Interactive Story Thread (It Begins)

As Charlie Platoon rose, Axel stood right next to Wilhelm, as any spotter would. Charlie Platoon, being recon, was the smallest for mission purposes. All in Charlie were trained to be the best shots and the stealthiest. Axel and Wilhelm were the best of the marksmen and the quietest, Wilhelm slightly better at shooting while Axel practiced better at stealth. He added, " we'll be your reconnaissance, overwatch, and covering fire. If you need it shot, we got it. If you need information of a compound, we got recon."

"And now on to Bravo Company, the cavalry," Eli announced. "Would Gunnery Sergeant Kandinsky please stand to be recognized as the commander of Bravo Troop?"

Vasily stood up and walked onto the stage.

"Kandinsky and his crew are some of the best tankers I`ve ever seen. I have utmost confidence in putting him in command of your armored support, but," Eli turned to Vasily, "I think that with your new responsibilities, the rank of Gunnery Sergeant would be inadequate. Isn`t that right, Captain Kandinsky?"

Vasily grinned and shouted, "Sir! Yes, Sir!"

"Good. Now is there anything you`d like to say to the rest of the Battalion before we send you all out there?" , Eli asked.

"Well my friends, I just want to say, that it is an honor to be your armored support. I am confident in all of your abilities. Just as you put forward 110%, we will be doing the same thing! I hope our armored support is all that you could have every dreamed of! I look forward to serving with all of you!"

Alexandra sat by her falcon, waiting for the group that was supposed to be a skydiving exercise. she was looking at the ground deep in thought, tossing a knife back and forth in her hands. "They're late again."

Eli called up Philip. The recruit bravely stepped forward. He was the leader of the Epsilon Strike force, the group that went down first.

Now that introductions were over, the General rose. "Now everyone, leave the room and prepare for the exercise. I want everyone to be ready land Feet FIrst, Do I Make myself clear?"

The Entire battalion replied, "Sir, Yes Sir! Feet First Sir!"

Axel slipped through the crowd as soon as they we're dismissed. He was ready to go airborne again, and was already on his way to gear up before anyone else was by the exit of the auditorium. Quickly strapping on his gear, he headed for the hangars to go check on his favorite pilot, Alexandra. It'd been awhile since he'd seen her, since he'd joined the battalion directly coming from an op. He introduced himself to the General, then the whole Battalion, now to go revisit Alexandra.

Alexandra paces back and forth out of pure boredom, "He's late again." she said as she watched the soldiers around her pass by.

Tired of pacing, Alexandra turned toward the cockpit to check her coms. As she opened the hatch, she saw a familiar figure sitting in the pilot seat. Axel.

"How did you get in there? And how long?" She asked.

"Oh about a good 5 minutes," He replied, "I thought I'd surprise you."

She hit him as he got out, "You shouldn't keep a girl waiting."

"Hey don't bruise me too bad, I got to go jump soon," Axel said jokingly. He reached over to hug her, "I missed you, sorry to keep you waiting." He pulled her tighter. 5 years they'd been together now, and Alexandra was only thing that ever made him feel weak, for good reasons.

"Aren't you worried the General will see us like this? she playfully asked.

"General, What general? he sarcastically replied.

"Get ready now, gotta land feet first." She said. He let go, as he and Wilhelm got on her falcon. "Make sure we land safely."

As Wilhelm approached the Pelican (Wrong animal Ghost.) he saw Alexandra and Axel together. He kept all thoughts to himself and proceeded to inspect his MSR-60 from simple barrel alignment to cleaning the firing pin, then he moved onto his .338 DMR and did the same. He heard the egnines whine to a start and strapped in. He looked over to Axel to check to see if he was ready to go. He gave Alexandra the good to go over the mic and the Pelican took off.





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Ghost or Fallen, where are we headed anyways? All I know is that I get on a Pelican without knowing my destination and inspected my weapons.

(Yeti, if you read a couple post back, its a training exercise)

Matt walked into the airbase. He was excited for his first training exercise as the Delta Platoon Commander. He walked passed many different aircraft, each of which he admired. He noticed a pelican take off and leave the base in the direction of the training exercise. "They're in a hurry..." he thought to himself. He approached a hanger, and signaled for the doors to be opened. They parted, revealing a pelican waiting for him. He smiled.

"Sir!" A man began to walk beside Matt. "I'm Lieutenant Lewis Hopkins, I'll be your co-pilot for today." "Excellent. Give me the details." Matt kept a straight face. "Simple exercise, we fly, they jump." Matt boarded the pelican, and fired up the engines. "This is Lieutenant Matthew Lowndes, Delta Commander," he said into his commlink. "My pelican is prepped and ready for take-off, advising any aircraft to clearly the skies around the base." "Not to worry, we're the only bird in the sky" a voice said. Matt paused, then smiled. "Wilhelm, what the hell are you doing in the sky?" "You tell me." Matt's pelican lifted from the ground, as he took off. "Well, whatever you're doing, tell your pilot to stay out of my way. I promise I'll never get in your sniper sights." "Will do, Lieutenant. Will do." Matt's pelican sped towards the objective, as his entire squadron followed.

Vasily and the rest of Bravo Company were already on board the Frigate in low orbit over the planet since their tanks could only be deployed from a large starship. Vasily stood in front of the men that were to crew the 11 tanks (including company commander, Vasily`s tank) making up Bravo Company. He went over the training excercise and how they would be contributing to the the overall objective.

"Okay everyone, our job is going to involve supporting the troopers going in feet first here. The objective is going to involve the taking of 3 strategic locations in the surrounding practice area. The infantry will be responsible for securing and holding these positions. They include a valuable munitions depot in the north, a high-ground position in the eastern sector, and a relatively large town to the south. We will be providing armored support for them, with a little help from the air as well. This means that we are to engage chiefly enemy armor and strongpoints. As you all know, we are splitting up into 3 platoons after we hit the ground. I will be leading first platoon while Gunnery Sergeants Nicholson and Blaskowitz will be commanding second and third platoons respectively. Our tanks are outfitted with special beacons in order to make it easier to identify us. You all know your platoon and beacon, so link up with your platoon leader ASAP. "

Vasily paused to look out over the men attentively listening.

"Now, your platoons each have assignments. First and second platoons will begin by leading an attack on the high ground with the infantry in tow. The only details that the General provided on this area is that there is a large concentration of enemy armor and an artillery battery. This position holds a commanding view of the southern town and needs to be neutralized before the rest of the troopers can drop in and take it. Remember that the high ground is both an advantage and disadvantage. These drones have relatively poor gun depression, so be sure to get under their noses as often as possible. Stick to what your commanders tell you, and you`ll get out of this without a scratch. After we have taken the high ground, first platoon will move into the town to assist the infantry further, but there is an anti-tank battery that infantry squads will have to take out before we can move in."

"Third platoon will be assisting the infantry in their taking of the northern munitions depot. The General has provided no intel on this area. Be on your gaurd, and listen to what Blaskowitz tells you" he continued.

"I`m sure the other companies are being briefed now as well. Prepare well for the excercise! We begin at 0700. Remind me too, comrades, how do we enter Hell?" Vasily asked.

"SIR, TREADS FIRST, SIR!" the company roared.

Vasily grinned and said, "Good. Now get to your tanks and make ready! Dismissed!"

"Alright, gents, listen up!", Captain Turner said calmly.

The men of Alpha Company, already sitting in their pods, turned their heads to their company commander, walking past them to his pod while speaking.

"Thank you for choosing Express Insertion Airlines. I'll be your company commander today, also known as First On, Last Off! Today's drop zone is located at 882645981."

The team leaders of Alpha Company programmed their tactical maps.

"Weather is partly cloudy, not a large chance of a hot drop, so it looks like a beautiful day for the infantry! 1st Platoon and myself will hit LZ Cowboys first, followed by 2nd Platoon. 3rd Platoon will stand by in their pods to drop on DZ Falcons to the northern flank of the north hill objective! Finally, 4th, our weapons platoon for those not in-the-know, will stay on the Fallujah as reserve. Their insertion will be by VTOL at LZ Steelers or LZ/RP Packers. Once ALL our battalion objectives are met, we'll give the green light for the Marines, and the entire battalion will be extracted by air.", Turner kept walking, but one of his platoon commanders, Lieutenant Nate Fick, grabbed him by the arm.

"Sir, you really think we're gonna do some good with all our armor out there?" Fick said worriedly.

Turner brushed him off and smiled.

"GENTLEMEN!..." Turner paused. "...WE ARE THE QUEEN OF BATTLE! Armor may be king, but remember, the king consults the queen before he acts! We're gonna be the hard chargers out there. Buildings, AT defense, forests, it's on us, boys! I'll give you the extended OPLAN on the ground. I don't doubt the experience of any of you, and I sure as hell don't wanna sit this one out! OOHRAH?" Turner concluded.

"OOHRAH, SIR!" The company sounded off.

"Good! PREPARE TO DROP!" Captain Turner said as he sat in his pod and dropped the door.

0400 hours.

Alexandra's voice comes over the intercom." Okay guys I am going to be dropping you two about 2 miles from your set up area. It will be another...5 minutes before we get to the LZ, so make any final checks on your gear before I drop you two."

"Copy that Alexandra. Axel we are going to be responsible for over-looking the eastern munitions dump. Our set up area is aproximately three eighths of a mile to the east of the dump so we have the sun to our back." Wilhelm said.

---5 Minutes Later---

Axel and Wilhelm jumped off the Pelican and sprinted to the nearest cluster of vegetation and waited for Alexandra to be out of sight before they continued.

"See you when we're done with this exercise Alexandra" Axel said.

"See you when I have to pick you two up." Alexandra replied.

"Okay Axel we are about two miles east, as a raven flies, from our set up gear. Turn on your NVV (Night Vision Visor) if you havn't already and lets get moving, we have about one and a half hours till sun rise."

"Wilhelm exactly how high of a mountain will we be climbing to get to the set up area?" Axel asked.

"...Crap, well its going to a little under a mile to our set up area from the base of the mountain so in total maybe 3- 3 1/2 miles. So get ready for a nice hike." Wilhelm replied.

---24 Minutes Later---

" Okay Axel lets get comfortable this is where we are setting up. Now all we have to do is wait for the ground team to tell us where they are and when they are going to infiltrate and hold." Wilhelm said. Wilhelm examined the compound, drawing a little map of it on his D.O.P.E. pad. range, aproximately 660 yards, there is a 12 foot razor wire fence with a two way gate at the front, two machine gun towers about 50 yards from the entrance, two two story buildings imediately after the towers, what looks like a SAM or AT missle system pon top of the left two story building, and a large hanger building, probably where the munitions are.

" Well since we got here in only 24 minutes I geuss we have a good couple hours, hell the enemy hasn't even woken up yet." Axel commented jokingly.

" Atleast we will be able to give the ground team info on what forces they will be fighting and where they are at all times. Hell we will even be able to tell them when the targets are taking a piss break!" Wilhelm replied to Axel's comment.

0700 NWC- Exercise Start

"All personnel, this is UNSC-RF-435 operating as Capone Actual. We are mission launch, I say again: We are mission launch. Out."

General Eli closed the radio net from the bridge of the Fallujah, and went to the ops room to watch the mission unfold.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Ready on the left?" said the pod release operator.

A row of green lights flashed above the pods on the left row.

"Okay. Good luck down there."

He pressed the 'Start' button.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Captain Nathan Turner sucked in air, popped his ears, and waited for the shock.

He heard three short 'boops'. He closed his eyes. Exercise or not, dropping was dangerous.

He heard one long, drawn out 'boooooooooop'. He opened his eyes and looked at a picture he had taped to the left side of his pod. He wanted to see her soon. The timeless World War Two paratrooper cadence echoed in his mind...

Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,
Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,
Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die,
He ain't gonna jump no more...

He felt the shock.

A green light appeared on the HUD. Matt pressed a button on the dashboard. "Go ahead."
"Sir, I've dropped Charlie. Your marines should have some back-up now.
"That's good to here-"
Matt paused, trying to think.
"Alexandra."
"Right." Matt said embarrased. "Head back to the ship, Alexandra. We'll take it from here."
He turned off the intercomm and continued to fly.
"There they are now." Lieutenant Hopkins said, pointing to the sky. Hundreds of little black dots fell from behind the clouds. "We must be getting close." Matt replied. He opened the intercomm again. "Everyone, this is Lieutenant Lowndes. You ODST's may not have gotten a place on the frigate, but you can kill just as good. Whether you're dropped from 10 feet, or a thousand. Remember the plan. While they make all the noise, we'll drop you in from behind. Good luck to you all.

They arrived at the LZ right on time. The pods began to crash on the ground. The pelicans let all their troops off, and took off again. Job done.
"Where to now?" Hopkins asked. "Set course for the ship. I've got a little suprise for all our ground troops."

"Saber One, this is Saber Actual...."

The voice recognition and subsequent selective broadcasting on Turner's radio eliminated the need for units to make their own radio nets.

"...Remember your training, and you'll all be fine. Remember, once we hit the deck, get away from your pod!

Turner glanced at the altimeter on his pod. Four thousand feet. He made sure his path was clear, then unlatched his M90A3 Shotgun from its rack in the pod and held it in his hand.

Two thousand feet.

Turner tightened his muscles.

Five hundred feet.

Before he could calculate that, he felt the biggest jolt in the world, and his pod door rocketed off. Showtime.

He gripped his weapon and sprinted out of his pod for about fifty meters, and dropped to prone. He looked around to make sure his men were doing the same.

Nathan went to thermal. He swept the grassy plain they had landed in, and got no unidentified contacts.

"Sabre One, this is Dagger Actual. Glad you could make it to the party. We've got nothing around your DZ for a half-click. Bravo's about, oh, ten seconds out. Dagger Actual out.", Wilhelm said tacitly over UNICOM.

"First Platoon, area clear." Nathan's UNICOM was smart enough to open the channel only for who the message was addressed for, keeping the entire battalion on one net.

The men of 1st Platoon raised to a crouching position just as rectangular, larger pods crashed to the ground behind them.

Vasily felt a jolt as his pod crashed into the ground. The top ejected off and the ramp of the lower section deployed. Rodeschild drove their glistening armored beast out of the crater. Vasily brought up his special company commander interface, which allowed him to see the combat effectiveness of all tanks in his company. Green all around.

Vasily spoke over UNICOM to his company, "All platoon leaders activate your beacons. The rest of you, join your respective leader`s formation. You all have your objectives. Move out!"

"This is Lance Actual to all units, Bravo has taken the field. I say again, your armor is up." , Vasily said over UNICOM.

Nathan replied, "Nice of ya to join the party, Lance Actual. This is Sabre One, looks like you`ll be supporting our advance on the eastern position first."

"Da, that is correct. My first and second platoons will be walking you boys up that hill. My third platoon will assist you in the taking of the northern depot as well. We`ll take care of enemy and armor and strong-points, just keep those infantry pesks off of us.", Vasily said.

"Will do.", Nathan replied.

Third platoon began heading north while the first and second platoons prepared to head to the eastern objective.

"Its about a click to the first objective in the east. You boys in the mood for a lift, or do you need some stretching after that time in the pod?", Vasily asked.

"A ride sounds good.", Nathan replied. "Okay ladies! Bravo is offering us a lift. Mount up on those tanks now! Move it!"

With the infantry mounted up, Vasily and his platoons headed east to the highground position.

The pelicans roared as they entered the ships's docking bay. They all landed and the pilots got out, while engineers immediately began patching up the pelicans in case of any damage. Matt's squadron marched through the steel halways of the ship, oblivious to where they were heading. Eventually, Hopkins got tired of waiting; and walking.
"What's your 'suprise'?" Matt stopped at the door in front of him, and smiled at Hopkins. "This." He said. He pressed the door release, and they opened, revealing a magnificant aircraft. Hopkins studied it. It had the cockpit, enough room for two. It had plasma cannons and flamethrowers mounted on the front. A passenger canopy, with mounted chainguns and plasma launchers on each side, as well as a gun at the rear, to eleminate threats. A huge painting of a dragon's head was at the front, for a very simple reason.
"Dragons..." Hopkins said.
"One for every pilot." Matt said.
"Gentlemen, take your pick!"
Elevators emerged from caverns in the floor, carrying four more Dragons. Each pilot rushed for a seat, and got themselves ready.

The Dragons flew from the ship, speeding towards the battlefield. "Better hope the boys on the ground leave some targets for us." Hopkins said. Matt replied excitedly, "If they don't, our computers might just mistake them for targets." They lowered themselves to the ground, racing through the mountains until they emerged, revealing the battlefield. "Better hope our boys like it in hell!" Matt said, arming his weapons. "Why's that?" Hopkins questioned. "Because," Matt turned his head with a grin. "We're about to rain it on them."

"CONTACT LEFT!" A shout echoed past Captain Nathan Turner's ears, followed by the low-pitched sound of plasma fire.

An assaulter from second squad saw the slit trench on his left side, and paid no mind to it, up until men started coming out of it.

"Sabre One, this is Sabre Actual. Dismount and move to contact! Prioritize enemy PTL (Portable thermobaric launcher) teams! Sabre Actual out!" Nathan jumped off the tank sprinting, and slid behind a dirt mound with First Platoon's CO and his RTO.

"Sir, I've got Second Platoon on the COM!", The RTO shouted.

"Patch 'em in!" Nathan replied.

"Sabre Two, this is Sabre Actual. Go ahead, over." Nathan said over UNICOM.

"Sabre Actual, this is Sabre Two. We just hit the ground, but we've got a problem. Pod jam. Over." Lieutenant Fick reported.

"Sabre Two, leave one team to help and take the rest north to the ammo depot. We're behind schedule, Lance 3 and elements of Charlie Company should be on-site. I'm giving you full OPCON to the northern sector. I've got my hands full over here. Over."

"Understood, Sabre Actual. Sabre Two out." Fick closed the channel.

Nathan peeked his head up and looked around. His platoon was pinned down on open ground. He observed some of his ODST's almost spread-eagled on the ground, avoiding knee-high fire. He could barely see that the enemy was dug into a long trench with occasional machine-gun nests. He racked his brain for a solution.

The thump of a nearby 120mm cannon made him re-evaluate his position. He had one platoon of infantry, but two platoons of tanks, on open ground...

"Lance One, this is Sabre Actual!"

"Sabre Actual, this is Lance Actual, go."

"Vasily, get a couple of your tanks to deploy smoke, and put some rounds in those hardened MG bunkers, but hold the coax fire, you'll have friendlies right in front!"

"Affirmative, Sabre Actual. Good luck, comrade captain."

"Might need it, Lance Actual. Out."

Nathan took one more look around, and looked at his RTO.

"Stay here with Lieutenant Fields and get third platoon to drop on the other side of this hill! And get fourth platoon on the Pelicans for my go, but be advised, we have a hot LZ!" Nathan said, right before he sprinted from cover to join the rest of First Platoon.

"PLATOON! MAKE READY!" Nathan shouted.

Behind him, half of Bravo Company's tanks deployed smoke that obscured the entire field, but continued to fire through it thanks to their state-of the art imaging gear.

"PLATOON! RUSH, ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY METERS, TWELVE O'CLOCK!" Nathan screamed at the top of his lungs.

His men hesitated.

"YOU HEARD ME! LET'S GO!" Nathan stood up and charged the trench, a few rounds barely overshooting him.

His men followed.

The trench was rocked by 120mm SHPHE rounds in multiple places.

Without breaking his stride, Captain Turner looked to his left and right through the smoke to make sure his men were rushing with him. They indeed were.

Suddenly, a sim round hit one of his men in the leg, and he rolled and laid flat on the grass. Everyone stopped and dropped to prone.

"MAN DOWN!"

"KEEP GOING, THEY'RE FIRING BLIND!" Turner urged his men forward.

They hit the trench sooner than he thought. Nathan almost fell in it. He dropped down into the depression, and looked to his right.

An enemy OPFOR soldier saw him, shocked.

'Too slow, pal', Nathan thought, and gave him a chest full of 8-gauge sim shot. He fell back paralyzed.

After the smoke cleared, Nathan looked around. His men had cleared the trench around him, and were now in another firefight with more men to their front. The tanks stopped firing and advanced uphill. One line down...

He looked onward to see two more defensive positions, the same strength as before, but augmented with howitzers that were now makeshift AT guns. And now, they weren't fighting to the base of the hill. They were fighting UP it.

Well, I'll be damned..." Captain Turner said under his breath.

Nathan's RTO hopped into the trench next to him.

"Sir?"

Nathan grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Get me a SITREP on Third Platoon's flanking attack. And get us air support and some MEDEVAC birds soonest!", Nathan said quickly.

"Yes, sir!" The RTO began making numerous calls, leaning against the trench side.

"Capone FAC, this is Saber One. We ha-"

A sim round struck the side of the RTO's head, and he rolled into the trench.

Nathan ducked down into the trench.

"SNIPER! COUNTERSNIPE THAT S.O.B. ALREADY!", Nathan screamed.

Nathan sat and got on UNICOM.

"Capone FAC, this is Saber Actual. Over."

"Saber Actual, this is Capone FAC, send traffic, over."

"Capone FAC, request air support and armed MEDEVAC to Objective Eagles ASAP. One CAT Bravo and one KIA. Over.", Nathan said with a hint of anxiety.

"Saber, standby, patching you through to Trident...", The forward air control operator said.

Nathan didn't wait long.

"Saber Actual, this is Trident Actual..." Matt said jubilantly. "I understand you have a bit of a problem with some static defenses?"

"That's affirm, Trident. I need gun runs south-to-north on the two eastward trenches on Objective Eagles with everything you have that explodes. Be advised, DO NOT engage west of the middle trench coming from the south, those are friendlies. Over.", Nathan said, a little relieved.

"Copy that, Saber. Trident One going switches-hot on middle and right side trench from the south. Inbound ETA two mikes. Trident Actual out." Matt closed on UNICOM.

"What's the situation?" Hopkins asked.
"We've got friendlies pinned down in a trench to the north. They're requesting air support." Matt replied.
He then opened his squadron commlink.
"One to Trident, we've got a call for help. 4, you're with me. The rest of you, stay here and cover Anvil. One out."
Emerging with Trident 4 from what was a heated battle, they left for the trenches, while the rest stayed to help Anvil Company. En route, Matt opened a private commlink with Trident 4.
"Four, with got three trenches up ahead. Concentrate fire on the east trench, I'll take care of the middle. Do not fire on the west trench. I repeat, DO NOT FIRE ON THE WEST TRENCH. Those are friendlies. Bravo Platoon is also down there, try not to hit our tanks."
"Copy that, Four Out."

"45 seconds to kill zone." Hopkins said. Matt re-opened his private channel.
"We're almost there, split formation."
The two dragons parted, with a straight shot at the trenches.
"15 seconds, targets should be on your HUD now."
Indeed they were. Matt lined up his shot.
"5 seconds. 4, 3, 2, 1..."
"Give 'em hell." Matt growled to Trident 4.

Large bursts of plasma came from the Dragons' front-mounted cannons as the trenches exploded with plasma. They made their first pass and came back for another. Trident 4 pulled along the side as they mowed down enemies with their side-mounted chaingun, while Matt decided to use the flamethrowers. Flames rushed through the trench, leaving nothing untouched. They both stopped, and hovered over the trenches.
"We're not picking up any live targets Four, how about you?" Matt asked.
"Negative One, no live targets."
Matt turned his Dragon to face the soldiers he just saved, and opened his UNICOM.

"Trident Actual to Saber Actual. All targets have been eliminated. You're clear."
"Copy that Trident," Nathan replied. "Thanks for the support."
"No problem. You need us again, just ask. Trident out."
Nathan watched as both Dragons rose back to the sky, and shot away into the distance.

Code:

Okay, let me square away the whole callsign situation.
Alpha Company: Infantry. Callsign Saber.
Bravo Company: Armor. Callsign Lance.
Charlie Platoon: Recon Platoon. Callsign Dagger.
Delta Company: Aircraft. Callsign Trident.

(Callsign) 1, 2, 3, etc. indicate platoons and Actual indicates the company commander himself on the COM.

Code:

My bad. If it happens again, try to ignore it. When everyone started using these military terms in the story I was basically thinking 'wtf???' I'll try my best to get it right next time xD. But for now, let's get back to the story!

As Liz stepped off of the pelican, she looked around and noticed the hanger was deserted. She was told on her flight down that the division was running a training exercise. She walked down the halls to the barracks, where she entered her room. It had black floors, and the walls were a dimmed grey. Liz dropped her gun case and duffel bag and slid them under her bed. Liz's bed had black blankets, with white pillows. The pillows bore a red UNSC insignia on the front. As she walked over to her desk, Liz saw her company assignment. Dagger Actual.

She walked into the library, found a chair back in the corner, and waited for the return of the division. She didn't feel like talking to anyone. Liz didn't talk much. When she did talk, she's calling out contacts down range.

With the "all clear" signal given from the the Dragons, Vasily and his platoons were ready to move up on the hill.

"All tanks, forward! Wedge formation!", Vasily ordered to his platoons.

His tanks followed close in a wedge shape, a formation borrowed from the old German Panzerwaffe and SS tankers, known as the Panzerkeil.

His tank crested the hill and his jaw dropped in awe as he identified almost a company strength of drone tanks.

"We`ll keep minor threats at bay...this is a job for you, Lance. Sabre Actual out.", said Nathan.

The rest of the company reached the top of the hill, and Vasily had already picked out targets for each tank and transmitted them.

"Lance Actual to all tanks, fire! Fire SABOT!", Vasily ordered.

Each tank fired their SPHEs already loaded in their breaches. Not much damage, but they then loaded their plasma SABOT rounds and fired. Two of the tanks exploded. Ammunition racks for sure. The others caught fire.

"First platoon, deploy your smoke rounds on my mark! Lance Two, back your platoon behind the smoke and flank left! We`ll cover you using thermals! Is that clear?", Vasily said to Nicholson.

"Understood, Sir!", Nicholson replied.

"Mark!", Vasily shouted.

First platoon deployed their smoke and second platoon disappeared behind it. Using the crest of the hill, they quickly flanked to the weak left flank of the drone line.

"Second platoon! Form a line and fire at will!", Nicholson yelled.

"First platoon do the same!", Vasily ordered in agreement.

The drones were engulfed in piercing plasma fired. One after another they were either destroyed outright or were critically disabled.

Just then, Vasily spotted a flash of light, then a loud "WHOOOOSH". He could see that one of second platoon`s tanks were smoking.

"ANTI-TANK LASER TEAM! BLAST THOSE BASTARDS!", Vasily roared.

Dimitri switched over to the 25mm autocannons and blasted the position with a hail of high explosive rounds. No movement, thermals were clean with the exception of the burning company of drone tanks.

"Lance Two, this is Lance Actual! Give me a sitrep on your men! My interface is showing that Lance 2-4 has suffered damage to the turret ring and an injured gunner. Can you confirm???", Vasily asked nervously.

"Yeah, Lance 2-4 is shaken, not stirred. They`ve suffered minor damage to the turret and their gunner was knocked around, but they are still combat effective, over.", Nicholson replied.

"Good. Lance Two, your platoon is to stay on station and hold this location with some of Sabre`s elements. We will be heading to the southern town now.", Vasily said.

The infantry took up defensive positions while those tasked with taking the town made ready. Vasily came out of the commander`s cupola of his tank and shouted to Nathan, "You ready for phase two? Have your boys hop on! We`re rolling! We`ll be needing you to take out those AT batteries in town, after all."

"You got it!", Nathan replied, "I`d bet that the rest of our boys are just about at that ammo dump right about now."

With that, they rolled out towards the next objective.

Liz had decided 20 minutes earlier to go on the training exercise. She was dropped off on a hill by a town. She saw a platoon of tanks riding with a platoon of infantry heading to the town. Liz dropped to one knee on the hill, and set up her perch. She cleared some rubble from where should be laying, and stuck some grass, dirt piles, and some rocks in a natural shaped clump to make her position more hidden.

Her spotter, Kyle, looked down his spotting scope. "I count six shoulder-fired ATGM teams hidden on the rooftops". Liz sighted her prototype sniper and tagged all six targets. With one pull of the trigger, her HVR-507 round zipped in the air, and split into 6 rounds.

Vasily was sitting in his tank when he heard a cry from one of his tank commanders over the COM, "Lance 1-3! AT on the roof, tovarisch! They are prepared to fire!"

"All Lance One victors, space out and increase to 55 KPH!" Vasili commanded.

Just as he said that, all 6 heads on the rooftops exploded into a red mist. Before Vasily could figure out what had just happened, a voice crackled over UNICOM.

"Lance One, this is Dagger Two. You're clear boys, have fun. Dagger Two out."