Crimson

Forward

"Up an atem," I say as I gently shake Weathers shoulder. She immediately snaps into action grabbing my wrist and pulling me down to the ground in an attempt to put me in a chock hold.

"Weathers down," I whisper hastily.

Realizing what she was doing she quickly drops my wrist uttering a silent apology as she climbs out of her sleeping roll. Rubbing my wrist, I look down at her as she is repacking her roll.

"Battalion meeting in five," I whisper. She nods her head in an affirmative. Though it was hard to make out in the midnight darkness.

Getting up from my crouch over the young Corporal. I walked over to the window of the rundown building we were occupying. Gazing out at bombed out ruins of a once prosperous city, reduced to null in the cyclone of war.

Tearing my eyes from the scene I turn. Exiting the room and heading to the makeshift operations room that we had set up I what was once a dining room.

"Morning rangers hope you have a present night sleep," I weakly jest.

They chuckle weakly at it but remain silent in anticipation of what I have to say next.

"Here's the plan," I start. Looking down at the battle map, "I have good news and bad news. The good news is that we are 4 clicks from friendly lines." I make an x on the intersection that we have a defensive line at. "The bad news is that standing in between us is both a magic battalion and Avarice Shock troops." With this newfound knowledge, a grown rises from the group as they recall the monsters those people are.

The Avarice Shock Corps is a group of the best special tactic units in the Bosnian Federation. Specializing in urban and guerilla warfare makes them a nightmare to deal with. And with their current circumstances would wipe our beleaguered force in an instant.

"On the other hand," I say to the group trying to bring the mood back down to reality. "The second option is that we go burn their HQ." I glanced at Baker. "We have received intel that the Bosnian HQ is less than 2 Clicks from us." I marked it on the map. "Now if we can put their command element out of action their whole offensive will grind to a halt and crumble." With that the mood began to lift at that idea.

After laying out the main outline of the plan we go into depth of the haves and have nots of the operation. In the end we decided to leave the building 2 hours before first light to assess the HQ.

Moving through the bombed-out rubble is a pain for magic solders as we must move fast and watch traps, ambushes, and patrols that are all sensitive to magic. Using sonic magic, we were able to avoid mines and other tripwire explosives, but we could not use it continuously as the Bosnians would detect the use of magic so close to their base of operations. Our only hope would be to identify the trap with the old Mk 1 eyeball.

After 40 minutes of trudging through the rubble we reached a sizable ridge overlooking a sizeable portion of the bombed-out city. Now dawn, the sun is at our backs. Taking out my binoculars I infuse a little bit of my magic into them making them zoom in and out. Taking my time looking over the side of the ridge I catch a glimpse of a gathering of tents large and small in what was once a large park. Some of the bigger tents have antenna arrays and other command and control devices.

"This is it," I whisper. Motioning for the rest of the group to follow as I quietly navigate the steep ridge, closing on the encampment. When we were about 20 yards from the camp, we encountered the first patrols. Overall, they seem lax, joking around while they are on patrol, making them extremely easy to find. Treading lightly behind Sargent Baker and I pulled our bayonets from our sheaths.

My chest, his thigh, respectively. I strike first kicking the guy closest to me in the back of the knee. While covering his mouth with my gloved hand in the same instant. Then driving my bayonet down into the neck wrenching it to the side as his jugular and his other veins and arteries are severed. Looking over to my side I see Baker doing the same. Dragging the body's over to a defilade dumping the bodied in the rubble making sure they looked like they had died in a shelling.

Sheathing my blade, I looked over to where the battalion was hiding. Waving at them to continue. Now inside of the gathering of tents, Baker and I leapfrog throughout the tents towards the center and the largest tent. So far, the amount of security has been lacking. We had only encountered that one patrol on the way in, and it appears that no one has noticed that one of their patrols hasn't checked back in. But at the end of the day that's not my problem.

As Baker and I stack up beside the entrance to the tent. I asked over comm's "Ready?" I get two clicks back in an affirmative. Patting Baker on the shoulder twice he pulls a fragmentation grenade from a pouch on his chest. Pulling the pin and popping the spoon he waits for 2 seconds before tossing it high in the tent. Baker and I wait for the grenade to go off. About a second later a loud "CRUMP" rings throughout the camp as it implodes. Baker moves inside the tent with me on his heels. He goes left and I go right taking out enemy combatants with my sidearm chambered in 45 caliber.

My Jewel glowing a soft yellow as it sends mana to the bullets turning inanimate slugs into rounds that can change direction on a whim. Though limited due to the range. Rounding of my section of this impressively large tent, I come across a woman in what looks like to be in her 30's. With red hair, fair skin. Wearing what looks like a burgundy officers' uniform. She appeared to be in shock and confused as she struggled to make sense of what was happening.

"The Republic sends its regards," I say before putting 3 rounds into her. 2 in the chest and one in the head. Once that's over I link back up with Baker near the front of the tent. Glancing outside the camp is in a total state of panic, people are running in complete disorder.

After seeking I'm to the camp

I give the order to release the restraints on our magical jewels.

"Incendiary," I call over the radio, "Burn it down." Within seconds the camp is set alight with flames as the fire magic fused ammunition is sent down range setting tents and people alike awash in flames. Sending the camp into a panic Working in fire teams of 3-4 we systematically sweep through the park firing Armor-piercing and Anti-personnel spells through our magically treated rifles. With brutal efficiency we sweep though the camp killing anything that moves. Reducing the camp to a pile of bodies and smoking rubble.

Signaling the battalion's remains to form back up at the ridge, we moved towards the nearest friendly unit. Leap frogging our way from intersection to intersection. Giving each other cover as they passed though the ruined streets and hollow figures of buildings.