After running for a good ten minutes, we reached the meeting point. George immediately switched on his comm-link and established a squad link with Commander Black.
"Commander, we're in position and we see the other squad. We're awaiting further orders."
A short silence ensued as we continued to jog towards the center of the square before Commander Black responded.
"Good, your only further orders are to stay with the second squad and hold the square. No matter what, you must no lose that square. Await reinforcements once we clear the inner city ring."
George nodded, then realizing it was a voice call he responded "Understood Commander." And with that, the communications link went silent once again. Turning to us, George motioned for us to continue moving. Our squad then set out at a fast jog in order to get there earlier and have more time to set up, in the event of an attack.
Reaching the square, we meet up with another squad. They were from the 32nd Tactical Stealth Assassination Unit. All of them had dark black uniforms and armor plates, with a sleeker version of our uniform. All of their pistols were silenced and they carried a fearsome looking sniper on their back.
As opposed to my one blade which was standard for my battalion class, they had two strapped horizontally across their lower back. Looking towards their feet, I noticed the hilt of a combat dagger sticking out of right boot of every soldier. George and the other Captain were softly speaking a few feet away. I couldn't make out a word. While Ryan and Ingrid carried on an easy conversation, the other squad remained dead silent.
George then walked back over to where Ryan and Ingrid were talking and motioned me over. He then began to explain our objectives.
"Alright, Ryan will take point and make sure no one sneaks up on us while we're setting up base. Ingrid, you're in charge of getting the communications tent and command center up and running. I want us linked with the right and left flank groups."
"Yes Captain!" She said as he turned and headed towards the center of our defensive line. He then turned to me and said "You and I will be digging trenches and setting up sand bags. This area will be more heavily fortified once reinforcements arrive, but for now, It'll have to do. Lets get to work."
"Yes sir!" I responded before being thrown a sand bag from one of the TSAU squad members. Over the course of an hour we had managed to entrench ourselves fairly well. Now all that was left to do was wait. I flipped over on my back and removed my helmet, letting my hair fall over my eyes before I brushed it back and out of the way. Looking up at the sky I noticed how light it had gotten.
Raising my arm to check my watch, it was apparently 8:15 AM. We should take the city later in the day if things are going this well. Looking up once more, I began to doze off as the clouds slid slowly by. I'm not sure how long I slept for, but I received a rude awakening in the form of a low rumble. My eyes snapped open as I quickly pulled on my helmet and retrieved my gun. The squad comm-link sparked to life as George began issuing orders.
"Stay low! Nobody move! They have several heavy plated trucks. There's about fifty soldiers in all, and the trucks armor plating can resist our rifles. Not even the TSAU's sniper rifles will be able to pierce plate that thick. It's not Imperial black steel, that's for sure." Silence pervaded the link before George attempted to contact Commander Black. A few seconds later, the comm-link went through. "Commander Black, this is Captain Geo-"
"Captain, what is your situation report."
A clipped and analytical female voice answered. George didn't respond for the space of five seconds, stunned into silence.
"This is a secure channel, where is Commander Black and who are you?" He asked. "I am Marshal Commander Raena Xintero. I have been given command of the 912th Attack Battalion's operations as Commander Black is currently indisposed."
The commander replied. The tone of her words towards the end of the statement seemed to imply that there was more to the story. However George didn't bother asking as there were larger problems at hand to deal with. George finally responded to her statement,
"We're in the Mid city center square, we're the center vanguard squad, we're currently pinned down by around fifty rebel soldiers and several armored trucks. We have no way of clearing the enemy. Please advise."
Laughter soon sounded from the other end of the comm-link before the Commander replied.
"Ah the naivety of youth. I'll send reinforcements shortly."
"Ma'am what type of reinf-" That's as far as George got before the com-link went silent. Sighing, he turned on the shared squad comm-link in order to inform the TSAU squad.
"We're receiving reinforcements, I'm not sure what type or who they are, but they'll be here eventually."
Gun in hand, we sat watching the armored patrol. They stood at the opening of one of the streets leading into the square. No one exited the vehicles and nothing moved.
Around seven minutes into our observations a dull roar was heard coming from the direction of the front. Looking behind, into the street we had emerged from, I saw nothing as the roaring sound increased in volume. Just as it was too late, I realized what it was and I looked skyward. Never in my relatively short and underrated life would I have thought to see something so secretive deployed for a minor reinforcement mission.
It made no sense, less sense than Commander Black's replacement and the address by a Marshal Commander, a person who by imperial standards doesn't concern themselves with minor siege operations such as this. Something was going on back at high command, and whatever it was, it couldn't be good. I pulled myself out of my thoughts long enough just to see a flicker of movement among the clouds, just before heaven fell and everything went to shit.
---------------------Authors Note-----------
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Accidentally added this chapter to the spin-off series x.x Then my Backspace button got stuck and ended up deleting a lot of stuff..yeah, this was not an easy chapter xD. Thankfully it's out! So thank you for reading! I seriously appreciate it!
*edited*
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The Abyss of War, Book One
Fantasia"They always tell us how much we've won. They never mention how much we've lost." In a nation gripped by bloody civil war that has raged for five years, Dayne must balance love, war, morals, and a troubled past, all while becoming the ultimate expre...
