Grey Lines

Chapter 5 - What goes up

    Shadow, with years of combat reflex training and countless live fire operations under his belt, had just enough time to grab Marten and Kent by the collar before dragging them down to the ground as the first APC exploded in a ball of fire and slag metal. The audible warning 'ROCKET' that rang through his headset moments after he had just placed his helmet back on came from one of the new marksmen in Pathfinder. Phoenix had yelled the word so loud it had made his ears ring despite the audio dampeners built into the integrated headset. Marten let out an audible yelp as his older, more fragile, body impacted with the hard dirt. Shadow checked briefly to make sure neither of the men were injured before attempting to tell them to keep their hands over their ears. It was no use over the deafening sound of automatic weapons fire that had spontaneously broken out. He could here the wine as the APC they were currently taking cover behind rotated it's turret and began to unleash its payload on the hillside. He grabbed each of the men's hands and placed them over their ears, making a thumbs up gesture to each and hoping they understood what he was trying to say. He whirled his head around over his left shoulder. Aegis and Connell had already drawn their weapons and started firing, calling out contacts over radio. From the sound of the radio chatter Shadow was able to discern most of the situation. The lead APC, carrying Admiral Beckett and his personal guard of marines had been hit with a rocket from somewhere on the terrace farm's hillside as the bay doors were opening, no word yet on any survivors.

    "Damnit." Shadow thought to himself. I told them we hadn't finished scouting yet.

    After the lead APC had been struck enemy insurgents began to pour from the hillside. Apparently they had toppled the water tower at the same time, using it to flood the area causing any soldiers that had disembarked and tried to climb up the terrace to get washed away. It had essentially created a giant mudslide on the side of the hill making it impossible for the marines to climb up it. Meaning that the innies were free to sit atop a massive overlook and rain down hellfire till the 65th convoy was wiped off the surface of this backwater planet. Shadow was about to grab Marten and Kent and show them to their farmhouse when his stomach turned at the thought of something terrible he'd almost forgotten.

    "Shit, Phoenix, Kuro!"

    He attempted to hail the two multiple times over their squad net but wasn't getting a response.

    "Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit, Shit."

    Shadow peaked out from behind the armored APC to get a glance up the hillside but he couldn't make out anything due to the smoke and fog that had filled the battlefield.

    "Aegis, Caroll, find Phoenix and Kuro I'm going to get these two inside."

    Caroll dropped to a knee to reload a fresh magazine into his emptied carbine. "You got it boss."

    The duo began methodically firing and moving, advancing from the APC in the direction of the terrace farms. Shadow watched them move until he lost sight of them in the thick fog of war. It was only when they were gone from view that he realized Kent was attempting to get his attention by pulling at his BDUs. He looked down to see his lips moving in a vain attempt to shout something, but the roar from the Bison's main gun drowned him out. Shadow attempted to filter out the noise leaning in so close to Kent that his lips practically touched the right side of his helmet. When he was finally able to make out what Kent was trying to say, his eyes widened.

    "In the house! My mother and sisters!"

O'Neill was the first to die. Artemis watched from the squad leaders seat at the front of Nomads APC as he stepped out from the troop bay and was met with a clean shot directly through his visor. His head kicked back from the impact, his body, not realizing it was dead yet, spasmed causing his hands to squeeze the trigger of his custom M90 shotgun. 'Betsy' gave her last good 'boom' before she fell unceremoniously silent forever.