PEACE AND WAR II - SEASON 1 EPISODE 5: INTRUDERS Collaborative post by Forest State and Durmatagno
October 25th, 2025
Clemensen Shopping Center, Soren, Valrik Liberation Government Territory
“Any of you scared of heights?”
The question came from the front of the group, specifically Oriane Beaulieu as she made her way down the long walkway with the rest of the squad, on the third level of the main mall building. They were in fact quite high up at the moment, giving them a good view of everything below. They could see where there was battle damage, where soldiers or vehicles had moved through the place and left a trail, and most of all they could see quite clearly the effects of no one being around here.
Where there had once been busy stands and shops along the main walkways through the building, outside of the actual stores, such places had now been abandoned and the real shops were either equally empty or were closed down with metal shutters covering their storefronts. However, they did know that the place wasn’t empty. Because the 4th Liberators Brigade of the Valriki Liberation Government was set up here, and they still had to clear them out.
Was just a matter of when they actually ran into them, and right now, it was eerily silent. Almost peaceful, but to say that this place in the middle of a warzone was truly peaceful was speaking too soon.
“A little…”
Gwen admitted as she walked with the rest of the group, keeping her eyes peeled for signs of movement, ears listening for the clack of boots orguns. It was only a little, and compared to combat, it was nothing, but she’d always had it, couldn’t be helped. Everyone had their phobias. Ivy suppressed a chuckle, she’d seen some phobias before, her last commander had had arachnophobia something fierce. Only time Ivy had ever even seen him break a sweat from fear or worry.
“Just wait until there’s shooting again… One way to forget it,” Oriane remarked. Fact of the matter was, if they ended up in a fight again, there was a good chance they would be at a higher altitude for better or worse. Unless they ran into opposition in any of these upper level shops, which they couldn’t rule out entirely, even if there was a lack of noises such as footsteps coming from the area surrounding them.
“It’s not too bad, but I would like to distract myself, yes.”
Gwen said quietly. It was somewhat embarrassing to her to have fear like that while part of a group like this, but it couldn’t be helped. Ava shook her head, not in disapproval but more because they should really be avoiding talking at all, but it was the team leader that started it, so who was she to say anything.
Oriane held a hand up to stop when they had reached a certain point, picking up her own rifle slightly more as she looked ahead. “Y’know, this store looks like someone’s been through it,” she said after stopping. And it did have some things that were distinctly off. Things that had been thrown onto the ground outside, presumably moved from the inside of the store, and dirt around the entrance… Possibly from boots. It was hard to say
exactly if that was the cause.
She looked up at the facade to see what it gave away about the nature of the place. Electronics store. Some chain that had multiple locations around Valrik. Nothing too out of the ordinary on that front, but the scene outside was far from being ordinary. And it was hard to say why it was like this.
“Could be looters,” pointed out Drue, stopping next to Oriane. “The city was already in a state of emergency before the VLG moved in… Well, they could have moved in even before that, actually.”
“Could be,” Oriane stated, not exactly happy with the conclusion.
“Could be,” she added. “Emphasis on the first part.”
“Want to search it then?”
Ivy said, keeping her rifle ready. Ava kept her eyes on the area around them, making sure no one snuck up on them while Gwen readied her rifle as well. A shootout now would probably hem them in here as it drew soldiers, but equally it could be empty. Ivy didn’t much like the idea of not checking it, she didn’t want someone coming up behind them, but she wasn’t in charge, and equally it could be nothing anymore.
“Better safe than sorry,” Oriane made the decision quickly, waving in the direction of the open entrance to the storefront. “It just takes a smaller team really, which of you are going?”
“I’m pretty quiet, I can slink around and see what’s in there.”
Ava offered. Of everyone besides Gunnar, she was probably the best at avoiding attention. If they were going to do it quiet, the best pair was probably her and Gunnar, at least for scouting. If an actual fight broke out there was no keeping that quiet.
Oriane nodded, stepping out of the way to allow Ava to move. “You and Drue, head inside. The rest of us will watch the perimeter… And we’re right here to back you up if anything kicks off once you’re inside.”
“Aye,” said Drue, moving to head behind Ava into the store.
Of course, the store itself was large but not in the best condition, with displays knocked over and some items removed, some things seemed to have been messed with in general but it was hard to put a finger on exactly how they differed from the original setups. The lighting within the place wasn’t exactly great either, some of the lights were on but others had been knocked out already, further obscuring whatever was inside… Whether there was anything in there or not.
But there was movement in the place… Not
entirely visible because of the lighting, but deeper into the store there was indeed moving around. Possibly someone getting into position… Was hard to get an actual look at a uniform from this far out, but whatever was in there was dark clad. Maybe VLG-affiliated, maybe not. The uniforms of the bulk of the VLG’s forces were olive or camouflage, after all.
“Movement!”
Ava said, raising her rifle towards the shadow. Not knowing what the target was, be it a looter or a soldier, she wasn’t going to take chances. She signaled to Drue when and where she spotted the movement, and moved to take cover behind a pillar. Her rifle was bolt action after all, suppressing fire, if needed, wasn’t what she did.
Drue didn’t say anything, moving behind one of the lower displays and kneeling down behind it, avoiding being seen by anyone looking in that direction and only raising up enough to see over the top of the display case. It seemed that in regular days, it would have been a camera display case. Actually still had most of the merchandise inside, although the glass was shattered on one side.
“Yeah… I can hear the footsteps. But fuck if I know where they’re coming from other than over there,” Drue replied eventually.
‘Over there’ seemed to be a corner of the store with a more unique setup, with communications equipment or at least a similarly advanced setup built up around some of the former display cases and plastic tables unfolded to add to the available space, each of them also housing laptops in addition to the more complicated mess of wires that could only be a part of communications due to their complexity and number. But, by the time they had gotten a good look at it, anyone actually over on that side of the building had already moved for safer ground.
“How do you want to approach? Take opposite angles, go in on the same side, or?”
Ava wasn’t ranking here, Drue was, Drue got to make the decision. She didn’t think whoever was over there could slip out, but they needed to be sure. Hell, it could possibly be an animal for all they knew, though that was...unlikely. Still, Ava wanted to move cautiously.
“Depends… We don’t exactly know where they are. Or how many are there. So we both take the left side… I think that’s the direction the sound was moving in,” Drue said in response - it was better to be a single group and not split up if they did run into more opposition than they expected.
Ava nodded, checked her rifle, and signaled when she was ready to move. She’d follow Drue carefully, there were only two of them, and the possible enemy was staying put. If they had cover, they’d be coming up against said cover. At least her rifle was good at punching through things like that, even if it was slow compared to the rifles of the rest of the team.
There was movement from the other side too, apparently… Movement in response to the sudden burst from behind cover of the two Alpha Squadron members, to the left. The other side was headed in the opposite direction from behind one of the displays, putting them on path to reach the destination first, but the two Union soldiers were quicker in their rush, pulling ahead in addition to getting the first real good look at the other side…
They didn’t seem like any VLG soldiers they had run into before but it was hard to put a finger on exactly what they were, with their black uniforms not quite being fatigues. No, it was tighter, not quite form fitting but almost, and they seemed to have padded armor built right into the design. They had helmets, and they enclosed most of the head except for the mouth, with visors covering the majority of their faces. Beneath those dark visors, discerning their actual identity was impossible thanks to the smoke colored tint.
Whatever they were, though, came second to dealing with them in the moment. Drue fired off a spray of five rounds towards the closest of them, only one of these rounds actually hitting the mark, but it didn’t even seem to do too much to the body armor… It was quite tough body armor. Unlike what the rest of the opposition forces wore, which had been shredded with one or two regular gunshots.
Ava had to slow to use her rifle, targeting the one Drue had already shot to try and punch through the possible damaged armor. She felt a tinge of satisfaction at the sight of blood, but the man was still up and moving. That armor was definitely tougher. She pulled herself behind a display, knowing the rest of the team could intercept them if they tried to leave the store, catching them in a crossfire.
The rest of the team didn’t exactly wait to move into action, though - Oriane could see the fight happening from her position at the entrance, and now that the opponent had moved from cover, she was in position to assist… From the front of the store, she fired off a three round burst in the direction of the other soldier, hitting twice for her effort, her two shots to the torso hurting her enemy enough to stop the second soldier in his tracks and send him falling backwards…
Probably out of the fight. It was too hard to judge things like that while the battle was still ongoing.
“Rest of the squad,” she started, pointing aggressively into the opening of the store. “Situation’s changed, you see anything in there that isn’t ours, you fire.”
Ivy raised her rifle, and sighted in on the left leg of the soldier still standing, not wanting to deal with punching through that heavier armor, and fired a three round burst. All three rounds found their mark, caring little as they tore through the soldier's leg, bringing him down to the ground with a heavy thud.
“Both targets down, we want to check if either are still alive or just not risk it and finish them?”
Gwen asked as she kept her rifle trained on the first of the two fallen soldiers.
“Figure it out after the room is clear,” Drue said. Based on the large setup here, it was hard to believe there were only two hostiles in the entire place. No, they’d run into two, but during the adrenaline filled fighting it wouldn’t have been out of the question for others to slip away. “There’s movement coming from the area with the comms setup, more unknowns…”
But these ones were more aggressive, apparently. Two figures. One of them running to take cover behind one of the displays that the previous two had used, and the other one vaulting over one of the plastic tables to charge towards Drue in the open… Who didn’t actually have a melee weapon unlike Oriane. Still, it wasn’t impossible to just shoot someone before they were within a dangerous range, which was what Drue tried to do by laying down another five rounds.
“万岁!” the latest attacker had been shouting, the first possible indication of who they were actually up against here, but the bullets did their job this time unlike before… Before the man could actually reach Drue with a knife drawn, he’d collapse on the ground, bleeding out from the two spots where the tough body armor had been penetrated.
“There’s still at least one more!” Drue reminded the others, shifting his attention quickly without showing too many signs of being fazed by the sudden encounter and near stabbing, even though it had practically come out of nowhere. “Keep your backs covered at all times till the place is clear!”
Gwen moved her rifle and let loose a three round burst at the one behind cover. She didn’t know if she’d hit, or even get through the cover and the armor, but pinning him down was probably well worth it at the very least. Her rounds punched through the metal display, an unusually tight cluster letting one or two of them through, but were easily stopped by the guys armor on the other side.
“You’ve got grenades… This would be a time to use them,” Drue said, looking to the side to Ava. He didn’t exactly have the best angle himself, after all. He’d have to throw over the display, which might throw things off.
“Right, throwing.”
Ava pulled the pin, aimed, and threw, the lever springing free. Her aim was off though, and the grenade clipped the side of the display and bounced off. Rolling away into uselessness, before detonating. She cursed to herself as she moved back behind cover. She preferred her rifle, but grenades were always useful.
The grenade didn’t do too much other than send a shockwave through the store, but Drue felt it nonetheless. Still, it didn’t do anything to solve their immediate problem, which was the last of the soldiers that they had sighted. They’d have to come up with another solution quickly - but something came to Drue’s mind. “I can probably get rid of the cover… It seems like it’s made of metal. But since I have to focus on that…” he paused for a moment, moving behind one of the pillars to think. “You’re going to have to make quick work of finishing off our enemy over there.”
Ava nodded.
“I am a good shot, even if my throwing arm is crap.”
Ava brought her rifle up, ready to take the shot as soon as Drue cleared the display. She’d go for the soldier’s arm. A capture would be useful, and even her rifle had trouble piercing the thicker armor, so this would make it easier on her.
Drue reached out through the psychic realm, aiming to tear down the cover that was being used by the last soldier, but it was hard… Making the connection in here. Perhaps because of the tension of the situation. Using psychic abilities wasn’t instant, after all. It required messing with forces that were higher than someone was normally, and… Sometimes that just didn’t work. Drue cursed quietly, feeling the connection rebuffed, his mind shot back into this realm entirely. “Actually… Scratch that. Not working in here…”
“I can try and punch through the cover and wound him enough to capture. My rifle packs a good punch, and the armor is thinner on their arms and legs.”
Ava offered, rifle still ready incase the soldier showed himself for some stupid reason.
The reply was rather simple and to the point. “If you can do it, then do it.”
Ava nodded, sighted in, and fired, cycling the bolt even after the heavier round punched through the display cabinet. She didn’t know how effective it was on the man behind, so she stopped to listen. She knew she hit, she was a good shot, but whether it was enough, or had made it through his armor was a different question.
There seemed to be the sound of something hitting the ground, indicating she had actually hit the mark this time and they had taken out that last opponent. “Clear… Possibly,” Drue said, moving from behind the pillar to further investigate, waiting and moving around the corner when there was no more noise. “Down, but not dead…”
However, that didn’t last for too long as Drue expended one more round, firing through the face shield of the soldier on the ground, deciding not to take the risk with getting attacked by someone they thought was down. “
Now I believe the room is clear.”
Gwen moved forward to check the two that had made a dash for the exit, and had been cut down by Oriane and Ivy. If either was alive they could finish them or capture them, though she had her doubts. There was a lot of blood, and a lot of vital organs in the torso to get damaged.
They didn’t seem to still be alive, however. Which left the group to figure out on their own what they had just found, considering the setup of equipment and the like was still there… Probably still functioning for that matter. “Squad,” Oriane said, walking into the store. “We’ll investigate before moving on.”
Gwen used her knife to slash the throats of the two downed up here, just to be safe, while Ava and Ivy moved further in, towards the equipment in question. Ava checked her ammo count while Ivy continued forward, curious as to what these four had been up to.
Oriane stopped when she was in front of the tables that had been set up, looking at the screens and seeing foreign language text on them, as Drue spoke up.
“So, the enemy in question was Sinan,” he stated, walking back over towards one of the downed bodies and looking at it closely. “The uniform has the patches of the Fourth Liberators Brigade, but there’s no unit in the VLG with advanced body armor like that. Also, the VLG is just about homogenous. It’s not an army with non-Andegardian foreign fighters… Or locals that aren’t of an Andegardian background. Based on the unmasked appearance of these soldiers and the earlier battle cry…”
Drue bent down and stood back up straight again, holding up the removed helmet of one of their former enemies. “I can only assume that they’re from the Sina DR,” Drue concluded. Which was… Concerning. It was far to the east of here and not directly involved in the affairs of the Valriki conflict, yes, but it was also a rival superpower. Perhaps the one that deserved the title of rival more than any of the others. Their policy in their own sphere of the world was aggressive - they didn’t make any false claims about that part of the world not being their realm. But this…
This was different from the things that happened out east, because this was a case of Sinan agents operating with an enemy of the Union in the Union’s own backyard.
“We wanna pack this stuff up for any possible intel, or what?”
Ivy asked. It’d take time, they could always leave it for someone else, but if there were Sinan agents getting involved, anything that could be pulled from their equipment could be vital. Could also be useless, but just knowing they were here was good intel, knowing what they were doing exactly would be better though.
“Pack all of this up? We can’t even carry this much stuff and we don’t know what’s on the perimeter once we’re on the outside again. The regulars will have to get it once they move in from the outside,” Oriane said, before she knelt down to try and see if she could get anything out of any of the computers. However, the menus weren’t exactly something she could get through, as they were written in Sinan and she also wasn’t familiar with the operating system.
“I can’t get any intel off this thing personally… If anyone else wants to try before we move out again, be my guest. Otherwise, I’m telling command about it and then getting back on track.”
Gwen moved forward, figuring she might as well take at it before they moved out. Wasn’t her specialty, but she was fairly smart, and there was no real harm to trying. She tapped at the screens, curious what she could find. Not anything as it turned out, so she stepped back with a shrug, ready to move when ordered.
“We’ll have to leave it for military intelligence,” said Oriane, backing up and waving for the others to follow her as she started out of the store. “The department store is still the main objective right now. Let’s get there.”
“I believe the computers back there were sending information back to somewhere, and they’re most likely connected to an array outdoors,” said Gunnar, the technology expert of the unit. “But I can’t give much more detail than that. I don’t read Sinan, so it’s just a guess without accessing their computers.”
“Hopefully they can figure out what that information was, and where it was going.”
Ivy said as her, Ava, and Gwen all got back into formation behind Oriane. None of them read Sinan, and it seemed none of them were going to get anything from the equipment themselves, but it still piqued Ivy’s curiosity. She doubted they’d get told much if anything about any intel pulled from them though, so that was one curious desire that would never be sated. Probably.
“Whether they find anything on there or not, you all might have been in the middle of something that’s going to be on the news soon enough,” said Oriane, walking in the front of the group as they continued down the walkway they had originally been using. “Not that any of us are going to get credit. Will be something like ‘Union special forces discover Sinan outpost in Valrik.’ Not like they would show
our faces.”
“You sound upset at that fact,” Drue mentioned, walking on the other side of Oriane.
“Maybe. I’m surprised you’re not the one that’s more upset by it. You know, military background and such.”
It simply drew a chuckle from Drue. “Because this isn’t the time to look for fame and fortune. This is just an accomplishment to go on the list. Something to convince others with when that time does come.”
“I simply envy those who get credit for it when they actually do something right,” Oriane shrugged eventually, continuing to lead the group. “But this squadron of reprobates scares people, damn it.”
Ivy chuckled at the last comment, but didn’t add any commentary for now. Ava shook her head while Gwen just focused on, well, not thinking about high up they were. Mostly by thinking about a song as they walked, though she kept at the ready. She bit her lip a little to bite back her own laugh though, even if she was mostly tuning out the idle chatter.
There was some evidence through the rest of the mall that there had been combat here, but they would run into no more actual opponents as they made their approach on the department store they were looking for - Stacy’s. It was an international chain, but they probably regretted opening up in Valrik by now considering how things were right now in Soren, where they had built one of their largest locations in the area in this specific mall which was now turned into a battlezone.
“That’s the store,” Oriane identified. “But this side of it at least looks like a ghost town. Then again, this place generally does until it doesn't.”
She waved them forward to keep going as she picked up her own pace, the wide entrance to the store seemingly not having anyone in or around it. There were certainly enemies in this place, though. They just couldn’t see them yet, but they had been able to see them perfectly fine from the outside of the building when they first came in.
Ava hung a bit further back with Gwen while Ivy moved forward. Gwen needed to be available to treat injuries, and Ava was a marksman anyway. Ivy on the other had was perfectly fine being closer to the enemy. She checked her ammo count quickly, before bringing her rifle up to bear. There was likely a good number in this store, and she doubted they hadn’t heard the fight earlier, though it was possible. Big place, plenty of walls to muffle the gunshots and grenade.
As they walked into the store, though, they ended up… In the middle of clothes. A lot of clothes. Not really the kind of place one imagined the typical battlefield to be, and it was pretty different from some of the places they had trained before. This wasn’t the green hedgerows of some field, but an environment that had similar ambush potential and yet it was in the middle of… Well, perhaps the most civilian environment imaginable.
It was a somewhat strange feeling for Oriane. Being in the kind of place which was usually just a place for shopping, but having a mission like the one they had right now.
“What do you think? You want me to buy you a dress?” Drue mused, looking to the side at Ava - a half sarcastic remark, of course, considering the current state of the store. The VLG had already looted some of it, meaning some of the more expensive clothes and the jewelry was already gone.
“Maybe a skirt, don’t want to hide these legs too much.”
Ava responded, pointing at one that was sickeningly yellow, she didn’t really want that one, but it drew the eye in it’s horribleness. She didn’t really wear the things often, but some of the sets here were nice enough for even her. Gwen looked around and rolled her eyes, but a smile was on her face. Ivy chuckled quietly, glad to see there was at least some sense of humor to the group, combat either squashed it or turned it to the gallows after all.
“Remind me to have a look around for that once the VLG here’s dead, then,” stated Drue, while Oriane kept her eyes trained forward. Fact of the matter was, based on what they had seen outside, most of the forces they’d spotted were located near the front of the store. Specifically, around the windows overlooking the parking lot and the area around it.
Ivy shook her head and scanned the area in front of them. If they got ambushed here, they probably wouldn’t be able to hold off a swarm of VLG troops without some injury. Thankfully if they were all clustered up watching the area across from them, some well placed grenades could clear a good number of them. Tht put a smile on Ivy’s face.
“Contacts… Up ahead,” Oriane said once they had gotten further into the building and reached the spot where the VLG’s forces had fortified themselves and were mostly turned around and overlooking the parking lot. She gave a gesture to her unit, having them move to the side next to one of the clothes displays and get out of the main walkway, to help decide how to deal with the six or so infantry that were immediately visible as they approached. “I counted six. Not including the ones manning the heavy machine guns and the ATGM down there. We have some options on how to take this one…”
Ivy could see a few possible options, but was curious what Oriane had in mind. Whatever they did, it’d needed to be quick, a prolonged firefight could turn ugly really fast. Gwen and Ava both glanced at each other, wondering what Oriane had in mind. Ivy for her part was beginning to trust her new commander to at least make good decisions, though beyond that it was still in the air to her.
“Alright…” muttered Oriane, coming to a decision on what they were going to roll with. She spoke quickly, not intent on spending too much time hanging around here. “Drue, Ivy, Ava, you’re going to move back into the aisle and fire directly at the other side, Gunnar, you’re going to cloak and go around to the flank, and Gwen, you’re going to suppress those heavy machine guns and make sure the crews don’t get ideas about spinning them around towards us. You’re not aiming to hit… Gunnar can handle that after closing in behind them. Understood? Then let’s get to it right away.”
Gwen nodded and swapped her magazines, if she was suppressing the fifteen or so shots she had left wasn’t going to cut it. Gwen would wait for the trio to open fire before she started suppressing, give them an element of surprise. Ava and Ivy both did as directed, picking different targets. Ivy of course used her preferred three round burst, while Ava just aimed for center mass. Most anything she hit would go down with her rifle, barring particularly heavy armor. Ivy’s rounds found her target, but Ava’s shot went wide, pinging off the sides of the aisle. She cursed, she rarely missed and she was always frustrated when she did. Gwen opened fire once she was in position to start suppressing, knowing she couldn’t keep it up for long.
Drue didn’t exactly have to be told twice to move out into the aisle like Oriane said and to fire, finishing off the magazine and filling one of the VLG soldiers with a multitude of bullets before the guerilla could turn around and realize the ambush… They had gotten a couple of easy kills but it would probably be harder from here out - even if the suppression was keeping the machine gunners from having freedom of movement, as moving too much here would just get them hit. Oriane moved to join those that were in the aisle, choosing to lead from the front. She fired her own burst of five rounds, dropping a third member of the VLG out of the six infantry they had spotted, this time hitting her enemy just as he was spinning around.
Gunnar, on the other hand, was working on stealth. He focused on his ability and hid himself from the world, the invisible ‘cloak’ going over his body, and then began to lurk forward once it had been done. He was going for the heavy weapons, the machine gunners first and then the ATGM post… Wasn’t like the ATGM could hurt them while they were inside the building. Upon reaching a closer distance, he took a few gunshots and watched one of the machine gunners collapse as the others didn’t even notice it had happened yet thanks to not seeing the foe that had appeared in the shadows for them.
Gwen kept up her suppression on the gunners, hoping the rest of the team had her back. Ava sighted in again and let a round loose on one of the three still standing. This time she caught him square in the surprised face, leaving a much less pretty body behind. Ivy fired again, catching her own target low in the gut, but he still went down, maybe she caught his spine. Whatever, that only left one target still standing in front of them, and two more of them to shoot.
The one soldier that was left fired back at least, but the quick burst of gunfire wasn’t on target to hit just about anything as it sailed past the group of special forces. The machine gunners and the ATGM operators were in a tough position where they didn’t exactly have much room to work, as they were boxed in by enemies and couldn’t set up in a way that would let them fire on their enemy. However, they didn’t flee as deserters but rather remained on the battlefield looking on and waiting for a chance to step into things.
Oriane had tricks up her sleeve other than her shooting, however. She extended her hand, forcing psychic energy outwards as she aimed to throw the lone soldier backwards… And up through the window. She was successful, of course, a loud crash sounding off as the man was ejected from the building, Oriane’s telekinesis coming in handy once again in this tight situation they had found themselves mixed up in. Which left just the soldiers behind the heavier weapons… But they hadn’t exactly identified the threat of Gunnar yet, which left them open to more shots ringing out and another member of the machine gun group dropping after a deadly finish by Gunnar. The cloaking ability
did have significant advantages on the battlefield.
Gwen kept her suppression going, this would be the last she could do before she reloaded, and silently hoped Oriane and the others would help finish off the gunners, as she’d be vulnerable while she reloaded. Ivy and Ava both looked to Oriane for a second, waiting for the quick affirmation to open fire on the crews or be ready for possible reinforcements.
There were two more soldiers manning the guns… But one of them quickly found himself on the end of a burst of bullets from Drue and Oriane took aim at the other one, though she didn’t actually hit the mark. “Damn it…” she muttered, but Gunnar was there at the least. The last gunshots came from Gunnar while he was still cloaked, executing the last opponent.
“Clear,” Gunnar announced, uncloaking. They had done a good job in clearing the area for their allies who would soon make the push into this shopping center, but there was another battlefront they had yet to reach… The rooftop.
“Right here is clear, yeah,” said Oriane, starting to walk over to examine the weapons. “They still have some heavy stuff on the roof we need to take out, and we don’t know if this place is completely clear yet. Big store. I suppose you all aren’t too lazy to patrol and make sure there’s nothing hiding around corners waiting for us before we move to the last floor.”
Gwen reloaded her rifle, dropping the empty clip to the floor.
“Gonna need to find some ammo soon, that burned through a lot.”
Ivy checked her ammo count, six rounds left in this one. She reloaded, dropping that clip to the ground. Six rounds wasn’t enough to care about at the moment. Ava was down to three rounds left before she’d have to reload, but that was three shots. Both of them signaled they were ready to go looking while Ava let her gun cool for a few moments, looking down at the dead crews below her.
“We’ll break to make it easier to clear the rest of the floor,” Oriane stated, looking towards her unit and waiting to see who would end up with who, not issuing a specific order in that regard. “Two with me and… The rest as a separate group. Drue will lead. As for myself, I’m ready when the rest of you are.”
Ivy and Gwen moved to accompany Oriane, while Ava moved to group up with Drue. She wasn’t the best at clearing rooms compared to the burst fire, but she could still help. Right now though, all three of them were ready to move as soon as the order was given, though they still kept eyes and ears peeled to keep an eye on everything else. If there were anyone else on this floor, they might give themselves away on accident, if not...well, they’d finish the roof soon enough.
“I guess these are the groups, then,” Oriane said, looking over the units as Ivy and Gwen joined her and Gunnar also moved to stand besides Drue. She gave a gesture in the direction she was going to take her own group. “We’ll head through this half of the floor, the one that’s dealing with clothes. And the other half, the one with appliances and other random stuff… The other group can take that one. Move out as soon as you’re ready.”
And with that, Oriane followed her own order and started off once again, leading the way through the half-looted section of this floor that was filled basically entirely with clothes and other similar goods… Accessories and stuff could be found here, too, but there wasn’t much time right now for looting of their own. That could come later, but as it stood, they had no idea if there were more enemy soldiers on this floor or not. Oriane didn’t intend to find out through getting ambushed.
She considered where
she would attempt to encamp at if she was in the position of the enemy… Or whether she would even encamp at all in such a situation. “The area over there… Near the front of the building and the windows. I imagine that’s the fastest route between the other side and the battle that just happened. Meaning if anyone is coming to respond…”
“They’d come through there.”
Ivy finished the thought, at least in part out of habit. Her voice was quiet as she finished it. She kept her rifle ready and moved with Oriane. Gwen hung back a little more, ready to pull either to safety if they got shot, but mostly ready to just shoot whatever idiot showed their face. She was glad to have a full clip again, she never liked suppressive fire, but she was the worst shot of the lot, so she was the best choice for it.
“We can lay an ambush of our own before the other side shows up… Assuming I’m right,” Oriane said, kneeling down next to one of the racks of clothes, which did a decent job of covering whoever was behind it well enough from someone coming down the aisle. “But…” she added, her voice lowering. “We’ll have to listen.”
They indeed had to listen, because hidden like this, sound would probably be the first indication of whether something was coming or not. “So… Get hidden and listen.”
Gwen and Ivy both took different positions, that way even if they were figured out the other two would still have the drop on them. Ivy listened closely, while Gwen kept her breathing steady, and calm. They were ready, this was far from the worst situation any of them had ever seen, in fact it was pretty good for their side.
It seemed the assumption was correct that there were more soldiers coming from this side to check out the battle that had just happened, probably aiming to reinforce the other side - they were late for that, however, for the other side had already been defeated in the first firefight on this floor. Now, it was just a matter of mopping up the groups like these that were left…
The main indication was footsteps, heading towards them rapidly, and the sound of voices where the local accent definitely gave away the affiliation of the faction… “Move on my signal,” Oriane said, still knelt down and listening to the sound now that it had made itself audible.
But she didn’t give a signal… Not yet. They would be more effective if they could take on this group in a way that would disorient them, and that was fully what she intended to do. Even if it was risky waiting… And waiting… And then, when the footsteps were close to them, on the aisle in front of where they were hidden, she gave a quick wave of the hand forward and moved around the corner herself, her finger quick on the trigger to empty the last four rounds she had.
They hit the mark, of course, catching one of the guerillas by surprise with a tight burst of gunfire to the chest, knocking that fighter back in the process, but she was still out after the one burst… So she moved to the side and moved her hand to reach for the magazine and start changing it, in a fluid motion as she weaved behind the cover once again as fast as she had originally made the move to get out from in front of it.
Ivy moved quickly, raising up from behind her cover to unleash a burst into the chest of one of the five remaining enemies. She moved back into cover even as Gwen was doing the same thing as her. Her own shots met their mark, catching her target in a trail from the gut to the sternum. Three rounds, from both of them, all of them finding their mark, leaving three more bodies on the floor. And three left standing.
It was a desperate close ranged battle now, but it was hard to argue the forces of the Valriki Liberation Government were prepared to face the elite of the Union, whose status was denoted even in their appearance, with their thicker protection and more exotic equipment design. Regardless, though… They had to try
something other than rolling over and dying.
One of the soldiers targeted Oriane in specific, her hearing disoriented as the gunshots rang out almost right in front of her, but it was hard to judge things in terms of aim from a distance this short against a target that was on the move… That was probably her saving grace, as the bullets went over her shoulder, but there were still two other enemy soldiers that hadn’t yet fired and she hadn’t yet evaded.
The second took aim at Ivy, a flash lighting up the enclosed area once again as another three rounds flew towards their target, this time striking unlike some of the more inaccurate Valriki soldiers and also doing better at actually penetrating the armor plating which had stopped attacks previously in this very battle. Considering much of the ammunition used by the VLG was taken from government stores which had originally been provided by the Union, however, it was no wonder at least one burst of shots would get through during this battle.
The last soldier in the group that was still standing, though, had the idea of taking aim for the same target, the one that was right ahead… And from close quarters, the attack wouldn’t miss, another series of bullets penetrating as the soldier hip fired at the first thing that was in sight, which happened to be Ivy… They generally didn’t have the best aim in the VLG, but even the worst luck seemed to reverse sometimes.
Ivy collapsed to the ground even as Gwen pumped another burst into one of the ones that had gotten her.
“Shit! Injury!”
She called to Orianne even as she tried to press herself back into cover. Until the last two were dealt with, she couldn’t do anything to help Ivy, if she was even saveable. That would take a medical chec, and they needed time for this.
Oriane stepped up and took a swing with her gladius, a weapon that she didn’t get a chance to use every day… But she trained in it nonetheless and sometimes, that training was useful. This was one of those times, it seemed, as she struck her target successfully and did some damage to the right leg of the enemy soldier… But that wasn’t a killing blow and still left them at a disadvantage numbers wise.
“I can handle myself up here,” she barked back to Gwen. “Fall back and do your thing as medic.”
“Right!”
Gwen moved quickly to get to Ivy’s side, pulling the soldier further behind coover before getting to work. She had a medic bag after all, first was to try stabilize her. That was relatively easy, Gwen was pretty sure she could do that blind folded. A morphine shot, and epinephrine would come once the wounds were properly bandaged. There was too much fighting, and too much unknown in the mall behind them to properly pull Ivy out. So she needed to get Ivy moving.
Oriane, on the other hand, was in a more intense situation… A couple soldiers against one, both of them with their sights set on her. She lunged, knowing they would soon fire on her position, and she was correct, with another burst of gunfire ringing outside of her field of view… She did feel one round bouncing off her shoulder pad, however, which told her to keep it moving and not relax. A reminder of how close she was to the same fate as Ivy.
The second soldier sent a fairly accurate burst at her but she’d managed to duck in time to not get hit by it as she moved to get behind the next rack of clothes for cover while she thought of an idea to get rid of both of them in this close quarters fight they’d ended up in. Well, not so much of an idea. More of an instinct that she accepted, and rolled with as soon as it came into her head.
Namely, she sheathed her gladius and reached for one of her grenades, opting to drop it rather than throwing it as she was pursued. It would still have the effect she was hoping for… Only thing that remained to be seen was if her opponents navigated out the way in time. And whether she could get out of the way in time… She pushed herself to the limit speed wise and then dove for added measure, doing whatever she could to keep herself out the blast zone, before…
BANG!It was disorienting to say the least, but she was still alive, and she didn’t feel shrapnel in her body. She was shaken but not stirred, but the same couldn’t be said about one of the other soldiers, who hadn’t been able to get out of the radius in time. She was sure the soldier was dead, but… She didn’t have a track on the other one.
Shit…So she’d lost this battle of positioning, she realized as her head spun. The other soldier that had survived was coming from behind her, and she was in a compromising position on the ground, even if she did try to push herself up as fast as possible. The next burst of gunfire
nearly hit her in the back, but it seemed she’d pushed herself to her feet fast enough, getting ahead in time to hear the shots bury themselves in the ground instead.
Her turn. The first thing she did was spin, disregarding cover for now and valuing a quick attack that wouldn’t give her opponent a chance to go for her again. Holding the rifle in a single hand for the sake of speed, she sprayed and prayed with five rounds… And was satisfied as she watched them stop her enemy in his tracks, his body stiffening before collapsing, rifle dropping to the ground too with a distinct clatter. In the end, it had been a battle of speed and accuracy, and she had been both quicker and more accurate.
Not that she wanted to take her chances on something like this again, though. It very well could have gone a different way.
“Clear,” Oriane said, looking over the area one more time to be sure before starting back to Ivy and Gwen.
Gwen injected Ivy and waited. It only took a short time for Ivy’s eyes to flutter open. Her breathing was rough and shallow, but Gwen heard no liquid. No sign of a conconcussion, and the bleeding was stopped. It was bad, Ivy would be down for a bit, but she wasn’t going to bleed out or suffocate.
“Got her stable and awake, she could probably push the roof with us, but she’ll be moving slow, and even a slight hit just to the armor could knock her out again. She can move if she’s careful, but I’d recommend she stay here till I can get the armor off her and get a better look.”
“And how are we supposed to take the roof like that?” questioned Oriane, standing there with her arms folded as she lingered and looked over the scene, letting out a slight sigh. “Recoilless rifles, possibly more machine guns, more infantry for sure… And probably braced for an attack after hearing the combat happening on this level. A hard fight. Harder when someone’s a liability.”
“Can’t do much about it, the bullets got through her armor. Nothing vital was hit, she isn’t going to bleed out, but she’s in rough shape. She can fight, I’d hold her at the back where she’d be the least direct target, and let her either pick at enemies, or use those plants of hers. If there was a vital hit, or it impeded her ability to actually move and shoot, I’d just be straight ordering her to stay here till the area is secure. As it stands, she can still move and fight, so it’s up to you.”
“Thing is, I don’t know if we can seize the rooftop in this state,” pointed out Oriane, pacing for a moment before she stopped, allowing herself to take in the silence as her ears rang slightly from the earlier action. “So…”
She drummed her fingers against her chest armor for a moment, an absentminded action. “I can ask if command has the resources to blow the rooftop instead of us seizing it. That’s not in the plan, though, and I know they’re not going to be the happiest to get the request in the first place…”
“My recommendation as the medic? Ivy here can still fight and probably use her powers. She-”
“I can probably use some vines from inside to take the recoilless rifles out of commission, just leaving the foot troops, if I have a good spotter to guide the vines from outside.”
Ivy said, her voice wasn’t weak, she looked up at Oriane.
“But an airstrike or strafing run of some kind would be more reliable.”
“Still have to deal with however many infantry are up there. That’s the larger threat, being honest…” said Oriane, pausing. “And being able to fight isn’t worth much if you’re going to get knocked down the first time you get hit. Just going to end up being a liability someone else has to cover if you go down… Which isn’t that unlikely. I’ll call the others and tell them to start evacuating… Air strike can be called on the rooftop. It’s the one place in this damned building that they can
probably hit reliably from the air, anyway.”
“Yes ma’am.”
Gwen said as she moved to help Ivy to her feet. Mission wasn’t going as planned, but when did plans ever survive contact with the enemy?
“You know as well as I do that injuries almost always happen.”
Gwen made sure Ivy was steady before packing up her kit. This wasn’t ideal, but at least the target location was cleared enough for a plan B to work in the first place. There’d been much, much worse in ehr time as a medic than this. At least Ivy was still mobile, and they didn’t need to evac her.
“I’m not the one that sets the objectives, and it doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it,” said Oriane, shortly after speaking into the communications line to inform the other section of the squad of the decision and the need to… Pull back. Preferably to the outside of the building, but if they didn’t get that far, they would still be far safer just being on the lower levels. The place was large enough to not get knocked down entirely by an air strike, even if it did collapse the roof in on itself, which was their objective.
“And you should just be happy that you’re not the one who has to explain to the Lieutenant Colonel,” Oriane added, a sharp tone in her voice. “I mean, we’re outfitted like this for a reason. To be able to deal with threats like this one
without having to do the thing that the regular troops would do and just call an airstrike in on it because we couldn’t seize the objective…”
“Oh believe me I am glad, but nothing ever goes according to plan. We got pretty damn far before any injury, and none of use are dead. Especially after the unexpected Sinan encounter. The brass is always pissed about something, but they’ll have another target for us soon enough.”
“Fair enough…” Oriane said, making her way in the direction that they had originally come, fully prepared in the event that they ran into more opposition on the way out. Given the turn of luck, she wouldn’t put it past happening. And so, it would seemingly end like this… Their first day of involvement in the battle for Soren, with mixed success. A few objectives seized, and a tactical retreat.
Good… But somehow not good enough, to Oriane. She had the feeling, though, that they would be right back out there soon enough.