“Let’s go.” Sahib said. They were provided with detailed maps of the city by the Laas Rett, and Sahib’s HUD was constantly updated with enemy positions. They chose to take a long round route around the contested area, hoping to avoid any Sowir forces until they got into position. At first Sowir landing points seemed random, as there was no significant point of interest they could be going after. Until he realized that all of their droop points were in close proximity to the underground shelters. Logic dictated that those were their targets and that they had some knowledge about them, even though the shelters were supposed to be undetectable from orbit. Sowir were throwing their troops away, but also trying to wreak as much damage as they could. Sahib constantly got updates from Claw and Paw squads, they had set up defensive positions one on the street level and one on a nearby building, from where they managed to halt the Sowir advance. Sahib had sent his thoughts on the Sowir objectives to CL Okoro, and both he and Laas Rett concurred. The militia has been taking heavy casualties simply due to them being outmatched. Claw Squad Leader Lee “Noose” Sato commed Sahib to let him know that their weapons proved very effective against the Sowir, unlike those of Nel militia.
After fifteen minutes they reached the back of Sowir position. “The Sowir dropship came down somewhere behind these buildings.” Sahib said, highlighting them on his and the rest of his people HUDs. “Fang scout ahead. See how many are guarding the dropship.”
Without a word Cheat took his squad through one of the buildings that connected to the square where the dropship was supposed to be.
Sahib took his own squad to the side, where he could quickly respond should Fang need help, or attack the dropship. A few minutes later Cheat commed in.
“There are four Sowir in front of the dropship, can’t say if there are more inside Alpha.”
“Can you take them down?”
“Yes.”
“Ok, wait for my signal.” Sahib said. He moved his squad closer, and then gave the signal to Fang. Alpha squad ran out of cover towards the dropship, using their suits powered systems to increase their speed in three seconds they covered over 160 meters. Sowir noticed them and started to turn just as four shots rang out, dropping them in a shower of blood. Sahib ordered two of his squads to secure the dropship. Then instructed squad Fang to spread out around the square and provide cover. After the dropship was secure and they made sure there are no more threats around them, Sahib looked down at the Sowir bodies. There was much more blood and gore than he expected. The bullets from their sniper rifles ripped through the Sowir suits and their bodies, taking with them huge chunks of flesh. It was as if a cannonball punched through. The Sowir looked like some kind of octopi, only with seven arms instead of eight. The arms weren’t really anything like that of an octopus, there were no suctions or ridges of any kind that Sahib could see, they looked more like Elephant trunks, long muscles ending with four small finger like appendages. The arms were close to two meters in length, and their center of the body looked like a big blob about a meter across. All shots were in the center of their mass, as that was where their major organs were. Looking down, he couldn’t see for sure what their skin looked like as it was covered in a brownish suit, but the few chunks he could see were grayish in color. The center of their bodies was encased in a kind of armor, although Sahib couldn’t tell what it was made from. The center blob had something mounted on it that looked like it could be a weapon of some kind, while two of its seven arms had things attached that definitely were weapons.
“Why the hell didn’t they have more guarding this thing?” Cheat asked over the comm.
“I have no idea. They are alien, who can say. And I don’t think that they planned on getting off this planet alive.” Sahib said.
“But that makes no sense. They can’t possibly hurt Nuva enough to warrant the sacrifice of their soldiers.” Cheat said. Sahib didn’t respond, he felt the same way. Sahib decided to leave two of his men to guard the dropship from a safe distance, but he had them put explosives on the dropship.
“If more Sowir than you can handle come this way detonate the charges.” Sahib told the two. They saluted and went to find sniping positions. Then the rest of Fang and Alpha squads continued towards the back of the Sowir positions.
Squad Leader Lola ‘NGD’ Petrov and Squad Leader Lee “Noose” Sato sat behind the cover guiding their squads, they had set up a defensive perimeter in one of the main streets that lead to one of the shelters, which as it happened Sowir wanted to reach. They set up two HO-32 turrets on the street level one on a nearby building so that it could cover the west approach, and one closing off the adjacent street. That meant that Sowir had to go through them if they wanted to get to the shelter. And as they learned that wasn’t going to happen, they were at an impasse. Sowir couldn’t get pass the turrets and militia positions, and the militia couldn’t get to them. The Sowir positions were in a series of small streets, which with their higher speed and agility meant that anyone going in there wasn’t coming back out. Before the humans arrived militia was getting hammered. They simply didn’t know how to position themselves, nor did they have any kind of training that could help them. After the two squads arrived and set up their defenses things changed. The turrets started laying waste to the Sowir that were running down the street trying to overwhelm Nel positions. They lost at least fifty before they wised up and moved back. Now the Nel militia was at least positioned correctly to protect the area, under the guidance of Lola and Lee. All of their commanders died in the fighting before humans arrived. Sowir now kept to their side of the street, trying to snipe at the human positions, without much success. Each time they did a shot rang out, and a Sowir died.
“These Sowir aren’t all that smart. Didn’t they bring any heavy weapons?” Noose asked on a private channel to Lola “NGD” Petrov.
“I don’t know… Maybe they’re planning something? They must have brought something, they couldn’t have taken the planet otherwise.” NGD answered.
“I don’t know NGD. These Nel aren’t all that better either, I bet those three hundred over there would have taken care of the militia forces easily if we weren’t here.” Noose said.
“They can’t possibly be this mindless? They are acting like a swarm not a military force.”
“They are aliens after all, more so than Nel are, who knows what they are thinking.” Noose said.
Lola kept quiet, she couldn’t understand anyone just sending their people to die with no reason. Then another shot rang out.
“Got another one.” A voice said over the comms. Lola shook her head, they just don’t learn. Then she got a comm from Platoon Leader Adin.
“Nissah’s platoon is in position. And we will be in ten minutes. Get the militia ready, we are going to attack them from all sides.”
“Yes, sir.” Lola sighed, she got up and went to convince untrained militia that their best option now was to attack advantageously positioned Sowir.
“What does it looks like?” Sahib asked.
“I have no idea, they are just standing there in the alleys not moving a muscle. Then one would peek out of cover trying to get a hit on one of our turrets, die and the others would shift places.”
Looking over his HUD map Sahib started highlighting certain areas. “We will pass through this street here, there are twelve hostiles there, we should catch them by surprise, and that street will then open a straight path at their back. Fang, you guys will take positions up on this building.” Sahib said, highlighting a building that was about a hundred meters down the street from Sowir positions. “Nissah’s platoon will hit them from the west, we will follow after. You’ll know her platoon started fighting when you hear explosions, they will start with a few RPGs, fired from this point here.” Sahib highlighted a building on the west side. “Then squads Claw and Paw will strike with the militia from the front, and we from the back. Understood?”