Operation: Reflection
06 Sep 2016Niatra
"A corvette, a vulture and a courier..." Niatra mumbled to himself as the shields kept dropping and the heat rising up,"Come on girl, hold it together"
"4, 3, 2, 1, engage"
"Yes!" he screams, "Screw you!"
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At his very first day at the Imperial Academy, Niatra got unlucky. One of his officers had a bad day and got into an argument with Niatra.
"Outsider! I ordered you to stay ready in case I want you to move out and now I see you here, sitting at the table?"
Niatra sat down, like all the others in their room for their brake, but he was the first in sight of the officer.
"Sir, we are all just sitting down as it is braketime." He said swiftly, saluting his superior.
"And if we got attacked, would you sit down?", he left Niatra no time to answer, "the whole unit, no the whole company, thanks to Outsider Niatra, have order to be ready to move out in 10!"
"Sir, yes sir!" it echoed from the whole gangway where the officer just screamed.
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"Ethereal, are you there with me?"
"Yes I am with you, Niatra." it sounded back over the comms.
"Alright, drop on me now, Andy needs help!"
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Half an hour later, the company found itsself on the ground of Topaz, an earth like world in Facece. The orders were to survive as long as possible. Additionally they were to move towards a point 500 kilometres to the south of their position and hold it if they arrive and that they should expect enemy fire. All have been issued several clips of training rounds.
The officers never figured anyone would make it and were eagerly observing the operation. 120 young imperialists started their march south. No group leaders have been appointed and many did not even know how to use their rifle. After a few hours of marching the first people started to break down due to dehydration or exhaustion and not even a portion of the march was done. A few of the wanna-be soldiers started taking up leadership roles, ordering the strongest to carry the injured and exhausted. Soon the company started working as a team and Niatra found himself being in command of "Battlegroup Charlie" with 20 men under his command.
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"Andy did a good job holding out, let us finish this! Target is the FAS. Move it!"
"Yes Sir!" the answer swiftly came from the wings.
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A day passed and after a very cold night the first medical transport had to be called in as many were undernorished, too exhausted, dehydrated or even undercooled. The remaining 47 Outsiders moved along, no matter how unwelcoming the terrain was. Around 279 kilometres further, in an open plane with no cover whatsoever, sniper rounds started picking off targets. A team of 6 snipers had spread out and were now shooting at the company.
"Drop down!", someone screamed, while others took shots. Luckily the team leaders that proved themselves were together, mostly and quickly had a talk. It was agreed to make the bold move to engage the snipers directly. Slowly moving through the grass of the plain, the left overs of only 25 men crawled towards the incoming rounds. All of a sudden it was silent. No more shots. No more screams, just silence.
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"Fas is bailing, Vulture is destroyed. Good job guys! Fall back to Andy, he is still fighting and I don't like the look of his shields!"
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It was argued how to continue. Niatra wanted to crawl 20 more metres to the nearest rock and set up camp there, but the other leaders disagreed, stating it was too dangerous. They would lie here for a few more minutes and then continue marching. 3 of the 7 remnants of Niatra's crew, agreed to follow him and as they slowly moved away from the others they heard "Grenade!" and the loud, bang, of it exploding. All others were immediately knocked out.
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"FDL down, wonderfully done guys. They are falling back to the station. Our allies are on their way as well. Get going!"
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Impressed by the small team's effort, the officers let them continue their journey, in the end seeing them reach the set objective.
The little team found temselves in a very defensive position with munition, arms and supplies and got a message from the officers that they shall dig in and await the enemy forces. In a short time and a lot of luck and wit, the few soldiers rigged up the whole perimiter with mines, grenades, explosives, non lethal explosives of course, and dug themselves into several positions, far apart from each other.
The only opponents that came around was the little sniper team that was picked off easily by the rigged up perimiter and the few Outsiders all earned a medal for exceptional efforts. Their service records were all marked and they then progressed switftly through the ranks.
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"Enemy forces are retreating. I congratulate and thank you all for your support. This was a good start of the operation. Keep going, show them not to mess with our allies or us!"