Logbook entry

Unexpected Encounter 10

06 Apr 2016Rebecca Hail
She opened her eyes again when the firing pin hit the empty chamber repeatedly. Seven out of fourteen shots in the pistol had hit their target, but the boy was not dead yet. He sat in a growing puddle of blood and with every time he coughed more blood poured out of his bullet wounds and his mouth.

It wasn't the first time she shot someone nor was it the first time she shot a child. But she despised the thought of killing someone younger than her.

A hand touched her shoulder.

"I had no choice. He or I."

"I know. You don't need to justify anything. Lets do our job." He lifted his pistol, took aim and shot two times.
Both shots hit the boys head and he fell to the side.

Rebecca remained in silence, while she stared at him for a few seconds.
Kenneth stared back.

"Alright, back to work."

Both of them went back to the maintenance room to get their equipment. Kenneth pulled some cables, a tastature and a screen out of his bags and plugged the cables into the antenna in the midst of the roof. Numbers and letters flooded the screen and with a concentrated look on his face he started typing commands into his console.

Rebecca dragged the still warm corpse of the sharpshooter to the staircase and placed him on the platform beneath the top carefully trying to avoid as much noise as possible. Out of her bag, which was carried by kenneth earlier she pulled an object built from four cylindrical grenades, a lot of duct tape and a wire. The construct weighed almost a kilo since she used the heavier incendiary grenades. She placed the device under the corpse of the man and pulled the wire out. Then she backed slowly off. Even the slightest movement of the corpse would cause a deadly firestorm, which would not only make the stairs impassable but also spread downwards through the staircase.

Through her headset she heard a sudden static rustle which abruptly ended.

Then she heard Kenneths voice, far clearer then before and without the static noise.

"I need you up here. Managed to eavesdrop some interesting conversations on the Romeo channels."

She closed the bag and moved slowly away from the corpse and up the stairs.

"So what conversation?"

"Can't tell exactly. Something about the evacuation of a VIP. The signal source is somewhere to the south east from here."

"Roger. I'll take a look." Rebecca said while she got the imager out of its case, walked to the south east corner of the roof and lay down onto her belly.
She looked through the imager and let her eyes wander across the war-torn district. UD soldiers ran, fought and died on the streets below her while muzzle flashes illuminated the dark and narrow streets of the city district. Dust raised where the troops used heavier weapons and even the flaming jet of a flamethrower could be seen. Sometimes even the bright beam of a laser shot into the sky.

Her gaze fell on a old, large, cubic apartment building with a big square patio nearly a kilometre to the southeast. Every window and the big holes in the walls of the building were surrounded by soot. Apparently it had been bombarded not long ago. She couldn't see what was on the ground of the patio, but it whirled up a lot of dust.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we have a winner." she spoke in a sarcastic tone.

"What?" Kenneth asked while still being busy with typing commands into his terminal.

"Found it."

"What are you waiting for? Radio the lieutenant."

"No time. I'm reporting this directly to command."

"Archer One calling Callsign-Actual. Callsign-Actual come in, over."

It took a few moments until the deep voice of the colonel leading the attack answered.

"Callsign-Actual, reading you loud and clear, over."

"Callsign-Actual, possible enemy evacuation in progress. Big, cubic shaped apartment building southwest from our position. Unknown number of enemy aircraft ready for liftoff. Over."

"Copy, Archer One. Mark the targets. Over."

"Copy, Callsign-Actual. Targets marked at three-seven-five seven-six-one. Over."

"Phalanx Four, do you copy? Over."

"Callsign-Actual, reading you loud and clear. Copy. Marked target detected and locked. Ready for indirect fire. Over."

"Phalanx Four, fire."

A flap opened on the rear of one of the Ozymandias tanks and two metal cylinders were catapulted one after another from the tube. They were thrown nearly 20 meters into the air.
At the top of their path flames bursted out of the cylinder and they shot with a steep angle into the sky. The engines of the two missiles died for a short moment on the top of their trajectory, then they ignited again and propelled the slender metal cylinders with even greater speed towards the apartment building.

Suddenly the dust cloud enlarged and Two point defences on the building spew bullets at the first missile and both missiles began flying irregular dodging manouvers. The first missile was hit a hundred meters from the target, but the second missiles heatsignature was covered by the explosion for just a moment. That single moment was enough for the point defences to loose their track of it. When it reappeared on their sensors it was already in a different position than expected and it was too late realign the barrels of the point defences.

The second missile flew into the patio and a second later a gigantic fireball mixed with dust and rubble shot out of the building. The escaping helicopter was caught in the blast, started swaying and descended uncontrolled into the district. Dense smoke rose from the building and it was visibly damaged but still standing.

"Callsign-Actual, target still standing. One enemy aircraft downed approximately 500 meters south of the target."

"Phalanx Four, repeat. Over."

"Copy, Callsign-Actual."

The flap opened again and two more missiles were catapulted into the sky.
In the same moment they ignited their boosters, the first quakes trembled through New Philipsburg.
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