Adam barely manages to jump over and into a barely serviceable fighting position when bullets are already flying over his head. He, alongside his frontline unit, narrowly escaped being jumped upon by a maneuvering enemy unit. Now that they're back in a defensible position which is their last defense line, they must protect it against an already sizeable enemy infantry unit.

Adam swivels his head, taking a quick headcount, and ultimately, at the very back spots Rokossovsky who is taking charge of the defensive situation. Currently, the enemy has three avenues of access, so there are three places to defend unless the Polanians somehow rigged a place to blow up. Since they have limited supplies and manpower, Rokossovsky has to play the balancing game pretty hard to keep from being overrun. As such, they've decided prior that if air support arrives, Adam should be the one to coordinate them instead of Rokossovsky. Firstly, the General already has his hands full. Secondly, Rokossovsky admits that he knows nothing about Belkan air control, so Adam needs to be the one to call the shots even though he's just a Lieutenant.

Mulling aside, the battle rages on with the hostile Polanians taking shots at the slum defenders. Adam rolls onto his stomach, poking slightly out of his fighting position and taking potshots at the enemy. Though their cumulative firepower of rifles and SMGs isn't potent, it's enough to deter the pursuers that tracked Adam and his unit down earlier. The Belkan Lieutenant then ducks down, reaching for his throat mic. "This is Alpha 1-1! All friendlies are back in the last defense line! The enemy is already probing our line, we need confirmation on that CAS, over!"

"Alpha 1-1, this is Bravo. Patching you over to Rigel Squadron!"

After a few seconds of radio silence, the line buzzes back to life. "This is Rigel 1, we're circling above you on Angel 5. Mark your position with green smoke and let us take care of anything you can't handle." Rigel 1 kept it simple, knowing that the ones below weren't trained JTAC.

Adam grasps a smoke grenade with a green stripe on his belt, pulling the pin before tossing it somewhere with a clear line of sight behind him. "Friendly position marked!" He said as the green smoke started spewing out into the sky.

"Affirm, we're seeing it. Allies are guarding a bank with three avenues for the enemy to assault, can you confirm? Over."

"Confirm!"

"It's a messy area down there, Alpha. We will give top-down fire support but be mindful of stray fragmentation. Your best bet will be calling down CAS on any of the lanes that are under heavy assault. It will take some time for us to line up an attack run, but we can lay down explosive carpets on each avenue. If we drop our bombs anywhere else, it will either be ineffective or blue-on-blue. Do you copy, over?"

"Good copy Rigel 1. Is it possible to bomb their head of operations and be done with it? Over." Adam asked wistfully.

"Negative on that one, Alpha. We're already risking an international incident as is. The enemy HQ is damn near curious civilians, bombing them will make us into the bad guys here." Rigel 1 replied in annoyance. "You guys just have to keep your heads down and tide through this until an extraction can be prepared."

"Damn it, here I thought some divine punishment would have been more than enough to call it a day. Any chance we can get aerial resupplies?" Adam asked jokingly, knowing that Rigel Squadron couldn't fulfill the request. It's more to relieve his tension, honestly.

"We're CAS, not resupplier." Rigel quipped back. "We can knock on heads, not feed kids. That said, be prepared to receive two Humvees from Bravo, loaded with more guns and supplies. Bravo will get back to you on it when they're ready to set off."

"Understood, Rigel 1." Adam said, only to feel the throes of combat intensifying. "Argh, damn! It seems they are getting tired of waiting, hostiles are closing on the middle lane!" Adam said after peeking his head out to see multiple enemies firing at them with the whole shebang.

"Rigel Squadron, you're clear to engage enemy vehicles at will!" Adam hugged his head as a stray bullet kicked up the dirt near him. "And I need one of yours to make the middle lane a no-factor!"

All around Adam, the defenders are being suppressed by enemy machine gun fire, making it nearly impossible to even poke their heads out, much less retaliate. Rather than letting the bulk of the enemy force gain ground undeterred, Adam pulls out the hammer right off the bat. He is hoping to set the tone of the battle and boost the morale of their friendly units. Knowing air support is there and seeing them in action are two different things, after all.

"Rigel 1 here, detaching one of ours to lay down ordinance in the middle lane. Be advised, we're seeing enemy foot mobiles running up to your post! Get ready for a brawl!"

"Fuck! Inbound!" Adam warned, barely in time before the machine gun fire ceased and heavy footfalls could be heard.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Over the top, the enemy soldiers are charging at them with bayonets attached and battle cries being sung. Adam and his cohorts rise up, firing at the enemy with reckless abandon. At this point, it's spray and pray and hope they'll be able to take as many as they can. Adam and the defenders on the frontline manage to take nearly ten Polanians in a flurry of gunfire. Their snipers, posted at the back with Mosins and scoped G1s, push that number to 15. Yet, there are nearly twenty more that jump over the barricades and fighting positions. They're already at risk of being overrun just from the initial engagement.

Adam rolls out of the way of a bayonet charge before turning his body mid-roll. Using his MP9, he shoots the body of the Polanian who tried to stab him with a bayonet a couple of times. Then, Adam turns to see his fellow Belkans, Rusviets, and Slavs merging with the hostile Polanians in a brawl. Raising his body to a kneel, Adam discards the spent magazine on his MP9 before loading a new one. Slapping the bolt home, Adam joins the fray, aiming to stop as many of his allies from being harmed.

Adam first kicks an enemy soldier away from backstabbing one of his countrymen before pumping his head full of lead. He barely fires a shot in time to kill one Polanian rushing for him with a shovel when he is tackled to the ground by another one. This particular enemy is a burly one with no gun on hand, just a bayonet that is stabbing toward Adam's head. Yet, using the body of his MP9, Adam stops the enemy's arm from getting too close for comfort. Both sides are then locked in a struggle for strength, with the Polanian cursing something while using his full body weight to try and stab Adam with two hands. Adam grunts before opting to deflect the knife with a bit of force applied to his impromptu shield which is the MP9. Ducking away from the knife at the last second, Adam's left cheek is scratched, leaving a trickle of blood marring his face. Yet, he is still alive and is now in an advantageous position.

Using the butt of his MP9, he slams the Polanian soldier's head, knocking off a tooth and throwing the man's body off of him. Pulling out his pistol, Adam shoots the bastard in the heart before quickly raising the pistol up to survey the battlefield. Adam catches the sight of a Rusviet being impaled by and shot dead by an enemy rifleman. While it's too late to save the Rusviet, Adam snaps two shots in the center mass of his killer. Revenge is served, but the Lieutenant's job is far from over when he hears more gunshots and a cry of pain. Turning, Adam's blood nearly runs cold when he sees one of his subordinates take a shot to his chest. His plate may have taken most of the damage, but the Belkan is caught on the back foot with how the shot has knocked him down. Adam is just about to rush over there to help when one of the Slavs rushes over with a shotgun, firing off a couple of shells that take out the Polanians who are trying to finish off the defenseless Belkan.

Because this Slav is using a double-barrel shotgun, he has to reload after firing both of his shots. This leaves the man distracted and unable to react to an enemy raising his rifle at him. Fortunately, Adam reacts in time and dumps the rest of his pistol's mag into the enemy twenty meters away from him. The Slav jumps in shock, noticing just how close he has been to dying. Nevertheless, he still managed a reload with shaking hands before rushing to help the injured Belkan. No time for gratitude, Adam and the rest of his team are just trying to survive. Luckily, Rokossovsky rushes over with his SMG raised and a couple of his Rusviet bodyguards. The trio alleviates the pressure on the frontline by helping Adam's team finish up the rest of the hostiles. Rokossovsky uses his SMG to suppress the enemy that's about to take shots at them. His two bodyguards, however, charge with bayonets, stabbing two enemy Polanians in their torsos. The sudden arrival of Rokossovsky and his men causes the dwindling number of Polanians to retreat, already battered and bruised by the fierce fighting of these supposed terrorists. Things could have been much worse if the snipers hadn't thinned the herd for them in the brawl. The precision kills provided by their overwatch have helped them maintain their casualties at a low number, with one death and some injured.

They have no time to mourn, however, when another burst of enemy machine gun fire forces them to keep diving low.

"Shit! They're sending tanks!" Someone shouted amidst the gunfire.

Given time, the snipers can take out the Warsaw garrison's machine gun crews. Yet, with tanks in plural? They needed that CAS since yesterday!

"This is Rigel 1, painting target, danger close." Adam's radio crackles to life, the voice of the Squadron leader like an oasis in the desert to the Lieutenant.

"Rigel 2, getting good lase... Beginning attack run." Said a female voice. "Launching rockets."

Adam warns on instinct. "EVERYONE, DOWN!" All of the frontliners dive for cover, just in time for supersonic arrows to fly above their heads.

*ZWOOOSH**ZWOOOSH* *ZWOOOSH*

*BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM*

A barrage of laser-guided rockets, DAGR, slams into the middle avenue from above. The many rockets form a carpet of explosions that roll from near the defenders' line and straight through a row of Polanian tankettes, blowing up the minimally protected armored vehicles to unrecognizable masses. It's not just the Polanian armor that got a bloodied nose though, a sizeable portion of the enemy infantry also got rolled up into the explosions. The pressure on the frontline is immediately lessened, causing some of them to cry out in relief. The more religious ones start thanking the Lord and Heaven above.

Rigel Squadron is not stopping there, however.

"Rigel 1 to Rigel 4, datalink pegged enemy machine gun positions. Lasing them for precision bombing, engage at will."

"Number 4 here, turning for a bomb drop."

Rokossovsky, who has now joined Adam in his pit, marvels at the smoke-filled avenue.

"... Remind me not to piss your nation off, son." Rokossovsky deadpanned, though Adam could hear the relief in his voice. "It takes some damn ballsy and impressive flying to even drop that amount of payload and not hit a friendly at this distance."

Adam laughs with his cheek still bloody from the earlier scuffle. "We're lucky, General. Our asses got covered by an Ace squadron."

Rokossovsky raises an eyebrow. "No fucking wonder then... You Belkans are notorious for your Aces. Though in this case, Heaven bless us."

Adam leans back on the floor at the comment. After the devastation earlier, the Polanians probably received a scare that caused them to put a hold on the assault. Adam and the others now got a breather at last. The Lieutenant says. "Unfortunately, the day is not yet over... If they're desperate and smart, they will be flanking us instead of a frontal assault. Probably all avenues at once even... At that point, air support can only do so much."

Rokossovsky sighs. "Shit ain't easy even after many years, huh..." The man complained, having already fought in some conflicts in the past.

"Rigel 4, in position, beginning bomb drop... Pickle, pickle."

Moments later, the slum can hear the whistling of bombs, with Rokossovsky commenting. "The fuck...?"

Then, the enemy machine guns are silenced when 250 kg bombs start hitting the buildings they're in. Though smaller than the usual 500 kilos, the 250 still packs more than enough punch to completely eviscerate the slum buildings the enemy is using.

Seeing the explosions and dust generated by the bombs, Adam pats a surprised Rokossovsky on his shoulder. "Yeah, you'll get used to our Aces soon enough."

Though the initial engagement resulted in an overwhelming number of Polanian casualties, the day is far from over.

"Yeah, we're gonna need an ammo top-up soon."