Project Warfighter: Operation Nightingale [IC]

[New Hayesalia]

SAF, 88 SECONDS OUT OF AO

"SAF, ROGER, LAZER DESIGNATE ANTI-AIR, OUT"

The Greater Soviet Union was now going to do more than complain. Using the laser designators so well known by special forces the world over, they would give the SAF the target. The Strekla, a cold war era vehicle, had been lucky to remain unknown so long, only catching the five helicopters as they crossed a small hilly range, but not before dropping down a valley again. The Strekla needed line of sight. The Vanguards did not.

With a target received, Salvo pulled up and off from the main flight, screeching sideways at a hundred miles an hour. With the helicopter drifting aside and the Strekla locked, the helicopter's pilot made the call- "Fox three!"

With that, the first of it's Brimstone missiles launched, slamming through the sound barrier within seconds of leaving the airframe. With one of the most advanced anti-tank warheads ever developed, the Brimstone made it's way to the laser target at massive speed, and would splash into the Strekla in exactly 16 seconds.

[Hurtful Thoughts]

However, as return-fire from the motor-pool intensified, Crompton gave the order to saturate the area with willie-petes from their mortars... then bring-forward their rocketeers to deal with anything that managed to survive the cloud that burned and tried to make for a breakthrough.

Near the 206th Barracks, 18 Kilometres North-East of Ajamakri
Theocracy of Holiyra
2320 Hours
SOG Hellspawn, 2nd Detachment, 4th Team "AQUA", 1st Lieutenant Gruy Losuir

Losuir saw the white phosphorus hit the barracks. Although the mortar rounds appeared to be doing damage to the lightly armoured vehicles and the "soft" targets who weren't mounted in the vehicles, a few of the BMP-2 IFVs managed to get out along with a BTR-60, who was definitely armed with a squadron of men. Motioning to Gredrasburg to push up to the tree line with his Projectile Firing Anti-Tank Rocket (PFATR) Anti-Tank 86mm Rocket Launcher, the operative fired into one of the three BMP-2s' side, disabling it and sending a shockwave circling the other vehicles. Gredrasburg pulled back immediately as Losuir heard Capalumik tapping his radio.

"AJACOM, this is Jackal 2-4 Actual. I'm requesting a CRUCIFIX Strike on the following coordinates: 1,0,6,3,7,2. Confirmed hostile armoured presence in the area." Capalumik held position for a bit, motioning for the team to pull back a bit as boots could be heard touching the ground. "Cutlass, you still there? I could use some support fire right now."

A few stragglers from the Barracks could be seen as Capalumik nodded for Hellspawn to engage. Losuir raised his suppressed MX Rifle and squeezed the trigger and put down two of the Holiyran soldiers before the others dashed for cover, returning fire.

As the 86mm rocket streaked into one of the escaping IFVs, a few sporadic bursts of 6.5mm tracer-fire pinged against the other two, setting-off a few ERA-plates shortly before a pair of 105mm shaped-charges flung out from the treeline and into their targets; the work of Gibbons and Schwartz, their resident sharpshooters and RPG-experts.

With armor and open stages clear, Foyt and Thompson prepared to lay-down some suppressive-fire while Crompton, Strank, and Rosenthal prepared to commit themselves to the general charge upon the base, with their primary objective to secure some means of armored transportation from the now-desolate motor-pool.

[Murovanka]

18km NE of Ajamakri | Holiyra
2345 hours | August 20th, 2015

“Atlas, Kilo Two-Actual. Engaging enemy reinforcements.” murmured Rudi into his radio. A loud whooshing sound filled the air as the advanced 90mm HEAT warhead broke out of the bushes, slamming violently into the side of an enemy BMP infantry fighting vehicle. Weizen quickly shouldered the launcher and took off to her next position while Rudi and Prinz opened fire on the exposed infantrymen. Second Squad, Third Platoon of Sonderkampfentwicklungsgruppe Koppa-Koppa had joined the fight.

The Koppa team had remained relatively dormant for the first quarter of an hour of the battle, with Kondor giving sniper support and the others watching the road leading to Ajamakri. With the help of the Mikado-Drone, the area could carefully be watched for incoming enemy reinforcements and was practical in the use as an early warning system (not to mention that it was virtually undetectable). But their rearguard actions wouldn’t last long. With the report by the Hurti team that enemy reinforcements had arrived, the special warfare operators quickly got into action. Their mission was simple: delay and harass the superior force until reinforcements could be called in to destroy them. The squad was only lightly armed, sacrificing firepower for mobility, but did retain some anti-armor capability in the form of Weizen’s modern Panzerfaust.

The carefully set up RPG ambush was quickly followed up by fire from Rüdiger and von der Heide. Rudi sent a fragmentation grenade toward the enemy masses with the help of his underbarrel grenade launcher, followed by bursts of gunfire; Prinz did the same. As the enemy swivelled their guns toward the direction of the threat, Piranha, with his GR-9 light machine-gun began blasting away at the dismounted infantry from the opposite direction. He watched as several of them fell. It could have been more, were he closer, but the risk that he’d be hit fatally would be too high. Depressing the trigger for several more seconds, he finally stopped as the first bullets kicked up mud around his camouflaged position. He hoped that Rudi and Prinz had gotten away safely. Which they probably did. Swirling, white smoke was rising from the ground; helpfully sent in by Weizen with her grenade launcher to mask their apparent retreat. The grounds suddenly came alive as automatic rifles, machine guns and cannons violently pecked and dug up the earth in their attempts to find their human targets and kiss them goodbye from this forsaken world.

This was all observed by Kondor several hundred meters away on a hill. He was in his own world, controlling his breathing and posture while calmly clicking away on his sniper rifle, carefully aiming each shot for the most important target he could find. In this case, nothing higher than company or platoon leaders, and their noncoms. But every shot would count. The weather was doing him a good favour, with the wind remaining relatively calm, although he was further away from the enemy as he would have liked. Another RPG crashed in, sent in from Weizen from yet another different position. It missed its target, detonating on impact with the ground and tearing two unlucky enemy soldiers down.

The Koppa squad seemed to have done its job. The enemy companies had come to a stop, their guns blazing in the direction of the enemy fire, which kept coming, while not in a very heavy manner, but nevertheless never seemed to cease.

”Au Scheisse…” came a female voice through the comms.

”Weizen, was ist passiert? Weizen, antworte!” (“Weizen, what happened? Weizen, answer!”) shouted Rudi concerned.

“No worries,” came the reply, “only a graze by some small bullet.”

It was time for them to truly get out of this position. They had delayed the enemy long enough, and the high explosive 30mm shells were proving to be dangerous. Flying white-hot shrapnel easily dislodged small rocks and boulders and chances were that they could easily find themselves underneath human skin. Weizen had taken out one vehicle and damaged another by now. On command, the Koppa gunfire orchestra ended abruptly (apart from Kondor’s sniping) with the four as-of-yet Wankan troopers made rapidly for their next prepared defensive locations.

[Ontorisa]

Near the 206th Barracks, 18 Kilometres North-East of Ajamakri
Theocracy of Holiyra
2330 Hours
SOG Hellspawn, 2nd Detachment, 4th Team "AQUA", 1st Lieutenant Gruy Losuir

The fire upon the small sporadic resistance from the barracks was ridiculous. One of the BMP-2 IFVs exploded on direct impact with the 86mm rocket that had streamed right into its side. The few hostiles out in the open with no cover were quickly put down by brutal counterfire. Losuir lifted his rifle and scanned as the Birtonian rangers did their share, firing a couple of 40mm grenades into the sides of the various buildings and firing at the troops still inside. A few Holiyran troops returned fire with their AK-74s, but to no avail as whatever coordination the troops had before had just shattered. The troops were now individuals, and individuals were easier to kill than groups were.

"Cutlass, this is Jackal 2-4 Actual." Capalumik spoke into his inter-helmet radio as he motioned for the group to move up next to a disabled BMP-2, the crew scattered around it, dead. "You're free to move up, advised I'm not sure how many hostiles are still in the barracks."

Lifting his rifle instinctively, Capalumik found a Holiyran soldier prepared to fire at the group, putting three rounds into the armed man before continuing to move. The team took up positions as they heard additional fire in the distance. Everything appeared to be going smoothly until AJACOM delivered some bad news.

"All ATLAS callsigns, this is AJACOM! Be advised! The Coalition has already started their move against Holiyra! I tried stalling but they're going through with the plan! You need to get to the facilities now! Out!" Lieutenant Colonel Aesir Zami-ta-Potia basically screamed into the channel.

"Fuck!" Capalumik punched the BMP-2 as he looked back at his team. "We're gonna push with Cutlass and any free ATLAS forces to the facility."

Speaking into his radio, Capalumik first radioed Cutlass and then any additional force that was currently not engaged as he heard the O-71s flying overhead.

---

Overview
Hostile Forces - Status: Engaging Targets

The Holiyran forces defending the WMD Facility were now pulling back to the Facility as reinforcements, although one column had been pinned by the hostile forces, were continuing their move. The other entrance to the valley that was available had been secured by an infantry platoon as additional BMP-2 IFVs, BTR-60s and now T-72 Main Battle Tanks rolled into the valley, with troops following the armour in lightly armoured transport vehicles.

The reinforcements objective was to secure the entrances before relieving the facility's garrison.

---

Strela AA Position (Unknown Position for Atlas)
Hostile Forces - Status: Alert, Detecting Hostiles

The rockets came in, smashing four Strelas. Regardless, the remaining Strelas fired again, hopefully hitting one of the helicopters.

[Military Democracy of Birtonia]

ATLAS-Rangers
Entering 206th Barracks
Theocracy of Holiyra
2333 Hours

---

A few minutes and several beautiful explosions later, it appeared the enemy unit was smashed. Though the valley was shrouded in the sacred night sky, it was pocketed by sporadic gunfire coupled with organized bursts of different caliber guns, the Holiyrans and ATLAS exchanging fire. Thick black plumes of smoke billowed into the sky, from the raging infernos of buildings, and light armor vehicles. Since the Rangers prided themselves on being "nightstalkers" they had not produced their Night Vision Devices as of yet and were relying on the rather generous moon to illuminate the mission. Birtonian barrels halted for only a short moment, to allow the inexperienced enemy soldiers to give away their own position by firing blindly into the night. Most of the muzzle flashes were coming from a building on the northwestern corner, that hadn't been graced by Birtonian grenades nor Hurti White Phosphorous, the teams LSW Mare quickly chewed up what brave resistance the Holiyrans decided to show.

From their vantage point the Rangers could see that enemy forces were close to routing, one final push would break them and ATLAS could finally move on to the real objective. Jackal notified John that his team could move up, pointing towards a BMP that had been hit.

"Roger Jackal, Cutlass will sweep this buildings and exit opposite side how copy over" said John as he used his non-firing hand to designate the building to his team. They quickly hustled to the entrance, narrowly dodging bullets as they kicked up dirt around their feet, pounding into the ground over and over again, until they reached their target. William led the stack and was about to tap up for the ready signal when an urgent broadcast happened on the team wide frequencies. Jessica turned her gaze skywards and could make out the faint outline of helicopters streaking across the stars. Somewhere off in the distance, a few explosions echoed out, likely caused by those birds.

"Alright were moving on the main objective!" shouted John, his team quickly assumed a wedge formation and moved off the immediate AO, into the woods and hills again, bypassing the roads.

As they ran off up the nearest hill, John keyed up his microphone again, "Jackal two fower actual, Cutlass six" he continued, between deep breathes, "We'll take point, follow me over".

[Hurtful Thoughts]

When Crompton had made it to the motor-pool, he could already see some ranger chill'n ion the cover afforded by a disabled BMP-2 as withering-fire came from one of the final holdouts of the garrison. Without any pause or explanation, he slipped into the fighting-compartment and manually traversed the armored-vehicle's 30mm cannon onto the building. 10 seconds later and he let-out a nice long belch of cannon-fire into the corners of the building, spalling the interior and causing flashes to appear in the windows to indicate full-penetration.

Around this very same time, Strank and Rosenthal began assessing the damage. A track was busted and the engine needed starting, and they went straight to work securing their mount for use even as the flustered teams of ATLAS were suggesting a mad-dash for the compound.

"See if those heloes could give some of our folks a lift if y'feel it'll speed things up." Strank fumed as he tried resetting a track-pin, only to get hit in the shoulder by a rifle-round for exposing himself. He lost his balance and fell. More rounds sprayed in his direction, his head exposed to fire, it only took a careless second before one found his helmet.

((Suggests Holiyrian forces start using indirect artillery fire))

[Ontorisa]

Near the 206th Barracks, 18 Kilometres North-East of Ajamakri
Theocracy of Holiyra
2335 Hours
SOG Hellspawn, 2nd Detachment, 4th Team "AQUA", 1st Lieutenant Gruy Losuir

The Hellspawn team moved up into the burning barracks as Losuir looked at the carnage surrounding him, relatively unaffected. He heard someone talking as Losuir turned to see who was talking. It was a Hurti soldier, he was saying something before a round went clean through the top of the head, cutting off the man's speech and sending the head down.

"Man down!" Losuir screamed as the Hellspawn team hit the ground as a wave of rapid gunfire opened up from the barracks. "We still have contacts in the barracks!"

Losuir shifted, quickly crawling away from the open and behind a concrete wall that surrounded the barracks. He checked his magazine before replacing it and shifted to look over into the open courtyard of the barracks, firing at the positions that was not on fire.

"Cutlass 6! This is Jackal 2-4 Actual! Roger! Flank around and clear out the North-East end of the barracks! We just took a casualty!" Capalumik's voice could be heard as the AKM fire grew louder as a few more Holiyran troops continued to keep up the fire.

[Military Democracy of Birtonia]

ATLAS-Rangers
206th Barracks
Theocracy of Holiyra
2335 Hours

---

The small team of Rangers quickly scaled the small hill, dodging small holes left by some form of wildlife likely. Once they reached the crest, one by one they all dropped to the prone, scanning pre-assigned sectors of fire for any targets looking to ambush them. Just then, everybody's heart stopped for a moment, we just took a casualty rang over the headsets and reminded everybody that though they were all the best their country could offer, underneath the training and equipment they too, could fall in battle. Jessica looked down, putting her hand to her head, giving the fallen comrade a short moment of silence before they picked back up again.

"Rog Jackal, moving in from the north, over" said John, still collected and cognoscente of the situation unfolding.

John led the way, moving in a single file formation along the hillside, bobbing and weaving through the foliage for minimal concealment. As they moved the firefight between the opposing forces within the facility had intensified, tracers lighting the way for all to see. An old perimeter wall that fell into disuse provided the team with some cover and a stable firing platform in which to kill the Holiyran machine gun team they had just discovered. John smoothly reached over his chest and secured a thermite grenade, pulling the pin he lobbed it into the air. The grenade fell with a tell tale thunk, alerting the enemy crew to its presence, but far too late. It exploded with a white-hot intensity, melting and burning anything around its kill zone and blinding those who looked directly at it.

"Jackal two fower, shift fire, shift fire, over" said John as he stood and fired two rounds towards some scattered Holyirans running from the now smoldering machine gun nest.

Jessica was up next, moving just to the right of John, and the rest fell in line. They moved in a diamond formation, weapons up and putting two bullets into each body they came across. Once the team had reached the grave of five burnt enemy soldiers, William brought his M-203L seventy two and a half millimeter rocket and put a HEAT round directly into the building where sporadic fire came from. The rocket leapt out with a flash, slamming into the building and creating a large hole, sending chunks of debris flying out across the compound. For good measure William then tossed in another thermite grenade, to eliminate any stragglers.

"Jess go check the wounded," said John, pointing towards the Ontorosian team nearby, "Jackal two fower, docs on the way, we'll clear out this building" he finished, pointing his rifle towards the structure that took a rocket and thermite grenade to it.