside it, the squad needs to bypass the room for a few moments to check out other angles for potential enemies. That means for the briefest of moments, the room poses a security risk until his squad is fully deployed.

Acting on a hunch, Parker fires at the door without any warning, alerting the others immediately. His instinct pays off though as a pained scream and gurgling sound can be heard from the other side of the blasted door. Without any question, the point man pokes his SMG through the ajar door, clearing the rest of the room while kicking away the rifle of the dying Sardegnian. Rum comments on Parker's hunch. "Good call, Parker. You just saved someone's life there."

Parker nods before following the rest of the team to clear the rooms and hallway on the second floor. There's not much to report on until the very last room. Stacking up outside a doorway, Parker leans in slightly, hearing the whimpering sounds of a woman and the heavy breathing of a male. Parker looks at Rum immediately. "Two people behind this door, male and female. The latter could be a hostage."

Rum frowns, things may turn badly if they mess up the breach. So, slinging his SMG, Rum pulls out his C96. "Shotgun is inadvisable," Rum waves off the breacher. "We will have to kick it down and act immediately. You ready for this?"

Parker nods, understanding why Rum pulls out his pistol. He too reequips himself with the M1911. "I am confident in my aim."

Rum then says. "On the count of three, I will kick the door down and you will engage the hostile. Three... Two... One!" With a kick that rivaled a bull rush, Rum completely dislocated the door from its hinges. The loud bang distracted the Sardegnian from rushing at the scared Spanish woman in the corner of the room, creating a window of opportunity for Parker. Parker takes the chance and puts two bullets at the man, center mass. With a heavy thump, the Sardegnian collapses on two the floor, surprisingly still whimpering in pain while clutching his bleeding torso. He won't make it out of this room alive though as Rum steps into the room and executes the man with a shot to the head.

As Rum and Parker clear the room, the Spanish woman ignores them and rushes into an object, a crib out of all things. "Shit..." Parker commented on the absurdity and the potential mess everything could have been. Rum and Parker then watch as the woman picks up a baby, somehow still able to sleep despite all the commotions earlier.

Rum sighs, gesturing to Julia. "Julia, take care of the lady and her child. They need not suffer anymore from this ordeal."

Julia nods before holstering her sidearm. "Gladly, sir." She then steps toward the woman, using her hands to slowly guide the woman to safety. "Come on, ma'am, we will take you to safety."

The rest of the squad clears the way for Julia to escort the pair of probably mother and child out before resuming their duty. Having made sure that the second floor was safe, the squad then ascended to the third floor. Arriving up top, instead of many rooms, it's one large quarter that is reserved for the leadership of this firebase.

"Could be a top brass behind the door." Parker hypothesized, prompting Rum to say. "Only one way to find out." The Sergeant then calls up the breacher, letting him blast the door open with his shotgun before the squad storms inside, guns up and at the ready.

Parker's hypothesis is proven to be a correct one when a well-dressed Sardegnian raises his hands up in a surrendering gesture, surprisingly, he speaks Spanish. "Don't shoot! Don't shoot!" Facing the many barrels pointing at him, the Sardegnian officer slowly retreats. Behind him, however, is a tied-up female that has seen better days. She is dressed in ragged clothing and tied up to a chair next to a table full of... instruments. Parker is pissed when he sees that, just imagine how the Spanish men would feel at the sight. The Lieutenant is just about putting a .30-06 into the man if it isn't for his constant. "Don't shoot!"

Yet, Rum immediately notices something's wrong when the officer keeps retreating. "Wai-!" He didn't manage to finish his word when the Sardegnian tried to close the distance with the now unconscious female. Yet, due to Parker and the others being alerted, they immediately open fire, cutting down the man quite literally as .30-06, 8mm Mauser, and 9mm Parabellum saw his body in half at the torso. His innards and blood splatter everywhere under the mowing of bullets.

Rum quickly shouts amidst the gunfire. "Cease fire! Cease fire!" That got them to release their triggers at last. Parker wakes up from his reactive haze and rushes to check on the woman, sighing in relief when the bound woman is still breathing. "Fucking Hell, he was going for the hostage."

Rum comes forth, patting Parker on his back. "Then it's a good thing that we got him." He then frowns at the mess in the room. "Though we could have used less red in the room. Regardless, you did well for your first rodeo, Parker. You fought like a bull in the open before but now you are slowly shaping up to be more deadly. Keep this up then you will get promotions fast."

Parker smiles at the comment. "Thanks, but until then, I will be counting on you to keep me straight... And maybe show me a few tricks too like what happened earlier."

Rum laughs before both men shake their hands as medics come to take care of the rescued captive. Soon after, a woman carrying radio equipment comes in.

"Lieutenant, Sergeant," The Spanish soldier greeted. "Eagle-Six is on the line. All hostages are also accounted for, sirs."

Parker motions for her to hand him the phone. Picking it up, Parker reports. "This is Bravo-Six, the firebase is silent and we have taken control of the enemy artillery, sir. Hostages have been rescued and are being processed at this time, Colonel."

"Well done, Parker. You finished the job just in time as I have needs for you and your team. Scouts have reported disturbing information and I will be keeping this brief. Currently, the enemy is forcing civilians to board a few docked vessels. We don't know why but there are already casualties among the populace. As of right now, Charlie-Six has broken through the enemy outer line and is making a dash to the town's proper. However, they're facing stiff resistance and won't be able to move any further for a while. That means you're the only force close enough to break past the line and put a stop to whatever madness is going on. I have sent a resupply unit at your location, they shall be arriving momentarily. Your order is to rearm and push your way into the docking area, rescue the civilians, and hold until reinforcement arrives."

Colonel Sawyer pauses, mincing his words before continuing on with a grave tone. "Parker, I won't lie. This is no different than a suicidal run but if there's a platoon that comes out of this victoriously, that's yours. I have seen what the men and women under you are capable of, and I sure as Hell didn't pick the wrong leader for the job. You won't be going in alone though, Shadow Company has lent us their aerial scouts, their detachment of Witches. You have seen them in action before so make good use of them. Aside from that, I will see if we can man the guns you captured and assign them as your personal get-out-of-jail ticket. You got all of that?"

Parker nods, his face full of seriousness. "Yes, sir! I copy all of that, sir! I won't let you, nor the civilians down!"

The Colonel turns jovial as the Lieutenant's confident tone. "Good, now go and make Uncle Sam proud!"