Dominion Ground Assault | Eastern Kyavan Coastline | Pacific Ocean
Without fail, with the casement of Dominion naval artillery raining down upon the enemy and their positions and keeping them suppressed, the enemy soon gathered the nerve to muster itself enough courage to dare strike back at the Dominion front line with a somehow still highly motivated and sizeable force despite over twenty four hours of constant bombardment. With violent concussions that sent shock waves across the ground between the two forces, the earth suddenly up-heaved towards the sky, raining down derbies over a wide area and adding even more craters to the already pockmarked landscape. From the center of these detonations, a sickly green haze clearly visible to the naked eye could be seen seeping from the craters at the speed that the coastal winds would carry it.
From across the Dominion lines across the first trench line, the warning cry of "Gas Gas Gas" could be heard long before the first hint of the green haze hit Dominion lines, or even triggered the chemical sniffers strategically positioned around the line. Thankfully, the enemy was using a distinctly visible agent in relatively open terrain that relied on the wind to carry it, making it predictably unpredictable and allowing spotters plenty of time to get the warning out to all units before any serious casualties could be suffered. However, despite the steps taken to combat the effectiveness of CBRN agents on the field, there were inevitable casualties suffered by Dominion forces due to simple human error, such as improperly sealing a mask, or resealing a punctured suit properly, or just simply being in the wrong spot at the wrong time. Combat Lifesaver (CLS) certified individuals immediately rushed over to perform buddy aid on those showing any signs of exposure. This process started with the soldier immediately grabbing the auto-jet injector kit issued to every soldier as part of their Individual First Aid Kit (IFAK) and administering first a dose of Atropine into one thigh through the uniform, then a dose of Pralidoxime into the opposite thigh. If needed, a dose of Diazepam would then be given via auto injection back at the original site to combat and reverse any effects similar to nerve agents. Even at the best of circumstances, these injections would do nothing but stabilize and prolong the life of the casualty long enough to get medivaced to the rear to receive proper medical treatment for their exposure.
While this was going on, the unmistakable whistling sound of incoming large caliber artillery could be heard a split second before the first round impacted the trench line with a thunderous WHUMP that send smoke and dirt flying high into the sky. Across the line, Dominion soldiers instinctively hit the dirt inside the captured enemy trench and prayed that it would now protect them just as good as it did their enemy when they were being shelled by the much larger and more powerful Dominion Navel Guns not even a few short hours ago. Luckily for the Dominion soldiers, but the literal green haze that was now also arcing light as shells whistled through it and exploded would no doubt play hell on the enemies ability to clearly sight and target them through it. However, even a stuck clock is right twice a day and the fresh screams for corpsmen across the line was a testament to this as some shells inevitable found their mark among the line.
However, despite this, the Dominion wouldn't just be sitting back and taking it and with every downed solider rage built inside the remaining expeditionary force.
Captain Charles Kelly, commander of 1st Platoon Armored surveyed the scene before him from his scope inside his Dominion Grey M6A1 Crusader MBT. An ungodly amount of small arms fire could be heard ricocheting off the forged turret and hull of the tank, with an occasional whump as a launched munition made contact, most likely rifle launched grenades of some sort. Kelly knew that if either the vehicles or the infantry around them stood in one spot for long that they would start taking an incredible beating from the stupidly large amount of small arms fire coming from what felt like everywhere. Suddenly through the thermal scope of his team leaders station which allowed him to penetrate the environment around them, Kelly noticed the unmistakable white blobs that were enemy infantry from across the battle space.
"Gunner, target enemy infantry, two oclock!" Cried out Kelly to his gunner loud enough to be heard over the hydraulic system of the automated loader nestled inside the turret.
"Identified!" came the reply from Sgt Miles Mattason in the gunners seat as he sighted in on the enemy position. With a flick of a switch on his joystick, the man selected from available ammunition inside the vehicles ammo rack and selected the XM1028 Canister round. Immediately, the automated loaded system whirled to life and quickly though loudly loaded the leather round into the breach, readying it to be fire.
"Canister shot up!"
"Fire!" shouted Kelly
"On the way!" shouted Mattason right before the locally produced Rheinmetall L/55 120mm Tank Gun varient roared to life as the tank engaged the target. Kelly then reached up with his left hand and flipped one of several red toggle switches controlling the mounted smoke launchers and fired off a screen around his vehicle to help further obscure it from the enemy. Regardless though, everywhere he looked through his scope, he could see the forms of massed enemy infantry as they apparently numbered too great to accurately count.
"Jesus fucking Christ, where are they all coming from..." he murmured to nobody in particular.
"Sir?" asked the Gunner with a slight look of puzzlement on his face, as he was literally blind of the current situation surrounding them.
"Nothing.. Gunner... infantry in cover... fire at will."
"Aye sir."
"Canister shot up!"
"On the way!" With a thunderous clap, the gun roared to life once more, filling the air in front of it with lethal tungsten death.
As the MBT shot, moved, and generally moved along to avoid enemy counter fire to the best of it's ability, Kelly reached out and keyed his PTT button on the command net.
"X-Ray Actual, This is Eagle One Actual... we are experiencing heavier then anticipated resistance from enemy forces immediately outside phase line Alpha...Break... Estimate a fucking army sized element inside the forward trenches with attached support elements.. Break... requesting immediate suppression on everything forward of phase line Bravo time now. Over."
As Kelly let the PTT button go the mic, his tank was suddenly and violently rocked by a massive explosion that sent several items flying around the cab that were not bolted down or secured properly. The solid impact also filled the interior of the cabin with years of hard to reach dust that had collected in all the cracks and crevices inside the cab. Kelly smacked his helmeted head against the side of the copula, audibly grunting in pain as he did. After a brief moment, the man shook his head gently and recovered his senses.
"What the fucking hell was that? Damage report!"
"One Ok.." came the driver over the CVC intercom.
"Two Ok.." said the gunner as he coughed through the now airborne grit.
Kelly traversed his scope 360 around the tank looking for damage, and it didn't take long for him to find it. The hard kill defensive system on the tank and successfully intercepted an enemy munition of some kind and prevent what could have been a catastrophic kill of the vehicle and her crew. However it had done so apparently at the last second, and the vehicle had taken splash damage on the left side of the hull as a result.
"Eagle One Actual, X-Ray Actual... request acknowledged.... immediate fire support is inbound.... recommend you halt your advancement, dig in, and support the infantry the best you can... X-Ray Out."
Grunting through the pain, Kelly started a secondary scan through his scope looking for the bastard that nearly just cost him his life. After a short search, he found his target. The man almost passed the glowing white mass thinking it another enemy fortification, until it suddenly revved it's engine and pivoted in place to take aim with it's fixed weapon at another unknown Dominion unit off to his right.
"Mother of god... Gunner, target enemy super heavy tank destroyer One O'clock in the open!" The man practically screamed as adrenaline pulsed through his veins.
"Identified!" came the audibly worried reply from Sgt Miles Mattason in the gunners seat as he sighted in on the laughably large tank in front of them. With a flick of a switch on his joystick, the man once again selected from available ammunition inside the vehicles ammo rack and selected a M829A4 APFSDS round for the task at hand. Immediately, the automated loaded system whirled to life and quickly though loudly loaded the leather round into the breach, readying it to be fired.
"Kinetic Penetrator UP!"
"Fire!"
"On the way!" With a thunderous clap, the gun roared to life once more, sending the highly lethal Anti-Tank round downrange towards the target. Hopefully, it would be enough to do the job. Kelly watched through his scope as the round traveled toward through the air towards the target before impacting it with tremendous force that sent scrap metal in all directions as bits of metal were sheered from their moorings and flung about by the rounds shock wave. The man almost let a smile creep across his face, but he knew better, this wasn't his first battle. Much to his dismay, the vehicle suddenly started to pivot in place towards the direction where the round came from.
"Repeat!"
"Kinetic Penetrator UP!"
"Fire!"
"On the way!" A second round was fired in rapid succession at the target as once again, Kelly watched with baited breath for the results of the round. This time however, the round did it's job as immediately upon contact, the vehicle stopped pivoting in place. A few moments later, smoke could be seen seeping out from the hull in numerous places as something inside the vehicle had a small meltdown. The man's victory was only short lived however, as word came in over his tanks platoon net that his sister vehicle had just been breached by the enemy tank they just killed moments before it itself was taken out with no known survivors.
"Gunner....." Said the man through gritted teeth "Fire at will."
"Aye sir!" Came the reply before the tank started unleashing hell upon it's surroundings.
High overhead, unknown to the tank crews below, a flight of four F/B-60E aircraft on a Close Air Support (CAS) Mission had arrived on station in response to the request made earlier by First Platoon Actual. The sleek aircraft were loaded with mixture of munitions, but individually carried 2x 2,000LB JDAMS in internal bomb bays, as well as 4x AGM-130's and 2x AIM-120 AMRAAM'S for air protection just in case. These aircraft flew at their normal cruising altitude with every onboard ECW system running as the enemy still had some active air defense in the area. As if on cue, one they entered the shoreline airspace to begin their runs enemy flak opened up on them, filling the sky overhead with puffs of black that sent shrapnel in every direction. Just like everything else the enemy was using, it was a low tech solution that even in it's heyday was a highly inaccurate deterrent that only achieved a kill through basically sheer volume of fire and some back luck on the aircraft's part.
Working in conjunction with both overhead GPS and counter battery input from the ground below, the flight was able to locate the general area that the heaviest concentration of artillery was coming from, though it seemed like a small eternity to the pilots on the receiving end of all that fire. With any luck, they would strike their targets and render them out of action, thus relieving some stress from the remaining ground forces below.
