Conflict: The Pythan War, Invasion

by DK Williamson

  “Roger that, fellow neural interface sucker. Five-second intervals, individual encryption. I launch at your go.”

  “Thanks, Bucket. Stand by.”

  -NEURAL INTERFACE SYSTEM OVERALL FUNCTIONING AT 85% OF LAST TESTED LEVEL OF EFFICIENCY-

  The static exchange of fire continued between the two sides. Periodically a round or burst would zip through the air nearby, but Harper ignored it. A few meters away, a precision rifleman gouged out a hole in the sandbag wall to allow himself a firing position.

  Harper toggled his neural interface to targeting mode as he scanned the buildings once again. The Pythan activity inside continued. They’re getting ready to come at us, he thought.

  He took aim at a building to the right. “Dagger-Two-Two-One, this is Pecos-Five-Seven-November. Begin your attack.”

  “Roger, Five-Seven-November.” Flaherty fired the first of his missiles.

  Harper heard the tone broadcast by the missile indicating it was ready to receive targeting data. A push on a button on the side of his rifle sent a designator beam at his target. Slightly over a second later, the missile sent a tone that let Harper know the missile had locked onto the point he had designated.

  By now, the second missile was headed downward. Harper shifted his sight picture to another point and repeated the process, then did it again. Mortar rounds began pounding the Coalition lines and the amount of fire coming from the Pythan side increased noticeably.

  Harper shifted to his fourth target and saw Pythan troops flooding from the building. As Harper locked the fourth missile on target, the first struck its target, the first floor of a warehouse.

  Harper targeted the final two points as the Land Forces soldiers poured fire into the oncoming attack. The missiles fired by Bucket o’ Pain caused mayhem among the Pythan troops. The first missiles hit just before the attack began, the last while troops were still pouring from the buildings. Many of the Pythan soldiers faltered from fear, others in confusion. It didn’t take long before it was obvious the attack was doomed before it was barely started.

  The regimental commander broadcast to all soldiers under his command. “If we break this assault we will counterattack immediately.”

  -NEURAL INTERFACE SYSTEM OVERALL FUNCTIONING AT 79% OF LAST TESTED LEVEL OF EFFICIENCY-

  “You heard the man,” LTC Lorenz said. “Captain Harris, Bravo leads as planned. You will have tanks and an infantry company from First Battalion for support. Captain Harper, stay with Bravo Company.”

  Bravo company’s artillery coordinators worked mortar rounds onto the Pythans. A few more small advances moved from the buildings only to be torn to pieces in seconds.

  “They’re pulling back,” someone announced over the company net.

  “That was their serious attack?” the rifleman to Harper’s right asked of no one in particular.

  “Bravo Company, begin your move,” LTC Lorenz broadcast.

  “Third Platoon, proceed,” CPT Harris said. “You will move on the right side of Bastrop street, the other infantry company will handle the left. Lead LF17 will support you.”

  “Roger that, sir,” Myers replied. “Platoon, follow me.”

  Myers leaped over the sandbags, immediately followed by his platoon. Hand signals designated which squad would lead.

  Harper left his position and went with the platoon. PSG Jefferson ran alongside Harper with three soldiers following him. “These three are yours, sir. They’ll try and keep the Pythans off of you so you can work.”

  “Got it, thanks, sarge.”

  -NEURAL INTERFACE SYSTEM OVERALL FUNCTIONING AT 72% OF LAST TESTED LEVEL OF EFFICIENCY-

  The Pythans put up token resistance from the buildings at the end of the block, but rifle, machine gun, grenade, and cannon fire from Coalition troops and tanks brought that to a swift end.

  The street ended in a T intersection. Bravo was to move to the right and attack across an open area while the other infantry company moved through the buildings and would form on Bravo’s left flank once those structures were cleared.

  3rd Platoon moved to the right and took up positions in an abandoned Pythan defensive line comprised of fighting positions and sandbags not much different from those of Coalition forces. Muffled small arms fire and grenade detonations sounded from inside the buildings to Bravo Company’s left.

  The rest of Bravo followed 3rd Platoon into the defensive line. The soldiers hurriedly rearranged the sandbags to suit their needs.

  “We hold here until our friends to the left are ready to move on.” To Bravo’s right another infantry company was clearing another set of buildings.

  Bravo Company exchanged fire with Pythans three hundred meters away. “I sure as shit wish we’d get moving,” one of Harper’s escort said. “The longer we wait, the better they get dug in.” Harper scanned the buildings ahead through his riflescope. He could see considerable movement in the windows and in the area behind the buildings.

  He brought up real-time aerial reconnaissance feeds and cycled through them until he found the area directly ahead. He could see Pythan infantry moving between buildings, with many in the open in the areas beyond what was visible from Bravo’s position.

  Harper toggled his communications to the battalion net, calling LTC Lorenz. “Pecos-Six, this is Pecos-Five-Seven-November.”

  “Pecos-Five-Seven-November, this is Six.”

  “Sir, request authorization to put fire on the buildings immediately behind the area to Bravo Company’s front. There is considerable enemy infantry movement and I am concerned there may be a sizeable force concealed up there.”

  “Negative, Captain Harper. Division is clear on this: no artillery or air strikes on buildings until enemy presence is confirmed.”

  “Sir, it looks to me—”

  “I have the recon feeds in front of me, captain. I agree with your assessment, but Division would have our asses. It will have to wait until we have confirmation.

  When we get confirmation we’ll be too close to use arty or air. “Roger that, sir. Pecos-Five-Seven-November, out.”

  -NEURAL INTERFACE SYSTEM OVERALL FUNCTIONING AT 61% OF LAST TESTED LEVEL OF EFFICIENCY-

  “Bravo, we move in two minutes,” CPT Harris said over the company net. “Be ready.”

  Harper looked over the assets available to him and categorized them for different scenarios. He scanned the buildings ahead once more. There was considerably less activity on the part of the Pythans.

  “Third and Headquarters Platoons, I want you to provide supporting fire. The two LF17s we had with us on the street will lead, First, Second, Fourth, and Fifth Platoons will follow. Stand by.”

  The two light tanks rolled from behind the buildings to Third Platoon’s left and passed behind them. They moved to a gap in the middle of Bravo Company’s line and turned left, rolling over the sandbag positions there. As they pulled ahead of Bravo’s line, CPT Harris broadcast, “Bravo, let’s move!”

  The tanks fired at the buildings ahead while the soldiers of 3rd and Headquarters Platoons threw suppressive fire at the Pythans. The return fire seemed light considering the amount of activity they had seen earlier.

  Harper switched his coms to the air net. “Master Forward Controller, this is Pecos-Five-Seven-November. Request support from Dagger-Two-Two-One.”

  “Pecos-Five-Seven-November, this is MFC, roger, stand by.”

  -NEURAL INTERFACE SYSTEM OVERALL FUNCTIONING AT 53% OF LAST TESTED LEVEL OF EFFICIENCY-

  “Pecos-Five-Seven-November, this is Dagger-Two-Two-One.”

  “Bucket, we might need your missiles in a hurry.”

  “I thought you’d never call Five-Seven-November. You name it, I’ll maim it.”

  A platoon of infantry passed by 3rd Platoon, headed for the buildings to their left. Harper glanced at them and saw Private Yates from the truck ride among the troops. The young soldier smiled and waved as he ran past. Harper returned the gesture.

  The advance had gone seventy-five meters forward when
all hell broke loose. The amount of fire from the Pythan positions within the buildings increased many times over and tore into Bravo Company. Antitank rockets streaked from several positions, seeking the destruction of the LF17s. A pair of rockets crisscrossed over the top of one of the LF17s, but the other tank was less fortunate. Multiple hits stopped it dead in its tracks.

  “Fall back, fall back,” came the cry over the company net. Harper glanced at his command screen and saw it was the company first sergeant calling. The troops began moving back to the sandbagged positions held by 3rd and Headquarters Platoons, dragging wounded along with them. Several wounded soldiers sought cover behind the disabled LF17, while the other tank turned right and began moving forward and backward as its guns spat at the Pythans.

  More antitank missiles flew, but the erratic movement of the LF17 kept them from finding their target. Harper was targeting with his designator beam when cannon fire erupted from the left. The remaining LF17 exploded.

  Harper shifted his sight picture and found the source of the cannon fire, a Pythan light tank hidden in a damaged building. Through his magnified optics, he could see the tank had a damaged track on the port side. The Pythans were using the damaged tank as an armored gun emplacement.

  -NEURAL INTERFACE SYSTEM OVERALL FUNCTIONING AT 46% OF LAST TESTED LEVEL OF EFFICIENCY-

  “Bucket, I need three precision missiles, three second intervals. Sending coordinates. Fire soonest.”

  Harper sensed something was wrong. He felt fatigued.

  “Roger, Five-Seven-November. Firing first missile… now.”

  Harper heard the tone from the missile and he put the designator beam on the Pythan tank. He heard the lock tone and he shifted targets, aiming at the front of the building where the worst of the fire seemed to be coming from. The second missile’s tone sounded and he designated the target. The lock tone sounded and he switched targets. The first missile struck. Secondary explosions from the ammunition in the tank told Harper it was a hit without the need to see it. He heard the tone of the third missile and designated the point he was aiming at. The lock tone came soon after and he lowered his rifle. He felt exhausted.

  As the second and third missiles struck, he checked his neural interface monitoring log.

  -NEURAL INTERFACE SYSTEM OVERALL FUNCTIONING AT 39% OF LAST TESTED LEVEL OF EFFICIENCY-

  Thirty-nine percent? he thought. Shit, not now. I guess Roger was wrong. Harper pulled the glove from his left hand and pressed his bare palm onto the back of his helmet. He yanked his hand away, his helmet was hot, very hot. My processor is trying to compensate for the linkage failure. Damn it!

  The survivors of the attack were moving back into the defensive line when mortar shells began to land around them.

  “You wanna bet the serious attack they mentioned earlier is about to come down on us?” asked a soldier to Harper’s right.

  Another soldier laughed. “No bet.”

  Harper feared the troop might be right. Quickly, he brought up the artillery and air assets list.

  “Captain Harper, this is Lieutenant Myers. Captain Harris is down. I am assuming command of the company. I am consolidating what’s left of Bravo into three positions. Your current point is the left most of those positions. I suspect the Pythans are going to attack us soon. Do you concur?”

  “I do.”

  “I have requested immediate reinforcement, but—here they come!”

  Pythan infantry poured from the buildings. Supporting fire sprayed bullets across the sandbags and grenades from launchers gouged the ground near 3rd Platoon’s positions.

  -NEURAL INTERFACE SYSTEM OVERALL FUNCTIONING AT 27% OF LAST TESTED LEVEL OF EFFICIENCY-

  Bullets and shell fragments tore at the sandbag wall where Harper sought cover. One of his escort was down, shot through the head.

  Harper called for artillery fire across the buildings where the Pythans were positioned. He quickly surveyed the attack. I know what I need to do. The question is can I actually pull it off with my head going bad. I’ll go down trying.

  Conventional artillery was out of the question unless things became desperate, in which case Harper would bring it down on his own position, but there was still time. If he could factor the Pythans rate of advance, the flight time of artillery from different ranges and missiles from Bucket o’ Pain, and time it all so it came together, then they had a chance. The problem was accomplishing such a feat would be difficult enough if his neural interface system was working at normal efficiency. I’m losing my linkage to the system, just like Roger did. I’ll lean on the processor in my helmet and hope it survives long enough.

  In a fraction of a second Harper had a solution. That’s the easy part. The doing is the tricky bit.

  -NEURAL INTERFACE SYSTEM OVERALL FUNCTIONING AT 21% OF LAST TESTED LEVEL OF EFFICIENCY-

  The Pythans knew they had hurt Bravo Company badly and the Coalition unit was vulnerable. Harper looked to his left and right and saw the damage. The First Battalion infantry company to the left was facing an attack of their own. They can’t help us. To the right, not a single officer was upright and the senior ranking member of Bravo still in fighting form was PSG Jefferson, who was scrambling to get the maximum from the few remaining soldiers he had available.

  Harper could see Pythan leaders organizing their men as well. Bravo’s dwindling resistance had hurt them, but still they came. They’ll bury us if they reach us.

  He scanned the assets available to him, seeking precision munitions. Harper was running with sweat, his hands shook with fatigue, his breathing heavy.

  He toggled the artillery net and broadcast on dual frequencies. “Red Lance and Jade Sky this is Pecos-Five-Seven-November, request priority fire missions, we are in imminent danger of being overrun, over.”

  “Pecos-Five-Seven-November, this is Red Lance, send it.”

  “Pecos-Five-Seven-November, this is Jade Sky. Send your fire mission.”

  “I need direct communications with the following batteries, Red Lance Two-One, Two-Six, Four-Four, and Five-Eight. High explosive precision rounds, Jade Sky Seven-Four and Eight-One, precision rockets. All fired on my command,” Harper barked in a rapid staccato. Time was of the essence.

  “November, this is Red Lance, roger. Stand by.

  “Pecos-Five-Seven-November, Jade Sky. Will comply. Stand by.”

  -NEURAL INTERFACE SYSTEM OVERALL FUNCTIONING AT 15% OF LAST TESTED LEVEL OF EFFICIENCY-

  A machine gun burst tore at the sandbag wall where Harper crouched.

  “See it?” asked one of his escorts.

  “Got it. Engaging,” came the cold reply from the other.

  Harper switched to the air net. “Bucket, need some urgent assistance.”

  “Roger, Five-Seven-November. That’s my specialty. Six missiles left and they’re all yours.”

  “Thanks, Bucket. Will need all six. Fire them simultaneously on my command.”

  “Will do, Five-Seven-November. Standing by.”

  Harper watched the line of infantry coming at him, timing their advance. He picked a point not far from Bravo Company’s line. At current pace they’ll be there in thirty seconds. He switched to the artillery net and sent targeting coordinates to Red Lance and Jade Sky.

  “Jade Sky Seven-Four and Eight-One, fire.”

  “Pecos-Five-Seven-November, this is Jade Sky, rockets are on the way.”

  Harper watched the time. “Red Lance Two-One and Five-Eight, fire.” He let another second and a half tick down. “Red Lance Four-Four and Two-Six, fire.”

  He didn’t wait for confirmation from Red Lance that the artillery shells were on the way, there was no time. He switched to the air net.

  “Dagger-Two-Two-One, launch now.”

  “Six on the way, good luck, Five-Seven-November,” came the reply less than a second later.

  Now all you have to do is get them on target. Those poor bastards by the LF17.

  Four clusters of five 125mm shells each, two flights of four 175mm rocke
ts each, and six 200mm missiles were all closing on Harper’s position. His headset screamed with targeting tones. He had ten seconds to get each element where he wanted them to go. You don’t have to be perfect, you have a whole half-second to play with.

  NEURAL INTERFACE SYSTEM OVERALL FUNCTIONING AT 5% OF LAST TESTED LEVEL OF EFFICIENCY-

  He gritted his teeth and grunted, blasting air from his nose as he brought his rifle to bear on the first of his targets.

  200mm HE from Dagger-Two-Two-One… tone, lock… tone.

  Next target, next missile. 200mm HE from Dagger-Two-Two-One… tone, lock… tone.

  Next target, next missile. 200mm HE from Dagger-Two-Two-One… tone, lock… tone.

  Next target, next missile. 200mm HE from Dagger-Two-Two-One… tone, lock… tone.

  Next target, next missile. 200mm HE from Dagger-Two-Two-One… tone, lock… tone.

  Next target, next missile. 200mm HE from Dagger-Two-Two-One… tone, lock… tone.

  Next target. Rocket Flight One from Jade Sky Seven Four… tone, lock… tone.

  Next target, next rocket. Rocket Flight Two from Jade Sky Eight One… tone, lock… tone.

  Next target. 125mm HE strike from Red Lance Two One… tone, lock, set impact… tone.

  Next target, next battery. 125mm HE strike from Red Lance Five Eight… tone, lock, set airburst… tone.

  Next target, next battery. 125mm HE strike from Red Lance Four Four… tone, lock, set impact… tone.

  Next target, next battery. 125mm HE strike from Red Lance Two Six… tone, lock, set airburst… tone.

  The edges of Harper’s field of vision narrowed. Blackness closed in. Not yet, damn it!

  He switched to the company net. “Bravo, incoming ordnance, danger close, take cover!”

  The missiles, rockets, and shells struck within a second of one another all across the line of the Pythan attack. The advancing Pythan line disappeared in smoke and dust and flying debris. A few of Bravo’s soldiers peeked over the edge of their cover. Fire from the few remaining Land Forces troops did not resume. The soldiers looked over their weapons and waited, noticing the comparative quiet that had come over their portion of the battlefield.