Conflict in the North [Closed|MT|ATTN: Zypra]

[Garimidia]

Military staging area, outskirts of the Plandf Highlands, Northern Zypra, Zypra
1314 Hours, 25 April, 2011

Lieutenant Colonel Gary F. Vassiter, DC OHG MSDRA MSL. Someone once asked him what all the citations he'd received stood for, and he'd proudly said in one big breath, "Distinguished Cross, Order of Honorable Guests, Military Service Distinguished Recognition Award, Military Service Legion." He'd been a military man for some 21 years and came from a proud military background. Father, grandfather and grandmother, great grandfather, cousins, brother, all had been or were in the military. Now he exited a military humvee, amid a busy scene of preparation at the Military staging area outside the Plandf Highlands. He had been rudely awoken a couple of days ago and told that he was to be commanding a 700-strong Garimidian contingent to assist 'Her Majesty's Armed Forces' from an insurgency in their Northern areas in Zypra.

He looked out at the Plandf Highlands. Big hills, he preferred to call them. They were pretty unassuming, but somewhere in there there were insurgents. By the time he had suddenly left Garimidia, the TV news was doing constant coverage of the conflict in Zypra, so obviously it was a big deal. To Gary, he couldn't give a fuck. He wanted to get in there, do the job, and leave. He stepped on the ground, the Garimidian soldiers around him saluting him as he walked forward to a tent where his Zyprian colleagues were stationed. People were walking everywhere; military equipment was being distributed, a command center was being set up. People were manning machine guns and observation posts of the hills but no shots were fired.

He entered the 'operations headquarters tent', and saw two Zyprian commanders talking, one with a clipboard; they appeared to be arguing. Gary waited for a minute, but they still didn't notice him. "OI!" He shouted, capturing their attention. He was not a man for bullshit, he wanted answers to his questions, no matter who he was talking to. "I've been rudely awoken to come and help you bastards, so don't stand there and ignore me. There is a briefing scheduled for now, and it will happen now!" Gary was joined by his second-in-command and good friend, Major Brandon Marehia. Together they were in charge of the Garimidian land contingent.

They sat, and the two Zyprian soldiers gave their briefing to him and Brandon. It wasn't very long; then again the situation was pretty straight forward. Gary sighed. "Seems to me all you need is planes, gentlemen. Planes." He looked over at the maps they were showing him. "And a shitload more ground troops," Brandon joked. It was an inside joke between him and Gary when they'd first formed a friendship upon joining the military in 1990. It had been their immediate impression of what the Garimidian Armed Forces needed at the time. Now, however, they were a massively respected institution among the people. No doubt the political leadership was getting shat on from left, right and center over this hastily arranged deployment.

And so they had finished. Gary shook their hands and left the tent, looking once more toward the hills to which they were soon about to be fighting on. He looked around him; tanks, IFVs, artillery pieces, anti-aircraft guns, and soldiers, many, many soldiers were piling up in the impressively quickly constructed military base. Assuming of course, the insurgents weren't watching them back. The Zyprians and Garimidians were keeping a 24/7 watch on all the areas of the hills visible, now with an extra eye as Garimidian supplied UAVs flew overhead. They'd seen some movement within their foothills in the highlands. What they needed first was a massive air campaign followed by a swiftly executed ground attack.

"You know what I'm wondering, Gary?" Brandon asked, looking at the highlands. "The fuck kind of a name is Plandf?"
Gary laughed for the first time since his deployment had begun.

[Zypra]

"What do you mean that we can't move them up there, were these the general's orders?"

"As far as I know, the only orders I take from is General Heldin, and I've been trying to reach him for half an hour ago,"

"So you're telling me that our troops are sitting ducks for god knows what is up there, exposing their asses?"

A stern-looking man appeared out of nowhere and quickly captured their attention. The two lieutenant colonels, who appeared to be in some sort of distress were having command and control difficulties with their forces. Nevertheless, they briefed this man who seemed to be in some sort of a bad mood.

"Currently we have a slight communications error with our general. His last orders were to hold the base of the hill until you guys arrived. Apparently we're stuck on orders. There's another commander that's not too far from here, at the base of the hill. He'll provide you with most of the information.

"As for the current situation, we've positioned the 12th Infantry Battalion and the 4th Cavalry at the base of the South Hill, which is where we are right now. Two other divisions have been positioned on the other hills as well." one of them pointed at the map on the table, which accurately showed the positions of their forces as well as predicted enemy positions.

Before Lieutenant colonel Gary and Major Brandon left the tent, one of the called out the name of their contact they were supposed to meet.

"His name is Colonel Davies-Morris. He'd prefer being called Davies, though." he exclaimed, before being corrected by the other lieutenant.

"It's lieutenant colonel, remember? He got demoted last week after that incident."

The conversation soon became inaudible as the two left for the base of the North Hill.

---

L.C. Davies wiped the sweat off his slightly shaved hair as he looked upon the sloped meadows ahead of them. How the fuck were they supposed to advance without some sort of shelling, let alone air support? His mind was on something else; something he thought was much more serious than this "drill". He gave a sigh, and shifted his eyes towards his own squad.

"Listen up, I'm not going to expose my ass here, so gear up and standby, we're going uphill, whether you like it or not," As soon as he finished off his sentence, an engineer passed a note to him. "Just in time, alright pussies, we move as soon as our friend is here." As Davies stared at his shameful, disorganised squad rushing around like ants running away from ember, someone tapped him on the shoulder.

[Garimidia]

Gary and Brandon headed down the slopes to the base of the highlands. They spotted some disorganized Zyprian military soldiers, preparing to make their way up the hill. "Oh good lord in heaven," Brandon sighed with instant disapproval. Gary approached one man, who looked his rank and relative age; he tapped him on the shoulder.

"Lieutenant Colonel Davies-Morris?" He said, ignoring his preferred name. You had a name, and it would be used. That was his philosophy. He shook his hand; a firm grip. "I'm Lieutenant Colonel Gary Vassiter, this is Major Brandon Marehia, we're leading the Garimidian land contingent into all this shit." It was 1354 hours; half of the Garimidian battalion would arrive at this location in six minutes sharp.

"We're going up now?" Gary said, unaware, and not leaving time for the Zyprian L.C. to answer. He had mildly more respect for this man than he did anyone else, with the exception of Brandon. "Bullshit. How can you expect us to make it anywhere without air support? I've been told that we've got Garimidian jets on standby a little more than five minutes from this location. I can call them in immediately, and they can pound the fuck out of those hills before we advance."

1400 hours; behind him a steady line of 450 Garimidian Army soldiers arrived behind Gary and Brandon. "Sort them out," Gary told Brandon, who nodded his head in return and turned towards the soldiers. "Alright, I want all of you, standard formation, now." The soldiers moved in unison moving in front of Gary and Brandon, in line, weapons in standard position. Only the best had been chosen to be deployed here.

"Well what the fuck are you waiting for?" Gary shouted. "You see what they're doing," he referenced, twitching his head toward the Zyprians. "Move it, move it, we're moving out soon, prepare yourselves, meet your goddamn acquaintances," he ordered. They knew who Gary was, and the things he'd done for the military. Several times he'd put his ass on the line for them and taken heat from the superiors. Some of them Gary considered friends, some of them he'd never seen before. However, Gary Vassiter was well known as a true, old school military man, who didn't accept bullshit or wrongdoing in any form, even if it was only perceived. He was a legend to everyone in the military, and someone new recruits were told about and obeyed immediately. He himself hated the attention and idolization and considered himself simply to be doing what he signed up for in 1990.

He turned again to the Zyprian L.C. "If you ask me, we're going to need support. I was told the Zyprian forces here are having communication troubles. Why the fuck would we be embarking on a ground attack if you're having communication troubles? It's a goddamn mess if you ask me. We need solid communication and fucking support before we go up that hill."

[Zypra]

He looked at Gary as he looked quite familiar indeed. For the twenty-one years he's served her majesty's armed forces, including his months alone in North Zypra on survival training back in 99, he'd never knew he would come across one of Garimidia's most known soldiers in his life. He took time to focus right after the handshake, and absorbed the words Gary said as soon as he could. He did notice, however, that he used his full name. Not a problem if it's the first few times. Besides, it could or not be him after all. Probably some CO that was demoted a few times due to his behavior.

"That's right. Communication with command has been shitty since lunch." he said as he scratched his stubble.

"That issue has been cleared now, just recently in fact." he showed a piece of paper that displayed a messy handwriting, as if the owner had to piss or something.

1320 HOURS, ZYPRIAN COMMAND
DIRECTIVE FROM GENERAL HELDIN
DIRECTED: 13th BATTALION, 1ST INFANTRY DIVISION
ADVANCE 003 DEGREES N
AWAIT FURTHER ORDERS AT SUMMIT
DO NOT FIRE UNTIL FIRED UPON
POSITIONS 12th INFANTRY BATTALION/092 DEGREES
4th CAVALRY BATTALION/280 DEGREES
SUPPORT AIR STRIKE AT REQUEST


Gary seemed to have studied it carefully before looking up again.

"Now my troops seem to be disorganised. Captain Reary should take care of these rats, I'll advance up the hill with your group first. I'll give you whatever our joint intelligence gave me and we'll base it on that, no matter what shit they placed on it."

He slowly walked to the temporary sand bunker that was made a couple of hours ago and picked up his HK 416 rifle, the standard issue rifle for all his troops. They seemed to have appropriately placed themselves in position, but others could still be seen struggling with loading their rifles. They haven't drills in years. Davies preferred if they learnt from experience like this and act smart so they won't fuck up. Training on the battlefield determines who's the fittest, and those that fail, fail miserably.

Davies looked at Gary, rifle in left hand, radio in the other, and gave him a decision to make.

"You're the guest of the house," he said sarcastically, yet in a way where he was trying to break the ice between them.

"Either call air support, wait and take a known course up the hill, or surprise them with an ambush up the hill, leaving them limited time to gather forces." he left Gary with a choice that he'd hope to make as quickly as possible before they launch an attack on them.

[Garimidia]

"Good to know it's been fixed then," Gary assured. He was intent on being able to work with this man during the combat phase of the operation. No doubt somewhere TV cameras were filming the hill. There were a number of Garimidian news agencies already in Zypra when he'd left - he'd gotten up one morning and seen "CONFLICT IN ZYPRA" in big bold letters on the news upon turning on the TV.

Gary read the piece of paper. "Alright then, guess I'm with you. Oh, forgot to say, we're in charge of the 42nd Infantry Battalion, and by the looks of this we're right behind you for the advance." Gary smirked as he read the paper again, "and trust me Davies, we'll be firing before they do."

Brandon went to sort out the Garimidian soldiers as they prepared their advance, and Gary followed the LC to the sand bunker. He took out some binoculars, and took a look at the hill. Again, there appeared to be no activity within those shrublands. Somewhere, there was. Luckily for Gary his favorite type of fighting was a low-level insurgency in a forest type terrain and he had much experience in fighting in it. He configured his assault rifle, the AIF9, or Arbor Infelix 9, which looked similar to the HK-416 except for it's stock and barrel.

Gary listened to Davies as he explained their choices; meanwhile Brandon assembled the Garimidian troops behind them. "My friend, there is a third option. We can't be afraid to combine the first two. I say air support, which will surprise the fuck out of them and disorient them, and take the route up the hill that is not known. The air strikes should be precision because it's a small area they're bombing and once they're finished, we'll move out instantly."

He prepared to talk in his radio once Davies response was known.

[Zypra]

Davies looked at Gary in a puzzled way. No doubt that his introduction to the third option is an ingenious idea.

"Indeed, we'll take the third. So we'll lead the way, I think I know abit of this area," he said, noting his time in North Zypra. His squad looked quite as ready as he expected them to be, and ordered Captain Reary to lead the first platoon up the hill. It was not long before the platoon sent up the hill disappeared, as if they never existed. Davies turned back to Gary, whom he nodded to confirm the airstrike.

"Those squads I sent are on a reconnaissance mission. They'll confirm whether you had hit them or not." he said as gave an assuring look.

"My men will move up the hill as soon as the airstrikes begin, go ahead with it. I'll walk up the hill with you as soon as you're ready," he finished, this time standing outside the sand bunker, waiting to see the fireworks. A steady stream of ants could be seen going up an ant hill, which almost mirrors their advance up the hill. Davies exhaled a breath of air as he put on his helmet and took out a map, waiting for Gary to move alongside him.

[Garimidia]

"Alrighty then." Gary took to his radio, calling in the air strikes. "Victor Charlie, this is Bravo 42nd, location..." Gary looked around for a military map he'd seen before at the sand bunker. He spotted it under a crate and pulled it out, swiping off the dirt and other crap, and laid out on top of the crate. He looked for a few seconds until he found their location. "5 Romeo, 19 Lima, 6 Kilo, 7 Zulu, North," he explained, in rapid succession.

"Affirmative, go ahead, Bravo 42nd," replied a female voice at the Plandf District Military Base, one of the few airbases in Zypra, and one which the Zyprians had kindly allowed the Garimidian Air Force to reside in as the military operations got underway. "Bravo 42nd requests immediate air strikes in support of a ground advance, hostiles close, topside Hill 29th at Romeo, Lima, Kilo, Zulu," he requested. He signaled to Brandon with his hand that air strikes had been requested, who in turn informed the soldiers. He awaited a response to the request. "Affirmative. Air support, hostiles close, inbound to Romeo, Lima, Kilo, Zulu, ETA 3 minutes." Gary clicked off his radio. "Three minutes," he informed Davies.

Plandf District Military Base, Plandf District, Northern Zypra, Zypra
1414 Hours, 25 April, 2011

The four jets took off exceedingly fast. They were new FP-19s, ordered directly from the Garimidian ally of Cyrupe. At a great discount, too. The four jets were part of a 15 jet Air Force deployment by Garimidia to assist Zypra in it's time of need. For the pilots, all they wanted was the ability to be able to pound the shit out of something for real, and that's exactly what they were going to get.

The jets moved quickly over the Zyprian land. In the distance, a series of tall hills exposed themselves and on the lead pilots' GPS system, an alert flashed: 50 SECONDS ETA. He spoke in his helmet microphone to the other pilots. "Beginning descent now. Get ready for engagement." The jet descended rapidly, as did the other two. Missiles armed; the jet came closer and closer to the hills.

North Hill, Plandf Highlands, Northern Zypra, Zypra
1417 Hours, 25 April, 2011

Gary, Brandon, Davies and the Zyprian and Garimidian soldiers were entrenched a little further back in a natural dent in the ground, as they kept a watchful eye on the hill. Piercing the sound of nature around them, the jets blasted through the air and circled the hill. "Here we go!" Gary said, excitedly. Gary spotted the jet that was firing the first missile, it flew overhead and one long jet of smoke flew out of it's missile launcher; it pounded into the side of the hill, flames shooting everywhere as the ball of smoke rushed upwards.

Then another jet missile, slamming into the top of the mountain this time; the ball of fire moving slowly upwards. Then some strafing fire from the third jet which broke trees and cleared some of the shrub entrenching the rebels. As a path was cleared for the missiles to shoot their bombs, another two were sent off, slamming into the new clearing. A thunderous crack erupted as the bombs landed at their intended targets. Trees and shrub were blown to pieces and singed black as two more missiles were released, this time on the east side of the hill, their explosions a welcome sight for the Zyprians and Garimidians. And with that, the jets moved back to base, the display of air power over in five minutes.

"Fucking brilliant," said Gary, who stood, preparing to move up the hill with his Zyprian comrade.

[Zypra]

Davies looked upon the hill with awe. He had not seen something more beautiful than jets pounding the shit out of the hill. He's seen it a couple of times, sure. But to see it again in his lifetime was a privilege. "Well played, L.C. Gary, let's drive up to the green and putt in our balls," he said, as if they were playing a game of golf.

"Fawkes, with me. The rest of you, groups of four, don't touch anything unless we have touched it. For all you know, they've put traps all over this side of the hill." he ordered his men. In the distance, to their left, more explosions ripped through the air as fighting had begun on another side of the hill. It's a good thing they didn't end up getting stalled like the others are.

His group, consisting of Fawkes, Gary, Brandon and Davies himself moved up the hill first as others followed. Fawkes was the only person far behind them, as he was a marksman and therefore had been scanning the area before allowing them to move. Davies walked up the hill alongside Gary, who gave him a more proper briefing.

"I'm not sure intelligence gave you this, but we're unsure of the motives of the hostiles ahead of us. Intelligence reveals," he stopped for a little while, revealing some black and white aerial photographs of one of the hills, "Warehouses, possibly Meth labs, or worse. For all you know they're stockpiling weap-" A crackling sound came from his radio as Captain Reary's voice boomed through it, interrupting Davies.

"Vampire Actual, do you copy?"

"Affirmative, go ahead Recon."

"Two other battalions are headed up the hill we're on. Our engineer tried to contact them, but it seems that the 12th Batalion isn't responding. I'm pretty sure there are big guns hidden on that hill, so we'll have to take it out first." Captain Reary explained through the radio, highlighting the current objective ahead of them.

"Affirmative, Vampire out."

Davies explained the situation to Gary, and this time prepared for the task ahead of them. It's time to secure the hill, take out artillery, and wait until the other battalions move up the hill.

[Garimidia]

The four men walked up the hill, guns in hand. Now it felt as if they were on a bush walk, except with danger ahead. Big danger, by the looks of it. The smell of burnt and burning trees wafted through the air as the familiar sound of a faint cracking as the soldiers boots pressed on twigs, dirt, leaves. 15 meters to their left was another group of soldiers, supposedly, and 15 meters to their right. The scrubland was very thick, and the pathway was being created as they were walking, so right now it felt as if they were alone.

Davies began explaining the situation to him, as Gary ordered the team pause. He waited until Reary finished explaining their new objective. "I think you're correct about stockpiling weapons. They've been held up in these hills for quite some time now, so I doubt meth labs, which would have exploded upon the bombing of the hills. Weapons, money, soldiers, equipment. We can at least guarantee those for now." Gary looked ahead of him. There was nothing but a relatively steep slope upwards, covered in trees, branches, bush, scrubs, water, dirt. His favorite.

As they began proceeding northwards again, the faint crack of gunfire erupted from at least 300 meters to their right. Already there was combat. They'd been trailing through the hill for about 15 minutes now. Gary took to his radio. "22nd Platoon, come in, over." There was no response. "Shit," Gary hissed aloud. "22nd Platoon is far off in the direction of that gunfire," he explained. "22nd Platoon, come in, over." He waited ten seconds. A crackling sound, similar to Davies' radio, filled the area. "Yes sir? This is 22nd Platoon." They seemed as if they had momentarily stopped their advance; speaking quietly. "Did you boys just come under fire?"

"Yes sir, but I doubt the rebels can see us. I think they're firing randomly," the Captain explained. Gary was satisfied. "Okay, affirmative. Keep safe." Gary clicked his radio off. "Right, let's proceed to that artillery."

The group moved forward, making their way through thick forest. Every now and again there was the faint sound of gunfire, sometimes close, sometimes far. Luckily they hadn't come under fire yet. As Davies moved forward over a fallen branch, he spotted something. Gary saw it too; it was a small pathway, a man made entrance, they stood looking at it, crouched.

"None of us have been up here and I wouldn't assume this place would have shit like that," Brandon piped up, as he too spotted it. "That's right. We're nearing rebel territory," Gary asserted.

[Zypra]

"Let's keep moving, then. Fawkes, you first." Davies thrust his hand forward, signalling him to lead the way.

The group then split into three. Fawkes leading the way, Brandon and Gary on the right side of the pathway, and Davies on the left side, who was already aiming his rifle at the entranceway. Upon getting a better look, he pointed his rifle to the ground, and signaled the others to call off the threat. He took out his helmet and dropped it to the ground as he watched in horror.

It was a village, one that was burnt to the ground. The smell of carbon and burnt carcass filled the air as it overwhelmed him. He could not stand such a sight, and therefore vomited onto the ground. Dismembered parts of bodies littered the ground; the airstrike that was called upon hit a pile of them. Apparently the local militia had been performing genocide in the village. He stood up again, this time uneasily as he saw the bodies of men, woman and children alike. They spared no one. Fawkes, who appeared to be insensitive to this, signaled them to move through the village.

The four slowly moved through the village, cautiously peering at the hilltop above them for any snipers. Fawkes only concentrated on leading them, and often stepped on some bodies without realising. Fawkes did not show any remorse, something that Davies did not have. It's a surprise why Fawkes never got promoted to his rank, even though they've only served together for five years. The rest watched their step as they moved through the village.

"Recon is just over that stream, they've already entrenched themselves deep," he said, standing one-legged whilst removing the carbon from his boots by tapping on it.

[Garimidia]

Gary just stood, staring. It was goddamn horrible. It reminded him so much of what he had seen, especially in 1996 when the military was called in to the small Paudisi town of Fari in far, remote eastern Garimidia. It was the sight of a massacre. Two conflicting Paudisi tribes had finally gone all out and tried to kill the other. It had been nothing short of a massacre, and now to come to this.

"Jesus christ," a solemn Brandon said as Davies vomited to the left of him. Gary had his gun being held by one hand as he walked to one of the bodies. It was simply unrecognizable. "You're telling me that the Air Force-" Brandon didn't finish his sentence as Gary immediately downplayed that idea. "No. These bodies have bullets in them. If anything the Air Force ended their misery and killed any remaining rebels. It's a fucking massacre." To the right of him, a small house burned. Remnants of an air attack and a genocide.

Gary proceeded over to Davies, who was spitting out remaining vomit on the ground, and held his hand out. "Come on mate, we've got to move. I know it's goddamn horrible, but it does not do any favors to the mind to dwell on what is horrible. Especially in the midst of a conflict."

Separating the team from other hill was a stream, one where Fawkes said the Recon team was. They were obviously entrenched deep in the shrubs as had been suggested by Fawkes, as Reary wasn't immediately visible. Gary pointed to a small footpath over the stream. "There. That fallen tree provides a path, let's go-" as Gary finished his sentence and prepare to move, a shot rang out from the hill above and slammed into the burning ruins behind them. "HOSTILES AHEAD!" Gary screamed pulling Brandon back who was about to walk to the path. Davies scrambled to take cover behind a burning wall, as did Fawkes, while Brandon and Gary moved behind smoldering ruins. As they pulled back, Gary fired off four shots. The Recon team in front of the stream were now exposed, and moved quickly to take cover, also shooting off shots. Shots from the hostiles, barely visible, slammed in to the ground all around them, and created that distinctive whizzing sound of bullets.

"DAVIES, I NEED YOU TO GET IN CONTACT WITH ANY BATTALIONS BEHIND US OR IN FRONT OF US, GET THE LOCATION OF THOSE BIG GUNS, WE NEED TO GET THERE ASAP AFTER WE RENDEZVOUS WITH REARY!" screamed Gary, the sound of the fight almost drowning out his voice. One of the hostiles exposed himself a little to much and Brandon took two shots, hitting him in the face and neck. Gary took aim and fired a quick succession of bullets into the general area of the hostiles as the trees and branches around them flickered as the bullets passed through.

[Zypra]

Davies, who was busy firing himself, almost emptied out a cartridge upon listening to the drowning voice of Gary, who had succeeded in neutralising some of the hostiles up on the hill. Fawkes gave him a look, where Davies nodded, as if they were telepathically talking to each other. Fawkes ran up to another part of the ruins, clearing off the debris and ashes of some probably mutilated body and positioned his line of sight at the hills, ready to mark off some hostiles on Davies' command.

He took out his radio and this time called out on the radio:

"This is 13th Battalion, anyone nearby, come in."

He repeated twice in rapid succession until a steady voice appeared over the radio.

"4th Cavalry.. 6 Romeo, 19 Lima, 7 Kilo, 8 Zulu, North. What's your status?"

Davies looked at his map again. They've been below us the whole time. Have they been jacking off? he thought to himself.

"You're right below us, we need support up here!"

"Roger, we're headed your way."

Davies put down his radio as shots whizzed past him. One immediately scathed right through his helmet, narrowly missing his head. It's lucky that the inside top of his helmet was mostly Styrofoam, therefore saving his brains. He took it out and continued to fire at the hostiles, being careful not to expose his head.

Just as they were supressed by heavy fire, an APC slowly went through the burnt village as it provided much needed assistance for the them. What was amazing was that they were able to get the cavalry battalion up the hill, probably up a dirt road leading to the village. He sighed with relief after some soldiers exited the vehicle as their CO explained the situation to him.

"Artillery pounded the shit out of our battalion, left us nothing but a few of these. Sorry we took so long." he shouted in cover, gathering breath until he could speak again. "We'll hold this position and provide covering fire, you guys continue uphill," he continued, until one bullet actually ricocheted from a rock to his leg, causing him to drop quickly.

He looked at his group, Fawkes firing shots at the hill, Gary and Brandon blindly firing at the hills in order not to get hit, and shouted to them that it was time to move again.

[Garimidia]

In the APC a soldier from the 4th Cavalry opened fire on the hills above with the M2 browning stationed on the top of his APC. That would keep the rebels at bay, long enough for Gary and the team to move down, across the footpath, and rendezvous with Reary to get a status update. A thunderous sound erupted from the M2 browning as the bullets slammed into the hills where the rebels were stationed; they momentarily stopped fighting.

"Go, go!" Gary screeched as he made a run for it, followed by the rest of them. In the next few seconds he ran down the hill, across the footpath and dived into the bank on the opposite side, followed by Davies first, then Brandon, and Fawkes, who walked like he didn't have a care in the world. Stupid fuck, Gary though.

"RECON?" whispered Gary loudly, loud enough for Captain Reary to hear. He looked tired, and flustered. He had taken the brunt of many shots, though not directly. The APC stopped firing after a few minutes; then there was an eerie silence. Reary looked down; one of his fireteam had been shot and killed. "Oh shit," Gary groaned. The face was in the ground and the uniform bloodied and dirtied, so he couldn't tell whether it was Zyprian or Garimidian. He had other things on his mind now. The rebels appeared to have been eliminated, though it was likely not the case, so for now they took cover on the meadows of the bank.

"What's the status uphill?" Gary asked, reloading his rifle in the process. He instructed Brandon to keep a look out. As Reary was explaining to him and Davies, Brandon shouted at everyone to keep down as he fired about five shots into the distance, hoping to precipitate a reaction from the rebels. Nothing.

[Zypra]

"Reconnaissance," in which Captain Reary replied, confirming in a tired looking manner. He took out his binoculars, wiped the lens and observed the hill above them. A loud shout by Brandon pierced the air as he randomly fired into the air. Well that was random. he thought to himself, before clearing his throat once more.

"We've been observing the behavior of some of the hostiles, to be honest. They seem to be defending the hill rather than trying to advance. They've also set up a few concrete bunkers in which I've not seen any activity in or out of them. These could actually be outposts to something larger. I can't confirm anything yet, but they're just.. randomly placed there." he added, before turning to Gary. He wiped the dust out of his face before continuing again.

"The big guns have not fired since half an hour ago. I suggest we move up quickly and neutralise them before they hit our cavalry forces positioned here in the village, or worse, our forces at the base of the hill. The summit is just one click away," he finished, finally standing up once more. "After we neutralise those guns, it's imperative that we check out what these wareh-" a bullet ripped through his skull, the large gash in his head spilled blood all over them. The bunker 250 meters uphill that seemed to be vacant fired at them once more, surprising the shit out of them.

"GARY, FLANK THE BUNKER THROUGH THE LEFT, WE'LL PROVIDE COVERING FIRE," Davies shouted, and once more they were in a hell of a warzone.

[Garimidia]

The bullet flew through Captain Reary's head and landed next to Gary's foot; Reary fell forward, the blood pulsing out of his head. "Shit," Garry jumped in surprise as he dived forward. He landed on the other dead soldier, his shoulder patch flag becoming clear: He was a Garimidian. Gary fired off a quick round of shots towards the bunker, and took Davies instructions. "I'LL TAKE LEFT, GET THAT APC TO COVER US AGAIN, DAMMIT!" He moved forward, "BRANDON - FOLLOW ME, FAWKES, YOU'RE WITH DAVIES," He felt relieved now, he wouldn't put up with someone like Fawkes in his team.

He burst through the wall of leaves and tree branches and saw clearly the slope heading uphill. At the top the bunker, which had a machine gun firing non stop at the soldiers below. To his left about 100m, a group of four soldiers, who were pinned behind a tree. Gary took aim at the machine gunner, as did Brandon. "The moment he stops shooting, advance to that next tree, and so on," he ordered. "Got it." The machine gunner was busy firing at the soldiers pinned behind the tree, and Gary took five shots at his face. Three hit, two went over him. "MOVE!" Gary and Brandon advanced to the next tree, about 10 meters in front of him. He had no clue of where Davies and Fawkes were; they were separated by a wall of thick trees an branches, vines and bush. On one side was the meadow and stream where they had been standing and the other side was the thick forest, where Brandon and Gary were now.

Brandon fired some covering shots as he and Gary moved to the next tree. Now they were closer to the bunker, but yet so far away. To pile onto the bunker would be a suicide mission for most. They had no idea how many were there, what kind of traps there were.
"Sir, grenade?" Brandon suggested. There really was no other option. "Go for it."

Brandon took out the standard Army frag grenade, pulled the switching pin, and threw it towards the bunker. It landed near the entrance, and exploded. It didn't kill but it damaged the exterior of the machine gun bunker and from there Brandon and Gary moved to the next, and last tree. Now they were pinned by automatic gun fire, and he could not see Davies or Fawkes.

[Zypra]

On the suppressed side of the battle, Fawkes took aim as Davies continued to fire bursts of rounds. He was already halfway into his cartridge until he stumbled upon a dead body; bodies, to be exactl. He had noticed, however, that these bodies did not die of bullet wounds. He was puzzled, moreover sidetracked until Fawkes tapped his shoulder to keep on moving.

Both Fawkes and Davies did not encounter stiff resistance afterward, with the exception of a few random shots whizzing through the forest. If one was not careful enough to maneuver through carefully, he'll end up having his brain splattered all over the ground. "Where the fuck are they? We should have advanced alongside them." said Fawkes, who was disappointed with Davies' directive.

"If you shut up more, maybe we'll get them in time." he said hastily as he ran up a flight of rocks which looked man made. He did not bother anymore, it was time to approach the bunker from the right.

Cutting through a dense, yet burned area of the forest, they finally reached closer to the bunker, and in time too. Their friends were getting hammered by the machine gun. Fawkes fired a few rounds into the bunker to disorientate as well as distract them as Davies carefully moved closer into the bunker opening with great care.

A few rebels ran out the bunker in quick fashion, panicking at the fact that a sniper had nearly took out their gunner. Davies quickly stood up and fired a burst of rounds at their chests, later jumping over the low wall and cleared out the bunker. The echo of bullets ricocheting inside the bunker silenced the position once and for all as he signaled Gary and Brandon to meet them up there again.

Before their happy little meeting could finally happen, there was more to come as the hill erupted in gunfire upon realising a unit had breached their outer defense. It was time to call in air support once more.

[Garimidia]

Gary and Brandon proceeded to enter the bunker. Inside was a stash of ammunition, but most of it had been used up by the rebel forces. There were also five dead bodies in the bunker, and thousands of spent ammunition cartridges. Inside, Davies and Fawkes were about to discuss the next objectives when the noise from outside grew louder. "You all stay here, I'll go see what it is."

He stepped outside, peering down into a great valley below. In order to avoid confusion, he announced on his radio; "This is 42nd Battalion. Bunker A has been captured, I repeat, Bunker A has been captured." He now peered below, and saw the sight: the rebels had advanced and taken the valley, the smoke rising from places of intense battle. Bullets whizzed passed him, so he ducked behind the wall and stuck his gun out over the top, using the rest of his magazine and reloading. Brandon and the rest of the team joined him, crouching as they put their backs against the wall. Davies suggested air support.

"Exactly right," replied Gary. He reached over to his radio, connected to his TVAS, or Tactical Vest Antenna System. "Victor Charlie, this is Bravo 42nd, requesting close-air support, 5 Romeo, 19 Lima, 6 Kilo, 7 Zulu, North-west. I repeat, hostiles very close, hostiles very close, helicopter support preferred, over." The reply came quick.

"Affirmative, Bravo 42nd. Helicopter support available, ETA one minute, chopper inbound from 5 Romeo, 19 Lima, 6 Kilo, 7 Zulu, North-east. They've been helping forces north-east of your position, over."

"Roger that, helicopter inbound ETA one minute, out." Gary placed the radio back in it's slot on his uniform. "Davies, alert your forces on the ground to the helicopter support." One minute went extremely fast, in the heat of battle. The sharp sound of helicopter rotary wings became much louder as the aircraft rerouted itself from where it had been helping previously. As it came overhead, it wasted no time in giving all it could.

The Apache AH-64D first launched two Hellfire missiles at rebel positions concealed by foliage, then fired it's inbuilt M230 chain gun at rebel forces in the open. The bullets pierced them like a hot knife through butter, splashes of mud and water flinging up as the bullets hit the ground after tearing through the rebels. One more hellfire missile forced any remaining rebels to retreat into scrublands to the north which were quickly wiped out by another hellfire missile. The helicopter left quickly after, probably low on fuel and armaments.

"Alright," Gary peered over the top, fire burning and smoke rising as the rebels were wiped out or had been forced to retreat in less than a minute. "Fawkes get on the radio and find out where those artillery positions are, so we can actually get to them." As they moved down from the bunker into the valley where the rebels had just been destroyed, Gary came across another body; but it hadn't been killed by bullets.

[Zypra]

North Hill, Plandf Highlands, Northern Zypra, Zypra
1632 Hours, 25 April, 2011

Another set of fireworks. Davies could not care, it was already part of his job. The constant use of air support had already bored him. He did note that without it, they would lose much more lives than they would now. Fawkes then proceeded to contact division command based at Plandf District Military Base, hoping to get much needed information on those artillery guns.

"This is the 13th Infantry Battalion, command, do you copy?" Fawkes eagerly said.

"Affirmative, this is division command, proceed." said a female voice across the channel.

"I need coordinates to the artillery positions on the North Hill, over." he said, waiting for a full one minute before a reply came back.

"Roger, positions are," she said as Fawkes took out a notebook.

"5 Rom-, 18 Lima, Kilo, 7 Zulu, North-North-West." static interrupted Fawkes, who was already happy writing it down.

"Say again Division command, we do not copy, over,"

"Pshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh"

Loud static filled the air as the men grew silent. Fawkes tried desperately to regain contact, but it was just plain static. Nothing else. The men did not have the accurate positions, sure. But they could make a rough guess and take it out themselves, therefore saving the entire division of Garimidian and Zyprian soldiers. It was just the four of them, their entire battalion back at the burnt village, holding the position just like they were asked to. Four.

"We'll have to continue without radio support. I believe it could be a communications cut. We'll head over the last rocky part of the hill, we are half a click away now." he said, this time with a gloomy look on his face. And the shit just gets shittier, he said to himself. The day was already turning darker and darker with every passing minute, and it is imperative that they reach there before sundown.

[Garimidia]

"Fuck," Gary snapped. "Hold on, let me check the airbase." He clicked on his radio again, quieter static sounding as the sun began to recede. "Victor Charlie this is Bravo 42nd. Do you copy, over?" Nothing but a loud burst of static. "Victor Charlie this is Bravo 42nd. Do you copy, over?" Nothing. The group collectively sighed.

"There's no way rebels have taken the airbase where the jets are, it's way outside the danger zone. My guess would be they've taken out the central command system back at the military staging area, which is a worry, considering there are many troops still stationed there," Brandon guessed. It was an intelligent and informed guess, one which everyone agreed on. The worrying prospect was that the military staging area had been attacked.

"Well, for now we're alone. We have to get there before sundown. We know that most of the rest of the battalions are heading towards the South Hill where large concentrations of rebels are, so it's up to us and about five others to take that artillery, and we wont meet up with anyone else heading there until we get there. No air support until communications are back," Gary effectively re-explained. He signaled for the others to follow him and Davies and the four began a quick run across the valley, hoping to avoid the sights of any rebel soldiers.

The valley was now cold, a breeze heading through it. The fires were out. It was just them; only half an hour ago this place had been a battleground. Now all that remained were charred, bloody remains and destroyed foliage. It seemed like they were the only ones fighting the insurgency as they stayed in the shadows of the trees. They headed through a natural exit and into a forest where they spotted dead Garimidian soldiers and dead Zyprian soldiers. Now was not the time for mourning.

The sun was disappearing. It was almost dark as the soldiers reached the rocky formations that would lead them to the artillery, but still light enough for them to see. "I'd suggest you all put on your night vision," said Brandon, who put his on, followed by the rest. They were preparing to move in behind a rock, when some voices were heard.

"Oi! Jack, move it up! Be quiet, for fucks sake!" One whispered loudly.

[Zypra]

The three of them quickly moved near the rock, with the exception of Fawkes, who moved to another rock to gain a better view. Davies never put up with Fawkes, simply because if it wasn't for his unorthodox ways, he would have outranked Davies a long time ago. He did believe, however, his "IDGAF" behavior would get him killed in the end.

And then suddenly, a shout pierced the air. "OVER THERE," and Davies quickly reacted by firing a couple of shots at the voices. Just as he fired the shots however, a loud bang nearly deafened him as he could see the smoke coming out of summit. They've found the guns, it's time to move out. Davies signaled Fawkes to move ahead and lead the way, while he allowed Brandon and Gary to move on ahead. It was time they put this gun out for good.

"In the belly of the beast, Guys. We've made it!" he shouted with joy, nearly alerting the enemy, who fortunately were occupied with neutralising the positions below. Fawkes, whom was already at the top of the hill and behind a large crate, signaled them what was ahead. Davies observed the hand signals carefully, as if he had practiced them since he was born.

"Light infantry, ten, machine gun, one, artillery, three, warehouse two visible light infantry outside, one helo. Choice; left is quicker but concentrated, right is longer and only has three to four hostiles." he announced, ordering Fawkes to get in position.

"We'll split up. Take the route you like, and we'll rendezvous at the guns. Here," he said, handing Gary a set of explosives. "We'll need to take them out without air support. This is all the explosives I can give you now," he finished, and just as they finished talking, they were already at the summit, awaiting Gary's decision once more.

[Garimidia]

"Fawkes you stupid fuck-" Gary scolded as Fawkes disobeyed the rest of the group. He could see it in Davies eyes too; they were both hugely discontented with him. But by the time Gary had expressed his instant disapproval with Fawkes actions, he was already on the move. Gary fired three shots, killing a rebel who dared run towards them.

They moved up the hill, quickly, firing shots as they did. He'd taken Fawkes' hand signals, and considered doing the hand signal for "you're a goddamn dick sometimes, you know that" in return, but decided not to. He'd done good this once, but he was sure he was going to get himself killed one day. The infantry that had spotted them had been taken out, so now they were considering their options.

"I've got some of my own explosives to, it should do the job," Gary responded, taking Davies' explosives. "We'll take the left route, you guys take the right. Considering the right is longer, Brandon and I should get there first and we'll scout the location before you get there," instructed Gary, saluting as they departed.

Gary and Brandon moved low, hoping to avoid the sights of the infantry patrolling the warehouse, which was barely visible through the leaves, and those on the route they were taking. He saw Davies and Fawkes disappear into their route. "Brandon, move ahead, tell me what you see," he ordered. Brandon nodded and moved forward, taking a quick peek, before moving back. "Three infantry on the trail, light. They're watching the artillery, backs turned to us." They moved forward into location. "Take them out quickly."

They moved into the clearing, and spotted the three infantry. "Shoot when the artillery fires... go!" The two men raised their weapons and fired. The first man was taken down by a bullet to the head, the second a bullet to the neck which flew out the other side and ripped the sandwich he was eating in half and the third was disabled by two bullets to the abdomen and legs. They checked to see if they were moving, they were not. Brandon and Gary moved in unison, and hid behind a shrub as they watched through their ACOG scopes the men guarding the warehouse.

Brandon was allowed the pleasure of eliminating them. The machine gun that Fawkes spotted was just to the left of the artillery, looking towards the two, who hadn't been spotted. The artillery was right above the warehouse. "Davies and Fawkes will have to take out that machine gun before we get to the entrance," Gary explained.

[Zypra]

Davies ran alongside Fawkes, who was clearly getting tired of all this running. He's been trained for static operations, sure, but not for battles like these, which is why he preferred to move away from the group alone. He took out his silenced pistol, and shot two hostiles with deadly precision. They were indeed easy kills as Fawkes demonstrated, in which Davies took the privilege on patting him on his head for once. Fawkes indeed was keeping up with today's fashion, which is why he risked demotion opportunities just to keep his mohawk-styled hair. It's fortunate that no superior have challenged him for that hairstyle.. yet.

Davies looked to his left, apparently there was something unusual about the route he had taken. The crates appeared hollow and the concentration of forces seemed to be too little to be a rebel camp. He ignored it for the time being once again, and ran across some arid rocks before coming up behind the warehouse. Just in time too, he could only hear the artillery firing into the skies above, only to encounter a machine gun position with their backs facing towards them.

"Fawkes, kill him silently." he whispered as Fawkes nodded. He took out his knife, and slowly crept up from behind. It was there that karma had hit him, he had tripped over a sandbag, his kill foiled. The machine gunner dismounted, and realised the foe right behind him. Taking out his Glock, he aimed at Fawke's head, ready to make a gash in his head.

A shot pierced through his chest, precisely through his heart. Another two punctured the gunners lungs, causing him to collapse onto Fawkes. He spilled his blood all over Fawkes, who had been seen traumatised by the incident and therefore got up and sat down on a nearby sandbag. "I'll catch up with you guys late-" he could not finish his sentence. He could not thank Gary either, for he was speechless. He took out his night vision goggles, and closed his eyes.

Davies nodded to Gary; it's time to finish the job once and for all. They entered the dark warehouse, hoping to meet hostiles, but there was none. In fact, the warehouse only contained a set of crates and a flight of stairs, which led up to the artillery guns above them. As dust from the roof above them slowly fell to the ground with each shot, Davies once again led the way to the roof, where the three guns were said to be placed.

"On the count of three, we break open this door, and get into cover as soon as you see any." he whispered to both Brandon and Gary, who already began appearing tired from today's ordeal.

[Garimidia]

OOC: 1000 posts!

Gary saved Fawkes' life, as he was a fellow soldier and a good asset to the team, when he wasn't fucking around. He was a very good marksman, someone he would certainly have in his squad any day. He let Fawkes stay behind as during the storming of the roof of the warehouse because his large sniper rifle would only be a burden, and because he'd clearly been traumatized by the whole incident. The whole military wouldn't be the same, nor the country. From what he'd gathered, Zypra had been a stable country, with a loved Queen, and the military wasn't used to the actual fighting, though had prepared for it numerous times. A bit like Garimidia; they hadn't fought in an actual war since the 60s, though Gary and Brandon had been on numerous peacekeeping missions and events like the Fari massacre which the small town massacre had reminded him so much of.

They busted down the warehouse door, surprised to see no-one there. That was the tip of the iceberg for Gary, who'd noticed strange goings-on since they'd began the campaign. "Guys, wait. There's nothing here but these goddamn crates and stairs. This was supposed to be one of the main rebel HQ's. It's way to small," he groaned. There was no way this was an HQ. He was sure Davies had noticed the same thing; but they had no time to open the crates to inspect what was inside or discuss the events.

They approached the stairs, and Davies busted the door roof down as an artillery shot fired. Unfortunately there was no available cover, so they had to shoot the artillery gunmen, who were so busy loading the artillery they hadn't noticed their entry. Davies and Brandon shot them instantly as Gary moved to the edge of the warehouse roof to tell Fawkes he could come up, which he did. He'd recovered.

"Alright, lets blow these damn things up," Gary said, a sense of relief in his voice. He placed the explosives Davies had handed him on the guns; Davies did the same. "That should be enough to render them unusable. Come on, let's head back down stairs so we don't get hurt," he ordered, and they all went back down. The timed explosives went off right after two minutes, a thunderous explosion which shook the building and released a large amount of dust and dirt from the roof. They headed back up; the guns were destroyed. To anyone else anywhere else it would seem like a normal artillery explosion.

Gary checked if the communications were working, and they still weren't. The Military staging areas' communications operations center was still knocked out. Whatever had happened there, it wasn't good. It was possible there was only one available in the staging area and that they were flying another one up from somewhere else in Zypra, but even that was highly unlikely. Soldiers at the base would be trying to manually contact the groups, which had either failed or not happened. The thought of it grew like a disease in Gary's stomach.

On top of the warehouse roof, Gary and the others seemed desperately alone. It was now dark nighttime, and his watch read 1748. The other battalions would be at South Hill by now, most likely entrenched in hard combat. He had no idea what was going on at the airbase, and he hated it. He was just happy to be with the soldiers he was with, who he came to regard as damn fine friends.

As Davies looked to the distance, a light twinkled between the leaves.

[Zypra]

It was nightfall by the time Fawkes got up from his ordeal. Apart from being woken up slightly by Gary, whom signaled him to come up, he ignored it, preferring to rest for a little while. It was not until the explosion at the top of the warehouse that woke him up completely, which surprised him dearly. It was time to go upstairs, rendezvous with the rest of Vampire Actual, and hope for communications to return. Just as he got up, he noticed that a bush had been strangely placed next to him. He had studied Biology in school; such a bush could not sustain itself at this altitude, let alone survive the high impact of the rain at high altitudes.

He grasped the leaves, and it' confirmed. It's a plastic decoy. Why the fuck do they need a plastic decoy for artillery? His question was answered as he moved the bush aside. A trapdoor? What could this mean? He struggled with the lock for quite a while, nearly giving up. Just as he was about to call out his fireteam to help, the trapdoor collapsed with his weight. He fell into a room; something quite odd at a location like this. He got up, brushed off the dust and dirt, and investigated further, forgetting to bring his fire-team along.

---

"Where's Fawkes?" Davies asked, whom realised he wasn't with them since his near-death experience.

"I thought I called him up fifteen minutes ago," Gary replied, whom had been eyeballing the flicker of light for a few minutes. "I have a feeling he might have went elsewhere." he continued.

"Let's look for him." Davies finished, who stood up and went back into the warehouse. Where could he be? He surely can't be dead, he was fine a few minutes ago. Gary and Brandon had the same wild presumptions, whom followed him to where Fawkes was last sighted. Nothing. Just the sandbag, the dead gunner and a trapdoor. Davies nearly ignored the trapdoor until Brandon identified it.

"What's that?" he wondered. Every came closer, and noticed it as well. "Trapdoor eh?" Gary inquired. Davies inspected it and went inside quickly. He could not believe his eyes. An armory, illuminated by a lamp, with a coffee maker and radio. Could they've been at the tip of the iceberg all along? A door was left half-open, offering an opportunity to enter. What could lie ahead?

[Garimidia]

Gary was internally feeling sick over the situation. Although he'd been in a similar situation in 1999, which he hated to think about, the feeling never goes away. Nothing can prepare you for it, no amount of training, no amount of experience. As he looked toward the flickering light in the distance once more, it had gone.

So now he lurched himself into the trapdoor which had been concealed by a plastic shrub. "Fawkes, you there?" Gary asked. No response. The room had a relatively shallow height but it was quite long. The lamp illuminated shelves, filled with crates, which this time were not empty. Gary first looked for Fawkes, who hadn't responded as he to was investigating the shelves. Inside each crate was a wide cylinder. Gary rubbed some of the dust off the one of the cylinders to reveal it's stamped on name, SIROSINE 21. What the fuck was Sirosine 21?

"Any of you have any idea what the fuck Sirosine 21 is?" No-one responded. He looked over to Davies, who was inspecting something quite different inside another, larger crate. Fawkes was still looking at his Sirosine cylinder, as was Brandon. Gary had a feeling something bad was happening, had happened or was about to happen. "Sirosine, it sounds like a gas," he investigated, deciding to answer his own question. "Davies did intelligence suggest anything about chemicals?"

But Davies just ignored the question with a groan. He was too busy looking at what he'd discovered. "Hey, Gary, look at this," Brandon shoved a piece of paper in his face.

ORDER IMPRINT #5
SIROSINE 21 - 9XCVB

But the paper faded, as if the printer had failed. What the hell was this?