1. The Battle begins
Basilus stood there looking at the Draconian massing at the horizon from where he stood at the mesa. He counted a five hundred or more Draconian, four Vampires, and two Scorpions Walkers. The Draconian had called in their troops and armored just now. He looked back at the half company of three hundred Rangers without armors.
"First Company, don't shoot until we do." One of the Ranger from 4th Company shouted out to Basilus. Its a friendly banter among them. "We don't want our butts blown by friendly fire."
It was Mira who replied; "James, you ain't got an arse to shoot at. All I knew of it was gas."
They all laughed as that was the morale of Rangers then but Basilus was not laughing. He counted the Draconian armor and asked himself where are their own armored section. He did not have to ponder too long as the Draconian armor opened up.
"Incoming!" The shouts went up and repeated around.
The Rangers have dug in well; with any stones they can find. They have this fast acting liquid which allowed them to cemented the stones to form a wall of stone but the best cover was always the dugout; deep in the ground. The guns blew the mesa sides with its barrage. The Rangers kept their head down with their body curled into the ground. No matter how many times you been through this, every one was equally terrifying; if you survived it.
"I hate this." Mira cursed under her breath, as the soil around her vibrate from the blasting its getting by the Draconian armors. She heard the shouts and screams as some do get direct hits in the barrage. Those are the lucky ones who died without knowing they are hit. Th unlucky ones are the one who got wounded or laid there dying with the body wrecked by the explosion.
The command came out.
"Rangers to the line." That's the call for them to climb out of the burrow and fight. Mira was the first to picked herself up and lean on the dugout edge. She armed the PH750 and fired on the Draconian. You just can't missed at one hundred metres. She swept her rifle in a short turns as others would had covered the other approaching Draconian. Andrei who was next to her got shot; a direct hit in front of his Helm exploding through the rear. He was dead before he hit the ground.
"Damned you!" Mira ducked back and reached for the spare ammo clip. She then crawled back up and trained her rifle on the Draconian. They are retreating but the armors are starting again. She ducked back in just before the blasting start again.
It was then Basilus dropped next to her and passed her a duffel bag.
"Its Toads." They called them it as it looked like a mushroom but its deadly. You can placed it on the ground and activate the switch. Once you springed it; it would jump up high to a height of twenty metres and fly over a distance of a fifty metres. It contained a war head with poisonous spores that spread over ten metres depending on the condition of the place. It would take an hour for it to dispersed.
"The Major asked for this to be passed to the others. Use it on the second wave." Basilus voiced up before curling into the dugout. Mira frown at him before digging in. The second barrage was shorter and less intense but not without its casualties. There was a new command call; retreat to the second defense line at the mesa further up the slope.
"Why the climb up?" Mira questioned the Leader but he shook his head. He just motioned to her to get ready with the Toads. Mira looked down to see the Draconian are moving towards them as they pulled out. The Rangers retreated under fire until they hit the slope on the mesa. The Draconian are at the original first defense line, but the Draconian armor held back. The armor would not fire as the blasts could bring down the rocks from the slopes and hit their own. The command came to put on their Helm filter on as the Rangers unleash the Toads towards the Draconian troops below. The spores on contact would killed the Draconian if breathe in, and may even affect Vampire tanks if their biological filters are not turned on.
The scene below was chaotic as the Draconian are new to this warfare and have little experience with it. The only defense the Draconian troops have are the face mask which takes time to put on. Some of them do not have it would try to outrun the spores. The Vampires were spared as they were a distance away and now returning fire at the mesa slopes. Just then one of the Vampires exploded when a projectile hits it on the side of the hull.
"Juggernaut!" The Rangers roared out loud.
A Juggernaut with one CT for escort was at the North side of the mesa. It shot took the Vampire turret off. The second shot tore off the Scorpion Walker's left mechanical limb. The rest of the Draconian including the armor withdrew. They can't create the kind of firepower that the Juggernaut was doing at that distance.
"That's a relief." Mira sighed but Basilus was looking back at the Juggernaut. Its not moving from its firing position as if it was not keen to get into the chase on the Vampires. He had seen that happened before in another battle; the Juggernaut was having engine trouble. Its a common issue with the Juggernaut in dry condition like here when the filter in the engine get clogged due to expunged dirt. That mean they are vulnerable targets in that condition.
2. The Juggernaut
Captain Mark Haus; a veteran of the armored cursed at the Juggernaut immobility. He was upset that they are doing so slow compared to his previous command of the CT, and with his regimental checklist on every rest to check the engines, now this happened when he was on the winning round.
"Line up the Cochise on the Vampires." Captain Haus gave the command before he turned to the resident Technician Rupert. "Frag those Draconian and tell me the damage."
"The filter fragged. We got to get it replaced. Its not designed to withstand the dust here. The heat burning up the strips." Ranger Rupert gave his report. He dislike the commander more than sub-quality component they been handled to them. He loves Charlie; the tank like his own, but they are asking him to fit the tank with sub-standard parts.
"Damned!" Captain Haus cursed again.
3. The New Command Post
General Manning looked at the report from his front line; Fourth Company have engaged the enemy, First Company have sighted them on both fronts but they are holding position. Third Company have split the company into half strength to assist First Company, while the second half going on a flank move to the south.
Major Koenig rushed in.
"Sir, we have an issue. The Settlers are rebelling against the guards." The Major added in. "They are armed."
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