Ablaze Ch.11: Battle of Senchen (8)
Symbols are from "MIL-STD-2525C".
Attacking - Parosana - Marines Squad Defending - Corysia - Unavailable Terrain - Urban
Characters: Parosana Imperial Marines: Kenno Taseko
7th Armored Division: Fuchs Spaer - Fox - CO Scola - Wolf - XO
*2/23/2012: Changed an incorrect number
July 6, Y874 - Corysia - Senchen - Afternoon
Nothing yet, not a single Corysian spotted yet. Sure Kenno has been in the warzone for only two days, and of course their platoon has only been assigned work behind the frontlines, but he's quickly getting reckless with the lack of shooting he has done, and he felt that he was supposed to use his rifle on something by now. So far he hasn't even shot a single round. "I'm a soldier, and I'm in a warzone. Shouldn't I have fired at least one round by now?"
The squad, currently detached from the platoon, walks quickly through one of the many streets of Senchen. Kenno almost thinks he's lost in a maze. All the streets look similar, and they've been taking so many turns that he's frustrated and disorientated. "We're in a warzone. We should have a target, right? An objective of some sort, not just to wander in circles?"
"Oh yes, there is an objective," Kenno mutters. "Relocate to some other damned place."
The fox's patient is quickly draining away, and he desperately wanted to use his assault rifle. Luckily for him, he's on point for the squad today. "Perhaps I will find some bastard Corysian running around behind lines," he thinks to himself, recalling the events two days ago. And sure enough, just under a hundred meters ahead, Kenno spots movement. It's close enough for him to vaguely identify the contact, that is, a group of about four or five furs running across the street. Civilian or combatant? It doesn't matter much to Kenno, and by the time he begins to ponder the possibility of the contact being a civilian, he has already raised his rifle. At least it can't be friendly fire since can tell that the furs are definitely not Parosanans. The fox presses down on the trigger, letting loose a burst from his assault rifle. The furs drop to the ground and lie there motionless. Meanwhile, the rest of the squad has dropped to a crouch with their rifles raised, thinking Kenno had spotted an enemy contact. He did make contact, just not with enemy combatants. Taseko, who is right behind Kenno, saw everything. He jogs up beside the fox.
"Why did you shoot them?" he asks, bewildered by the event that he just witnessed.
"Well, they're Corysian," Kenno says.
"Those furs were noncombatants!"
"They're the enemy, you know. You can't let them escape or they'll shoot back at you," Kenno responds sententiously.
"Kenno, they were unarmed civilians; you're not supposed to shoot them in the first place."
"And why not?" he shoots back. "There are a lot of dead civilians anyways."
Of course he knows, and the wolf will tell him the same: morals and some rubbish like that.
Taseko hates to admit it, but there are a lot of dead noncombatants in this city. He still doesn't like it. It contradicts their rules of engagement and wastes ammunition among many other things. But most of all, he secretly dislikes the excessive killing and indiscriminate destruction. The squad leader moves up to the front.
"What's the damn problem here?" the wolf growls.
"Nothing, let's keep moving," Kenno says. That wolf is still his friend, and Kenno wouldn't allow himself to carry out any type of malicious action against him.
They carry on, boots softly crunching on the rubble covering the ground. The squad makes its way closer towards the fighting, winding through the devastated city streets. Sure enough, there are many corpses scattered throughout the city, both civilian and soldiers alike. The city seems to be filled with firefights, the smoke created from them, and the bodies left by them. It isn't long after heading down a two-lane street that Kenno spots a Corysian armored fighting vehicle further ahead. He quickly identifies it as a Type 41 assault gun from its unique casemate design.
"Armor dead ahead!" he says, dropping to his knee.
The rest of his squad drops to their knee, lined up against the side of the street. The squad leader, now right behind Kenno, moves forward so that he's next to him. The wolf observes the vehicle somewhat less than 200 meters away.
"You think it's operational?" Kenno asks.
"Hard to tell. Even worse, there might be some sneaky fucker inside."
Kenno knows exactly what he meant. Just two days ago, they were assigned to track down some Corysian soldiers who managed to sneak behind lines. As they searched through the city streets, a Type 41 self-propelled gun, similar to the one in front of them, was immobilized and left behind when the Corysians retreated. It turned out it wasn't neutralized yet, and it was able to fire a round, taking down two from their platoon before they killed it. This Type 41 is positioned similar to the one they previously encountered, but this time it's stationed at a T-intersection, facing perpendicularly to the arbitrary right of the street they're on. If there is someone at the gunner's seat in the assault gun, he won't be able to see them, but a fur spotting from the cupola on top of the vehicle will be able to.
"Damn it, there's no way to see inside it from here." The squad leader turns to face the rest of the soldiers. "Alright, we're going to do this carefully. I want B Team to stay behind. Anti-armor, keep your sights welded onto that gun. A Team will be bounding over to the target, got it?"
"Affirmative!" the soldiers ring out in unison.
The squad rearranges itself to fit the plan, A Team at the front and B at the back, along with the anti-armor specialist who loads an unguided missile into the launcher. The fur shoulders the reusable launcher and line up the sights.
"Ready?" The squad leader asks. "Go!"
Kenno and Taseko start first, running about twenty meters forward and taking cover behind an overturned dumpster. The squad leader and another soldier passes by them shortly after. They continue a short distance before using a protruding section of a building as cover. Now it's their turn again. Kenno emerges from cover, and run past the squad leader to a damaged sedan at the edge of the street. After a few more turns, A Team reaches the T-intersection. Only a short distance away is the assault gun, which still seems unaware of their presence as it aims towards their right. Kenno and Taseko move forward while the squad leader and the other Parosanan wolf keep an eye out and make sure the intersection is clear. Even though they are pretty deep inside Parosanan-held territory, the enemy might still be lingering here, as they learned only two days ago.
Kenno reaches the Type 41 at the opposite side of the intersection, and inspects the casemate self-propelled gun. It must be an old model, since it neither had reactive armor, nor slat armor, or any other type of added protection. Rather pathetic, he thought. The fox isn't a mechanic of course, but even to him the tracks seem worn down, and the wheels infested with rust. Examining the body of the assault gun reveals to him a hole in the armor wider than his thumb. He can tell that it's the result of a HEAT round, although the effectiveness of the blast is in question, thanks to the last self-propelled gun they encountered. Kenno slowly pads around the entire vehicle, inspecting every part of it. An uncountable number of bullet marks dot the hull. The camouflage paint is wearing down, the external fuel tanks are plagued by rust, and one of them even has small holes from extended usage. The whole thing appears as if it is about to fall apart.
The fox stops when he comes full circle back to the side of the Type 41, where the rest of A Team has gathered.
"Well, it's pretty dead to me," Kenno says.
"Only one way to be sure," the squad leader says, looking at the fox. Kenno looks back at his squad leader quizzically.
"Go on, get up on the gun and open the hatch. Make sure they're dead," the squad leader continues.
"What?"
"We can't tell if it's fucking dead from outside, all we can see is rusted metal."
The fox doesn't know exactly what awaits him inside the assault gun, and has no intention of finding out, but orders are orders. Kenno sighs, and mutters under his breath as he slings his rifle. Trusting that the area is clear of hostiles, he grabs onto the handle bar welded onto the slanted side of the Type 41's hull. Kenno places one of his hindpaws on the tracks, and pushes himself off the ground. Now his muzzle is somewhat higher than the hole in the armor. Despite being outside of the assault gun, Kenno can smell the stench of burnt fur and flesh, or at least that's what it probably is. The fox's lips curl in disgust while he takes another step. Now, his head is just below the flat top of the Type 41. Carefully, Kenno raises his head upwards before at last he sees the miniature enclosed turret for the commander, complete with its 6.5mm machine gun.
At the back of his mind, the fox was half expecting it to face him and open fire. Laughing inwardly at his stupid, yet previously believed idea, Kenno lifts himself up so that the top half of him lies on the roof. He studies the Type 41's hatch, and curiously, finds it unlocked. Cautiously he opens it, and is immediately greeted by the stomach-churning stench or burnt flesh and fur, far worse than through the hole in the armor. Kenno visibly flinches back from it, but forces himself to stay there and inspect the inside of the superstructure. The odor wafts up like smoke from a fire. He whips out his flashlight and shines it down into the hull, only finding a grisly scene inside to meet him. The interior is almost completely colored crimson. The commander, gunner, and loader's remnants stuck to various locations on the inside of the Type 41, with more complete remains lying on the bottom. Kenno doesn't want to see any more of it, quickly pulling his muzzle back, slamming the hatch shut.
"Fuck!" he says, jumping off the self-propelled gun.
"They're all dead then?" the squad leader asks.
"Go see for yourself!" Kenno says with disgust.
The wolf shrugs in response and activates his radio. That was a good enough answer for him.
"Squad, the area is clear. Regroup and move out."
With that, the soldiers meet up and head towards the front, and their first combat experience.
July 7, Y874 - Corysia - 7th Armored Division HQ - Noon
"Oh, how did I forget?" a wolf mutters.
Spaer's ear perks up. The red fox traces a claw over the map laid out in front of him, creating imaginary plans and routes for his tanks as he listens to his executive officer.
"What is it?"
"News from Contrael, about the NSU and AON."
Kargona. Spaer's paw freezes, just as a platoon of Type 44m3s are about to make contact with the Parosanans. Major General Fuchs Spaer raises his eyes and looks straight at Scola, his XO, sitting on a chair at the opposite side of his desk.
"I saw a news report. Just a few hours ago, I think, the Coralians had...," the XO's voice trails off, noticing Spaer's eyes on him.
Previously prodding the food on his tray with his spoon, the XO's paw also stops, and the wolf meets his commanding officer's eyes hesitantly.
"Well?" Fuchs asks.
"Coralus announced that it would unconditionally surrender to Kargona. The official time they surrendered was at 4PM, ceasefire will be in effect in a few hours from now."
Spaer listens, rather amused by the news. He quickly adds up the elapsed time. Exactly 50 days. That's all it took for Kargona and Arcania to take down the AON, except Trunicia and Atorcia. Spaer is impressed in Kargona. On top of that, he also likes the country itself.
Memories surface of when he was a little kit, and his father would take the family to visit Kargona, before the Economic Crisis during the Year 860s. His father would show his mother and him around the country, and take them to the many wonderful places throughout Kargona. There were modern, sophisticated cities and humble towns, pristine forests and beautiful countryside.
"Fuchs?"
"Huh?"
Spaer's executive officer looks him in the eye, with concern on his face.
"You're dozing off. You're... you still..."
"I'm what?"
"Never mind," Scola mumbles, and looks down at his tray of what resembles food.
"No really, what is it?" Spaer persists. The wolf sighs in response.
"You still have connections to Kargona, right?"
"What do you mean by that?" Spaer asks, narrowing his eyes.
"Well, I just... I heard that you're part Kargonan. I mentioned Kargona and you blanked for a second. I thought I stirred up some bad memories or something, I mean-"
"Oh, it's alright, I just thought you were accusing me of being a National Socialist or something," Spaer says. "I am part Kargonan. My father was one of the Kargonans who came here during the Corysia-Kargona Cooperation Agreement decades ago. I've been to Kargona before, too. It's a beautiful place. But I don't support the National Socialist Movement, or any of that politics."
The wolf nods understandingly. Then the wolf stops for the third time
"Fuchs, there's something I don't quite understand."
"Hm? What's do you want to know about?" Spaer asks his XO.
"Well... with all due respect, and don't get me wrong on this, but... why are we dedicating so many resources trying to keep Senchen?"
Spaer inwardly sighs with relief. He thought for a second Scola was going to ask about his personal life.
"A lot of furs are probably wondering the same thing. You see here..."
The red fox rises from his chair, and walks over to a regional map on the wall. Scola follows, and stands next to Fuchs. He points at a dot, a rather important dot.
"You know Vanden of course, our capitol. Senchen is almost right next door, and if it falls the next objective for Parosana would be Vanden. We don't want to leave an open door to Vanden. Second, how far are the two cities? About... a bit over 100 miles, or 200 kilometers, whatever, the exact number doesn't matter. How far did the Paro CAG push us back when the CNAF left us behind? Only 25 kilometers, but that's at least a tenth of the distance. There isn't much room to breathe in this space. Every grid on the map counts. Now if Senchen falls, there isn't much except that short stretch of relatively flat ground between it and Vanden. And third, Corysia essentially will be bisected, and our entire Northern Front will be encircled."
"Damn, that's a lot at stake," his XO says after a pause.
"Yeah... hopefully we'll win this," the red fox mutters back.
But Spaer doubts that.
An entire Parosanan army group, the main attacking force, is advancing forward in the Northern Front. A multicarrier task force sits barely a mile or two offshore, supporting multiple divisions of Parosanan infantry and Imperial Marines in Senchen. To counter that, the Corysians have sparse armored divisions, and the rest is almost entirely consisted of reserve infantry divisions.
And still, the Paros are yet to launch an amphibious invasion in the large port city in the south.
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