Marineian village, Ultramarine
"Think we got 'em?" the first pilot asked.
"Don't know." The second pilot's reply was matter-of-fact.
The village was partially on fire, houses had collapsed and bodies & rubble lay strewn through the streets along with burning trucks and supplies. Corporal Welch, the radio operator now thrust into a primary leadership role with the MIA status of his superior, sat between a barely-conscious villager whose arm had been amputated to his right and a Marineian woman cradling a crying child to his left, waiting with baited breath and hoping the terrorist barrage had been ended. When the white plume of smoke from a rocket passed over the village, he knew it hadn't.
"We got rockets!" One pilot said
"Stick close, deploying flares," the second replied, before a bright cluster of countermeasure flares burst out from behind the plane, being obliterated a few seconds later by the missile, but protecting the planes in the process. The pilots flew low and swerved off to behind the protection of the Ultran Highland's naturally mountainous terrain, to get out of the line-of-sight of the rocketeers. The planes stayed low for a few minutes while they flew far enough to get away from the danger.
"Corporal Welch," General Thandi's voice came through the radio "The planes are going to get out of the area before climbing to their service ceiling of 40,000 feet, where they'll be well above the effective range of most Man-Portable Air-Defense Systems. Until then, get your defenses up, and kill those rocket bastards if you can."
"Roger that sir," Welch replied, yelling a few orders to his soldiers, through the radio and in person, while making his way to a taller two-story house. Welch kicked the door in and marched his way up the rickety, old, and roughly-cut wooden stairs and to the second floor, though even inside the house he could not escape the permeating smell of burning wood, rubber, and fuel.
After getting out onto the balcony, Welch raised his Galil and looked through the scope towards the hills to the east, when he heard the distinct sound of gunfire; Welch turned his head and saw an IFV in the distance just in time for a bullet from infantry only a house away to smash through his gun, and a second hit his helmet, and he stumbled back and fell down as a third grazed his left shoulder. Welch rolled onto his side and dragged himself into the building as he could hear more shots just barely missing behind him. The corporal grabbed his radio, "Attention, attention, we've-" an explosion caved in part of the wall and Welch felt a horrific pain as a piece of shrapnel tore through his left eye and blinded him, but he pressed through the pain as he stumbled back down the stairs, continuing his message "We've got enemies inbound from the east side!"
Corporal Welch reemerged from the house and headed to his right down an alleyway, hoping to evade the incoming column of soldiers and BMPs arriving from the left; In the corporal's path, however, was a young man, an ultran, wielding a rifle and a baldric of grenades; The young man's eyes went wide upon seeing his opponent, he hesitated, but the corporal did not. Welch raised his .375 pistol and with a crisp bang! and a spurt of blood, sent his would-be attacker to the ground with a direct hit to the neck. The corporal walked swiftly up to the fallen terrorist and pressed down on one of his grenades, pulling the pin out with him and jogging to the end of the alleyway, ducking behind a building just as the approaching infantry opened fire towards him.
As the sound of the grenades exploding and halting his pursuers rang out, the corporal continued taking in reports from his fellow soldiers and handing out orders by radio as picked up a ring of keys along with the identification tags from a fallen driver. Welch climbed into one of the still standing Hino trucks, its trailer still full of supplies for the needy, put the keys in the ignition, and turned. The old truck roared to life with it's quad headlights illuminating through the smoke from a nearby burning building, and it's powerful engine rumbled the cabin. The truck lurched forward under the weight of the corporal's foot on the accelerator and shook violently as it negotiated through a mortar pothole.
Gunfire rang out as the truck passed the central street, though the Hino's driver was protected by a pane of ballistic glass. Welch pulled the truck up in such a way as to let the trailer and shipping container serve as a blockade to the incoming terrorist forces, putting on the parking gear, parking brake, removing the keys, and locking all the doors to make sure it'd be as hard as possible to break into the truck, the corporal disembarked and jogged further west towards where a rendezvous point where he'd ordered his troops to bring the villagers for evacuation, before being picked up by a Mahindra jeep driven by a fellow soldier and overcrowded with panicked villagers.
The rendezvous point consisted now of a few trucks loaded with people, a large percentage of their supplies tossed out onto the ground to make room, then doused in whale oil and lit aflame to prevent them falling into the hands of the terrorist forces. Some other vehicles huddled around the trucks in a protective circle to provide cover for the soldiers, many of whom were alarmed, weary, and some even wounded yet still prepared to fight for their lives. The gunshots, screams, explosions, and other sounds of the ultran supremacists massacring villagers and soldiers unable to scramble to safety rang out from every direction as the rising smoke began to suffocate the village. With no stragglers still reporting in when called via radio, it was assumed anyone not with the convoy was already dead. The trucks pushed west, only able to hope it was free of terrorists, and the battered roads littered with burning wreckage and at least one purposefully parked semi would keep the attacking army at bay long enough for them to escape, or at least elude the murderous attackers long enough for the planes to return and cover them.
The Terminal Yard, northern Ultramarine
A large triple warehouse facility used to store all the excess supplies so as not to overcrowd the airbase had come to be known to the soldiers simply as "the Terminal Yard"; It was here that the forces of Pilip Akoak retreated following their exodus from the Ultran town, joined by a growing number of other convoys, all of which had been ordered to retreat when the attacks began. While the roving motorcades were protected by infantrymen armed with, at most, grenade launchers and machineguns, the Terminal Yard was a stronghold prepared to defend them far more adequately.
The first thing that sergeant Akoak took note of was the walls: The outer layer of chain-linked fence topped with razor wire wasn't too unusual for a storage facility, but the new occupants had pushed shipping containers right up next to the fence to block vehicular attack, along with piling up sandbags and installing sniper nests and machinegun dens in some areas. Pilip knew these weren't just any snipers either, he'd helped load their guns onto the helicopters for delivery, they used heavy-duty Denel NTW anti-material rifles, capable of producing anywhere from 28,000 to 40,000 joules of force, depending on the type of ammunition used (for comparison, a common 30.06 hunting rifle can put out about 4,000 joules, while a .44 magnum revolver can produce around half that).
Akoak stopped the truck at a roadblock around 200 feet from the entrance to the compound so soldiers could search the truck for stowaways or explosives, and about that time took note of a second prominent defense: A large Challenger 2 tank seated right at the front gate, along with plenty of temporary fortifications and soldiers. Once the inspection was complete, vehicles were ordered either directly to the repair garage, to the field hospital, or to the loading area to unload their supplies, Akoak was directed to the ladder.
Once cleared for entry, the main gate gave the sergeant no trouble, and he navigated his way past stacked containers, parked trucks, and unhooked trailers, as well as a grounded attack helicopter, parking in front of waiting personnel who quickly sprung into action unloading the truck, having an especially busy day ahead. He passed a Counter-RAM system, perhaps the most important defensive piece, as he made his way inside the repair garage. Pilip passed several of his soldiers, along with a damaged humvee, the first vehicle up for repairs, as he walked to the door leading inside. Some of the troops acted like nothing had happened and were happy to meet up with their buddies from other squadrons, some were in solemn contemplation, and a few were clearly deeply shaken by the attack, though the sergeant was only observing the troops who had been lucky enough not to need to visit the field hospital.
Akoak removed his cover (a khaki-colored felt slouch hat) as he stepped inside the walls of the warehouse. The sergeant's eyes took a moment to adjust to the industrial, artificial lighting, but he soon welcomed the comparatively warm, quiet, and comfortable interior for it's contrast to the loud, bustling cold of the yard. The embattled soldier came to grips with the fact that he'd narrowly avoided death as he sat down on one of the couches that, much to the pleasure of the soldiers, had been there when they arrived. Akoak enjoyed his reprieve of relaxation while he could, soon enough the general would no doubt want to speak with him about the attack.
