All Along the Watchtower: Part IV

[MasterChief096]

Part I: http://www.planetside-universe.com/s...ad.php?t=47350
Part II: http://www.planetside-universe.com/s...ad.php?t=51607
Part III: http://www.planetside-universe.com/s...ad.php?t=51610

*Note: remember, sometimes the call-signs of individual soldiers may be used in the dialogue henceforth, remember to look them up in part III if you forget them.

All Along the Watchtower: Part IV

"Board'er up fellas, move move move!" grunted Yong. NC soldiers rushed to the second Galaxy, quickly occupying its remaining seats. "Puzzles, I want you on tail-gun, you know you're good with it." The roar of the Galaxies' plasma vents would have been impossible to hear over, were it not for the helmet-based comm-links in each soldier's helmet. A staunchly disciplined platoon, despite their short two day indoctrination under their new captain.

The courtyard of Dropship Center Naum was bustling with NC activity. Entire companies were boarding Galaxy transports in preparation for the offensive. Zotz-based artillery pummeled VS entrenchments. Fighter squadrons wrestled with enemy air for control of the skies over Bitol. Strike groups composed of infiltrators were busy sabotaging the enemy's combat engineering placements and causing a panic. The VS knew what we were up to, it was impossible to hide it. They were massing up a defense force and abandoning their assault on Voltan to do so.

Analyst Shor Khan radioed in, "NC armored elements are in position. Forward fighters indicate that enemy air forces are all tied up repelling fighter squadrons. The ground push will begin shortly. Galaxies at Naum are being given the go head to make way to Bitol. Your detachment is to hang tight until warp-scans indicate TR are draining from Voltan's interior into the surrounding area. Over and out."

"You heard her boys and girls, sit tight. Pilots, take us to max elevation and move us to the east, I don't fancy us being picked up by a TR scout."

In a thunderous whirlwind of heat and exhaust, several hundred NC troops and their transports lifted off from Naum, assembled into formation, rendezvoused with their escort wings, and blazed off like the Valkyries of old. Somewhere in the distance, to the west, an earth-shattering battle had already begun.

...

The Sovereignty's defenses fell silent when the artillery shelling halted. Anxiety flooded the ranks. Squads and platoons checked and rechecked their perimeters, Magriders scanned the horizon. The constant burst of flak fire from Bitol riddled the skies in puffs of black smoke. Bits and pieces of combusted airplanes fell to the ground in randomized bunches. The rat-tat-tat-tat of chaingun fire ripped through air and space to the ground forces. All was distinguishable now that the thud of the artillery strikes had ended.

A characteristic whizzing could be discerned, approaching the VS fast from the east. Tiny blips appeared in the distance. Some larger than others. Panic swept the VS forces as the realization came. Liberator Strike Groups, escorted by Wasp fighters. The sting of the Wasps came first, as they attempted to mitigate the already weakened VS air force. Lock-on missiles streamed elegant patterns across the sky as the airplanes danced the evasive dance. Every now and then an explosion superimposed red against the sky's blue backdrop.

Flak fire from Bitol intensified. Wall turrets, MAX suits, Skyguards, all synchronized fire at the incoming horde of bombers. They were only moderately successful. Flak fire shredded at least one third of what appeared to be at least a hundred Liberators. Some sixty steamed ahead. The order was given, VS infantry went to ground, filling the cracks and crevices of the hills and hugging the bases of trees as not to be erased from surface of Auraxis, a scorched crater testament to their story in this battle, for rebirthing a soldier in a front line territory takes hours, sometimes days.

After the firestorm of warheads had been dropped from their Liberator hosts, the strike group retreated. Recovering into a blasted wasteland, the VS could see that only minor casualties were suffered, a half dozen ground vehicles and a couple dozen infantry. The seven hundred defenders remained mostly intact, and the armored husks of Magriders could still be seen repositioning themselves to compensate for the changes in geography due to the bombs.

As the smoke dissipated, it gave way to the advancing armored columns of NC Vanguards, renowned for the power of their 150mm shell. A whole contingent of supporting vehicles followed suit. Deliverers and their variants carrying combat engineers and Skyguards laying down suppressive fire on what remained of VS air power. Vindicators squeezed through the cross-sections of the tank columns and let loose their EMP bursts, clearing mines. Then they pivoted horizontally, shielding the Vanguards from the accurate bursts of railgun fire. Combat engineers hopped out of their transports and surged to the front of the column, thumpers in hand, loaded with jammer grenades to take care of the mine fields so the vehicles could advance.

Inevitably, some of the NC tanks and transports ended up as blasted chunks of nanites spewing blistery flames. But just as inevitably, the ground column kept advancing. A pincer strike of Vanguards from the south forced a detachment of Lancer operatives in the hilly terrain to retreat towards the northern forest, which was once again being hit with artillery fire. The Advanced Mobile Stations the VS deployed quickly drained their clonal reserve, causing them to uncloak and return to Bitol. It was of no use, for swinging in from the southwest were Galaxies filled with heavy infantry and armored MAX suits, ready to knock out Bitol from behind. Each Galaxy carried a Skyguard loaded in its cargo space, which dropped out early and began scattering VS interceptors.

Observing the carnage from warp-view, the TR leaders holed up in Voltan ordered their men to assault the VS and NC stragglers on the island, leaving only a platoon sized element defending the interior of the base.

...

Treggan Yong's attack group kept radio silence, waiting for the moment. "Khan to Yong, Khan to Yong over."

"Go Khan."

"Warp-scans indicate TR draining from Voltan, unsure of how many interior defenders remain. High Command has authorized you to proceed on mission, over."

"Roger that, Yong out." Yong tightened his seat belt and loaded his Jackhammer. "Move out, its go time! Fly us directly over the roof. You know your roles people, now do'em!"

...

From their elevation, Voltan could be blocked out with a single thumb. The mists of Hossin made it hard to distinguish just which part of Voltan they were over, but the pilot's navigational computers pinpointed it for them. The main roof lay directly below as well as the satellite dish. The circular exits on the bottom of the crew bay's hull opened up, one hole for each soldier. Yong gave the go head via hand gesture, and both galaxies - 30 people total - silently hopped out.

Only the sound of currents of air rushing by was prevalent. The platoon remained straight-standing in their descent, closing in arms and legs to make for a quicker fall. Once they hit ground, Gold Squad would lay down suppressive fire on on the south and east side, Indigo Squad the north, and Orange Squad the west. Yong's squad would breach the base.

Voltan closed in fast. A sentry on the northwest battlement near the wall turret looked out over the landscape. A boltdriver round sliced through his helmet and out the other side, the force from which shoved his body to the ground. Shit, how does Puzzles do that Yong thought. Still midair, Puzzles holstered his Bolt Driver and whipped out his Sweeper shotgun. 100 yards from the surface, each suit's gel layer activated. When the platoon slammed onto the roof, the kinetic force was transferred through the gel and dispelled into the air. Each squad set about to their task, but there were only a few sentries about the walls, all of which were taken care of by a hail of magnetically propelled Guass slugs.

"Expect most of them inside everyone," Yong warned. Winter Rose went about planting demo charges in a block pattern on a strip of the roof next to the dish room.

"Charges set," she confirmed.
"Blast us a hole!" shouted Yong.

She detonated the charges, and a part of Voltan's roof went crashing down, flattening an unlucky Terran underneath. All squads closed in, fired thumper fire to disorient any enemies, and sent MAXs feet first into the breach. They cleared out a fire-team in the lobby. The Lady went about setting another square perimeter of demo charges, which went on to create another hole down to another level. The same was repeated until basement level was reached.

"Kistri hack that generator door ASAP!" Yong ordered.

A REK was flung out and the IFF lock overridden. Gold and Indigo squad sent in their Falcon MAX suits to blow the generator while everyone else covered. No doubt the generator warning signals had alerted the rest of the defenders what they were up to. Regardless, they stuck to the plan. Orange squad took up defensive positions inside the generator room while everyone else hacked and secured the control console area.

The facility's defenders were so confused and disoriented that they completely ignored attempting to repair the generator and went straight for the control room. They were easy pickings to the well established NC squads lying in wait. By the book, the TR MAXs rampaged in first, but were met with several soldiers prepared with rocket fire. Banks dealt personalized rockets to some of the MAX suits. The base's remaining defenders either retreated to link up with topside forces or were killed, giving complete control of the facility to Yong's platoon.

"Solid work captain," Shor Khan buzzed. "Artillery is now hitting the perimeter of the base, preventing the rest of the TR force from walking back in. The Bitol assault has forced the VS into the base and has dealt enough damage that they will most likely have to abandon it to reestablish their presence, so High Command is recalling all raid forces to Voltan to deal with the more exposed TR. Have your platoon sit tight in the basement, we're dropping in reinforcements on the roof. Make sure you get the generator up when our ownership protocols override facility control. Over and out."

No casualties. A great start for Yong's first platoon.

...

High Commander Harkin surveyed the live battle feeds. Everything fell into place. NC bastions on other continents reported zero TR activity, and scouts on Ceryshen said that the TR forces on Hossin were getting redirected to the icy continent. The other commanders beamed with joy and simply watched the mop up on Hossin unfold.

"Khan to Harkin, over."

"Harkin here."

"One of our scout planes operating out of the Vakar air base has reported a distress signal from one of the island chains off the coast of Ishundar."

"Vakar? That's the air base responsible for keeping tabs on troop movements on Ishundar correct?"

"Yes sir."

"Where exactly is the island this signal is from?"

"The island is called Drutesh, though nothing important resides there, it was named for the sake of completing the map, like most of the islands on this moon. It is approximately fifty-three miles off the coast of the southeastern tip of Ishundar."

"I see."

"Vakar wants your orders sir. Do they pick up the signalers?"

"Give them the go head. Have them take a platoon to pick them up, just in case. Have whoever is found brought back to sanctuary, I want to interview them in person."

"Roger that sir, over and out."

To be continued...

[Sonny]

Hi Masterchief,
I finally got round to reading all four parts. It's really great! I think you do a great job of describing the battle scenes and making them exciting. Also the mystery regarding the core of Auraxis is intriguing, I look forward to finding out where that story arc goes. I'd like to read more about some of the characters in the squad and their backstories, if you think about writing more .

Keep it up!

Sonny