Purgatory, 21: Heart of the Blight
07 Feb 2024Meowers
"The more we, humanity, drown in this war, the more I think that wars aren't about who's right, but about who's left."
T + 119h 48min. Near the central compound now, the platoon is hidden in the jungle, roughly two hundred metres away. Can't be anything else. A couple of hours ago, when most of my soldiers were still sleeping before the attack, I took one of Foster's visors and went sneaky-crawling around solo to get a better understanding.
A command building, two-storey concrete box, a big comms array, three guarding towers, two utilitary-looking buildings with random crates piled up next to them, a truck garage, a power plant, and two landing pads, covered beneath the trees. By a simple mechanism that pulls the ropes to bring the treetops together. How amusing. Their ships are probably in the underground hangar, one of the pads looks like it has an elevator below. Also, four AA turrets on the perimeter, but they shouldn't be that much of a problem for the strike force.
Those towers look nasty. We have no less than one hundred metres of open running to the central, in the best case. Though I managed to plot an approach direction that's only half-exposed to the two of them, in the beginning, if we light up the third right off the bat. Next, the side entrance. Looks like it's frequently used as a smoking area, we could get inside through it, and if we really hug the wall, it should be a blind zone for the tower. Not that our presence would still be a secret at that point, but it's good not to be shot at. At least be less shot at.
What's inside? No idea, the windows are reflective. But, I've no doubt, this place does have what we're looking for: the proper and comprehensive complex schematics. They have ships here, and they have no beacons on their facilities, so, the coordinates should be stored somewhere. Latitude and longitude. And plans of the facilities would be most welcome too, even if the strike team is going to turn every shitty stone anyway. No more hiding for them once we get these.
That power plant was interesting, it had no doors and no windows at all, only some reinforced vent grids on the roof, so it's probably being accessed using the underground passage. Might be the same simple solid fuel processor, undetectable by the emissions. Whatever heavy machinery they have, if they do, is in the garage, or maybe it's only the same trucks, it seems like they prefer to keep the area clean for the ships. Good. Might be a killzone for the mercs for a couple of minutes, there were a few spots in the trees around that the towers can't reach.
Anyway, the battle plan...
We drop our backpacks, taking only the ammo and other essential stuff, and split up. Assault group, seventeen people counting me, everyone fit or more or less fit for the final attack, minus one medic and both sharpshooters, are going to crawl as close to the main building approach route as possible. Others, nine, will advance towards the positions I marked for them, outside, near the pads, and lay low close to those spots, waiting for my mark. Once I need them, they should have a short stretch to cover and their firing spots will be safe from the towers. Then, Whitley sends a message to the scout ship, openly, FTL-comm, no need to hide anymore, we turn the closest tower into a flaming sieve and start running. Really, really running, to that side entrance. Everything else is self-explanatory, blast the door open, delete any mercs on our way. Once inside, disable every switch, grab anything that might contain the map on it and defend the living shit out of that place. Whitley should get their comms array working for us, at least to try. Then the second group opens up, helping us with keeping the pads secure and hitting those chumps near the HQ in the backs. We have three rockets left, should be enough to destroy the rope mechanisms and uncover the landing pads. And, yeah, standing our ground until the cavalry arrives.
Like... We can translate the numbers to the scout ship, but the main forces should be on their way, in the hyperjump already. That stretch between my signal to start and locating and sending the data will be... Combat-intensive. To say the least. Then, Whitley will be free to feed all the coordinates we get our hands on to the scout, while we keep the fuckers off the building, hoping the reinforcements weren't in the middle of a tea party once we called them.
We can't do another fight like that, you know?
Ammo... Yep, bad. I've managed to fill the mag I have loaded now, and put twenty more into the spare one. Sharpshooters need those high-cal beans none less than I do, and, with that thing being so open... Both of them can wreak a good bit of chaos. Navarrete has about two hundred of her angry bees. Other folks... Two mags, three at best, per rifle. And pistols. That's all. Yet we can use merc weapons or some of their ammo at least. Or maybe someone could get up to the tower and man that machinegun... Suicidal though. Don't like it. Just blast the fuckers down to the ground.
Okay... Let's have a few smokes.
T + 120h 11min. Assault team follows me through the jungle. We're literally crawling. Keeping an eye on those friggin mercs... They sit on the crates and benches, or walk around, minding their business, not a single sign of us being spotted. Good. And I, kind of, see where they're more concentrated. Doesn't seem like a pattern yet I can guess how soon, and from which sides, they may run to the HQ.
T + 120h 23min. Everything's ready. We're on the very edge of the forest. Eighty to one hundred metres to the main building. Two mercs on the tower next to a gun... Loading the spare mag. Whatever wall they have up there, those twenty rounds are enough to send their bits flying the opposite side. Uh, okay. Let's end that friggin bloody mess now... By making another friggin bloody mess.
Eat that you shits...Charge!
Stick to the walls! Hug them dammit those tower bite
Die you sucker
Around the corner, three, two, one... Go! Fire! Fire!
Therrien dammit take cover... FFfffuck you, die you shit... Grenades! Blast that door open, now!
Heads down, heads down... Fffuck there's so many of them... Get inside, covering!
Delete that fucking corridor
Shit, they're guarding the stairway... Reset your shields and go!
120-26 we're on the upper floor, taking fire, Therrien and Schulte down, mercs are in the control room
Fuck it, get your grenades out, make a mess of this place. On my mark...
Now, go! Hit them while they're on the floor!
Dammit what's that... Shit, watch out! Holy craps... Did you see that guy? Fffuck, nail him!
Get back here, you fuck... Bravo team, open up, we're inside!
Can't hide from me you shit... Black, Marshall, Rudzitis, after me, that fuck is running
120-31 seems like I've found him, pursuing. Going into the lower tunnel. Fucking eyes glow green. Singed his fucking right arm off along with his damn shotgun, he didn't even flinch.
Shoot him dammit!.. What the... Shit that's mad
More of them around...die you arseholes!
No escaping me you shit...fuck, I'm empty
Had a quad-bike stored here and an emergency hatch, smart. Can't use that pile of rubbish now but I'm out of ammo. He's still running corridors
Whitley, send that shit already...FFffuck! What? Shit...Keep pinging, I'm on it
She can't send our coordinates, that comms array is suppressing us, no way to reach it, gotta cut the power off. Seems like these corridors are leading straight to the power plant and he's trying to get there too.
Muir to all groups, proceed with your tasks, I'm in the power, gotta shut that thing down
He just keeps dodging it dammit
What, did you see...Explosive traps! Heads down!
damn fuck
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Next part: #22: The One Who Sow the Wind
Next part: #22: The One Who Sow the Wind