“Engage! Engage!” Commanded O’Brian, over the company’s connected voice input system, and the Raiders from within the Armored Personnel Carriers exited, using the Rhinos and mobile cover.
Several Raiders made precision shots toward the enemy, missing their mark at times, but ultimately forcing the enemy to keep their own heads down.
The steady thumps of the Rhino were then sounded, with its rounds strafing along a ridge of Sellian emplacements and cover.
“Get the Pumas and flank the enemy! Rhino! Keep hitting them and move forward!”
“Aye sir!” sounded the ordered parties.
The Puma teams were the first to enact their orders, speeding off towards the outer edges of the enemy encampment. The chain guns of the Pumas peppered the shoddily made barriers, kicking up dust and debris as they landed. The Rhino, on the other hand, sustained precision bursts of fire at notable defenses.
Thump, Thump, Thump, Thump.
A four shot burst was sounded from the APC, landing one into the body of a running Sellian and the other three into a manned turret. Hollers from the Raiders were sounded when it was confirmed that a Rhino landed a hit against the enemy equipment.
“Yeah! How you like that!?”
Raptor Company slowly advanced on the enemy position as the Rhinos provided cover and covering fire. When they were close, they then switched to the .50 Caliber, and the slow thumps turned into rapid cracks in the air.
The Pumas kept on the move, firing into the exposed flanks of the enemy outpost. Screams of pain could be heard as the group approached the encampment. O’Brian halted the Rhinos, and in turn, the rest of his troops.
“Rhinos, keep an eye on the buildings and make sure there are no surprises,” O’Brian commanded, then, from the cover of the Rhino. He turned to the rear of the group toward a position much farther than where they were situated. It was the Grizzly MBT, both sitting jet behind the crest of a hill overseeing the rest of Raptor Company.
“You got eyes on our position?”
“Yes sir. Not seeing anything on thermals. AO looks clear.”
O’Brian nodded at the report and turned to his squad leaders, motioning for them to advance. They did so, their weapons drawn in an alert posture. They slowly crested the small mound of sandbags and dirt. With a glance, their eyes followed over the mound, first to the area before the hastily made cover. They did so in a manner that reduced multiple points of exposure so that they only needed to focus on what was before them without worrying about an exposed area they couldn’t see or react to if needed.
When the first area was cleared, O’Brian quickly popped his torso out from the crest of the mound and readied his weapon, as did others to his left and right. The area right below him was dug deeper than the surrounding ground, a trench.
Simultaneously, as he cleared the person-made feature, he also recognized the immediate danger of the surviving enemy force.
“Contacts!” he shouted, firing two muffled shots into the nearest Sellian, and three into the next. His soldiers beside him expertly followed, doing the same.
The body language of the enemy was that of shock, since he couldn’t see their faces. Of the two he neutralized, the first was holding the second who was clearly wounded. O’Brian knew they weren’t armed, but still fired. Like the strings cut from a marionette, they fell limp into the dirt.
As he scanned his surroundings, affirmations from his company were sounded, acknowledging the clearing of the trench.
“Clear!”
“X-Rays down!”
“All Clear!”
The route that Raptor Company occupied took place on a main road into the city, through the outskirts of the city.
From a distance, the city looked like a continuous metropolis of buildings, rail-cars, and roads. However, as they approached the outskirts, they noticed that many of the smaller buildings were spaced at differing intervals with no real structure to their placement. However, as Raptor company advanced through the streets, O’Brian, from a distance, was met with the realization that the central city was surrounded by a large wall, and their main access route was now obstructed by large sealed doors.
“Walls? I didn’t hear anything about walls,” voiced Dare.
“Yeah, neither did I,” replied O’Brian, “Athena, what can you tell me about these walls? Defenses, access routes, all of it.”
“Understood,” replied the disembodied voice, “It appears there is still power running through the wall, but I will need access to a service terminal for a more definitive answer.”
O’Brian nodded to the report, and turned to his troops that were standing at the ready, eager for his orders.
“Listen up, Raptors!” sounded O’Brian, “Bravo and Charlie squads, secure a perimeter around the Rhinos and advanced. Follow the road to the main gate and hold until my squad secures those doors. Delta, hang back until the Grizzlies can regroup. Any questions?”
O’Brian waited for a hand from the rear, but it never came.
“Very well. You have your orders. Move out. Alpha squad, we’re taking the Pumas.”
Those not part of Alpha squad were ejected from their seats and took part of their assigned squad’s tasks.
Bravo and Charlie moved at a slow pace, matching that of the boots on the ground, as they also simultaneously searched the nearby buildings, scavenging bobbles and trinkets from the numerous buildings. With some of the Raiders exchanging their newly acquired goods.
Sergeant O’Clair was the first to speak on the topic, with a stern tone, “That had better be food, Raider. You know the rules of taking trophies from battle.”
“Not like they were dead, Sarn’t. Besides, it was a store, I think.”
“I don’t want to hear it, Lockwood. Toss it.”
“Aye, Sarn’t,” he replied, defeat apparent in his voice, and tossed his trinket alongside the road, as did the others in her purview, not wanting to face verbal reprimand.
Bravo and Charlie squads continued on as Delta remained behind, taking cover in the nearby buildings as they awaited the Grizzlies. O’Brian and his squad had continued on toward the gate, but instead of the main road, they opted for the smaller roads that were now available to them once they were further in the outskirts.
O’Brian rode as a passenger in his transport model Puma, the Mk. 0. While the others were equipped with the chain-gun variant Puma, the Mk. 1. As they rode, the gunners scanned their surroundings as the force of the wind assaulted them. Luckily, they didn’t feel a difference in temperature thanks to their environmental suit they wore beneath their battle dress uniform. It kept the user warm enough in temperate climates and moderate weather, enough for any standard Raider to focus solely on their mission at hand.
As they slowed their approach through the streets, O’Brian received a transmission from Strega, who rode in a separate vehicle as a passenger.
“Sir, didn’t you find it odd? Back at that outpost,” she questioned.
“I’m just as concerned as you are,” he replied, turning his mind to their latest encounter before continuing, “Their encampment seemed fairly unorthodox, given their environment and manpower. You’d think they would take cover in the buildings instead of digging a trench in the center of the road.”
To O’Brian, and to several of the Raiders present, if they wanted an outpost to monitor civilian traffic, then there would be no need for a trench. When there existed other forms of deterrents for both humanoid and vehicle alike that were more efficient than whatever the enemy had come up with.
As he was dwelling on such items, a voice from Dare was sounded.
“Sir, I might have the reason for what we came across.”
“Oh? Send it over,” O’Brian ordered, and as he commanded, information was displayed on a fore-arm mounted display, “this is…”
Instead of surprise or shock, he was…disappointed. His hidden excitement was tarnished with newfound information, only it wasn’t new. At least not for him.
“Athena,” he said in a questioning tone, “care to explain?”
The artificial entity made a small groan, like someone who had been caught doing mischievous deeds. Her apparent displeasure had caught the interest of the listening parties as she proceeded to explain.
“Ahem. What you are seeing, Sir, is a historical document of standard tactics at the turn of the twentieth century. It appears to have been studied by a small group of soldiers looking to turn an advantage along an avenue of approach…”
“The Great War: Strategies and Tactics of the First World War, huh. This is ancient.”
“Of course,” she replied in a triumphant tone, “Trench warfare is outdated by today’s standard. I found it fitting, among other things, to supply the enemy with outdated knowledge of tactics and equipment.”
Over his shared communications, he began to hear snickers and muffled laughter over the realization of the sudden change in tactics from the Sellians.
“Well, from what I can tell, there were only a small number who actually put it into practice. We’ll be in trouble if they have the slightest bit of defenses. Doesn’t matter how old the tactics, siege warfare should be avoided,” O’Brian added.
Notable nods were made in affirmation to his statement.
“How…so? If you could be so inclined to explain. I’m not aware of many operations undergone by the Raiders. Even I find that information hard to come by,” replied Athena, questionably.
“Color me surprised,” voiced Strega, “why didn’t you break through the classified encryption. Surely, you could break it no problem.”
“That would be… unprofessional. Besides, I didn’t have access to any Raider network, even now,” replied Athena.
“Hate to break it to you, my digital friend,” Dare was next to add his input, “All official missions issued by the O.D.R. are kept on site at a black site. No matter how advanced you are, you won’t be able to find it. It’s completely off-grid.”
“The fact that I couldn’t even view what should normally be declassified, is what frustrates me.”
“The only thing you’d get close to declassified is whatever they put on the news,” added O’Brian, “But as I was going to say…”
O’Brian gave a muddied and vague account of a mission that was emphasized as peak siege warfare.
“We were sent to a planet to capture an infamous militia group turned pirate. Not something you want happening in a system. It was a combined effort and by the time we knew it, we found their base of operations.”
O’Brian’s tone lowered, not to be quiet, but reminiscent.
“HQ wouldn’t let the Marines close and wanted something to prove using only the Raiders. Something about disbanding the Raiders since we haven't had a serious Op in over a hundred years, so the senate were looking to get rid of the Raider Branch.”
“I would have assumed that the Raiders would have been involved with plenty of missions since their conception,” replied Athena.
“You’d think so. They usually send us in teams, but the senate found it better to utilize specialized groups of the more plentiful Marines. We haven’t had a serious conflict to deploy us en masse, ‘til now. That right, Raiders?!”
“OO-RAH!!” sounded the rest of his men.
He then returned to his conversation with Athena, doing his best to satiate her inquiries while also not providing away key information that would very likely put him in the brig.
“We were a small fleet by the time we made it over our target in low orbit. When we dropped, we landed just outside the entrance to the compound, by about five hundred meters. It was all the 4th Battalion that dropped, but when we landed, there were no pirates, no gunfire, nothing. It was like a ghost town with how the wind howled. It was eerie, to say the least.”
Athena didn’t present herself in her holographic form, but listened silently to his retelling.
“Well, we moved forward with the mission, thinking that our ships would provide some form of cover, but we were wrong. The ground was relatively flat, with some old craters from a fighter years earlier, but before we knew it, our ships came crashing down. Destroyed by a series of well-coordinated size nine torpedoes. With their shields, a couple would hurt it, but it wouldn’t go down. But we saw at least fifty fires from the mountain range right below them and a shot from a hidden magnetic accelerator built into the compound we were raiding. It took only seconds to wipe out the rest of the fleet.”
Athena seemed at a loss for words. She tried to look for words of comfort, but none came to her. Instead, she just listened.
“Then, as we were looking up at the sky, we were hit with machine-gun and cannon fire. We had no cover, except for our pods. That was the day that 4th Battalion lost nearly all its service members, except for Raptor Company…”
O’Brian’s tone returned to a somber state as he continued, “I was barely a Corporal when the company took over the compound. We went in with most of the company, but we came out with a squad and a half. Strega, Grey, Dare and I, along with O’Clair from Bravo squad, are the only original members from that day. That was when they were fresh out of the Depot… Want to know what we call it?”
“You have a name for it? Why would you want to memorialize the day when nearly all of your battalion perished?”
“The Blood Trial, is what we call it,” revealed O’Brian, leaving Athena momentarily stunned.
“I do find that name… quite distasteful. For what reason did you call it that?”
“Well, aside from everyone who died, have you ever waded ankle deep in pools of blood from some of your closest friends? From a distance, you would have thought there was a small pond, and the smell of iron was lingered on us for days.”
“This was when you were a corporal?” she inquired.
“I enlisted before I was commissioned as an officer, you know,” replied O’Brian, his tone much more joyous than previously.
“You said, there was at least a squad and a half that made it. What happened to them?”
“They either shot themselves, or got out… then shot themselves,” he replied, almost indifferently.
“That’s…” Athena said, taking a pause.
“I know. Not many people have to face something like that, but holding your best friend’s head after a cannon blew him apart… well, some people can’t get that out of their heads. So, the only way to escape it,” he said, placing his hands to his head, mimicking a handgun, and slamming his thumb down like a cocked hammer going off, “is to end it.”
The Raiders who had previously engaged in small conversation were now silent, listening in to his squad specific comms.
“Why, then?” she asked, her tone directed at most of the named survivors.
“Hm?”
“Why, then, do you still continue this line of work?”
As she asked her question, the Pumas came to a halt before a large gate, with the walls extending to his left and right until they curved out of his view. O’Brian, Strega, Grey, and Dare then disembarked from their seats, convening together in the center of the Pumas that were placed into a circular formation with enough room to not all be made collateral from a well fired explosive. The gunners maintained their vigilance by aiming their turret outwards of the circle and the low hum of the engines could still be heard.
“We do it because someone has to. Someone has to teach the new blood how to get the job done. Who better than the Raiders who survived the Blood Trial?”
O’Brian took his suppressed rifle, keeping it slung across his chest and his right hand around the grip in a relaxed motion, as his nearby teammates did similar actions, “But that’s enough of our earlier days. Let’s find a way through this wall before the armor gets here.”
“Of course, sir,” replied Athena.
“Good. Puma teams, scout the area for likely access points and defenses,” said O’Brian.
“Yes sir!” they sounded off, breaking into their teams, when O’Brian turned to speak with the transport only variant.
“Head back and regroup with Bravo and Charlie. They’ll need the extra supplies,” he ordered, grabbing only one item of each that could aid in their infiltration, breaching charges and a Forceful Electronic Access Pad, which he handed to Strega.
“Sir, I already have one,” she replied, revealing a worn and personalized FEA Pad.
“It’s a back-up if yours falls through,” he ordered.
“Which it won’t-” regardless of her stance, he tossed her the extra pad, cutting her off mid-sentence which she placed in an empty pouch on her thigh, “Aye sir.”
Their transport had already left, leaving the four and Athena, to search their area for access. They had noticed earlier of a rail system that led from the isolated town to the wall, but instead of being at ground-level, it stayed suspended with the height too high for theme to reach without grapples or aerial assistance.
“I shall perform a short radial scan of the area,” suggested Athena.
“Go for it,” to which O’Brian replied as he and his fireteam actively searched for alternate routes.
A high-pitched ping was sounded from his helmet as the scan was performed. There was no difference to his visor as it was done, thinking that he would receive some sort of visual feedback in addition to the ping.
Around them were buildings that rose to the mid-height of the wall, removing the option of trying to rappel across the roof to the wall. However, as they moved towards the wall, searching the buildings for any useful information, a notification was made by Athena, halting them in their steps.
“I think I may have found a likely candidate. I have marked the location on your HUDs. I couldn’t pinpoint the location, so we’ll have to look for it when we get there.”
“Alright, you heard her. Let’s move.”
The distance to the ping was roughly one hundred meters to the left of the main gate doors. It was a small-sized building housing three floors surrounded by a wall that was too tall for them to climb, and a gate that looked to move to the side for vehicles. Beside it, was a small terminal and a smaller door that was designated for pedestrian traffic with both entrances sealed.
“Strega, hack the terminal and get either of the gates open.”
She silently moved to the terminal in question, and began tapping away at her device. The subtle thuds and beeps of command input were sounded as she worked. Dare moved beside O’Brian, asking a question that he too had in his mind.
“When are they going to start invading with the rest of the Fourth and the Marines?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t gotten word about it, but I suspect those cannons we keep seeing are making them hesitant,” said O’Brian as he mindlessly readjusted his weapon. He checked his sling and rolled back the charging handle of his rifle half-way to ensure he still had a round in the chamber. He then turned to the numerous blue sources of light that were sent up into space, likely striking friendly ships.
O’Brian was ordered to simply capture the men responsible for their unprovoked attacks, but the sight of surface-to-orbit fire urged his mission with a new directive.
“Athena, can you contact 7th Fleet?”
“I can, but there appears to be some interference with mainline communications. I should be able to generate a direct encrypted line to the Reckoning, but it may take some time.”
“Can’t you use Delta Band? The enemy doesn’t seem to know how to jam it.”
“Unfortunately, my equipment is not equipped for such an archaic form of signal, at least not readily. What I can do is attune existing parameters to parse the jamming signal and boost a message through that,” she replied.
“Do it. In the meantime, can you identify the anti-orbit cannons?”
“I can. I’ve already triangulated possible targets slated for termination. It will require a great deal of coordination and manpower, however. Shall I upload it to your personal holo-map?”
“Of course.”
He thought to himself about how he would divide his forces as he looked at a generated map that hovered above his free hand. The render was done so in three-dimensions, with a blue arrow indicating his position with green arrows indicating friendlies. As he scrolled further from his epicenter, the detail of his surroundings degraded rapidly until generic shapes representing buildings were all he could see. The view was isometric, as he oriented the view.
As he suspected, the wall extended far beyond his sensor range and when he tried viewing the marked locations for the cannons, it was empty with space with a singular icon in the form of an artillery cannon.
“Damn…” muttered O’Brian, but audible enough for Strega to hear.
“What’s wrong, sir? Map not working?”
“It works, but it’s only relaying information that suit sensors can reach. I think their jam signal is messing with the map. We’ll need some form of overhead support if we want the advantage. Otherwise, this map’s useless.”
“Wasn’t it working before?”
He shook his head in response, “It works, but we need either an aerial or orbital access link to transmit. That, or improve our suit sensors; which will require a retrofit that we won’t be seeing anytime soon.”
As O’Brian understood it, his personal holo-map was keyed on a personal frequency specific to his HUD, allowing him and others of the same frequency, to view the map. It was apparently part of a breakthrough in alternate reality tech that they decided to field. However, it came with some short-comings.
The holo-map tech could use built-in suit sensors to generate the immediate surroundings or nearby large objects in a short distance, but quickly fell off from there. If they wanted a more detailed map survey, it would require an external drone, manned ship or satellite to scan and transmit data for him to utilize. Unfortunately, the drone they could use was aboard their stealth corvette.
“We’ll just have to work with LMC. I’m not sure if we can improve it in the field…”
Before he could finish his sentence, Athena interjected a possible solution, “If you would like, I may be able to find a solution for your map, Sir.”
“Good to hear. Work on it if you can. If not… Well, we’ll manage.”
With a ‘ping’ from behind, the sound of a metallic gate opened followed with a thumbs up from Strega.
“We’re good, sir.”
“You know, it would serve us well if I took care of all electronic access, Sergeant,” offered Athena, to which Strega replied,
“And let my skills get rusty? No thanks, dear.”
“Very well, but my services will still be available, should the team require them.”
“You’re doing enough, Athena,” Strega replied, now readying her S4S-SBR along with O’Brian and Gray.
With practiced form, O’Brian’s stance changed from a moderately relaxed state to an alerted status; his gun at the ready, lowered just below his chin as his team infiltrated the compound. The once relaxed atmosphere of the team had shifted, and Grey was the first to take point, followed by O’Brian, Strega, and finally, Darion.
The team was met with a small courtyard with a pedestrian path leading to the building entrance. To their right was an empty parking lot which unconsciously eased a portion of their tension.
“Move up and breach the entrance. Strega, Athene, check for any alarms that might get tripped.”
They nodded, and worked in conjunction to find any traces of active alarms that might activate upon their breach. Athena was the first to report, quickly followed by Strega, who showed a minor bout of frustration but quickly let it go. She knew well that against an AI on the level of Athena, that it was pointless to compete.
“I detect no active measures for alarms. All available power seems to be routing through a terminal on the first level. Other than that, the building appears derelict,” Athena responded, triumphant of her usefulness.
With the sound of apparent confirmation, Gray was the first to attempt a breach at the entrance, which revealed to be slightly ajar, enough for him to grip and slide open. There was an external device beside the door, but most of it was missing, so the team settled for forcing open the doors utilizing Gray’s unrivaled strength.
They opened slowly, the mechanism straining against an unauthorized entry, as noted by the creaking sounds of the internal gears. But without much effort for Gray, the doors were opened, revealing a dark hallway. Gray then took a step forward, but was quickly stopped by both Strega and O’Brian, his foot barely within the door. Gray held it in position as if it were flash frozen in midair. He turned to O’Brian, who then pointed to the side of his helmet.
“Turn on your night visors.”
With a press of a button, the view of a darkened hallway lit up revealing more details than he previously could.
“I know your eyes are great at night, but there are just some things even you can’t see without ‘em, Gray,” O’Brian stated, directing with an index finger to where his foot hovered.
The Raider in question knew he was being scolded and looked down, as ordered. What he saw were two bright lines that existed above and below his foot. At that moment, his shame grew, but luckily, he wore his helmet to hide his embarrassment.
“IR trip mine. You’re lucky you didn’t blow us all up,” added Strega with a sigh, and pulled out her FEA Pad, “Hang still.”
He did as he was told until the two strings of light went off, and he could freely move his feet forward, which landed with a heavy thud.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Eh, sorry, Sir,” Gray said, hiding the embarrassment from escaping his voice.
“C’mon, be more careful next time, big guy. I’m not trying to go out on a trip-mine, of all things,” voiced Dare, frustration apparent in his voice.
The team slowed their advance since the trip-mine and moved as one to the terminal Athena had detected. Papers were littered across the floor alongside everyday office items that were forgotten in a rush to leave. They followed the hall to the end with a single door to the right. Strega was the first to lead, opening it with remote access by use of her FEA Pad. Luckily, unlike the entrance, the door was not rigged to blow, but they still searched the room cautiously for evidence of rigged defenses.
Against the wall to their left, was a single terminal, and above it was a large monitor. The room was small and housed two chairs, but remained largely empty with a set of slim lockers on the wall to the right. O’Brian made his way to the terminal, and Dare was the first to begin looking through the lockers after ensuring they too, were not rigged to blow. Strega and Gray, however, continued their patrol through the building as O’Brian retrieved Athena from a pouch, where he held her before him and her Greek goddess visage appeared, and she bowed. Without words, O’Brian silently equipped a port that was fashioned to integrate with Sellian ports.
“Connecting. Sir, I think you will be most pleased with what I have found,” reported Athena. The display above the terminal lit up showcasing a series of graphs, numbers, and characters foreign to him. It looked like a diagnostic, of which he knew nothing about.
“What am I looking at, Athena?”
“From what I have gathered so far… This compound looks to be a service and maintenance station. They monitor gate access and power distribution… Pulling up connected services now.”
A series of visuals appeared, relating to a connected system, in sequence as she explained each function.
“It appears they control gate operations from this compound, which so happens to be connected to the rest of the wall.”
“What’s it connected to?” he asked.
She pulled up what looked to be military defenses in addition to a series of sensors, all of which were indicated to be running at maximum power.
“All available power had been rerouted to newly placed defensive batteries.”
“New?” voiced Dare, occupied with newfound documents and trinkets from the locker.
“They had recently upgraded from an older missile battery model, although the platform remains the same.”
O’Brian knew what had to be done. He didn’t need an order from a higher authority to tell him his secondary objective, since his decision would align with his current mission.
“Shut it down. Those AA Batteries would wreak havoc on our Raiders.”
With his order, indicators signifying a connected signal were cut, and the equivalent of error symbols flashed in place as Athena severed the connections portions at a time.
“Connection severed. Opening the gate now-”
And as she said, the large doors to the wall began to open with a near a low and constant hum. They felt the vibrations of the gate lightly, but they soon came to a stop. He knew that their entry had to be noticed by somebody, whether it be a passing patrol or electronic sensors within the city.
He had more questions now that they had access to the city, and the lack of a force in the outer section of the city was cause for concern. So far, they had come across no form of aerial security or patrols on their route, especially considering the amount of noise they made taking on the small outpost on the outskirts.
O’Brian also checked his Holo-map for a possible change, but found it the same as when he last checked, “Any lead on that jammer? I need to get in contact with 7th Fleet,” inquired O’Brian to his digital companion.
“I am having some difficulties trying to decode its frequency, but its coded main-line frequency is rapidly changing. Whoever came up with it did a decent job making the signal tamper-proof. I’m not familiar with the technology employed, so I may need more time.”
“We’ll see about that,” chimed Dare, pointing to the large case on his back, “We just need a visual, point me in a direction.”
She nodded to his suggestion, but ultimately felt curious about how he would handle it.
“There is an access tunnel that leads from this compound to the other side of the wall. There should be a plethora of vantage points for some one of your… skill set. I’ll mark a notable location on your HUD.”
O’Brian nodded his head in a motion for him to get moving, to which Dare dismissed himself almost gleefully. He had already gotten permission and left for the tunnel, which revealed to be an entrance at the end of the hall that was previously hidden.
He tapped away on his wrist pad, engaging short range comms for others in his company, but was met with static.
“Damn it. Strega, Gray. Time to head out and regroup.”
When he stepped out of the room, he was met with both Strega and Gray who stood idle in the hallway after watching Dare depart on his mission.
“Sent him to scout?” Strega was the first to ask.
O’Brian nodded in affirmation, “Short and long range comms are shot. He’s been ordered to search and destroy the source. To do that, we’ll need to draw them away.”
He motioned in the vague direction of the city gate, and the three made their way to the entrance and beyond the compound walls, moving south through the nearby building alleys towards the main road.
They moved quickly while still maintaining an alert mind. The did so by constantly glancing at all likely spots for an ambush. It’s a skill developed after surviving encounters in a dense hostile environment and knowing possible locations where someone could hide were valuable in their survival.
The team made their way to the edge of the main road. Before nearing the end of the alley way, O’Brian noticed on his mini-map that friendly indicators entered the edge of his sensor radius, as indicated with green dots on his lower left of his HUD.
A Raider on the outer edge of the perimeter turned to meet them, his weapon at the ready, but lowered it upon their clearing of the alley. The vehicles they came with were now established in a spread convoy, with all two Pumas in the front, followed by two Grizzly tanks, then the two Rhinos, with the last two Pumas taking the rear.
The convoy was off-set to avoid taking a round from behind by friendly fire. This ensured that enemies engaged forward of the convoy would receive maximum engagement. Their spacing as well also allowed for groups of soldiers to be able to take cover from either their left or right flanks. If they were assaulted on both sides, then the rhinos would park beside one another to protect the Raiders in between; a standard tactic for convoys.
Before he gave the order to set off, he checked his holo-map once more. This time, the only change noted was the amount of friendly indicators present around him, with the diminished building details on the edge of sensor range. Feeling that map status insignificant, he closed it, and ordered his troop’s advance.
“Move out!” he ordered, taking a ride in the now empty Rhino. It was common for officers to be in a place to take cover during a convoy, and the Rhino was his best option. It offered defense as well as offense, making it a decent option as a mobile command center.
With his order, the convoy moved forward, the sounds of tire, tread, and boots sounding the atmosphere. They were in the enemy’s home, and their mind’s focus was at an all-time high. O’Brian was aware of their thinking, how some were bloodthirsty for the enemy, or some who simply wanted to go home. At the end of the day, they had a job to do, and they all knew, collectively, that winning this would grant them time off when they went home.
They only need to survive.
As they advanced, all conversation ceased, for the most part. Hushed tones were occasionally spoken, commenting on the state of their environment.
“Huh, you’d think this place would be more…”
“Lively?”
“I was thinking ‘Swarming with patrols’, but yours works.”
It was two Raiders patrolling beside each other at the rear of O’Brian’s Rhino. He couldn’t see them, but their proximity comms were enough for most of the company to hear. However, they were silenced by an order of their sergeant.
“Quiet down you two. Scan your flanks, and shut up.”
“Aye, Sarn’t,” replied the two, increasing the space between each other to fifteen paces.
Raptor Company followed the main road, cautiously navigating through debris and left behind vehicles, but most of the road remained clear of obstructions. It felt unnatural to them as they continued scanning every window and door that entered their view, of which there were thousands.
Ahead, a pair of Pumas paused, as did the rest of the convoy. As standard practice during a halt in the convoy, those on foot took cover on the sides of the road below building awnings and inlets while scanning around the convoy. O’Brian felt this, and pulled up his map. It tracked all of his current force with his troops on the sides of the road and the vehicles still on the road.
“Puma team, why’d we stop?”
A reply came quickly from the team in question, “A cross road. What are your orders?”
With his map still relatively useless on a larger scale, he decided to depart from the Rhino and meet with the puma team up front. The rest of the company remained in hiding between the crevices of buildings as O’Brian made his way to them.
They had traveled for several minutes and had encountered no resistance thus far, which worried him, but analyzed his situation. The road they were on extended further east, with the cross flowing north and south. At the ends, blue lights shined from beyond some buildings, momentarily lighting up the surrounding buildings.
‘The cannons!’ he thought to himself. Now would be a perfect time to neutralize them for ships to get within support range. He had already taken care of the missile batteries so aerial support and drop pods would be safe from attack, or so he thought.
With an order with his proximity comms, he called for the squad leaders of the company to convene. He didn’t need all the company to converge on his position. It would make for a horrific mass casualty event.
Before him were Sergeants Strega, O’Clair, Jericho, and Blythe; squad leaders of Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, and Delta, respectively. They stood ready, while also minding their silhouette in the open, and oriented themselves beside the Puma.
“Here’s what we have,” O’Brian started, pointing at the location of the pillars of light to the north and south, “We don’t have much time, and we’ve wasted enough of it. This city has at least two, surface-to-orbit cannons that are taking out the navy as we speak. We need to take them out to make room for the assault carrier and to get the rest of our brothers and sisters to assist in our invasion. We barely scratched the interior of the city, so we’ll need to double time our efforts, without delay.”
He directed a finger to Jericho and Blythe, “You two will take the south cannon, while Alpha and Bravo will take the north. Naturalize the cannon then return to this crossroad, if possible. If not, make your way to the center of the city. Intel says that the Council Compound is at the center. You have execute authority on all hostiles, only. So, conserve your ammo,” he continued, “We don't have the means to resupply. Worst case, you start using the enemy’s weapons…”
The mention made them gag. For Raiders, they held a displeasure of utilizing weapons not in standard use by their organization, since their current armory has been tested for decades, with reliability to match. That, paired with the large calibers made them a need in their line of work, more than a want. They wouldn’t want to settle for anything less, which became evident during a body search of an enemy utilizing small caliber rounds, which seemed to be their standard.
“Shouldn’t be a problem, Sir,” voiced Jericho, presenting his Series Eight Auto Rifle.
“From what I’ve noticed, a single round from this baby can put ‘em six under, even with their armor,” Blythe nodded, supporting his teammate’s claim.
“Good. Take half of the convoy, and high-tail it to your objective,” he turned to O’Clair and Strega, ordering them in the same manner.
Those who were on foot, got with their squads and embarked on any free space of the Rhinos and Grizzlies. The recon vehicles were already at capacity, and they were the first to depart toward the objective while scouting the roads ahead. With their leadership, Alpha and Bravo took to the roads at full throttle to the north, with Charlie and Delta squads departing southbound.
O’Brian remained at the crossroads, leaving with him only two lower enlisted Raiders. They were identified by their white markings on their pauldrons. Telling by how fresh the marking was, with no real fading to the paint, he knew them to be fresh to the unit. They were on alert, as shown by their lowered combat stance and their weapon at the ready, itching to put several rounds into the first thing that decided to deem its life short.
He decided to break the ice with them as they advanced eastward on the main road, sticking close to the buildings and weaving into the alleyways whenever possible.
“I don’t recall you two being in the unit. When did you show up?” The two in question were caught off guard, being directly addressed by their commanding officer.
The first to answer was Lance Corporal Ryder, a female attached to Bravo squad but ordered by Sergeant O’Clair to stick with the Lieutenant, “Right after the Battle of Draxis, Sir. Myself and Lance Corporal Fox,” she directed a nod behind her, identifying the second Raider who was cautiously eying all possible ambush locations on their route. When he noticed the attention on himself, he gave a quick informal salute with only two fingers with his left hand before placing them back on the foregrip of his Series Four Badger Rifle.
“Sir, I have a question,” Ryder spoke, quiet as to not disturb their silent approach through the empty pathways. O’Brian nodded for her to continue. “What do you think of the Sellians?”
He thought for a moment as they continued silently through the alleyway before reaching the end and paused before answering, “Just soldiers, like us.”
He noticed that his answer didn’t fulfill her curiosity but now was a perfect time to impart his thinking on a new generation of Raider, “Like us, they’re soldiers. Doing what they feel is right and justified. Of course, that varies between individuals, but that fact remains the same. Many of them are willing to take up arms against us, as we are towards them. We fight for Terra and its citizens, they fight for Sella and her people.”
“I’ve seen the vids, Sir,” she replied, “they took slaves and murdered innocent civilians. What part of that seems justified?”
He understood where she was coming from, but with a race that grew up culturally different from themselves, they miraculously shared some parallels. And so, O’Brian replied to her question, “I understand your frustration, but every so often, you need to take a step back and view from their perspective. They thought we were encroaching on their territory, and sought to remove us.”
She took a minute to take in his words before replying with a question of her own, “Why didn’t they try diplomacy. Surely, it would’ve been more beneficial than what they lost since Draxis.”
After motioning them to advance past an open road to the alleyway across from them. Once they made it across, he answered, “Scared leaders will always rush their judgment with little thought. I understand why they did it, but I don’t have to forgive them. Remember, every decision has a price, and their decision to wipe us out will come with a heavy toll,” this time, he fashioned his Series Four Badger, “The price just so happens to come in the form of subsonic hate and discontent.”
“Oo-rah! Sir!” Ryder replied in a loud whisper.
“Until we’re ordered otherwise,” O’Brian began, “you are weapons free on all hostiles,” she nodded in response and regained her combat posture, same as Fox.
As they continued on their path, O’Brian attempted to gain comms with his scout sniper, Dare. Meanwhile, as he peered into the night sky, flashes of lights came into being for fractions of a second, taking the place of stars in the foreground. He knew if his team kept this pace, then all would be for nothing and their fleet would be reduced to orbital debris. An outcome he wanted to avoid at all costs.
Looking at his watch, he noticed that they had only a couple of hours before daylight broke, and he needed to know the status of his squads and their objectives.
“Dare, come in,” he said, only to be met with static. O’Brian tried multiple times to connect but to no avail. He checked his map for any nearby friendly icons, but found none. When in the cover of the nearby buildings, he retrieved Athena from her pouch.
“Did you manage to crack their frequency?” he asked.
“Still at work, but I am close to-” Athena spoke, before being abruptly cut off by a litany of comms chatter assaulting his ears. With a press of a button, he was able to isolate the numerous calls by priority, with Dare being the first.
“Sir? Do you read me?”
O’Brian was quick to respond, “I read you, did you take out the jammer?”
“Yes Sir,” Dare replied, “But my area might be compromised. Making my way to you.”
O’Brian pulled up his tactical map, and noticed that there was an increase in resolution of the display. To his North-East, a lone icon with the letters ‘RPTR D-1-4’ above it was displayed on the top of a building, and a neutrally colored icon sat beside him.
“You have a friend?” Questioned O’Brian.
“A resident of the building. Don’t worry, I have it under control,” replied dare, followed by several consecutive thumps from a suppressed weapon, most notably, from his Series Ten Marksman Rifle.
“We’ll make our way to you, hang tight,” ordered O’Brian.
“Copy,” replied Dare.
O’Brian then ordered a change in direction for his fireteam, with Fox taking point, and Ryder second in their stack, and himself in the rear as he tried to get in contact with his squads. He was able to get in contact with Strega, but the sound of gunfire filtered through their comes, “Sir! We’ve taken control of the cannon, but we’re bogged down by heavy fire from our east! We couldn’t blow it. A sniper took out our explosives supply!”
“Stand by and hold out! Get ready for a counteroffensive!” He cut the line, this time switching to Jericho, leader of Charlie squad.
“Tell me you have good news,” O’Brian ordered, expecting a quick and concise report, as evidenced by the reply from Jericho.
“We have the cannon sir, planting explosives now-” he replied, but was interjected by his lieutenant with a secondary solution.
“Do you have access to a command terminal for the cannon?”
With several seconds of silence, Jericho came back with an answer that pleased him, “We do sir. What do you want us to do?”
“Turn it on the enemy navy,” he replied, “Once you do that, I'm certain the enemy is gonna try to regain control. So dig in, and defend your position.”
“Yes sir,” replied the Raider, no doubt relaying orders to the rest of his group.
He then returned his attention to Strega, who picked up as quickly as he called. Her comms were littered with the same sounds of combat. At first, she ignored his initial request as she was actively giving orders to both Alpha and Bravo squads.
“Get a beat on those snipers! They already nailed Rivers!” several shots of her own followed shortly after, then directed her attention back to her lieutenant, “Sir! What about that air support?!?”
“They won't be able to make it with that AA gun still trained on our ships. Redirect the cannon on the enemy, then you’ll have your air support.”
Frustration was sounded from Strega with an exasperated grunt, “Aye sir. We’ll get it done,” and she cut off her communication.
By the time he ended his communications, they had made it to Dare’s location, but Fox silently held his left arm at a ninety-degree with a fist, symbolizing the group to halt. They stopped short when they spotted a small group of Sellian troopers patrolling at the base of the building.
He counted six individuals by a set of opened doors, facing out towards the street. Luckily for his fireteam, they were concealed by the shadows of the buildings, and the light of a streetlamp illuminated the enemy soldiers, surrounding the group in darkness.
O’Brian addressed Ryder and Fox quietly as he readied his weapon, and the two followed his action, “I’ll take the center two, both of you take a pair on the left and right.”
They nodded as a laser from their weapon and crosshair on their HUDs lined up on the chest of three soldiers. He counted down, with the final number spelling the doom of the six before them.
“Three, two, one…”
Several shots were fired from their rifles, with the pitched thumps of sub-sonic rounds exiting their barrels. The velocity edged on the barrier of supersonic, but just enough to not break it, maximizing lethality and stealth. Paired with the engineering of their integrated suppressors, the enemy fell before they knew what had hit them.
“Dare, you have contacts inbound,” stated O’Brian as his fireteam advanced on the open doors, keeping their weapon at the ready for any surprises.
“Understood. Standing by,” replied the sniper.
Fox was the first to scan the entrance before giving the signal to advance into the building. Knowing that the enemy was present, Fox, Ryder, and O’Brian moved in a combat glide through the building.
The combat glide is a posture used by almost all organized and professional armed forces. By making precise contact with the balls of their feet and rolling it forward, paired with the support of their hunched torso, a rifleman could move through an interior environment quickly, and silently. Their movements flowed like water as they progressed through the halls of the building.
With each room they passed, Fox would clear it, peering in from the first available angle and rotating his torso in an arc to match with his increasing view of the room until he passed it. Behind him, Ryder would keep her rifle trained forward until Fox passed the room and would do the same while O’Brian watched their rear, until it was his turn to clear the room.
This was a practiced and drilled movement when engaged in a close-quarters environment, like the interiors of buildings or ships. It was something they were used to and their actions were smooth, yet fast. A doctrine known for time immemorial. Their movements changed when they reached the stairs. Their movement remained largely the same, but this time, their eyes followed the rising slope of the stairs.
Even as experienced as O’Brian was, when it came to clearing stairs, it was a lot more hazardous than clearing rooms of a leveled plane. If the enemy knew they were coming and that they had to progress through a set of stairs, then they held an innate advantage. Their views were larger, and they would be able to spot their rifles or helmets before the advancing party could even see the waiting enemy. But for his fireteam, they held an advantage of their own.
O’Brian glanced at his HUDs mini-map and several red icons appeared in upright triangles and two identifiable lines beneath them, indicating how many floors they were above the fireteam.
“Hold,” he said, issuing Fox and Ryder to stop, but still maintained sight lines of the stairs, “They’re two floors above us. Reload, and get ready to engage.”
They replied in response by swapping out their current magazine for a fresh one. As he referenced the mini-map, the lines increased once more, making three lines beneath the triangle icon. As far as his map could identify, the early detection system only allowed up to three levels of distance before capping out. If they had three, then they could be anywhere from three to five floors away, since the proximity sensors only allowed detection for a short range, depending on interfering materials. But as he recently saw two lines, then they weren’t too far behind.
O’Brian tapped Ryder on the shoulder, who did the same with Fox. That was his signal to advance, and the three repeated their motions until they began to hear chatter above them, and the enemy triangle icons changed from one line to none. Fox halted the team once again, maintaining his rifle with one hand. O’Brian knew that they were one stair well away from the enemy.
Before they advanced further, gunfire erupted at the top of the stairwell and chaos among the enemy erupted.
“Vek’Ta! He shot Ronu!!” yelled one Sellian trooper trying to apply medical aid to the unresponsive downed trooper.
“Chief! What of the civilian?” asked another as he fired blindly from the cover of the wall by the door.
“I don’t care! Kill them both!” replied their commanding officer.
“Of course! War Chief!”
As was their cue, O’Brian gave the order to advance with rapid taps on Ryder’s shoulder, which she applied the same to Fox who increased his speed. As he rounded the corner of the stairwell, a pair of Sellian Ground Troopers were seen treating a downed trooper on the landing. A Sellian facing towards the descending path of the stairs was the first to notice Fox and began to notify his busy comrade treating the downed soldier. He was promptly silenced with two shots that made their way through the amber glass of their visor, his body falling limp onto the body that his comrade was treating.
The second grew confused by the sudden action by his comrade but was subsequently shot with three rounds from Fox who landed two at the base of the neck and another in his back. Fox continued, turning his attention back to the stair well, with Ryder switching from the well to the downed Sellian, firing one round into the head of the unresponsive Sellians before continuing behind Fox.
As they reached what seemed to be the top level of the building, a gunfight was erupting just beyond the door, with more Sellians waiting by the door for cover. The fireteam wasted no time up the stairs and began firing into the waiting enemy crowd.
They were caught off guard by the initial shots from Fox and Ryder, but with the increased density, they switched from semi-auto fire, to full. Instead of precise pulls of their trigger now became a hail of bullets at the unsuspecting enemy. Some had tried to fire back, but either missed, or fired into the back of their comrade, resulting in fatal friendly fire. However, that didn’t stop their advance, and continued past the door to the roof when the last Sellian fell. To secure their rear, O’Brian released a fragmentation grenade among the corpses as he progressed through the door. He took cover behind a wall but began firing into the rear of the remaining Sellians currently engaged with Dare.
Fox and Ryder engaged with the four nearest Sellians firing in Dare’s direction, but large air conditioning units provided ample cover for him and his guest. Only one enemy remained, and they advanced when Dare retreated behind cover to reload, knowing that they could kill him in his position. Just as they rounded the corner, O’Brian tried to fire, but found his weapon emptied, and Fox and Ryder were mid-reload.
With a practiced movement, he released his grip from his rifle and reached for his sidearm that was holstered on his right leg. It was as if time had slowed, and drew his handgun which matched the speed of the single step the Sellian took to round the corner of the conditioning unit, but he was faster. With his handgun leveled at his chest, O’Brian fired the entirety of the magazine into the alien. It was rapid, and when time returned to its normal pace, O’Brian released a gasp of air as the Sellian before him laid limp.
Fox and Ryder returned to his side and began securing the rooftop. Fox and Ryder returned to the stairwell while O’Brian approached the hole-riddled conditioning unit, rounding its corner and finding Dare beside a restrained Sellian woman.
Dare was the first to speak up at the sight of his commanding officer coming to his aid, “Your timing couldn’t have been better, Sir,” he replied, holstering his sidearm.
“I’m just glad you’re alright. And good work, by the way, for taking out that jammer,” replied O’Brian.
“I’ll tell ya, it was a hassle trying to find the damn thing, but hey, it got done,” replied Dare, placing a hand on the large rifle beside him, “You just can’t beat the S-12.”
It was the Series Twelve Anti-Material Rifle. A bolt action rifle chambered in .50 caliber utilizing a high-velocity, armor-piercing discarding sabot round. Compared to standard armor-piercing rounds fired from small arms, it’s the best in class.
“Got any ammo on you?” O’Brian asked Dare, to which he replied with two magazines for the Series Twelve and three for the Series Ten Marksman rifle, “See if you can assist Strega and O’Clair to the north from here.”
Dare was confused at first, but did as he was told, leaving the restrained Sellian woman by herself. He placed his marksman rifle on the wall while he planted the larger rifle on its bipod towards the north.
“What am I hunting?” he asked, peering through the scope and making adjustments based on available wind speed and direction. To get a better view, he left his helmet off, preferring to feel the atmosphere as he shot.
O’Brian opened his command map, this time more information was provided to him, as was the increase in resolution. Several icons appeared at the previously mentioned surface-to-orbit cannons. On the cannon itself were the combined squads of Alpha and Bravo. The same could be said for Charlie and Delta, but the former was locked in combat with a wealth of enemy forces revealed on the map. He selected points of the suspected sniper positions and relayed that information to Dare.
“Enemy rooftop snipers, twenty-five hundred meters. Fire when ready.”
When Dare had located his prey, he fired. With a large crack of the rifle, the bullet raced over the horizon, and heated air surrounding the bullet trailed through the air until it connected with an unfortunate soul on the other end.
“One down,” reported Dare, as he chambered another round.
O’Brian then switched his comms channel to that of the command network as he studied the lone Sellian woman, who could only look at him with fear. He ignored it as he made contact with the fleet above.
“Reckoning, This is Raptor One-One Actual,” there was silence at first, with feedback of static in the background before it cleared, and he was able to get in contact with 7th Fleet.
Raptor One-One Actual, This is the TRSC Sword of Reckoning. O’Brian, What the hell is going on down there?? Give me a status report, NOW.”
“We took control of the SA Cannons. They should give you some breathing room. Skies should be cleared, requesting reinforcements. Expect a hot drop,” reported O’Brian.
“Understood,” replied Wolf, “Stand by. Once you get reinforcements, prepare an assault on your main objective, we’ll handle things up here. Oh, and you should have increased map capabilities shortly. We’re sending an aerial data drone once we gain air superiority.”
“Understood, Sir. Raptor Actual, out.”
O’Brian then selected an output for communication to the rest of his company, “Raptors, This is Raptor One-One Actual, hold your stations. Reinforcements are inbound! Give 'em all you have!”
As he cut the call, he looked to the skies, and he noticed an object that looked like it blocked out a series of stars. Leaving a darkened patch with only the occasional blinking lights on the edge of the obscurity, he noticed a series of bright flashes on one edge, followed by another set of explosions on the opposite end of the sphere.
“Athena, what is that?” he spoke to the device in his hand and the visage of a Greek goddess appeared, her form almost ethereal.
“It appears to be a rather large orbital station. It is currently engaged with 4th Fleet and the 7th Fleet,” she reported, her demeanor calm and serene.
“The 4th? I didn’t know we were getting help from them,” spoke Dare, firing another shot to the north and downing another enemy sniper.
“Neither did I. But we need all the firepower we can get.”
As they waited, O’Brian and the Sellian looked to the skies, but he suspected she only did so out of curiosity. Piquing his interest, he removed the gag placed over her mouth, making the time to finally talk to Dare’s prisoner.
“Why the gag?” he asked.
“She wouldn’t stop talking,” Dare replied, keeping his eyes fixed through his scope. O’Brian took this chance to question her while he still had time to spare. Once her gag was removed, she was the first to speak.
“W-what do you want from me??” she said, frantically. O’Brian simply raised his hands in a calming motion, releasing grip from his rifle and letting it hang from his chest from its sling.
“Don’t worry, I'm not here to hurt you. But he was,” he pointed to the Sellian that was the closest to firing on their earlier position. She disregarded his comment and maintained eye contact with him.
“You. You look different from the others,” she said, eyeing his armor, most notably his chest and shoulders, “You wear a different color from the others. Are you their leader?”
He knew that she was probing him. This line of questioning was designed to get information, but the way she executed it was too overt. As simple and direct as it is, she was probably just curious. Depending on what she asked, he didn’t mind answering to his fullest extent.
“Very well. I am their leader, so, ask away,” he said, resting himself in a cross-legged fashion, facing her at eye level. She was perturbed at his sudden rest, but carried on with her questions, as was visible by her facial expressions.
“Are… you a great warrior?” she asked, her intense stare now one of pure curiosity.
“I suppose I am,” he answered curtly.
“Am I correct to assume you have fought at Draxis?” she questioned with a calm demeanor. However, her expression seemed frail.
He wanted to see where her questions would lead, “I was the first ground unit to engage with your soldiers,” her expression seemed unchanging, yet solemn at the same time.
He continued speaking, this time trying to get to the bottom of her questions, “I think it would benefit us both if you just ask me what you want to know,” She swallowed, anxiety rising within her.
“Your fight is with the Council, correct?” he nodded, urging her to continue, “I hold little ties with them, but my request is personal…” She spoke in a solemn tone as tears formed at the corner of her eyes, “I am… looking for my sister. The last I saw of her was with Councilman Polas. Please! I need to know if she’s safe! You’re the only people I can trust.”
She motioned to her chest for an item that could aid in their search, if he decided to go along with her quest. It was a photo of the Sellian before him and another, who was much more expressive, both in expression and clothing. From the Sellian before him, her face was unlike the one in the picture, where once she smiled, she no longer expressed any form of joy.
He took the photo, placing it in an empty pouch, “If I come across her, I’ll send her your way. He placed a hand on her shoulder, in reassurance, before returning to Dare’s side. By now, he had already spent most of his rounds for his Anti-Material Rifle and needed a resupply, but each shot fired true into the enemy.
“We doin' side quests again, Sir?” he commented, loading another round into the chamber.
“It couldn’t hurt,” he turned to the Sellian in custody, looking at her weakened state. She wore a blue outfit, with bindings wrapped on her legs, similar to ancient oriental attire from his home. That was a parallel the two species shared, although it fared more as a fusion between ancient oriental and western attire, with the western aspect being the overcoat she wore.
Her headdress sat upon a dark-blue fabric that rested on her head and shone with a dull luster, with a pair of obsidian octahedron earrings. In fact, gazing upon her was almost entrancing to O’Brian, with her piercing pomegranate colored eyes that contrasted the yellow outer ring and black colored sclera, opposite of the white of his own eyes.
“But enough of that. Let’s see how it’s looking for our brothers and sisters…”
He opened his map, viewing the city and enlarging it to its furthest extent. As Wolf declared, he was able to view more on his map than previously with the destruction of the jammer. There were several isolated fronts of combat, with battle lines naturally established. He could also view and ping enemy combatants on his map for other Raiders to utilize. However, to maintain HUD cleanliness, Such functions were restricted to Company Commanders and squad leaders.
From the tags overlaid on the friendly icons, O’Brian noted that more than just Raptor Company had made a successful drop. Abbreviations such as ‘VIPR’, ‘CBRA’, and ‘RAVN’ were seen scattered around the city. Differing teams were intermixed with one another as they took on groups of enemies, with many Raider teams leaving a wake of death, or others going dark indefinitely. Now that they had reinforcements, it was time to begin the next phase of their assault.
He selected his company-wide comms, and began to issue his orders, “Raptors, This is Raptor Actual, rendezvous at my location. Stay alert, we have friendlies in the A.O. Double time it.”
He then turned to Dare, Fox, and Ryder, who stood at the ready, “Dare, once we resupply, scout ahead to the objective. We’ll follow behind you once we regroup with the rest of the company. Fox, Ryder, secure our entrance. Meanwhile,” he turned to the Sellian, “I’ll find a place to secure our friend. You have a place to hide?”
She nodded, using her exposed fingers to point downward, “There’s an old bunker I used to sleep…” she said sheepishly.
“You’ll wait there until we deal with the council,” she didn’t resist his orders, and listened instead, “Alright, you have your orders. Let’s get to work.”