"Teams one and three, move forward 500 meters and take cover. Team two, hold 90 seconds and advance 500 meters." I still sounded like a rock. It's amazing how much of command really boils down to some type of bullshit.
We continued to advance, and we started firing once we were within 1,500 meters. Our fire was as blind as theirs, and they had the cover of the town besides, but we wanted them to have as much to worry about as possible.
They had dug a shallow trench just outside the built up area, but our artillery had really hit it hard, and when we reached it there were only two defenders left standing, and two of my teams tore them to pieces with fire.
With all my troopers in the trench I did another quick check and was stunned to see we hadn't lost anyone else. I took a few seconds to look into the complex. I could see Stanton's squad advancing on my right, moving toward a cluster of small buildings that looked like some type of storage. I couldn't tell for sure, but it looked like they'd taken more losses on the advance than us.
There was a forest of piping and tubes in front of my squad - some type of refinery or something. Visibility was poor. The scattered fires provided some light, but interfered with infrared scanners. My suit's AI combined the infrared and visual data to give me a computer-generated enhanced image. It wasn't great, but it was a hell of a lot better than anything my eyes could have produced.
I couldn't see any enemy positions, but that didn't mean there weren't any. There was a small metal shed that looked like some sort of control building about 200 meters in, and I sent team one to take it. The rest of the squad stood fast, providing covering fire and scanning for any enemy movement.
They moved up out of the trench and started toward the building. There was some scattered fire, but nothing heavy, and within two minutes they reported back that the building was empty.
"Team two, advance to the storage tank to the left of team one. Team three, on me!" I knew there were units right on our heels, so I leapt out of the trench and ran toward a dense collection of vertical pipes that would offer decent cover and a vantage point to get a look deeper into the complex. The fire was very light, and I couldn't see any enemy troopers until I was almost up to my objective. I saw him half a second before he saw me. He was running across my field of fire, clearly separated from his withdrawing unit. I whipped around my mag rifle and fired on full auto, hitting him with at least ten projectiles just as he was launching a spread of grenades in my direction.
My shots ripped through his bronze colored armor and tore the top half of him to shreds, but not before the first two grenades were loosed. I paused for an instant to see my shots hit the target instead of diving for cover, and I felt myself flying through the air as the grenades hit just off to my left.
I could hear the fragments impacting on my armor, making a dull clanging sound . My training took over and even before I hit the ground I was watching the electric blue numerals of the damage display projected in front of my eyes. Good…nothing penetrated my armor. I was unhurt and everything seemed to be fully operational. Damn lucky. Stupid, but lucky. If I'd hit the deck sooner, rather than waiting to see my shots hit I'd have dodged the impact entirely.
I ended up face down about three meters from where I was, lying pretty much out in the open. There was a small crater about six feet away that would make a decent foxhole. I twisted my body and rolled into my makeshift cover, and then I scanned 360 degrees to get my bearings.
The grenades had ripped up the piping where I had been standing, and one torn off section was billowing a vast cloud of something that looked like sickly green steam, blocking my view of the rest of the team.
"Team three, sound off! Condition and location!"
One by one all four of them responded. They were all unhurt and in position. That's good at least. Apparently I was the only idiot to walk into enemy fire. I ordered team three to hold fast while I checked on the rest of the squad.
"Team two, report!"
The second team ran into a few defenders at the storage tank. They'd taken them all out, but Anderson had taken a hit. She wasn't badly wounded, but her suit took a lot of damage, and she probably wasn't going to be able to keep up when we advanced. I prompted my AI to display the diagnostic. No, no way she was going to be able to keep fighting. Not without major repairs to her armor.
"Anderson, fall back toward the aid station. Stay low until you get back to the trench. The fire's pretty light, but don't get careless on me now."
She paused just a second, and I knew she wanted to argue with me that she could stay with us. But if there is one thing they beat into your head it's that you don't argue with your commander in the middle of a battle.
"Yes, Corporal Cain." Her tone was dejected but firm. "On my way."
Team one's report was straightforward. They were deployed around the control building and were taking sporadic and ineffective enemy fire from a ridge outside of the complex, just within small arms range.
We were spread out in a semi-circular arc running about 120 meters from the storage tank, past the control building, to the section of pipes behind me. I was ten meters ahead of the line in a makeshift foxhole in the middle of what had once been a street.
The refinery had taken a lot of damage, and up ahead of us there were a number of tanks that had been ruptured, and one that was burning fiercely, pouring a dense black smoke into the air.
There were some structures that would provide moderate cover, but the approach to the ridgeline was completely exposed for the last 1,000 meters at least. If they were going to defend that at all - and it was the best spot to put up a fight if they weren't going to just turn tail and run - they could give us a tough time.
Team 3 had the SHW, but I had given team 2 the SAW. I had a good view of their position from my foxhole. There was a walkway around the top of the tank that was high enough to provide a great firing position against the ridge.
"Jax, get Himmer up on that catwalk with the auto-gun. You see that spot on the northeast end? There's some type of heavy equipment right there that should make pretty good cover. On my command I want that ridge hosed down with fire. Put one other trooper up there too, and you position yourself on the far side. Find yourself a decent spot, and make sure to keep an eye on the position of squad 3 over there. We don't have time to sweep this place carefully, and I don't want any surprises on either flank. I'm covering the right and you've got the left."
"Understood, sir," came the crisp, clear reply. No hesitation from Jax. He was a good soldier, probably better than me. He'd joined the squad right after my first mission, and he was a natural from the beginning. I had the seniority, so I ended up taking over when the sergeant got hit, but if I went down I knew Jax could handle the squad every bit as well as I could.
I had team one advance from the control building toward the edge of town. They had a row of low structures providing good cover, and it was only 90 seconds or so before they were in position. I was leaving team two in place to provide supporting fire from the top of the storage tank. Once we advanced on the ridge they would follow and form a reserve to plug any holes.
I scrambled up out of my foxhole and dashed across the open street area to the cover of a large building that looked like some type of storage shed or garage. Once in place I ordered team three to follow me, and we made our way cautiously down the street in ten meter intervals, hugging the buildings on our left for cover. The structures were ugly as hell, dull gray plasti-steel mostly - drab, industrial, and half wrecked besides. The entire place was utilitarian and shoddy, and now it was a burning wreck as well.
I was a little nervous because we really didn't have the time to properly sweep the complex. We'd scanned the whole area, of course, but between the fires and the leaking chemicals we couldn't be sure we hadn't missed anything. I didn't relish the thought of being ambushed from behind just as we assaulted that ridge.