Ablaze Ch.9: Battle of Senchen (6)
This time's cover uses symbols from "MIL-STD-2525C".
Attacking - Parosana - Mechanized Squad x2 Defending - Corysia - Paratrooper Platoon + Marine Squad Terrain - Urban
*2/23/2012: Changed an incorrect number
July 4, Y874 - Corysia - Senchen - Afternoon
Harris opens his eyes partially, before he feels the wheeled light utility vehicle abruptly, and violently, decelerates. Faine presses down on the brakes so hard that the wheels screech. Harris eyes pop open, and he hears multiple heavy machine guns open fire. The light vehicle quickly comes to a complete stop.
"Out, out!" he hears someone shout.
Slightly stunned from the sudden event, Harris is the last to scamper out amid a hail of gunfire. Littered here and there on the suspended highway are civilian vehicles, some badly damaged while others have been destroyed. The other four light utility vehicles following behind them have stopped a short distance back, with the surviving soldiers dismounted and hiding behind them. The gunners are still behind their weapons, firing at something further ahead. Harris leans around the corner of the light vehicle to see what it is.
The whole highway is littered with the bodies of destroyed civilian vehicles. Just in front of them is the lead vehicle, the occupants of the lead vehicle already out and taking cover behind the LUVW. About two hundred meters further ahead are two Parosanan APCs, hardly visible behind the maze of wreckage on the highway. The soldiers occupying them are dismounting and slowly advancing with the APCs. One of the Parosanan armored fighting vehicles is armed with a 20mm cannon enclosed in a turret, while the other has an 11.4mm machine gun, already firing at the assorted Corysian soldiers.
"Get back!" Faine growls, pulling Harris behind cover with his uninjured arm as the machine gun APC adjusts its fire and sends a burst in their direction. "Who's our gunner? Someone get on the machine gun!"
This time, one of the furs voluntarily mounts the weapon and starts firing. Up head, automatic small arms fire joins the Parosanan machine gun, forcing the Corysians to cower behind cover and injuring one of the LUVW gunners.
"Where did our anti-armor specialist go?" Vance shouts amid the firefight.
"Right here!" he responds.
"Take out those damned APCs!"
"There's too many obstructions on the road, and I only have two rockets!"
Faine tries to think of a possible exit as various firearms exchange fire, the rounds impacting and ricocheting off of the vehicle and the surrounding terrain. It would be impossible for them to hold their position against two Paro mechanized squads. Could they manage to fall back to a ramp that leads down? They certainly can't push forward in search of an exit. What about the side of the highway? It's definitely too high to jump off safely. They don't have their parachutes, and it's definitely too short anyway. They have their equipment, but do any of the soldiers have a rope long enough to fast-rope down?
"Does anyone have a rope?" Faine asks the furs around him. One of them nods.
"How long?"
"Twenty meters or so, why?" the paratrooper asks.
"We might be able to use it to fast-rope down."
Faine examines his surroundings again. The captured LUVWs are stuck on the innermost of the two lanes with little cover. Elsewhere, there are abandoned civilian vehicles scattered about every fifteen to twenty meters. The Parosanan mechanized squads, meanwhile, have closed a third of the distance, now about a hundred fifty meters away. Faine looks towards the vehicles behind them. He could ask the other soldiers hiding behind their vehicles to cover them as they cross, but will they hear him? Never mind, at least they'll be doing something.
"Cover us, on my mark!" he shouts as loud as he can towards the vehicles behind him.
"Alright, you four," Faine shouts so he can be heard, pointing at four of the soldiers including the paratrooper with the rope, and a marine team leader who has a radio. "Cross to the edge of the highway as fast as you can when I give the signal, everyone else provide covering fire. Secure the rope onto something, and get off the highway! Radio me when you have secured a perimeter on the ground."
Everyone readies themselves and awaits the signal. Faine mentally prepares himself, his will slowly breaking as he hears the volume of incoming fire. The wolf forces it out of his mind, focusing on his immediate objective.
"Two, one, mark!"
The soldiers lean around the sides of the LUVW and open fire on the Parosanans. The four selected soldiers burst out of cover, sprinting towards the side of the highway. The support gunner lays down fire with his Type 55-SAW, sending longs bursts of 6.5mm rounds downrange. The soldiers from the other vehicles also open fire, but by then the team has already made it across. They drop to the ground and take cover behind an SUV, or at least the remnants of one. It may not be bulletproof, but it at least conceals them. Luckily it also has direct contact with the barricade at the side of the highway, blocking the Paros' direct line of sight with whoever is at the rope. A disabled sedan sits a short distance behind, nearly diagonal to the concrete barricades lining the highway's edge. The two vehicles create a small area, providing a good amount of concealment for the soldiers fast-roping down. However, the vehicles will not stop incoming rounds.
As Vance retreats behind the LUVW to reload, Faine takes over. He leans out of cover, just far enough for him to take a few shots with his assault rifle. Shortly after, the Parosanan APC armed with the automatic cannon opens fire. The high explosive 20mm rounds hit the lead vehicle, heavily damaging it and killing the gunner. The rounds come dangerously close to slaughtering the soldiers using it for protection. The cannon pins the soldiers behind cover, firing two round bursts with little rest in between.
Faine's team is mostly left alone by the deadly 20mm rounds, and fortunately the team setting up the rope isn't receiving too much incoming fire. The rope isn't thick enough for proper fast-roping, but it'll have to do. One end is thrown over the edge of the highway, where it hangs about three or four meters off the ground. The end still on the suspended highway is tied to the railing on the concrete barricade bordering the suspended highway. Faine hides behind their light vehicle, having depleted his rifle's magazine. It isn't until now that Faine realizes the flaws in his plan. What would he do if they discovered Paros in the street below? What if they all descend safely, only to be ambushed? There is no way he can tell for sure that it's safe on ground level. But the biggest problem is that the SUV concealing the soldiers roping down isn't bulletproof.
"I think it's about time you get that patched up," Vance suggests, referring to Faine's still untreated wound on his arm, and derailing his thoughts.
The wolf nods, and Vance pulls out one of Faine's field bandages before applying it to the bullet wound.
At the same time, everyone else is exchanging fire with the enemy, trying to hold back the mechanized troops. Seeing that the APCs have advanced to a reasonable range, the anti-armor specialist unslings one of his disposable anti-tank weapons. The wolf quickly removes the safety pin at the rear, and flips down the shoulder stop. He places the tube on his shoulder, and flips up the sights and pushing a small lever at the front of the weapon, engage the firing mechanism. The multipurpose unguided rocket launcher, disposable, is now armed. Mindful of the trigger, the wolf leans out from around the corner of the LUVW, but tries to stay as far behind cover as possible. The wolf finds the APC stubbornly hard to aim at. Wrecked cars in the street threaten to stop the rocket before hitting its target. He presses on the forward safety, the last safety mechanism, and presses down on the MURLD's trigger button. The unguided rocket shoots out towards the APC, leaving a small cloud white smoke around the wolf. To his disdain, the HEAT rocket misses the autocannon APC's turret by just under a meter.
Reacting surprisingly swiftly, mostly since it's already aiming their way, the APC returns fire, sending six 20mm rounds at the LUVW the Corysians are hiding behind. The vehicle's machine gun falls silent, the gunner killed by the incoming cannon rounds. One round hits right next to the anti-armor specialist, just as he drops the spent fiberglass tube, killing him and almost ripping his body apart in the process. Harris wipes the blood off his forepaws and arms shakily, transferring it onto his uniform. Retrieving the last MURLD, Vance, done applying the bandage to Faine, reaches over to the dead fur's body. The wolf grabs the weapon, relatively unscathed, and hides behind cover. He slings the large tube behind his back, and shoulders his rifle. If the wolf attempts to eliminate the enemy armor now, he would miss the target, and quickly be cut down by incoming rounds.
On the street below, the last of the four soldiers descends successfully. He hits the ground, absorbing the impact in his hindpaws. The four spread out onto the nearby sidewalk, conducting a quick sweep.
"The way's clear," the team leader on the ground says through his radio.
"We have an exit!" Faine shouts, notifying the rest of the Corysian soldiers.
But the Corysians fall back in a disorganized manner, with few of them actually providing covering fire. They did retreat one group at a time, however, which at least didn't cause as many casualties. The soldiers with Faine also fall back to the fast-rope. Rapidly, the soldiers arrive at the side of the highway, where the rope has been set up. As soon as they get there, the Corysians descend to the street below, clutching on to the line and falling the last few meters to the ground. Now the only surviving furs left behind the LUVWs are Faine, Vance, and Harris.
Vance changes his rifle's empty magazine, and pulls back the charging handle. With the retreating soldiers causing a diversion, the wolf takes out his recently acquired MURLD, and prepares the anti-armor weapon for firing. He shoulders the large tube, steps out of cover, and points the MURLD towards the general direction of the enemy. Vance spots an APC only fifty meters away, and quickly lines up the simple sights on the weapon with his target. The moment of truth is here. The wolf pushes down on the forward safety, but before the rest of his forepaw presses down on the firing button, he is hit. Vance does his best not to fire the MURLD now that he had lost his aim. The wolf and his rocket launcher hit the ground. Meanwhile, Harris is also at the same corner of the vehicle as Vance. Seeing Vance on the ground, the blood from his wound already creating a sizable mark on his uniform, the gray fox hastily slides in a new magazine and pulls back the charging handle before slinging his Type 55. He desperately pulls at the wolf's partially exposed body, gradually dragging him behind cover.
Faine, who is on the right side, notices shortly after. He bounds over in two steps, and quickly drags his teammate behind the vehicle, almost pushing Harris down in the process. After his friend has been moved to a safer location, Faine searches for the wound. He finds the bullet wound on Vance's chest, and whips out a small utility knife. Contact near the wound sends a new wave of sharp pain through Vance, who could only weakly move his limbs and cry out in pain. Carefully yet quickly, the team leader cuts open the bloody uniform covering the wound on the wolf's chest. He sheathes the knife and digs through Vance's med-kit, and pulls out a package of field dressing. Vance whimpers almost inaudibly in the heavy gunfire. Harris merely watches on quietly. Not long ago, he was doing something similar to himself. The fox dips his muzzle lays his ears back as far as the apertures in his helmet would allow. He feels as if this is his fault. He knows it isn't, it can't be, but it tugs at the edge of his mind that somehow, he is responsible.
Possibly Vance is already dead, and maybe, no, he won't make it out alive, but Faine doesn't care. He knows Vance personally, not like one of the many paratroopers in his platoon he also knew, or the many militiafurs who fight with tears in their eyes, not the countless civilians who cover the streets, who have died in swarms by Paro air strikes, artillery bombardments, or just because the enemy infantry could fucking execute them. Vance is his teammate, his friend, one of three, the other two of whom have already died. Vance is different. He felt not just closer to him, but Vance is alive, still fucking alive, and maybe Faine could save him, just maybe.
However, as Faine is about to open the package of dressing, a rather loud explosion resonates nearby. Neither Faine nor Harris needed to know anything else. A cannon round just hit the front of the nearly destroyed LUVW, meaning that there will be more right behind it. Both fall flat on the ground as fast they can, hugging close to the pavement. Even as they hit the ground, the second 20mm projectile, thankfully for them, hits the vehicle. A succession of four more explosions rings out, shaking the two paratroopers violently due to the proximity, throwing up dust, and spraying fragments everywhere. Some miss the vehicle, exploding after hitting the ground nearby. One round manages to punch through the vehicle and explode against a nearby civilian vehicle, scattering Faine and Harris with fragments.
The APC is dangerously low on 20mm HE rounds. Earlier fighting had drained a considerable amount, and this engagement has nearly spent all of it, forcing the gunner to switch to AP rounds. Fortunately for the paratroopers, the armor-piercing rounds aren't as effective against infantry, allowing Faine and Harris to live.
The team leader of 2-1 Alpha raises his muzzle, as does Harris. Perhaps because of blood loss, possibly because of internal damage from the bullet, or maybe it's because of the automatic cannon rounds. Either way, Vance isn't making any sounds, he isn't breathing, nor is he moving in any way. Faine shakes his friend with his forepaw, not believing the obvious. Still, there is no movement.
"I'm...," Harris whimpers.
"Shut your fucking muzzle."
"...sorry-"
"Just shut the fuck up!" Faine snarls, throwing an empty 30-round rifle magazine at the grey fox.
Interrupting the wolf and fox, the APC fires its cannon three times, this time aiming in the direction of the fast-rope. The AP rounds punch through the civilian SUV and impacted the barricade lining the highway, killing two Corysian soldiers. The survivors, although slightly distraught, hastily continue fast-roping down. Only six furs left.
Meanwhile, Harris dips his muzzle in shame, his ears falling backwards. What is wrong with him today? He couldn't stop screwing up everything, could he? Not only did he injure himself, but a friendly died, probably because of him. But how did he cause it? Harris can't quite pin it down, but it has to be him, right? Suddenly his ears perk up again. He heard pawsteps right around the vehicle.
Harris swears, shouldering his Type 55 assault rifle and raising it. Too late, a Paro soldier appears only a few meters in front of the vehicle, but is promptly killed by a burst of 6.5mm bullets to the upper body. Another soldier appears shortly afterwards, only to suffer the same fate. Faine keeps his rifle's sights fixed at the corner of the LUVW. A short, uneasy silence follows, prompting the wolf to rise to his hindpaws.
"Cover us!" he shouts to the soldiers at the rope.
After two of the soldiers move to provide covering fire, Faine grabs Harris by his vest, and violently hauls the fox upright.
"Get up, we're leaving," the wolf growls.
The thought comes to Faine shortly after that Harris didn't actually do anything wrong. There's no reason the fox should receive his anger. Faine sighs before leaning out of cover and shouldering his rifle. He empties part of his magazine at where he thinks the Parosanans are taking cover. The wolf and grey fox then sprint across the highway to its edge, the two soldiers at the rope covering them as they cross. Faine and Harris drop to a crouch behind the wrecked SUV. Almost immediately, an object falls at the hindpaws of the two paratroopers. They recognize it as a grenade, and Harris drops to the ground as Faine quickly kicks away the explosive, before joining the gray fox on the pavement. Moments later the grenade explodes, immediately followed by heavy pawsteps against the asphalt. The wolf and fox, along with the two soldiers who covered them, emerge from cover. The four exchange fire with the enemy through the thin dust in the air, soon neutralizing the few enemy soldiers. With no danger of friendly fire, the rest of the Parosanan soldiers and the machine gun equipped APC respond by firing upon the Corysians, forcing Faine to hide behind the SUV.
In the midst of the incoming fire, the wolf hears a yelp next to him. Faine turns, only to find Harris clutching a wound on his gut, whimpering in pain. A round had pierced through the thin SUV's walls and continued through Harris's body. Blood flows through any gaps there are between his fingers, soaking the gray fox's entire abdominal area with red. Faine reaches for Harris's med-kit, but realizes that his field dressing has already been used for his leg wound. Somewhat hesitantly, the wolf reaches for his own bandages before realizing his has already been used on his own wound.
"Shit. Here, let me-," Faine says before being interrupted.
"Don't...," Harris whimpers nearly inaudibly.
Faine pulls out his utility knife anyways. He is about to cut off a bit of his uniform for a makeshift bandage, but then a soldier at the rope calls for him.
"Sir, you're the last one, be quick!" the last soldier says, before descending to the street.
Faine looks back at Harris, still bleeding away. The fox's chest heaves with his breaths, prolonging his life against the inevitable. Harris moves a free blood-splattered paw over to his vest, removing his two grenades which he had left untouched. He then leans his head forward, revealing the dust and grit-matted fur on the back his neck. Faine realizes what the fox has planned. The wolf removes Harris's ID tags looped around his neck. He then picks up his assault rifle, and runs the short distance to the rope hanging off the edge of the suspended highway. He slings his rifle and lifts his hindpaws over the barricade. Looking back one last time at the nearly lifeless fox, Faine jumps away from the edge of the highway, rope in his forepaws.
But the short and simple trip down isn't so easy. The rope was damaged by the cannon rounds that impacted nearby. Not only that, the rope is unsuitable for actual fast-roping, being a bit too thin. About two-thirds down the rope, it snaps after the stress it has sustained. Faine's stomach lurches as he looks up in horror at the quickly shrinking highway above, and free-falls to the street beneath him.
Thanks for reading!