S&D

“This is…this is getting bad.”

Allison was on the border of the city limit, looking at a mess of exhaust coming from inside the city. There were definitely a lot of vehicles. She could hear the rumble of the engines, and they weren’t just wheeled vehicles.

“Franziska, any ID on enemy armor?” Allison asked as she stood up next to the side of the building.

“Negative, yankee. But I can tell they’ve got tracked vehicles at least.” The German replied.

“Well, that was helpful.”

“Aye, are ya getting a wee nervous there?”

Allison looked at Carwyn, who was currently opposite her on the other side of the street. Her running lights went the slightest bit red for a split second.

“Come on, stand to, Alley Cat. Don’t have time to hang about when they already know we’re ‘ere.”

To roll one’s eyes was certainly a feat but Allison made due by moving her whole head to get the point across. She stepped out from behind the building and moved down the street. The structures had seen better days, and that was putting it lightly. Many cities and towns were firebombed or bombarded in the early days of the infection. The German government went into exile in Spain while its military made new bases in France. The civilian population was evacuated, but not everyone went. There were always holdouts. Now some of them had turned into bandits, or worse, people trying to enforce a new country’s existence in the middle of No Man’s Land. Bandits could easily be dealt with in force, but the “new states” were very hard to deal with as they were not hostile but also not cooperative. Allison wondered if this was a bandit camp or a new state trying to flex its muscle.

She observed Hideo moving with Charlotte and Franziska to the eastern side of the town. The plan was for her and Carwyn to try to push them out and have Hideo and Charlotte box them in with their heavy weapons. She noticed the smoldering wreck of the small Humvee the scouting party had been in as they passed. Not how I’d wanna go. She thought. She turned back to the street ahead. The rumbling engines were moving closer and that was not something that gave her confidence. She took a knee onto the road and aimed her carbine down the street.

“What do you think these guys got?” Allison asked Carwyn.

“Aye, most likely some old military stuff. Leopards, Luchs maybe…or even-”

“GEPARD!”

Allison lit off with her weapon and moved back behind the building. A second later, it exploded into rubble as the Gepard, a self-propelled anti-aircraft gun with dual 35mm autocannons, fired its FAPDS (Frangible Armor-Piercing Discarding-Sabot) rounds towards where she had just been. She stepped back several paces and listened to the echo to hear if the engine was getting louder. Carwyn had also backed off but had his flamethrower pointed at the corner of his building. But there was no indicator of the Gepard moving up to meet them again, so Allison had to think.

“Carwyn, move in on another street. We’re not going to get anywhere here. We’ll clear out what we can and meet up in the city center.”

“Are you daft?”

“What? Aren’t you guys the best Assault Team in AEGIS?”

“Oh sure thing, Alley Cat. Bloody soloing a city block now are we? Ya got an empty space between yer ears?”

Allison’s running lights went red for a brief second.

“Are ye lookin’ to bugger this up, lady? First op, now let’s do it right.”

She stormed off without a word.

“Oi! Ya daft cunt! Ah bugger it. Bloody FNGs, always trying to make their wages off everyone else’s backs.”

Allison didn’t respond. She kept her guard up and her carbine ready. It was loaded with APFSDS, so she had every confidence in it turning whatever they found into scrap. She always had a few magazines of APFSDS and High-Explosive Incendiary (HEI) in order to be ready for any enemy, armored or infantry. She stepped out into an intersection and scanned. Bullets dinged off her armor plating. Allison backed up and looked up the street. A Heavy Machine-Gun (HMG) had been mounted in one of the buildings that overlooked the choke point. She stepped out and lit off with her carbine at it, watching it rip into the building. The barrage effectively silenced the gun, allowing her to move unimpeded. She headed deeper into the city, scanning up and down the ruined streets. She aimed high and low as the structure towered over her. Periodically she switched to thermal scanners to ensure she was accounting for all the spaces where the bandits could hide.

The sound of an engine was back again. Allison looked behind her and saw the Gepard moving towards her as it turned the corner of the street she had just fired down. It was rather fast for a vehicle its size. She took off down towards the city center and ducked into a side street just as the AA vehicle sent another volley her way. She waited a few seconds and popped out from around the corner with her carbine up. The street was empty. Dammit. He’s playing games with me. She looked back and noticed the slightest movement in one of the windows. Before her mind could fully process what it was looking at, a rocket streaked out from one of the adjacent buildings. Her APS kicked in and destroyed the missile a mere half an inch from her. The shrapnel clattered against her chest. She brought the weapon up again and fired off five rounds, completely reshaping the structure. She watched pieces of debris fall until the smoke cleared to show that the threat had been eliminated.

“Franziska, where’s this Gepard 2 at?” Allison asked.

“Oh it seems the Yankee needs help, does she?”

Allison’s lights went red again. She was very quickly getting tired of this treatment.

“On second thought, nevermind.”

“It’s hard to pinpoint it’s exact loca-”

“I said nevermind, Franziska.”

“-the city is not making it easy for me to-”

“Franziska.”

“-the whole thing is one big maze-”

“Franziska!”

“What?”

“Shut your fucking mouth!”

Silence reigned. That’s gonna be in the debrief. Great. Allison thought as she grumbled to herself. She’d flown off the handle, but now was not the time to dwell on it. Focus. Reorient. Re-engage. She stepped off. That AA gun was still looking for her. Off in the distance she could hear Carwyn’s grenade launcher going off. At least he was still putting work in. She stepped into another intersection and saw a Marder IFV. She wasted no time in turning it into a scrap heap as she watched the 20mm main cannon try to swivel to meet her. She struck the ammunition rack and watched it explode. People were running. There were makeshift barricades constructed where machine guns were set up behind. She noticed some small vehicle skirt around between the destroyed cars that made up the majority of the cover between her and the enemy.

“What is that?”

A closer inspection revealed it to be a Wiesel Armored Weapons Carrier (AWC). Technically classified as a “tankette”, they were as tall as she was outside of her ARES. They were also incredibly lightly armored. An American M2 browning could turn it to Swiss cheese in seconds. But what they lacked in protection, they made up for in armament. They were able to be equipped with a number of different weapons systems, including a 20mm autocannon commonly used on IFVs. This one, as fate would have it, was equipped with a TOW launcher. Allison’s running lights went orange. Fear. She backpedaled and watched the missile streak across and glance off her shoulder, tumbling into the apartment complex behind her and detonating. The APS had a narrow cone of fire that the missile had barely skirted past, but luckily it didn’t fully connect to the armor. She stepped out again and fired until the magazine went dry, demolishing the poor thing and sending a few rounds into the barricades for good measure. She loaded in one of the HEI magazines and pulled the charging handle back.

Allison took a knee and fired. Unlike the APFSDS rounds that were only meant to penetrate armored vehicles, the HEI rounds were designed to explode and cause major damage to unarmored targets. The machine guns fired at her, and she returned in kind before they got lucky enough to penetrate one of her limbs and deactivate it. They were quickly dealt with as she stepped into the city center. Troop trucks were moving toward the east. The others would deal with them. She focused on putting rounds into the groups of bandits that were trying to pick a fight with her. Others were running into houses and offices. Anything to get off the street as she let loose a hail of cannon fire on them. Cars went flying. An errant rocket streaked up into the air and exploded off in the distance. Another was sent her way and was intercepted by the APS again. Ammunition on that was still at a nominal level for now, but they taught the demi-machina in training to not rely entirely on the APS.

The gunfire soon stopped. Allison saw no more movement. She switched to thermals and saw a few explosions in the distance. Carwyn came around into her view and noticed her. She stood up and waved him over.

“It’s all clear here.” She said.

Carwyn looked around. He took up a position and radioed Hideo to see how they were doing. Allison stepped in before she picked something up on her sensors.

“Wait a minute…”

She looked behind her and saw the Gepard 2 screech into view. Its turret swiveled to her.

“SHIT! Carwyn, get to cover now!”

The dual 35mm cannons lit off. Allison brought up her arm to shield herself. The HUD started to go red as she incurred damage.

“Ah, there you fackin’ go then! Can’t be satisfied until ya bugger yerself, eh?” Carwyn called out as he moved into view and tried to get a bead on the thing.

Allison went red again. She was fed up with the “newbie” treatment. She’d let herself get in over her head. And now they were going to ream her for this too. She charged the Gepard, tossing her carbine away and shielding her chest and head with both arms. Thankfully the frangible ammunition wasn’t doing too much damage, but if they kept up then she was going to be in trouble very soon. Even worse, they had AP rounds just for this occasion. If the bandits managed to switch it over in time, then it’d be all over. So instead, she charged them until she collided with the vehicle. She shunted it about four feet and then grabbed one of its barrels. The crew tried to turn the turret towards her, but to no avail. All it did was bend the barrel of the cannon. When they tried firing it, there was a detonation midway through, causing her to let go of the cannon that was now blown apart.

There was confusion. Smoke was coming from the turret. Allison took advantage of the momentary lapse from the crew and reached behind her with her right hand. She grabbed onto the handle of her Force Application Blade and unsheathed it. In one quick motion, she flipped it around, putting it into the reverse grip position as she brought it down onto the hatch of the Gepard 2. She stabbed it a few times and then went and put her blade through the turret ring, damaging it enough to prevent it from moving. The driver was alive enough to put it in gear and tried to get the vehicle moving.

“Oh no you don’t, fucker!”

Allison leaned back and kicked the side of the vehicle’s hull. She put her full force into it, causing the Gepard to be launched across the street and into one of the buildings. It was stuck halfway in with its turret ajar. She walked up to it and stabbed the knife into the commander’s hatch, prying it off. She reached to her hip and grabbed a small cylinder. The top was depressed, showing a red light around the circumference of the device. It was then dropped unceremoniously into the remains of the commander’s seat and left there. Allison put her blade away and walked back to pick up her carbine. Not two seconds later, the Gepard 2 exploded and the building collapsed on top of it.

“Jesus Christ, ya think you got ‘em?” Carwyn asked, almost sounding in disbelief.

Allison said nothing to him and marched past.

“Allison to Hideo.”

“This is Hideo.” His tone suggested the slightest hint of displeasure.

“City center is secure. All enemy vehicles are knocked out. Personnel are fleeing or in hiding.”

“Right then. Franziska has radioed command. We’ll be setting up shop until the boys can reinforce, so get comfortable.”

“Roger that.”

Allison stood in the town square and scanned the buildings. There wasn’t much else to do, and they were going to be here for a bit. And then there would be the after-action report and debriefing to deal with when they returned to base. It was going to be the longest short stay of her career.