26th August, AD 1656
400 metres from the Eastern Cordia Line.
A barrage of bullets rained down from the sky behind Everent, puncturing the dry grass in front of him and the soldiers behind the sergeant. Everent ran as fast as he could, trying to avoid the incoming bullets from above them. He never looked behind even if a fellow soldier had dropped to the ground, dead before his face hits the grassy fields. It would’ve cost him his life, for turning away from the dangers in front of him.
Finally crossing the hellish fields and quickly hunkered down under a destroyed ATC, Everent spin around and cocked his head to the sky. An Ansteig airship cruiser hovers on top of the ground by a few metres, kicking up a fierce wind that nearly sweeps Everent to the ground. It only had one heavy machine gun attached to its broadside, and it was laying down covering fire for the retreating grenadiers.
The pilot of the airship cruiser was oblivious to the fact that the sergeant is right underneath it. Knowing that the opportunity is there, the sergeant quickly signalled for the demolition engineer in his squad to throw him a bag of explosives. Quickly arming them and threw it into underbelly of the airship cruiser, Everent got his men to get out of there in a split second.
Moments later, the explosion ripped through the airship’s body, breaking it into two. Temporary relieving the advancing Aurelian Shock Troopers’ main problems, Everent signalled for his men to move along. Braving another incoming round of bullets hurling towards them, Everent’s squad had only managed to break into a nearest abandoned bunker.
“Check those corners!” Everent bellowed, trying to overcome the loud bursts of fire and the explosions. “It’s only a matter of time before they know we’re here. So move it!”
The sergeant too ordered one of his own men to handle the machine gun still attached to the rim of the bunker’s opening lip. Within seconds, the gunner pulled the trigger and sent thousands of bullets hurling at the direction of the enemy troops. As the gunner did his job, everyone had already cleared the bunker. Everent called out for the gunner to stop, but he was too engrossed by the machine gun’s impressive rate of fire and still stood there and kept on pulling the trigger.
After a minute of calling out to the gunner, the sergeant had given up on him and moved along. By the time the gunner had realised that he was left behind, a straight shot in his left eye drove him down to the ground.
“Keep pushing further!” The sergeant cried out to his men. “We’re getting closer to the Cordia Line!”
As Everent took point and running across the battlefield laden with destroyed ATC’s and some tanks, he noticed that the outline of the former Aurelian artillery guns emerged out of the horizon. Knowing that they’re already achieving their final objective, he motivated his own men to push along.
But the sergeant had to avoid being in the range of both the Ansteig’s and the Aurelian’s artillery fire. Shells flying overhead across the battlefield, finally slamming into a patch of the grassy land and spewing out tons of mud from it gave the impression of what’s it like being in the range of those exploding shells. The sergeant wouldn’t want to end up and a variety of unrecognisable limbs, so did his men.
But halfway through, he noticed an Aurelian airship descending upon him. Spinning to the side, it plunges to the ground and landing a mere foot away from the sergeant. The sergeant watch as the side doorways pulled open from the airship’s silver exterior. The man behind it was Heimman. Then Guthren craned his neck from the edge of the side door.
“Come on!” Heimman shouted. “We need you for the assault on the Cordia Line!”
“How about my men? They’re––.”
“Don’t worry; just give them the order to meet up with the advancing armour division.” Guthren interrupted.
Everent turned to the soldiers gathered around him, waiting for their sergeant to say a word. With a slight hint of dissatisfaction, he spoke out to his men:
“Head out and meet up with the Seventh Armour Division, there just ahead of you all. Follow them until you’ve reached the Cordia Line. I’ll be there. Got it?”
The whole squad nodded and left the sergeant in the blink of an eye. Everent then climbed up into the airship and glared at the both of them.
“What’s the meaning of this? Those guys down there still need my help.” Everent said. “And I thought that the armour divisions are taking care of the Cordia Line’s defences?”
“They are,” Heimman replied. “But the enemy had already set up battery defences along the line. Those guns that could punch through a tank’s armour, yeah, they set that up too.”
A second Aurelian airship bursts into the sky, following them from behind. The gunner to the side of the airship fires the machine guns at the grenadier. Half of them stagger backward and fall to the ground, hit by bullets too powerful and fast for them to avoid it.
The few remain grenadiers managed to duck out of the way and renew their frantic pace. The airship that the group is in had to take a longer route –encircling around the edge of the battlefield to avoid the flurry of bullets from below– and penetrate into the line’s first defensive positions.
“Everent,” Heimman pointed to the idle heavy gun attached to the side of the airship’s short wings. “Get onto that machine gun!”
Within seconds, the sergeant was already manning the weapon, raining down bullets onto the grenadiers as the airship flew straight into the battlefield once more along with the rest behind it.
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Tale of The Broken Sword
FantasyA story told in two perspectives. Set in an alternate industrial world where radio technology is rendered nearly obsolete due to a magnificent yet mysterious and devastating phenomenon that has crippled its use. Nations has prospered with the furthe...
