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.
"Jax, I'm a little worried about what might be hiding out in these buildings. I'm going to keep your team back for an extra 15 minutes. If anything we don't know about shows itself, it's your responsibility."
"Sir!" Damn, Jax always sounded so cool and under control. I wondered for a minute if he'd ever thought that about me, and if Jax's calm were as fake as my own.
I had 8 troopers lined up along the edge of the complex and another 3 positioned to provide supporting fire. I coordinated with the squad leaders on each of my flanks, and we synchronized our actions. We each had our heavy auto-guns positioned to put the ridge under fire, and we'd give the order to open fire 30 seconds before we jumped off with the assaulting troops.
I counted the last few seconds and gave Jax the order to commence firing. I could hear the distant high pitched whine of the auto-gun and see the stream of fire as it raked all along the ridge line. The auto-gun projectiles became superheated by the atmosphere and glowed a reddish yellow. I knew the fire was a stream of tiny iridium and depleted uranium darts fired at enormous velocity, but it looked like some sort of death ray from a space opera vid, especially in the darkness.
My AI gave me a five second warning and I braced myself. Four, three, two, one. "Squad...attack!" We all leapt to the top of the trench and ran toward the ridgeline as quickly as we could without jumping too high and offering the enemy a tempting target.
I could hear the auto-gun fire as it passed over my head moving to the right. I resisted the urge to scrunch my head down away from the
"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.
"Jax, I'm a little worried about what might be hiding out in these buildings. I'm going to keep your team back for an extra 15 minutes. If anything we don't know about shows itself, it's your responsibility."
"Sir!" Damn, Jax always sounded so cool and under control. I wondered for a minute if he'd ever thought that about me, and if Jax's calm were as fake as my own.
I had 8 troopers lined up along the edge of the complex and another 3 positioned to provide supporting fire. I coordinated with the squad leaders on each of my flanks, and we synchronized our actions. We each had our heavy auto-guns positioned to put the ridge under fire, and we'd give the order to open fire 30 seconds before we jumped off with the assaulting troops.
I counted the last few seconds and gave Jax the order to commence firing. I could hear the distant high pitched whine of the auto-gun and see the stream of fire as it raked all along the ridge line. The auto-gun projectiles became superheated by the atmosphere and glowed a reddish yellow. I knew the fire was a stream of tiny iridium and depleted uranium darts fired at enormous velocity, but it looked like some sort of death ray from a space opera vid, especially in the darkness.
My AI gave me a five second warning and I braced myself. Four, three, two, one. "Squad...attack!" We all leapt to the top of the trench and ran toward the ridgeline as quickly as we could without jumping too high and offering the enemy a tempting target.
I could hear the auto-gun fire as it passed over my head moving to the right. I resisted the urge to scrunch my head down away from the
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