Chapter 107: Village Siege
Part 1: The Siege of Grylan - Night Fright
TIME: 22:26 GKT
DATE: War Day 887/11 Noneus, 1004 C.S.
LOCATION: Grylan, Griffon Kingdom
I had planned on an expedition to an arctic territory. I had planned to make arrangements with the Griffon Kingdom for simple transit. I had not planned for a full campaign of flushing out terrorists in the Griffon Kingdom, but I had planned for things to go "wrong" somehow.
Call it learned experience.
I had state militia forces forward deployed to the Crystal Kingdom. I had forces on alert, but not "instant deployment" alert. My allies in the area knew what I was going to do, and had been warned of possible action. I took the threat of enemy activity seriously.
It still wasn't what I thought it'd be.
I was now hunkered down in a Griffon village with my troops, most of which had little to no combat experience. I also had some barely-trained Municipal Guards that had less than a few hours of instruction on what it means to be a soldier.
BUT! I had friends on the way. I just needed time.
Whoever was directing this attack, though, realized that. After giving them a scare in the rocky woods south of town, they decided to switch tactics. This bode poorly for me. Both sides were equally well armed, and I was sure, had about the same level of training and experience in fighting. It would come down to who was the better commander. As usual.
However! I had a few tricks up my sleeve.
My troops were mostly Engineers. That meant, they knew inventive ways to make the terrian their own, to turn disadvantages into strengths. How to fortify a position properly. How to construct traps and deny access to various avenures of approach.
They'd had a few hours "prep time."
Rapid: "Sir. We've got three fully fortified positions - north west, north east, and south. The village is roughly triangular in that orientation. We've got improvised mines and demo charges set all over the place." He nodded. "We're ready."
K: "Excellent!" I got up from where I was casually resting. "We should have forces by dawn. I spoke to Sombra, and he's got two companies of Aero Marines on the way in Zeds, and a squadron of Zed Gunboats." I nodded.
Then, the gunfire started. Light, at first, a few shots here and there.. but they were coming from the north-east and south at the same time.
K: "GORCAT!" I called out.
Gorcat: "Right here, K!" He scooted up to me with Greta.
K: "Take the south. I've got the north-east. Dusty!" I pointed.
Dusty: "..yeah, yeah, north-west." She frowned, pulled me in, and kissed me. "You know how much I hate that."
K: "Yeah, but.. you and 'Cat are the two best I have, right now." I shrugged.
I seriously wish I'd taken Norfy, Cosmic, and Gaze instead. I needed experienced officers, right now, not a magical search team. But, no matter, I'd make do.
Dusty: "I understand. I don't like it, but I understand." She shrugged. "Give me Dawn and Radio."
K: "Take 'em. I'll take Blizz and Olive." I gestured to Gorcat. "You've got Dancer and Slapshot."
Gorcat: "No problem. I think my bro's got her well protected." He grinned. "Come on!" He motioned to Slapshot and took off.
Dawn: "Second dance, K. Looks like a big one." She grinned with confidence. "At least these things respond to bullets like they should!"
Radio: "No kidding." She shrugged. "Come on, Dawn, Dusty, we can do this!"
After what she's been through? For her to be the cheering section, meant something. She wasn't some inexperienced newbie, she'd literally died once, just like Sunshine had, and come back to save us all. She was doing that again, here.
K: "Alright, you two, you listen close to me, got it?" I nodded to them.
Blizz: "New experiences!" She hefted her Buckner. "I think I'll take a different weapon next time, though."
Olivine: "No kidding." She looked at her own Grant. "I'm starting to appreciate having the longer range, right now."
K: "That's part of learning. Since we have weapon options on our team, we try to figure out what would be best at any one time." I gestured to the training bench. "Grab a Sherman-6, you might need it."
Blizz did exactly this, though she kept her Buckner over her back, and just added a bandolier to her kit.
K: "We'll mostly be in a fixed position, so, weight isn't as much of an issue." I said, moving towards the fortified block house.
Blizz: "Each type of battle demands a different weapon." She was looking thoughtful.
Olivine: "No kidding." She nodded. "In the Chemical Troops, we train on both shotguns and rifles, since we might need to use a special shotgun shell to deal with enemy chemcial traps. Like, incinerate them. Or set off UXO at a distance." She kept pace with Blizz. "And the rifle is for fighting the enemy, if we need to."
K: "While you shouldn't HAVE to.. that very idea is out the window in this war. I fully expect almost every type of unit will end up swapping fire with enemy formations somewhere. That's why everyone gets basic infantry training." I said, as we got to the fortification.
It was a stone barn, reinforced with sandbags at the windows and around the front. A grenade trench had been dug, and the walls sloped with dirt as best as possible, so they couldn't mouse-hole the walls. Barbed wire was set up about 10 meters from the walls as well, on two sides.
We entered the rear of the building. I could hear the incoming fire.. it was still scattered, and inaccurate.
K: "Who's in charge, here?" I asked, settling in near one of the outside walls.
SSgt. Wallflower Blush: "Staff Sergeant.. Wallflower.. Blush.. uh.. General K." She was meek.. meeker than Fluttershy, as she paced up to me, almost looking like she expected me to swing on her.
Green coat, darker green mane.
K: "Sergeant." I nodded to her, and patted her shoulder. "Relax. We can handle this."
SSgt. Wallflower Blush: "We.. we.. uhm.. we fortified the barn, added sloped walls to the outside with a grenade trench, added barbed wire, and I made use of some of the bushes out there - they're a type of bramble, sir, called Vampony Strangler Vine. I watered them and added some nitrogen from our chemical supplies.. they're fully hydrated and.. hungry. Sir." She perked up, talking about her job.
K: "Vampony Strangler Vine, eh? What's that do?" I said, encouraging her.
Wallflower: "If.. if it gets ahold of small prey, they constrict around it and drain its blood, then consume the corpse. It's a relative of the pitcher plant and Venus's Fly Trap. But, it hunts things like mice and squirrels.. farmers in some places plant it around their fields specifically for that reason. If.. uhm.. you give them some nitrogen and water them more.. sometimes.. they'll attack larger things." She made a blushing grin.
Olivine: "OH, YEAH! I know all about those! The flowers they make when they've drank enough blood smell absolutely amazing! I've been asked to make Vampony Vine Perfume before!" She beamed a grin. "You know your stuff!"
Wallflower: "I-I.. really like plants.." She blushed.
K: "You make a fantastic engineer. Now, you need to be as good of a soldier. Any movement out there, or what?" I jerked my head towards the direction of the field.
Sgt. Tin Tailor: "None so far - hey, K!" He slid in from the top of the barn. "Been ages!"
K: "Tin!" I beamed a grin. "I didn't know you went Varsity."
Sgt. Tin Tailor: "Recently, did the change-over." He nodded to Wallflower. "She'll be okay."
K: "Wallflower, Tin was one of my original 36 Rangers. You have an excellent XO." I smirked. "He was at both Ponyvilles, did some other things on the side." I shrugged.
Wallflower: "I-I'll keep that in mind." She blinked a bit.
K: "Tin, gotta ask, how's Jill?" I nodded. "And your boys?"
Tin: "She's good. Worried about me. My oldest boy's in Officer School, right now. Due to graduate soon." He shrugged.
K: "Forest Spirit is the reason we even HAVE that." I nodded. "He did some Militia work?"
Tin: "Yup. Spent six months in Ponyville's militia, helped rebuild the town. Heh.. his mom and I made him help build our house!" He grinned widely.
K: "Good!" I nodded. "Can't wait. I hope he makes it through the war."
Tin: "Ehh.. he wants to take a staff position at Milan Arsenal. He's real good with weapons and explosives." He shrugged, and got back on topic. "The enemy's just taking pot shots at us right now. Long distance stuff, too. Not very accurate, but they're ranging shots at us."
K: "Alright. We'll hold back - we don't have any support weapons, or snipers of our own. We need to draw them in as best we can, and not give them anything meaty to shoot at." I nodded.
Wallflower: "So, we wait." She nodded.
K: "Yep. And keep an eye on them." I nodded back.
At least I knew there were a couple veterans here. Now, we just needed to hold.
[End of Part 1]
Part 2: The Siege of Grylan - Fight Night
TIME: 22:44 GKT
DATE: War Day 887/11 Noneus, 1004 C.S.
LOCATION: Grylan, Griffon Kingdom
The shots stopped.
K: "Head's up! Here they come!" I ordered, and got myself to a firing slit.
Indeed, we could see little lumps moving in the moonlight.
Wallflower: "Ah-Uhm.." She got up to a window and used periscope binoculars to watch them. "..hold fire."
K: "Sergeant..?" I questioned her.
Wallfower: "They're about to hit the Vampony Vines." She nodded.
Olivine: "Hmm.. you know, I can help with that." She blinked. "General, let me scoot out there and get in the open - I can get the vines excited with the smell of prey!"
I pointed to Tin.
K: "Pick a pony, cover her." I nodded to Olivine. "Do it."
I watched them depart and slip out, maintaining the best aim I could on the little lumps in the moonlight. I considered calling Luna, but thought better of it - save that Nuke for when it's really important.
I did kinda see Olivine use her Pegasus power to churn up some wind, and while I wasn't sure where she got the scent of prey from, once the dusty gust hit the vines, they got REAL excited. She slipped back in without incident.
Olivine: "It's done." She nodded with a grin.
After a moment, they had their first customer.
Gizmonk: "AH! IT'S GOT ME! IT'S GOT ME! AUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!"
I watched as the vines entwined him, and sank barbs into his tender flesh, and started pumping his blood from his body. Three others with him were quickly ensnared and dragged into the mass of vines..
Gizmonk #2: "YAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!! AAAAAAAAAAHAUUUUUUUUUAHAGGGGGGGGGG!!" He screamed as his arm was crushed by the vines, and his tail ripped off. "RUUUUUUUUUUUNN! RUN! YAAAAAARRRRGHH!" He called to his compatriots, as barbed vines sank into his torso, and started draining him.
K: "As soon as they pop up? We make 'em pay." I sighted in.
Indeed, at least ten of them got up, broke, and ran. The moonlight illuminated them for us very well. It felt like Luna herself was spotting targets for us - it made me grin.
K: "Aimed shots only! FIRE!" I tugged the trigger.
With disciplined fire of single and double taps, we dropped all ten of them. Their compatriots caught by the vines were still making horrified screams and groans of pain when the last one fell about 85 meters distant.
After a short bit, two shots rang out from that bolt-action gun. Both of them mercy-killed Gizmonks grabbed by the vines. They fell silent, and the bodies were quickly pulled into the mass of vines.
We just taught them a horrible lesson. We were well defended.
We also taught them fear.
TIME: 23:17 GKT
Klekam came in and knelt by me. He seemed pleased with himself, and it made me grin.
K: "Got a report for me, Captain?" I nodded to him.
Klekam: "We beat off a small attack on the southern fortification. One Griffon wounded. Seven Enemy dead." He handed over one of the scoped rifles, and a bandolier containing ammunition for it. "Gorcat recovered a few of these. Gordog's a good shot! Heh. He thought you might want one."
K: "Considering I'm the only one that can use it, sure." I shrugged, and accepted the weapon. "Thanks. North-East?"
Klekam: "Seven enemy dead there as well, no wounded. The Engineers let them get very close and tangle themselves on simple foot traps and snares. Once they were all tangled up, they took them hoof-to-hand." He nodded with a grin. "Our enemy is learning our deadliness."
I patted his arm. This whole battle was going better than I could have hoped - I chalked it up to all of the Equestrian troops having proper combat training, a result of years of experience. And the Gizmonks only had what the other side could think up, and I had no idea how uneducated on tactics they were.
K: "Alright, Captain, get back to your Griffs." I gestured, taking up the rifle, and getting to one of the larger firing slits.
Tin: "See anything, sir?" He leaned in.
K: "Mmm.. not in this darkness." I shrugged. "I think that sniper was shooting at sounds."
Wallflower: "Hm." She blinked. "Think you could hit them, sir, if they took another shot?"
K: "Maybe. I'm no sniper." I shrugged at her.
Wallflower: "Hmmm.." She paced to the back door of the barn. "..get ready, sir."
K: "Be careful, Sergeant." I looked back at her.
From what I knew of the terrain in my mind, I lined up to where I thought the shot had come from. A guess. And with a scope diopter this small, I hoped I was right, as my field of view was very small.
Wallflower stepped out, and put herself half way into the doorway, partly to silhouette herself. And then she started talking.
Wallflower: "Barbed wire, when placed correctly around a structure, can deny the enemy an avenue of approach that can extend-"
*GUNSHOT!*
Wallflower: *YAAH!* I heard her hit the ground.
I saw the flash, slid my rifle left just a bit, and returned fire. I reached up and worked the bolt, and fired again. The gun flash spot fired again, at me, and hit the stone barn.. I zeroed in right on it, and fired a third time.
Silence.
Wallflower: "Did you get them!?" She said, crawling low towards us.
K: "I got them. Are you hurt?!" I looked back at her.
Her face was bleeding from wood splinters. She was wincing, but no damage to her eyes. Just her cheek and snout. I moved over to her, and dug in her tool pouch for tweezers, and set about pulling the splinters out.
Blizz: "..that was very brave." She blinked. "I never would have thought of that."
Wallflower: *OW!* "Y-Yeah.." She winced. "..I guess I'd rather be remembered for something dumb, than just die being forgotten."
Interesting take. I didn't know what kind of an inversion of her mental state this was, too. Truly, the war has brought about the best in ponies.
[End of Part 2]
Part 3: Siege of Grylan - Night Attack
TIME: 23:17 GKT
DATE: War Day 887/11 Noneus, 1004 C.S.
LOCATION: Grylan, Griffon Kingdom
It was almost midnight. The enemies of the Griffons and us, had been massing all evening. Most of them were Gizmonks. I assumed that the rest were Zebras and Ponies from overseas.
They figured out real quick that the village was bristling with defenses of different kinds. Guns, traps, and even nature itself was on our side. They had to think of something. What they thought of.. was a massed attack.
Perhaps they thought our numbers were a lot smaller than they were? I had two platoons of Engineers, ten members of my search/command team, and eight Griffons. That's 42 troops armed with automatic weapons. No support weapons, but light infantry arms.
The enemy likewise lacked heavy support arms. And in the darkness, their sniper advantage was significantly decreased. Their numbers? We'd find out later, they did not have the 3:1 advantage an attacker generally needs over a defender to threaten the defender's position.
They would have needed at least 126 troops to even make the attempt, never mind the force multipliers we had - the Engineers' carefully placed traps. They didn't have that many. This attack was desperation. Someone, somewhere, either thought we didn't have the numbers we did, or grossly underestimated our capability. And whoever that was? Sent their forces against us.. leading with torches in the night...
Vigilance: C> "General! They're coming! Enemy forces are throwing dozens of torches towards our position, we can see them in the darkness!"
K: C> "Party Time, Vig! Alpha to all callsigns! Prepare to resist attack - fire when practicable! Take them down!" I slid back in to the shooting slit.
Wallflower: "OH! They're coming! Torches!" She said, looking through the periscope binoculars.
K: "Get ready!" I went for the bolt-action rifle first. "Take them at the longest range you can! Precise shots only! When they get to the vines, kick it to full auto - short, controlled bursts!" And sighted in on a torch, and fired.
I worked the bolt, picked another torch, and fired. Again. And again. A fourth shot, and I could hear Olivine open fire with her Grant. A fifth shot, and the magazine was dry. I held the bolt open, and pulled out one of the strange little five round clips, shoved it in, and let the clip fall away from the clip bridge as I slid the bolt home.
I wasn't aiming precisely, I was aiming for "good enough." And, it was. Every time I fired at an area below and to my left of a torch, that torch went down, presumably with the holder of that torch dying with it.
A sixth shot.. a seventh.. and the Engineers started picking shots at them. An eigthth. Ninth. The Engineers switched to full auto. I fired the last shot, racked the bolt back, jammed the clip into the bridge, pressed down, and let the clip fall away, as I closed the bolt.
They were too close, now, and I needed volume fire. I was a little surprsied by how calm I was about this - how methodical, as I then let the rifle slide to the side as I switched to my Grant.
I alrady had the bipod unfolded and set to the height of the slit, so I slid back, and braced it, laying partly on a sand bag as I did. I hit it at full auto.. I raked the lines of torches with 30 rounds. They were heaving those torches closer and closer to us, and then switching to their weapons and firing.
By now, both sides were exchanging full auto fire. I could see they tried to set the Vampony Vines alight, but the vines had actually thrown the torches out of the vine pits, then lashed out, looking for a victim. At least a couple were in its grasp..
..but they would not retreat. They were now running parallel to us, trying to flank us.. moving to the side, at ranges under 30 meters, under fire.
K: "They're moving to the right! Every other pony, shift right!" I ordered, and moved to the door, reloading my magazine. "Gimme the Knox!" I held my hand out for it, and Tin hefted it to me.
I shoved myself into the doorway, and fird a shell into the first cluster I could see, let it hang on its strap, then whipped up my Grant, hand sliding back along the forestock, snapping the bipod back in place, and I fired at anything I saw moving.
Behind me and to my sides, I could hear sub-machine guns barking loud noises. Ripples of gunfire.. then I saw the Engineers' other traps! Explosives, shrapnel mines, and deadfall spikes all over the section at the right not covered by vines.
Victims were quickly claimed, amid muffled explosions and screams of pain. They were falling dead, fast, and their cohesion was quickly being lost.
Wallflower: "The front side is falling back!" She called out.
I reloaded again, and quickly fumbled with the Knox, pulling a timed fuse grenade from the caddy on the stock, and loading it.
K: "OLIVE! TIN! BLIZZ! ON ME! BLIZZ ON POINT! PREPARE TO COUNTER-ATTACK!" I ordered.
It was the last thing they'd expect. And, thus, the first thing I'd do. Run them to ground, using the ones trained to do it - and Tin had experience from both Ponyville battles.
Tin: "Got your back, K!" He was right there, casually reloading his Ridgway.
Olivine: "Right here, K." She moved up to my right side.
Blizz: "We got this!" She racked a new mag-tube into her Buckner and moved ahead slightly.
K: "Double-time, no gallop! Move!" I ordered.
We did.. the four of us. We shot them as they ran, now in full retreat, their own torches and the moonlight giving us perfect targets, as we moved into a depression in the ground, and they advanced up the opposite slope. I took us more than 200 meters from the block house, before I called halt.
K: "Hold up!" I called, changing magazines again. "We good?"
Blizz: "No holes in me, K!" She nodded.
Tin: "I'm good." He nodded.
Olivine: "Just a scratch." She held up her foreleg - it was bleeding, but not badly. "Ran into some of our own wire. Heh." She shrugged.
I hefted the Knox and aimed roughly where I'd seen most of them run towards, and fired the timed fuse shell - just in case any were over the ridge area we stopped at, and catching their breath. I heard at least two screams as the shell detonated. Score!
K: "Alright, back to the block house. Go!" I said, and we reversed course, with Blizz still between us and them.
Their attack failed, and worse, we temporarily took ground from them. As we moved back, I counted at least two dozen bodies. I knew the vines claimed at least three more.
Once back inside, I went for the Radio.
K: C> "Alpha to Dusty." I sat down.
Dusty: C> "Dusty here. Ten enemy dead, sneak attack foiled and beaten back. Two injured, none serious."
K: C> "Alpha to Gorcat." I accepted someone's canteen of water and drank as I listened.
Gorcat: C> "Thirty enemy dead. We wiped them out to a creature! Four wounded, one serious, Colgate's on 'em, though, and she says they'll pull through." He chuckled. "Vigilance got hit, again, K. Not bad, though."
K: C> "That makes only one time he hasn't been hurt in a battle!" I smirked. "Everyone stand down, and relax. I think they're done."
Indeed, we'd inflicted over 85% casualties on the enemy force without realizing it. They were absolutely done, and they'd spend the rest of the night trying to figure out what to do next. While Corps of Engineers personnel were not intended to fight, they were trained for it. While the Griffons had only a little bit of education, they fought like lions.
It came down to heart and leadership - two things we had in abundance. Tomorrow morning, still, could not come soon enough.
[End of Part 3]
Part 4: Siege of Grylan - Midnight Hour
TIME: 23:57 GKT
DATE: War Day 887/11 Noneus, 1004 C.S.
LOCATION: Grylan, Griffon Kingdom
Rapid Bearing came in to check on Wallflower and her squad. Despite not having any combat experience, he was a good team leader, and really showed he earned his Chief Warrant Officer rank. He made sure to bring some ammo, water, and food.. and coffee.
Rapid: "Coffee, General?" He held out a canteen cup.
I accepted, looked at it, then to him.
Rapid: "Rumor has it, our General likes coffee almost as much as me." He smirked.
K: "Almost, Chief?" I sipped it - it was good, and clearly not ration coffee. "Nice stuff."
Rapid: "Grown in Coltifornia, roasted in Yuma." He nodded. "Not many outside the area know about it. Tea's more popular." And shrugged.
K: "I didn't realize Coltifornia grew either one." I shrugged a bit.
Rapid: "Yup." He nodded sharply. "Seacattle and Porterland coffees are made with Coltifornian beans. Yuma Roast is.. small market, so.."
K: "It's really good." I nodded to it, and drank it down.
Rapid: "I drink at least a full pot a day." He smirked.
K: "Oh, sounds like my pre-Equestria habit. But, your pots are smaller - Cowpony Style?" I held up the cup.
Rapid: "You know it. Only way to make it in the field, unless you have cheese cloth or something." A small shrug. "I mean, you can do a cold water infusion, but that takes about a full day to do."
K: "You know your coffee." I grinned.
Tin: "UHhhhhhhhhhh... SIR!?" He was looking out one of the firing slits.
K: "Goddamn.. what now?" I wasn't too concerned.. until I saw them.
Storm Guards.
The Storm King was here.
K: "..pffuck." I blinked. "Welp, looks like Tirek's troops failed, so the Storm King is taking a swipe at us. Alright, everyone, listen up.. those shields are almost impervious to pistol rounds. Blizz, load your AP Sabot Slugs. Everyone else, wait until they get within 120 meters, aim for where the shields aren't. Wallflower - we got any more explosive traps out there?"
Wallflower: "A few, yes." She nodded.
Rapid: "Mmm.. I'll get the kerosene." He nodded to the Knox. "I'll need that."
I handed it to him, then handed Tin my Grant. He'd been trained on the Sherman and Bradley - he could handle a rifle. I'd stick to the bolt-action sniper rifle.. which, I suppose, I should name.
Ersin - after the commander of the Turkish force that invaded Cyprus in the 1970's. Yes, a good soldier, and a good leader. Perfect.
K: "Tin, pass your spare ammo around." I said, handing over my 7mm magazine pouches, detaching them from my vest. "Olivine, contact the other hard points, see if they're getting any action."
Olivine: "You got it." She nodded.
Blizz: "Sabots loaded." She nodded as well.
They marched slowly. I wasn't sure why - hesitation, intimidation, or lack of experience. Whatever it was, I sighted in on one of them, and intentionally at the shield.
K: "Anything, Olive?" I asked, tensing the trigger.
Olivine: "Dusty reports two ranks of those things heading for them. Gorcat reports three." She looked up. "This is going to be bad, isn't it?"
K: "Bad as it can get." I shrugged a tiny bit. "Everyone else, hold fire."
I pulled the trigger.
Unexpectedly good luck, the round zipped right through the shield. AP core? Probably. Either way, one went down. The others kept marching as though nothing happened.
I stood up, and moved to one of the windows. Better firing position. Line up target, pull triger, rack bolt. Again. Again. Again. Weapon empty. Open bolt, insert clip, press rounds, close bolt. Aim. Distance.. 150'ish meters and closing. Fire. Work bolt. Aim. Fire. Work bolt. Aim. Distance, 130 meters.
Wallflower: "They're almost in range."
K: "Get ready to fire." I nodded, aiming again.
Then, I saw a grenade shell fly into them. It exploded, and then the whole group of them was engulfed in flames. They started screaming in pain.
K: "HOLD FIRE! HOLD FIRE!" C> "Alpha Actual - who did that!?"
Rapid: C> "Echo Leader Actual." Came the confident, smug voice.
K: C> "Nice shot." I shrugged. "Tin, go reinforce Dusty. She needs at least another rifle." I pointed.
Tin: "Moving!" He scooted.
K: C> "Alpha Actual to Alpha Six. Report."
Dusty: C> "We're shooting them, but those shields resist sub-gun fire! We got a few tricks! Call ya back!"
K: C> "Alpha Actual to Gorcat." He.. he was his own callsign now, yeah.
Gorcat: C> "KINDA BUSY! CALL YA BACK!"
K: C> "Echo Leader - reinforce Gorcat." I directed. "Blizz, get some hand grenades, and go help." I pointed.
Blizz: "Yes, sir!" She took off.
Wallflower: "I-Is.. this going pear-shaped, sir?" She asked, moving into position at the firing slit I'd been at.
K: "Yes." I nodded. "They're down, here, but they're still attacking the other two points." I pointed to Olivine. "Check around our left flank, that's the edge of town."
Olivine: "Got it, K." She nodded, and scooted, to the door, taking a quick look. "CONTACT!" She fired immediately.
K: "Shhhit." I got up and moved towards the door. "HOW CLOSE!?"
I was answered with her flying back through the door and crashing into me. I caught her, but she was brusied in the snout. I dragged her away from the door.
K: "PREPARE FOR HAND-TO-HAND!" I said, sliding Olivine under a trough, and standing up.
Wrenches, hammers, and machetes were pulled out, as the Storm Guards started coming through the door, single file.
I drew Senshi's Uchigatana. I squinted a bit at them.. they were moving straight in, with no tactics at all.
I moved way to the side, and let them file in. Two in, and as the third entered, I slashed downwards into its back, and the sword cut through its flesh, making it scream. The two already in, started fighting as soon as they got in range of the ponies. They had long spears, and those huge shields. They used both effectively, if robotically.
The first one pinned Wallflower to the ground beneath its shield, and tried to stab at her, only to be blocked by one of the other Engineers, with a huge wrench, as another got up behind it, and caved in its skull with a sledgehammer.
The second one wheeled around, and bashed its shield against another Engineer, and stabbed her, making her scream. The one I was carving into, fell back against me. I couldn't stop them. Olivine rolled out from where I'd hidden her, and fired her Morgan five times into the back of its skull.. only three penetrated, but that was enough.
I moved to the door, and shoved it shut, then wedged my body in place to block it.
K: "GET COLGATE!" I ordered.
Olivine: "Ugh.." She crawled out from under the trough fully, and rubbed her head. "..that hurt." She nodded to the stabbed Engineer. "She okay?"
Wallflower: "Ugh." She pushed the shield off of her, and wriggled out from under the dead Storm Guard. "Report!"
Cpl. Long Crane: "She's.. she's dead, sarge." He stood up, frowning hard, with bitter tears, clutching his sledgehammer.
K: "Damnit!" I nodded to the door. "BRACE this thing!"
Three other Engineers grabbed some things, and shoved them against the door. Wedged shut, I moved into the room, and realized that I was bleeding, too, in the leg, from the dead Storm Guard's spear. I wrapped it from my IFAK, and pointed to the windows.
K: "Get in position, and get shooting!" I ordered. "Corporal!"
Cpl. Long Crane: "Y-Yes, sir! Sorry, sir!" He nodded, shakily, and got to a firing slit and fired at the approaching creatures.
Pear-shaped indeed. This was shaping up to be a massive fight.. we already had our first fatality. I wasn't exactly hopeful about whatever was going to happen, next.
[End of Part 4]
Part 5: Siege of Grylan - Broken Arrow
TIME: 00:19 GKT
DATE: War Day 888/12 Noneus, 1004 C.S.
LOCATION: Grylan, Griffon Kingdom
Olivine: "Sir.. this is bad. They're trying to shove the door open again!" She said, from the firing slit next to it. "I count.. twenty.. thirty.."
Wallflower: "W.." She blinked, and lowered her head. "..what can we do!?"
Olivine: "LISTEN UP!" She commanded. "Aim for the soft parts, be liberal with the ammo! When they break through, push them back all at once!"
Wallflower: "Y-Yes! Crane, get the Trench Diggers out." She looked to me.
K: "Yeah." I nodded. "Last Stand. Don't let them take us without a fight."
Wallflower: "Looks like w-"
Jade Notch: C> "HCMAS Enterprise to Alpha Actual! Enterprise to Alpha! Do you read!?"
K: C> "Alpha to Enterprise! Report!" I scrambled for the radio unit.
Jade Notch: C> "Enterprise main guns in range for area bombardment! Precision artillery in six minutes!"
K: "What's it look like out there?" I asked.
Wallflower: "SIR! The have a battering ram! They'r-"
The wall suddenly cratered inwards. Not a full penetration, but damn close. I could hear them out there.. company strength, now? More?
K: "Sshhit.." I looked down at the radio. C> "Enterprise. Broken Arrow. Repeat, Broken Arrow. My call. Full bombardment. Watch for Flare! Bring the rain!"
Jade Notch: C> "Ah..! Y-Yes, Alpha! We copy. It's your call. Broken Arrow acknowledged! Priority fire is yours! Find a hole, Alpha! Enterprise, out."
Broken Arrow is the stage past Final Protective Fire. It's when the enemy is intermixed with your own people, and destruction at their hands is all but assured. It's a final spit-in-the-eye. You're not expected to survive.
Wallflower: "SIR!?" She slid back from the window.
K: "EVERYPONY OUT!" I pointed to the door. "GO-GO-GO! RALLY IN THE CENTER OF TOWN!" I looked at the Mic. C> "Alpha to Blockhouses - Broken Arrow. Retreat to the center of town! If you got traps, set them off, then fire a flare to mark your position! ALL FORCES FALL BACK!"
With that, I grabbed the radio myself, and dug out my flare gun as the Ponies evacuated from the reinforced stone barn. I was the last one out, and I hucked grenades at the breaking wall.. then slammed the door shut and fired my flare straight up.
I could hear incoming shells in moments.
I actually didn't get all the way away when they started landing. Four 127mm shells had been fired by Enterprise at maximum range. One landed EXACTLY on top of the barn, one landed just beyond it, one landed off to my left, and the last one landed just far enough behind me that the blast wave sent me tumbling.
I was hurt. It hurt. Badly. I forced myself up, I'd dropped the Ersin rifle somewhere. I shook off the concussive stars, and staggered towards the center of town, stumbling.
Blizz and Wallflower were the two that found me.
Blizz: "GET HIM ON YOUR SHOULDER, HE'S HURT! I'LL COVER YOU!" She had her shotgun up, loaded with those AP Sabots.
And she made good use of it. Three shells were fired into a single Storm Guard, and punched through his shield like it was made of paper, making three very bloody holes.
Rapid: "OVER HERE!! GET HIM OVER HERE!!" He yelled, from an improvised fighting position. C> "ENTERPRISE, THIS IS ECHO LEADER! FINAL PROTECTIVE FIRE ON OUR POZZ. CALLING MAIN GUN, TURRET 'A' - ELEVATION ONE-FIVE, DIRECTION THREE-ONE DEGREES RELATIVE, SPREAD ONE-ONE MINUTES ARC.. FIVE RAPID, AYCH-EE, ONE SMOKE. HOW COPY!?"
I was being dragged in behind some sandbags and rocks. Civilians were in the buildings immediately behind us.
Jade Notch: C> "Enterprise copies! Five rounds rapid! One smoke! Incoming!"
I sat up, just as Colgate got to me.
Colgate: "K! Hold still!" She pushed me against the ground and got her medical kit out.
Vigilance: "It's like they're coming out of nowhere!!" He was bandaged, but firing.
I let Colgate patch me up as best she could. I was still shaking off the concussive effects of being so close to that explosion. The five rapid fire shots from Enterprise landed, then the smoke shell, giving us some cover.
Sombra: C> "Crystal Alpha to Alpha Leader!"
Blizz: C> "Alpha one-six for Leader! Go Crystal!"
Sombra: C> "We are five minutes out! Report status!"
Blizz: C> "Situation deteriorating! We have wounded, enemy forces are resistant to pistol fire! We have no heavy weapons! And they keep coming! We're at the very center of town, and we NEED SUPPORT! Crystal, how copy?" She reported clearly and concisely into the mic, then whipped up, fired her last three, and reloaded.
Sombra: C> "We're on the way! You must hold! We are coming!"
Moon Dancer: "This is NOT WHAT I HAD IN MIND!" She yelled out, dragging Gordog over next to me. "WHEN YOU SAID.." She huffed, and shook her head. "..you needed my help." And lowered her head. "General.."
K: "Ju-just.. just K, Dancer." I sat up, being bandaged, not realizing I was leaking.
Moon Dancer: "Well, it looks like you REALLY need my help, now!" She snorted.
She summoned up her own horn magic.. what I didn't realize, was, all her years spent cooped up and reading, she'd learned a lot of attack spells.. purely because they came across her lectern. She unleashed three at once - magical crystal daggers, fire rain, and a massive moon beam blast that cut a swath in front of us.
What SHE didn't realize was how MUCH MANA that would cost her.. and she fell over.
Gordog: "SWEETIE!" He leaned over, and pulled her back by her hooves, already bleeding from several spear wounds.
Colgate: "FINE! Fine, but you hold still, now, too!" She said, yanking him down once he fetched Moon Dancer, and attending his injuries.
I managed to get to my knees, and stand almost up without falling over. I had only my Dager pistol, but I pulled it, and used two hands to aim, leaning into a somewhat laying position, so I could shoot at legs.
They just.. kept marching towards us. When they died, their comrades would simply step over them, sometimes fetching their discarded spears and throwing them at us like javelins.
I reloaded, and got back into position..
The shelling stopped.
Then, I heard Zeds buzzing overhead..
..then, I saw them. Three Gunboats. They started machine gunning everything not pony or griffon. 25mm cannon fire. Hydra rockets. And right behind them were the XY's, zooming low, and slowing, with Aero Marines and my teams rolling out of them, and charging.
My lads.. my best friends.. were right there, leading them. They arrived exactly when I needed them to.. with exactly what I needed to win the fight.
Gaze: "OI, LADS! CHARGE FROM THA' FLANK! MACHINE GUNNERS OUT FRONT! SNOIPAH'S T'TH'SIDES!"
Norfy: "SECOND PLATOON, ON ME! BREAK THROUGH TO THE CENTER OF TOWN!"
Cosmic: C> "Alpha One-Three to Enterprise, targeting co-ordinates incoming. Danger close." He waved over the girls, and followed Norfy, calling in precision co-ordinates the whole time, and sniping with the Enterprise's guns.
We'd gone from Broken Arrow, to Final Protective Fire, to Danger Close. Pushing the enemy back at every turn. Now, properly trained and veteraned forces were here with experienced officers, and the enemy didn't have a chance. I watched the Storm Guards get cut down with proper rifle and machine gunfire. Watching the militaries that I'd helped create, paint a canvas of violence like artists. And break through.. to save their friends.
After a few minutes, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Dr. Allcome got over to me.. and I just smiled. Despite the pain, despite the exhaustion.. I smiled.
Applejack: "AW! Honeybun, yer HURT.. AGAIN!" She scolded me, lovingly.
Dusty: "..yeah, and he wouldn't let me stay next to him, either! You know how I feel about that!" She snorted, accepting spare mags from Fluttershy, reloading, and covering them.
Applejack: "Uh-huh. N'jest whut've ya got t'say fer yerself!?" She said, kissing my cheek quickly, as Dr. Allcome looked me over.
K: "Honey, I forgot to duck." I shrugged.
It was over.
{End of Chapter 107}
