230 Modern Warfare (1/2)
Orwell's Point
Dasar yawned as he stretched his cold body after a morning of standing guard at the drawbridge. He rubbed his cold hands together with the shaft of his spear and stomped his fur lined boots to relieve them.
His partner. Jun, leaned against the wall and as close as he could to the dying embers of a fire brazier while hugging his spear and half dozing away.
Dasar rubbed his wind bitten face and glanced up to the sky which had started to brighten and suddenly there was a clatter of metal. He turned to the noise and saw Jun had slumped over on the ground and knocked off the brazier.
Dasar laughed thinking that Jun had fallen asleep on his feet and fell down. He reached out to help his friend up when an 8 gram, 6.5 mm cupronickel coated lead bullet slammed through the thin low quality steel and leather of his helm.
The bullet velocity despite lowered slightly by the suppressor was way more than enough to penetrate the steel helmet of the guard and drilling through the skull before exiting out of the other side of the helmet and spending the remainder of its energy against the thick gates companied by a small spray of blood and brain matter.
-----
”Go!”
Several shadowy figures emerged from the moat that surrounded the wall. Their damp uniforms stuck on their bodies as they quickly cover the short distance to the walls.
Sergeant Miles slammed his body against the city wall and checked the two kills before nodding to his men. ”Get rid of those coals.” He said with disgust as the red hot coals were burning and cooking the fallen guard who had knocked them over himself as he fell.
”Raider One to Lord Actual, in position over.” Mills reported his progress to the Battalion Commander, Captain Joesph Tokin, who was just recently promoted from First Lieutenant to Captain to command 2nd Battalion.
”Lord Actual to Raider One, what's your sit rep?” The Battalion Commander asked.
”Raider One, So far so good,” Mills replied. ”Guards surrounding the drawbridge and gate has been neutralized.”
He looked up at the drawbridge and said, ”No alarms as of yet. Over.”
Joseph replied back, ”Raider One, Lord Actual, secure the Gatehouse and clear the two gate towers, how copy?”
”Raider One, roger that. out!” Mills nodded and gestured to his section into action.
”Alright guys, we are gonna up the walls!” Mills said and his men took out grappling hooks from their backpacks. The hooks were fired with compressed air, making a dull thump. The three pronged hooks shot up with a whine as the cables whipped out after them.
The rubber padded prongs hit the top of the wall and the Raiders reeled them in, the prongs barely making any noise. Once the prongs were holding firm, they attached a roll of folded up ladder that self deployed itself upwards with tiny motors running up the cables.
”Go, go, go!” Mills hissed as they secured the ladders to the ground.
Mills followed his men up and they climbed the ladders as fast and silently as they could. The city walls reached a height of roughly nine meters and the men made the climb in less than two minutes.
Vaulting over the battlements, Mills saw his men had spread out in a security cordon, their suppressed M2 Magesplitter already claimed the lives of the guards that were dozing away.
”Raiders! Split up and hit those towers!” Mills whispered and his men split into three groups of two and set off to the towers on each side of the wall.
At the same time, he led one of the teams and headed into the walls towards the gatehouse where the controls for the drawbridge were.
They found a stout looking wooden door reinforced with iron bands blocking their way into the room. One of the men tried to open the door but it was locked from inside and he shook his head at Mills silently.
”Damn, we need to breach this!”
-----
”Raider Three to Lord Actual, guards at the port cleared, moving in to secure the port, over.” The radio at the temporary command post of 2nd Battalion crackled.
”Lord Actual, Raider Four, East Gate is in our hands, over.”
”Raider Two to Lord Actual, West Gate secured, no enemy contact remaining, over.”
Joseph smiled as he listened to the reports coming in from the infiltration teams who were sent ahead to clear the guards and secure key entry points into the city.
Compared to how wars were waged just a year ago, this was like magic, more than magic, as magic couldn't even replicate what was being done here in the Command Post! Joseph thought.
This battlefield management and control system taught and implemented by the hoomans are short of amazing, it was complicated to understand at first but once you learn how it works, everything just falls into place!
Joseph watched the support staff move markers and icons of friendly troops on the map of the area. The map was taken just 12 hours ago by the dragons which flew overhead of the city and with a super high resolution camera.
Even as he stood there, one of the dragons was providing overwatch with thermal imagery which one of the monitors were displaying the live video feed that was going on in the unaware city.
”Lord Actual to all Raiders, good work, hold your stations while Raider One drops the bridge, over.” Joseph took the handset of the radio and announced.
”Echo, Falcon, Gryphon, standby to attack,” Joseph spoke into the set. ”Hawk, prepare to provide support fire and hit the enemy barracks. Over.”
”Roger that!”
-----
Mills sharply gestured to his men to plant breaching charges at the door. His men quickly removed a couple of blocks of explosives and glued it against the hinges and waited for Mills's command.
Several minutes later, Mills's comms came in, ”Team One, tower cleared. over.”