"Area secure!"
"All elements are accounted for."
"Thunderhead, this is Major Hotchner. A Company is boots on the ground and is ready to work our way down." The Company Major reports.
He and his Storm Trooper Platoon are standing inside what used to be a meeting room. All around them are some Loyalist corpses, dead from either bullets or the missile attack that Singer elements used to breach the castle roof.
"A Company," AWACS Thunderhead replies. "Viking elements are providing perimeter security and close support. Proceed as plan and flush out Altmeyer."
"Roger. All Platoons, start knocking down some doors." Major Hotchner commands while waving for his Platoon Lieutenant to start moving out.
The Storm Troopers start stacking and moving out of the ruined meeting room, forming two separated Squads to clear the rooms and hallways. The Platoon Lieutenant's Squad opens the door to the outside, with two of its members checking the corners beyond the doorway. The right side leads to a dead end with a small storage area while the left passage expands to a roomy three-way intersection. Voices can be heard echoing down the left passage.
Before stepping out of the meeting room, the Storm Troopers communicated non-verbally, with the Storm Trooper standing to the left of the doorframe raising his rifle upward. This signals the other Troopers on the right to step out and lock down the left passage. After half of the Lieutenant's Squad filed out and stacked against the walls of the left corridor, the remaining half moved the opposite way to clear out the storage area.
Opening the small door, the Storm Troopers move left and right, seizing the three prime corners of the storage area before a smaller element starts clearing out blind spots.
"Clear!" A Corporal reports through their helmet radio while dropping a light stick, marking the area.
Now that their immediate rear is secured, Major Hotchner's and the Lieutenant's Squads move silently through the left corridor. Reaching the fork in the road, the pointsmen of the entire unit crouch to check the corners of the intersection. The earlier shoutings in Ustian were made by Loyalist messengers and panicked soldiers, with both the left and right corridors having some Loyalists running in and out of rooms and other passages in haste. The entire city of Beaumont is under attack, and the Loyalists are losing ground too fast for them to be calm. The prior Osprey attack has also sent them into a fit of confusion and frenzy.
Patting the backs of the pointmen, they're signaled to start the clearing procedure. The Lieutenant's Squad will push the left corridor while Major Hotchner will lead his Squad to pacify the right. The pointmen start rounding their corners while crouching. Their guns raised but not going gun blazing just yet. In their confusion, the Loyalists haven't been paying attention to the Storm Troopers infiltrator. At the very least, they don't know what or where to look for them. This gives the Storm Troopers precious few seconds to set up fields of fire down both corridors without drawing interception fire. By the time a Loyalist internal patrol finally figures out that the figures in black armor are their enemies, the Storm Troopers are already well-deployed to immediately eliminate them.
Suppressed gunshots can be heard before four bodies are dropped onto the floor. Stepping over the blue-cladded and bleeding corpses, the two Storm Trooper Squads commit themselves to killing anything blue and mobile. While the Lieutenant's Squad is tackling a set of utility rooms and artillery emplacements, Major Hotchner leads his group to clear out the Loyalists' quarters and armories.
Armed to the teeth, Major Hotchner's Squad is constantly on the move, their guns spitting lead with impeccable accuracy in the confined castle hallways. When clearing a room, the Storm Troopers deliberately employ grenades of two kinds: Frag and flashbang. The detonations of these grenades are most certainly attention-grabbing ones. If the Loyalists hadn't figured out they were being infiltrated earlier, they do now. Nevertheless, the mobilization of the Loyalists' internal security units is not something that fazes Major Hotchner's Squad. Each time they're in the process of cleansing a quarter, they leave behind a rearguard element to keep them from being flanked. More often than not, Loyalist internal security soldiers run into this rear unit and perish swiftly without knowing who or what just hit them. Since the Storm Troopers move swiftly and decisively, the Loyalists aren't able to get a grasp on their locations, making it so that the entire top floor of the main Château de Beaumont building is clear in less than ten minutes.
"1st Platoon, 2nd Platoon here. Major, we are in the control room of this building. It has everything here. We can shut down the light and even seize control of their internal broadcast system. What should we do?"
"The night is ours. Cut the light." Major Hotchner says. "As for the broadcast system... Turn up the volume and blast something that we like to hear. You still hogging around that music playlist the Marshal gifted us with?"
"I always have it on my tablet. Gonna see if I can hook it up or something. If not, I can just put it near the mic over here."
"Good. Let's welcome these bastards into Hell." Hotchner says before leading his Squad to reconvene with the remaining half of First Platoon.
By the time the 1st Platoon is fully assembled without a scratch to their paint job, the building's broadcast system starts playing the intro sequence of one banger of a song.
Hey-o, here comes the danger up in this club
When we get started, man, we ain't gon' stop
We gon' turn it out 'til it gets too hot
Everybody sings, hey-o
While the First and Second Platoons start moving down to the lower floors, the remaining four Platoons of A Company also purge the perimeter walls of Château de Beaumont. Gun emplacements are disabled by virtue of eliminating their crews or disabling the guns' firing mechanisms. Going from top to bottom like what the 1st and 2nd Platoons are doing, the Storm Troopers start paving the way for elements of the 442nd Mechanized Division. Without Château de Beaumont's casemate artillery posing as a deterrent, the Panzergrenadiers wouldn't have feared indirect fire holding them down.
Tell 'em turn it up 'til they can't no more
Let's get this thing shakin' like a disco ball
This is your last warning, a courtesy call
Hey-o, here comes the danger up in this club
When we get started, man, we ain't gon' stop
We gon' turn it out 'til it gets too hot
Everybody sings, hey-o
After clearing out the very top floor of the main building, the 1st and 2nd Platoons run into heavier enemy resistance. Knowing that whoever is killing them is coming from the top, the Loyalist defenders set up killing zones around the staircases. Usually, this can have dire consequences for the attacking parties. Unfortunately for the Loyalists, the Belkans aren't playing by the book.
"Charges are set!" A Storm Trooper Specialist in Major Hotchner's Squad warns before holding up a detonator.
Standing in a protective circle around the Specialist and Major Hotchner are Storm Troopers of their Squad. These troopers are either crouching with glowing mana shields or are stacking up behind the shields with their weapons at a vigilant ready. Beneath and around their circle is a set of small plastic explosives, tactically placed to break apart the flooring.
"Fire in the hole! Fire in the hole!"
CLACK CLACK
BOOM
Tell 'em turn it up 'til they can't no more
Let's get this thing shakin' like a disco ball
This is your last warning, a courtesy call
The charges are detonated, breaking the flooring the Storm Trooper Squad is standing on into a circular shape. The Squad falls through the hole created by the charges alongside the piece of the floor they're standing on, landing right on top and in the middle of a group of surprised Loyalists. Picking their targets, Major Hotchner and his Storm Troopers fire freely in a 360-degree field of fire, cutting down a swath of blue-cladded soldiers.
I am not afraid of the storm that comes my way
When it hits it shakes me to the core
And makes me stronger than before
It's not a question about trust
But will you stand with us?
Dying or scampering for covers, the Loyalists are displaced from the wide hallway Hotchner and his Squad just breached. Any retaliation fire the surviving Loyalists try to make is rendered moot by the glowing magic barriers some Storm Troopers are holding up.
Can you feel it?
Make it real and
When enemy resistance is reduced to a fraction of what they once was, Hotchner and his unit disperse to hunt down the rest while the Platoon Lieutenant leads his Squad down the stairs to rejoin with the Major's unit. Once they're reassembled, the 1st Platoon set out to purge their side of this floor. A dozen Loyalists die in mere moments from the most unique breaching method in history.
I think it might wash away tonight
Awaken from this never-ending fight
It takes more than meets the eye
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
This war we're fighting is not just rotting
On the other side of the floor Major Hotchner is on, the 2nd Platoon picks a different approach in clearing out the Killzone meant for them. They call in the big guns.
"Viking, this is 2nd Platoon!" The radioman of the 2nd Platoon communicates with the Ospreys circling around Château de Beaumont. "We're pinned down at the Northern end of the main building, the floor right below the top. Marking enemy location with an IR grenade now!"
Right after the radioman ends his communication, one of the Storm Troopers tosses an octagonal grenade beyond his cover around the staircase. The grenade bounces to a stop before emitting a light that is invisible to the naked eye. However, if you use night vision devices, you can see a blinking white light in the middle of the Loyalists' formation.
Despite the main building being fortified for the needs of war, Château de Beaumont still retains some decorative features. One of these is the large decorated windows in some hallways with a view to the outside.
"Viking's on station, preparing for our attack run."
A visible beam of a red laser aiming module can be seen shining from outside the gun-blasted hallway, pointing directly at the group of unsuspecting Loyalists engaging the 2nd Platoon. The visible laser can be traced back to a GMG-40 of a hovering Osprey outside the window.
Hey-o, here comes the danger up in this club
When we get started, man, we ain't gon' stop
We gon' turn it out 'til it gets too hot
Everybody sings, hey-o
"Guns."
Consecutive flashes of the GMG-40 can be seen before the first salvo of high explosives starts breaking past the windows of the building and landing in the Loyalists' formation. The booming explosions and the shaking of the air and the ground can be felt on repeat. Body parts and debris fly everywhere as the once orderly albeit battered hallway is reduced into a smoking ruin of death and localized destruction.
"2nd Platoon, this is Viking. Obstruction eliminated. Holler us if you need more fire support."
"Copy that, Viking. Good kill. Good kill."
Tell 'em turn it up 'til they can't no more
Let's get this thing shakin' like a disco ball
This is your last warning, a courtesy call
As the Storm Troopers are clearing Château de Beaumont violently and swiftly, the Loyalists are in full-blown panic as the breath of death can be felt on their necks. The darkness, the loud music and explosions, the death throes... Fear, confusion, and unwillingness... All of these are boiled together to create a potent mix of emotions that seem to drive the Loyalist soldiers insane. Like caged animals, the common Loyalist soldiers fight without any order in their ranks.
Whatever plans they made to counter the Storm Troopers are thrown out the window when even the Loyalist officers are in a panic themselves.
There's a rumble in the floor
So get prepared for war
When it hits it'll knock you to the ground
When it shakes up everything around
Another big explosion can be felt rumbling across the main building. Major Hotchner has ordered another breaching charge to be used, and this only serves to drive another knife into the hearts of these despondent and abandoned Loyalists. By this point, they all know help will never come, at least not in time.
The only one that can save them is themselves.
But survival is a must
So will you stand with us?
Some soldiers stand and fight while others use the chaos to slip away. Both of which resulted in the inevitable loss of firepower for the Loyalists. Even when they choose to run, the Loyalist deserters are intercepted by either the Vikings or the remaining Platoons of A Company posted outside the main building. Fighting or running, they die all the same.
Can you feel it?
Make it real and (make me feel it)
They can't run, they can't fight, so what can they do? The Storm Troopers are very thorough in their room clearing, hiding is also not an option. This leaves only surrendering for the Loyalists. However, one must survive first before they can even think of surrender. The Storm Troopers' onslaught leaves no breathing room for the Loyalists to even drop their weapons in fright.
Timing is critical, and the Storm Troopers can't stop for mercy.
I think it might wash away tonight
Awaken from this never-ending fight
It takes more than meets the eye
This war we're fighting is not just rotting
As the pressure mounts up to the point of making the situation untenable, the Loyalist commanding staff finally orders out of fear for a breakthrough maneuver. Lieutenant Colonel Altmeyer is now assembling the remaining Loyalists for an attack to break through the Storm Troopers' encirclement. He hopes that they can regroup with the remaining elements of the Ninth Army still fighting in Beaumont.
Time is short, so Altmeyer can't assemble much of a fighting force. This means that when he sets with his breakthrough group, there are soldiers that will be left behind in the slaughterhouse.
Hey-o, here comes the danger up in this club
When we get started, man, we ain't gon' stop
We gon' turn it out 'til it gets too hot
Everybody sings, hey-o
Assembling inside the underground parking garage of the main building, Altmeyer is ready to fight through his way out on one of the many vehicles he can scrounge up. His breakthrough unit, nearly a full Echelon in size, starts stepping on the gas. The roar of multiple engines can be heard drowning out the screaming and gunshots. Momentarily, the first armored car drives up the ramp leading above ground.
Tell 'em turn it up 'til they can't no more
Let's get this thing shakin' like a disco ball
This is your last warning, a courtesy call
Swirling the wheels to reach the main gate, the armored car is the first to lead and the first to open fire on perimeter walls seized by the Storm Troopers. Following behind this brave armored car is a column of trucks and other utility vehicles, the passengers on these rides fire blindly everywhere. Friendly fire is the least of their concern right now.
Seeing the enemy making a desperate breakthrough, the Storm Troopers are undeterred. Calmly, the four Platoons on the walls line up their weapons.
Hey-o, here comes the danger up in this club
When we get started, man, we ain't gon' stop
We gon' turn it out 'til it gets too hot
Everybody sings, hey-o
A streak of fire, a rocket, accurately hit the front of the AMD Laffly 50 armored car. The warhead explodes with such force that makes the vehicle flip over, killing its crew and turning it into a burning wreck. A speeding truck fails to stop in time and rams into the wreck, squashing the driver compartment and killing the people in the front.
As the passengers on the truck are still dazed from the crash, 8 mm Mauser bullets rain down from above, causing bright red liquid to splatter everywhere. A Storm Trooper with a distinctive-looking set of horns can be seen holding down the trigger of his MG1 until the drum magazine on his gun runs dry. Nearby, his assistant machine gunner immediately passes him another drum of bullets, allowing him to reload swiftly before engaging the Loyalists.
More rockets are launched by the Storm Troopers, either disabling or outright destroying the runaway vehicles. The Loyalists on this doomed convoy are like sitting ducks beneath a hail of bullets and explosives bearing their names.
Miraculously, the utility car carrying Loyalist Lieutenant Colonel Altmeyer is still somewhat intact, with only one of the rear passengers sporting a new hole for breathing.
Tell 'em turn it up 'til they can't no more
Let's get this thing shakin' like a disco ball
This is your last warning, a courtesy call
However, by the time the last three vehicles have reached the main gate of Château de Beaumont, they are forced to veer off the path, coming to a despondent stop. Even the Storm Troopers have stopped firing and for good reason. Right there, by the main gate, a Platoon of Puma IFVs can be seen blocking the road forward. As Panzergrenadiers are dismounting and a combination of 30 mm and 57 mm guns are laying down at the surviving Loyalists, a Guns-a-go-go Osprey comes to a slow hover above the main gate. It doesn't have to be said that the gunship is also not fucking around. Try anything funny, and the Loyalists will be blasted with not just lead but also a plethora of explosive munitions.
This is well and truly a checkmate for Lieutenant Colonel Altmeyer, something the man can easily see for himself.
"Bloody bastards..." Altmeyer comments despondently to himself in the utility car.
Altmeyer discards his rifle recently reloaded as some of his men also do the same. The man unholsters his sidearm before raising it in a near unwilling manner... Against himself.
"Bloody fucking bastards...!"
BANG
A single gunshot. A single body.