Chapter 52
SFC Jennet Ming had been assigned to a small contingent of infantry that were assaulting with the tanks. The commanders’ council had decided they wanted some experienced hand-to-hand fighters with the vehicles just in case the elves threw something crazy at them. Or maybe they had suddenly gained an understanding of tank combat which they’d previously lacked, and had some way of dealing with vehicles, but that wouldn’t work against infantry.
Jennet wasn’t sure how that would work with the thermal-enhanced night vision goggles attached to her helmet, but she was willing to try engaging in hand-to-hand if it came to that.
The tanks had been slowly, carefully positioning themselves for a few hours, trying to be as stealthy as possible with the loud engine noise. They’d positioned the vehicles in two waves in the neighborhoods of south Augusta. Jennet and the other infantry had positioned themselves in a deserted apartment complex with a clear view of the Fort Eisenhower gate. Surprisingly the elves actually had some warriors standing around outside the gate. In response, Jennet and the other infantry had helped direct the tanks so that when they unleashed the first barrage of the attack, they would likely heavily injure the guards with the armor-piercing tungsten rounds they would use.
“All units this net, this is Savage 6 actual. Commence operation spork. I say again, commence operation spork.” Lieutenant Soto’s voice came through the communications headset Jennet wore.
With the command given, the distinctive deep rumble of tank main guns firing resounded. Jennet was busy moving from the house she’d been hiding in, but happened to pass a window just in time to see one of the elves turn toward the sound. The warrior's head simply disappeared the next second, the heavy anti-tank round having simply severed the head from the body.
Jennet emerged from the apartment's front door, and rushed down the stairs, sprinting through the line of brush and trees separating the apartment complex from the road leading to the base.
The collective roar of tank engines revving up was loud enough that any of the elf guards could probably hear them from the gate, even as injured as they were from the explosions and fragmentation of the anti-tank rounds.
As planned, Jennet and the rest of the infantry charged forward, taking up positions around the gate and confirming the elf guards had either fled or were dead. Jennet knew that some of the soldiers from outside Savage Company thought they could simply use the exp trackers and notifications from the system to determine if the enemy was dead, but she’d seen too much of the elves being sneaky to trust that method fully. You really only knew for sure if you got the looting prompt and the body turned to gray ash afterward, as they’d discovered after the battle to defend Fort Moore.
As the tanks rolled down the main highway toward the base, having emerged from their hiding spots, the sky began to brighten slightly. It’d likely taken longer to infill than planned since they’d been hoping to launch the attack at 0200 hours and a quick glance at her watch showed it was 0412 hours.
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A shrill whistle alerted her and the others that one of the scouts had visual on enemy reinforcements, and as the leader, Jennet pressed the PTT button on her comms handset and relayed the message.
“Taurus actual, this is Songbird. Enemy reinforcements in visual range. Standing by to laze targets as required required.” she whispered.
“Negative on Lazing, Songbird. We have them on the scanners. Salvo incoming.” The tank company commander replied.
Jennet held her hand out flat, palm down, and lowered her arm twice, letting the other soldiers know to get down before the tanks fired. Normally they would have had a different signal, and she would have been warning her men to cover their ears, but the advanced headsets they were all wearing provided hearing protection.
Moments later, the tanks fired in concert a second time, hopefully removing a fair number of targets from the coming fight. The scout who’d first noticed the reinforcements popped an IR flare, temporarily illuminating the area to anyone under night vision or infrared optics.
The illumination made it easy for the soldiers to pick out the elves advancing toward them, and the returning quiet of the early morning was shattered by the sound of small arms fire. Ming held off, waiting to engage anything that survived the tank rounds and massed small arms fire.
During the training she’d conducted, she’d realized that system-enhanced attacks had a much greater effect, but inevitably cost either stamina or mana or had to come from equipment purchased via the system store.
She’d passed this knowledge on to the other soldiers, and as a result, the ones who had some kind of gunfighting abilities, which was surprisingly common, were triggering them now for short bursts of outgoing damage, focusing on one target until they went down.
The Elf reinforcements were being eliminated one at a time, and the attack seemed to be progressing well until Lieutenant Soto’s voice crackled over the radio again.
“Requesting reinforcements from Taurus. We’re tied up fighting a shape-shifter and a pet master, and the .50 just isn’t cutting it even with system enhancements. How copy, over”
It didn’t take long for the tank company commander to respond.
“Savage Six, we have a solid copy. Sending 6 Taurus units to you now. Guide them in with an IR strobe. Over and out.”
6 of the 20 tanks that had been progressing into the base split off and headed down a side road. In the distance, Jennet caught a flash of the IR strobe in the distance, giving her an idea of how far away the exo mecha pilots and the rest of the infantry were engaging.
Jennet had begun to wonder if their assault was going a little too well before the call. Now she felt she knew the answer. Somehow the elves had been warned about the incoming attack. They obviously didn’t have too many details, since they hadn’t been dug in at the front gate, and they only had two defenders that were giving the others trouble, but the assault on the front gate was supposed to be a distraction, drawing the enemy forces into a fight away from important infrastructure.
Instead, the elves had been able to attack both assaulting elements at the same time, grinding the main spearhead to a halt with just two descending elves. That didn’t bode well, but there was little that could be done now other than push forward.
Jennet and the rest of her small contingent of infantry continued pushing down the main road leading through the military base, killing the enemy as they went. The remaining tanks followed, engaging anything that survived long enough. The further they went without significant resistance, the more Jennet began to worry that things were a little too easy.